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in time the woods wears a man down.

Started by lynde37avery, February 10, 2014, 08:10:27 PM

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lynde37avery

me and my uncle worked a solid 7 hrs today cutting/skidding hardwood.
pretty much i fell asleep in the easy chair 5 min after i got in for an hr. my uncle went right home to his kid/grandson.
he told me and i could see he was real worn down about 4 pm today. hiking in the snow, cutting big timber. it was windy at 17*F not a bad temp but bearable. for our work.
im just curious but is most men in there 50's that have run a cable skidder 35 years about like this? after 4 or 5 or so in the afternoon the guys just whipped straight? i feel bad. maybe i worked him too hard.

anyone have those days where ya just cant warm up n feel like dog poo when you get home?
Detroit WHAT?

SquareG


coxy

I feel that way just thinking about going to work in the morning in this weather  :D :D :D :D  I am not in my 50s but some days I feel like I cut 20000 feet and only cut 3000  :D :D :D :D

Maine logger88

We have been working from about 8 by the time everything is going to 4 to 5 and by the time I get home I'm pretty tired and if I'm not then I didn't cut enough
79 TJ 225 81 JD 540B Husky and Jonsered saws

snowstorm

thats why when you get old you buy machines. this is how i do it. start harvester or fowarder let it run for 15min. while i wait it the warm truck. by the time i get into the site the cab is warm. take jacket off for the rest of the day. end of day start truck let it run for 10 min. then go home. if nothing breaks you go home just as clean as you left. 2 gallons of chainsaw gas would last me 6 months. it dose cost a lot more to go mechanical a lot more. but to me its worth it

Corley5

Hand cutting with a chainsaw and dragging cable would be really hard in this country this winter.   
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Southside

I think the weather makes it worse, 10 minutes before reading this I asked my wife when we got old.  Even though I have a processor I end up with a saw in my hands more days than not, and end up pulling cable behind the grapple - one man operation, wet non frozen ground, and trying to leave a savanah type finish on this lot.  One bad thing about a big grapple skidder - she is a long way up into the seat.
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

loggerboy9325

Quote from: snowstorm on February 10, 2014, 08:56:03 PM
thats why when you get old you buy machines. this is how i do it. start harvester or fowarder let it run for 15min. while i wait it the warm truck. by the time i get into the site the cab is warm. take jacket off for the rest of the day. end of day start truck let it run for 10 min. then go home. if nothing breaks you go home just as clean as you left. 2 gallons of chainsaw gas would last me 6 months. it dose cost a lot more to go mechanical a lot more. but to me its worth it

living the good life sometimes I wish My dad and I could go fully mechanical. But its not in our budget and it aint our style. I havent seen a delimber that could delimb a hard wood tree successfully.

CCC4

Dude...you're 28! Buck up! LMAO! Just messing with ya...


plasticweld

I am not that far from 55, everyone that works for me is younger some by almost half. I work every day to make them look bad production wise and can normally pull it off. With old age and experience their are very few wasted moves, very few mistakes. The two other young guys that cut and skid with me run another of my machines a C6 I run my old 240 and normally tree for tree cut either just as much or more in a day, I also work a longer day and start a little earlier. I learned a long time ago a early start is the key, every mistake costs about 20 minutes of production. I fall a sleep in my chair every night, I work until there is nothing left. I know my old partner who passed away at 84 worked in the woods until he was 72 so I have no excuses. I would rather have this cold than the heat that seems to take far more out of me

jwilly3879

Working in the cold definitely seems to make me more tired, 20 minute ride home in a warm truck, take off everything down to long underwear, hit the couch for an hour or so and I'm rested and ready for dinner.

Nemologger

When I was in my early teens and early 20's It was nothing to go to work and work 10 hours a day cutting big timber, Me and another guy made 1 cent a foot each. We would sometimes make 6-700 per week each. Run like 5 gallons of gas through our saws a day. Running a Stihl 051 and a 225 Jack. Smoked 2 packs of winstons a day. Go to the tavern every night and close it down.                                                                                                                                                                                               
  Now Im 53, I still hand cut but not 10 hours a day, more like 6. Run grapple skidders with heat and air. Don't go to any taverns, anytime. Quit smoking years ago. Still ain't seen a 60,000 ft. week in years...lol...Makes a person wish he had his head out of his a$$ when he was younger... Father time takes his toll.
Clean and Sober

Ianab

In the cold you are wearing heavy clothes just to stay warm, everything you do takes more effort.

