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First Logging Methods

Started by Deadwood, October 25, 2005, 06:13:28 AM

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Deadwood

This question has probably been asked before, but I thought it would be a good way for a new member such as myself to see how some of you got started in forestry as well as learning about how I did so.

So please, chime in here and let me know how you got started in forestry, logging, agriculture or sawmilling.

Deadwood

I will start by telling you how I got started, but I will warn you, my 5th grade school teacher called my parents in for a Parent/ Teacher conference when I related this story. She said "I lived in a fantasy world."

Well I grew up on a farm, an naturally logging was a major wintertime activity. Well at 10 years old, my father found out that I could help him out and still be safe while working in the woods. You see we had this old JD 1010 Bulldozer that he would hook up to a twitch of wood. My job was to drive the bulldozer down the main twitch road, unhook the logs at the landing and then come back into the woods.

I was pretty small, but since the bulldozer went VERY slow, and I could steer it by placing my foot on the console and pulling back against the steering levers, I could steer the machine. I could also stop it by standing on top of the clutch, or pulling back on both levers. All in all, I did not do much but move some wood on the main twitch trail. That was my fist method of logging anyway.

As for my teacher. Well my parents quickly informed her that I did not live in a fantasy world, and that I did in fact drive a bulldozer.

Captain

I logged with an old pickup as a skidder....and quickly graduated to a tractor. :)


isawlogs


   Working ... now you got to understand that this is a big word ... when you are five or so . I would be with my dad at all times , he would be working in the bush at home when not at the camps , so I would be out Working with him . He gave me an axe and I would be allowed to cut stove wood ... He would point me to some iron wood and let me hack away at them till they would topple over . Then he would come around with the horse and pull them out to my pile . This was before I went to school , so I must of been around five years old . I would have most of the branches off of the tree , It does seam to me , ( in my mind ) that there was a big pile of iron wood at the landing when spring came around .
  So to answer the question , first experience to forestry would be to have my dad and grand dad tell me stories and then to have cut treelenght and skidding with horses ..  ;D  ( had to put skidding on thee because I was put on the horse while skidding my trees . )
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Weekend_Sawyer

 I had an old JD 1010 backhoe/front end loader. It was real worn but started (just about) every time.

My first loggs were skidded with a 44' Farmall H. Instead of a swing drawbar connected to the belly, we had a cable that way when you put a strain on the cable it pulled the front end down. Verrrry important!

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Ed_K

I started with a TD 6, but I was a few yrs older than 10  ;D. I now run 2 sides, skidder for big wood and tractor / forestry trailer for small wood.
Ed K

pasbuild

My first logging experience was cutting mine poles which were carried to the main haul road on our shoulder, we would sew padding into the shoulder of an old shirt.
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

Ianab

So much depends on the situation...

I've moved logs with excavators, 4X4s, quadbikes and the next mission we should have a bulldozer /winch to haul some big logs out of a gully.

The real answer is whats SAFE and practical.

Size of the logs and the terrain make a big difference, helicopters aren't unusual here either  :o

Deadwood, I had a look at your web page, Good stuff. It shows what you can do with a bit of carefull planning and some basic equipment. My strategy would involve hauling the mill into the woods and breaking down the logs where they fell, but other than that I'd operate the same  :) Well unless I had a digger handy to stack to logs up.

Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

pigman

I starting logging when I was about 5 years old.  :o My job was steering the horse out of the woods. Ok, I just road the horse, but I had to jump off , unhook the log, unhook one side of the singletree and climb the harness to get back on the horse. My older brothers or dad would cut the trees and hook the logs for me. Being the youngest I did not get to do the important jobs like using the chainsaw until I was working for Uncle Sam. ::)
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

johnjbc

The first logs I cut were to build a dam in the creek. We cut them with an axe and bowsaw and pushed then down the hill by hand. They were about 10 inch maple.

The first log I cut to saw was 46 years later. It was cut with a 20 inch Homelite and I moved it with my backhoe.
It was a big black willow that had been making a mess in my yard for years >:(. The only reason it wasn't cut before was I didn't have a mill to saw it on. Made me feel good to cut it up after all the time I spent cleaning up after it ::).  Here is a link to a picture of it


https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=1276.msg15425#msg15425
LT40HDG24, Case VAC, Kubota L48, Case 580B, Cat 977H, Bobcat 773

sawguy21

My buddy's dad bought an old Kenworth gaspot gravel truck, bunks and a trailer and went logging with it when we were about twelve. We grew up around loggers so started cutting firewood and fence posts out of the brush piles on the landings. I told the story of this fiasco on another thread. Ross went on to driving trucks, still does, and I eventually got into repairing saws in the shop and in the field. I miss the sights, sounds, and smells of the bush.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

crtreedude

Aside from cutting firewood which I assume doesn't count - (I have cut more firewood than I want to remember!) My logging doesn't include me! Since we have workers, they do it without me usually. I think they are afraid I will hurt myself.

