Fallers, help your skidder Op

[CCC4]

I'm on a crowded wild pine tract that lays on a ridge and has a steep bowl section. On the up hill side of the steep ground set is a shear drop off from a gravel quarry. Save timber and boulders throughout.

Lately I have been working multiple tracts and using (3) different skidder OPs. The OP for one of my tracts is our mechanic Charlie, he is a good dude and decent operator. I have been getting ahead of him really bad, I'm cutting an average of (4) semi loads a day on this tract. Problem is the wood hasn't been reaching the landing like my boss and I think it should be.

Friday, Charlie left for lunch so I jumped on the skidder to see what the problem has been. It only took me 10 minutes before I realized that the problem was he had no room to work. Wht I have been doing is cut a section and move over till it is out then lay down another strip. Well....I failed to leave a path into the next sections. Charlie is a quiet dude and failed to tell me he needed some save trees cut in order to remove the cut timber. So immediately I shut the skidder down and knocked some timber down in order to open a clear straight path to the rest of the timber...guess what...back to logging!

The reason I am posting this is because it just took me getting on the skidder to realize what was slowing up my operator. So in summary, if your skidder OP isn't landing the timber as fast as you think he should, it might be worth your time to jump on the skidder and see through his eyes,

Remember to take care of your skidder OP....timber doesn't count till it hits the landing. Thanks for reading! Have a safe day out there!

[Autocar]

Once we had a landowner complaining we were running over to many little trees in his woods. So the operator got him in the skidder and told him, you tell me how to get to the next tree. It didn't take but a minuite and he realized it wasn't as easy as it looked  :.

[coxy]

Once we had a landowner complaining we were running over to many little trees in his woods. So the operator got him in the skidder and told him, you tell me how to get to the next tree. It didn't take but a minuite and he realized it wasn't as easy as it looked  :.

could not have said that any better  8) 8)

[treeslayer2003]

good on ya Clint, sometimes we need to see thru others eyes. I always said the faller needs to have run a skidder and a skidder op needs to have cut timber. every thing goes smoother when guys work together.

[plasticweld]

All good skidder operators are good cutters all good cutters are skidder drivers. I have found no short cut being productive without understanding how each worker either helped or hindered the other. I learned a long time ago every mistake takes 20 minutes out of the day. Good loggers make fewer mistakes, old guys who have made lots of mistakes and been around a long time always make it look easy. If we could only cut the same tree twice this job would not be so tough, considering that this is never going to happen, there is no substitute for experience

[CCC4]

All good skidder operators are good cutters all good cutters are skidder drivers.

Yep....well usually. The OP I was working with the other day when I made this post, he does the best he can...he is neither a "good" OP or faller...he is a darn good bush mechanic though.

On the steep section I 1/4'ed up hill some timber so he could just grab the little ends and pull them straight down to the landing. This would have been great but the OP didn't "think" for himself and got high centered on a boulder trying to get the logs from the butt end.  :  I was just like, I did what I could for him...I can't hold his hand.

My main OP that I usually work with is a good faller and excellent operator. He has been skidding Gubmnet thinnings since he was 14...he is 47 now. Him and I work really well together. Today was crap though... I cut (5) 4 1/2' oak and sycamore and some 3 to 4' pine...sleet was pouring down and the trees got a good glaze...everything got so slick. We broke the mainline twice and finally called the day. I'm just going to hope for a better 2moro....it is Monday ain't it? !

[treeslayer2003]

I quarter up hill a lot as any hill here is really a river bank and protected so no trees felled in buffer. any 80 poplar will fall out of a 50 buffer but must be pulled by the top. amazing how many guys are uncomfortable pulling by the top.

[Woodhauler]

good on ya Clint, sometimes we need to see thru others eyes. I always said the faller needs to have run a skidder and a skidder op needs to have cut timber. every thing goes smoother when guys work together.

And the same goes for skidder operaters and truck drivers! The ones that put up a ugly pile should try to haul it to the mill!

[treeslayer2003]

good on ya Clint, sometimes we need to see thru others eyes. I always said the faller needs to have run a skidder and a skidder op needs to have cut timber. every thing goes smoother when guys work together.

And the same goes for skidder operaters and truck drivers! The ones that put up a ugly pile should try to haul it to the mill!

yup, lol like the trucker hears the mill complain about knots. I have to do it all so I sympathise with all of ya lol.

[cutter88]

Once we had a landowner complaining we were running over to many little trees in his woods. So the operator got him in the skidder and told him, you tell me how to get to the next tree. It didn't take but a minuite and he realized it wasn't as easy as it looked  :.

could not have said that any better  8) 8)

AMEN ;D