I figure I am a gentleman logger...  :D I just ride around on the horse admiring the work.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

beenthere

Farm tractor (8N Ford) and logged about 40,000 BF of red oak. Had a three-point arch for logging tongs. Still logging that way, but now have a loader to help hold the front end down, 43 years later.

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Tom

I wasn't actually logging for a living, I was clearing my property when I was in my 40's and got carried away.  Taxes led me to the County Forester who wrote a management plan and I bought a Ford 1910 4wd with a FEL and some implements.

When you move from a town lot to the woods and try to make a go, you find that the tax man is a real driving force.  Now I don't just cut trees, I sell or saw them.  I don't grade my driveway, I perform Silviculture.  I keep track of trees I plant and fertilizer or insecticides that I buy and treat my whole place like a garden rather than an unruly thicket. Nope, it's not an "English Garden" but I'm pretty intimate with all of the plants.

Now that I understand how to keep the tax man at bay a little better, my hurdles have turned to the Building and Zoning Dept's and the "self-regulation" of the lumber industry.  Yes, it seems that the local Government wants a little agriculture, but, the tax man's job is to make sure you don't have it.  He's pretty intimidating and can put more money on the tax rolls if you are zoned single family rather than agriculture.  The other bureaucrats make sure you can't produce and use your own product and the industry makes sure you can't sell wholesale without working for a broker.  I'll get a handle on it one day. 

All in all, I found that the old codger that sold me the little tractor was right.  I was concerned that  this little 28 horse (drawbar) wouldn't do the job.  He told me that the only difference between the little tractor and a big tractor was the amount of time I wanted to spend.   He was right.  It's done most all that I've asked of it.  As a matter of fact, it goes where a big tractor won't and doesn't make near the mess.

I also found, through ignorance and experiences, that tractor safety went further than not getting run over.  If you are going to use a tractor, especially in the woods, you need to do a lot of reading, listen closely to people who have experience and work slowly.  Never take anything for granted.  I've been stuck for a week because I didn't know how to get out.  I was discouraged from tyeing logs to rear wheels and they were right.  Its a procedure that will kill you.  I learned how and where to pull a load, how to travel with a bucket of dirt, the benefit of watered tires and chevron tread.  I've learned that there is some truth to the saying "tractors have tires to get the engine where you can use it".  You see, using a tractor in the woods isn't the equivalent of recreational four-wheeling.

I also found that, just because I had learned lessons, it didn't mean that those others in the woods with me had learned them too.  I almost dropped a big oak on my eldest son who whizzed up under the felling tree after it had been committed.  I was letting him skid logs and he had returned for another one and didn't pay any attention as to where he was or what was going on.   We all learned a lesson that day. I could have killed him.

I also found that logging is more than land clearing.  I've had th opportunity to converse with professional loggers since I started and now know that I've only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the industry of logging.  I studied botany, chemistry and entomology in school and have always been interested in plants.  I've found that a good "educated" forester is not just a luxury but is a necessity to managing a woodlot and getting business direction.

I've found that the best thing I ever did, and a trait I have to relearn on occasion, is to make my ears work better than my mouth.  Usually the most beneficial side of a conversation is the listening side.   I think of it kinda like a telephone.  When you are talking into the mouthpiece, little switches get set that don't let the ear piece work.  You can only hear when you shut up.  :D :D

IndyIan

The ATV is my logging tool right now.  I've logged about 2500 bdft of white cedar for siding my house and many cords of firewood.  White Cedar is as close to balsa wood as we get around here so it works ok.  I have a trailer to forward for longer skid trails as well.  It is just about zero impact logging and gets just about anywhere you can walk.  I've put it up on its side once and got my lesson for pulling in a straight line...
Anyways its all I got so I make do!

Gilman

1947 Willy's Jeep pickup.  :) Brings back good memories and a shake of the head.

[I'll have to finish the story(s) later, better get back to work for now]
WM LT70, WM 40 Super, WM  '89 40HD
Cat throwing champion 1996, 1997, 1999. (retired)

tnlogger

I started when I got old enough to hook up a single tree dad had two Morgans jim and joe  ::)
that knew what to do all I did was hook and follow them to the landing. :)
Now that brings back a whole lot of fond memorys  :D
gene

Deadwood

Wow, there are a lot of ways people on here have logged.

Now don't get me wrong, that JD 1010 was the first memories I have of actually doing something constructive in the woods, but I have also used a...

Skidder:       Clark 666/ JD548 Grapple
Tractor:        Ford 9N/ Kubota 2500
ATV:             Polaris 450 6X6

The skidder was by far the easier of all the methods because of the sheer power. The grapple by far was the worse method I tried (very hard on this loggers bad back) while the tractors were the most enjoyable. The ATV method was a bit hard on a machine I thought as it was not built for such work, but I did like how the twitch roads ended up being little more than walking paths when I was done. As for the pick up truck, well I never tried that, but my Uncle did. In 1988 he actually used his 1988 GMC to twich wood off what we call the mountain. He was so proud too. He paid a bulldozer to come in and asked, "what do you think of my new skidder" and proudly slapped the hood?

I say all this in the hopes that you will understand that I really can relate to how many of you log. I like trying different methods of logging, but most of all, I just like being out in the woods.

Thanks for your replies. If I was not convinced that I found a well suited Forum for me before, I certainly am convinced now.

Paul_H

I started logging just before my 16th birthday and pretty much stayed with it until 2003 but have filled in a bit here and there for companies since.The type of logging that I have been involved in is highlead.

I've never seen Horselogging but sure hope to one day.

Here is a link to another thread.The pics were taken in 1980 and was the machine that I started setting chokers on.


Yard&Load
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

maple flats

My first logging was with the boy scouts. We cut downed trees and made many different handy things, like a table, sidewalk, bridge, and so on. Later I stepped up to a Farmall F-12. 3 speed, slow, slower and are we moving? Had to hand crank it to startb but it did pull some rather large logs. Had to drive with one foot proped just above the clutch in case it started to filp , but the drawbar was lower than the axle so it usually spun the tires instead of raise the front. Later I graduated to a farmall H, then a Oliver OC3 cletrac, Massey MF65, horses and now a 20 horse 4x4 compact w/log arch. When we did the horses there was one horse that was real good single. I would drop the tree, limb it, buck it and hook the horse up. He then went by himself to the landing where my brother was cutting it into firewood, unhook the horse and head him back. The horse would stop before he got close enough to get a tree on his head and wait til I called for him, but I had to grab his harness and steer him in place and do it over again. The only time We had to go with the horse is for the first trip out. One other horse didn't do that but My brother rode him harness and all out with the log because he went too fast to keep up with if on foot, and this was generally in snow which made walking slower. Now I only cut to do improvement cutting, and harvest logs to mill. Additionally the tops and slabs give me the needed firewood for the sugarhouse and my home too. So far the easiest seems to be the 20 HP tractor with log arch, chains front and rear, extra weights on the front  (and still need to keep my foot ready to hit the clutch if needed). The horses had to be fuelled every day, and the exhaust had to be cleaned up.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

SAW MILLER

  I first started logging  30 years ago with an F 20 farmall.I don't know how I kept from getting killed.You know the feeling coming up a hill with a big red oak and the front end comes up? You push the clutch in and you're had.I shudder to think about the close calls on the ol F 20.Then I twitched a few posts and firewood with a team of mules.LOTS safer,a mule won't get himself hurt.Now I do a little skidding with a Massey 240 w/fel.I don't take any chances now.Ain't no tree worth leaving my wife a widow. ;D
LT 40 woodmizer..Massey ferg.240 walker gyp and a canthook

Don_Papenburg

I started when my dad bought his family farm bavk in the 60s . We had trees to clean up . cut a few of them with the old two man saw.   
then there was the stum removal .
we dug under the stumps hooked chains and as many as three tractors to them .  I remember  one large stump that we were extracating from the earth , we had three tractors set up to pull , as we were attemting to pull this tenatious stump my dads and brothers tractors spunout or died and I was on the 720 John Deere and was about to spin out also but was still digging and lugging down .
every time I would reach for the clutch lever it would fire another piston and set me back on the seat .  about the six or seventh pop I got the clutch lever in my grasp . 
Most of my sawmilling has been done on a circle mill .  Used to help a neighbor saw .   
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Ohio_Bill

My Dad and I used his old 1947 2N ford ferguson  I sill have the old tractor but my father has gone on to be with the Lord . Today we have a skidder , dozer and 4wd tractor  that we use but I still keep the old ford because it was my Dads .
Bill
USAF Veteran  C141 Loadmaster
LT 40 HDD42-RA   , Allis Chalmers I 500 Forklift , Allis Chalmers 840 Loader , International 4300 , Zetor 6245 Tractor – Loader ,Bob Cat 763 , Riehl Steel Edger

PawNature

Was In 5th grade and logging with mule. My job was to follow him off the hill and knock the grabs out of log. Then he wouuld pull me back up hill to where Dad or bros were.
GOVERMENT HAS WAY TO MUCH CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES!!!!

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