If you are beat at 4:00, you should probably call it a day. You make mistakes when you are tired, and they could be fatal.

Heat has a similar effect too....

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

HiTech

I have a friend that says if you give it a good 6 solid hrs. of work a day you are beat. This guys moves a lot of wood. I stepped off my skidder today and went into waist deep snow, could barely get the cable to the trees. Almost didn't get them out and said,"that's it". It's no fun like that and a person could get hurt. May take the skidder and try to make some trails today. It's been a tough winter. If the snow settles some it won't be a s bad. If it's not below zero it is snowing. I have 6 below this morning and is supposed to go to 20 below tonight. May just stay home and feed the wood stove. lol

David-L

I plan on Six hrs a day in this cold weather, I am 51 and go to the chiropractor every two weeks and take Turmeric for the arthritis and inflamation and I swear by it. Everything usually hurts by the end of the day as I still pull cable and set chokers. Getting on the Timberjack has helped the last few years as climbing up on the old 440B wasn't working for me anymore.  I find that when hand chopping the level of concentration can also wear you out ,especially when your cutting big hardwoods that need to land right as not to destroy the understory. What i have learned in this game is when things start breaking and going wrong to walk away and it will all be there for you tomorrow to try again.  Had an old farmer friend always say at his ending days god rest his soul, " make sure they bury me with my John Deere as there has never been a hole she hasn't gotten me out of "

                                            David l
In two days from now, tomorrow will be yesterday.

coxy

Quote from: David-L on February 11, 2014, 06:22:36 AM
I   Had an old farmer friend always say at his ending days god rest his soul, " make sure they bury me with my John Deere as there has never been a hole she hasn't gotten me out of "

                                            David l
I like that saying never heard that be for  must have been a great guy to say that ;D ;D

Stephen Alford

   Your uncle is lucky to have a man working with him thats got his back.  Once your over 50 I think its a good idea to have a physical  every year.  It is made easy for you here because if you do not have one they will downgrade your drivers license.  :-\ More often than not a bad sitch can be avoided with a little maintenance prevention.  Not much difference than the ol skidder really, just easier to fix at the landing.   ;)
logon

Woodboogah

I would rather the cold then the heat.  The cold definatley take more out of you, makes for a good nights sleep.  Have to be a little more careful when it comes to breaking stuff.  I leave a little later when its cold let the sun hit the machine for a bit, stay till dark.  In the summer it takes all I have to stay in the woods.  I hate hot humid days. 
Keenan Logging & Tree Care, LLC

Ed_K

 I'd rather cold than hot,but not this cold  :o .I worked a short day yesterday as I had to go to the book keeper.I cut one 26" s/maple brought out 4 saw logs and 1/2 cord of wood out of the tree.The hour ride to the job,the cold to get skidder started,14" of snow and a skid rd that has 2 steep hills up out and in the cut is still wet doesn't help.I quit when I slipped getting on the skidder and had to pick myself out of the snow,worked from 11:00 to 3:00 and I was beat.
I really would like heat & air but it's to late for a one person op to change now.
Ed K

Corley5

I'll take the cold too within reason.  It's still -1 here right now.  The three feet of snow on the ground is making it hard for the forwarder to get around.  Even though it's this cold I'm not wishing it was 95.  Sixty to sixty five would be just about right :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Autocar

Iam 66 and I haven't worked sence new years day, twenty inches of snow dragging a saw around climbing up in my grapple skidder wears me out. Even with no snow and average temperarure by 2:00 or so Iam done cutting timber maybe a hour and half longer if I don't stop to eat. Let me stop for a half hour to a hour Iam shoot. I just got off the phone with a log buyer and told him Iam ashamed I haven't been working but Iam starting to realize what I can and can't do anymore. And when the weather breaks I'll get back at it not as fast but still enough that when I go home Iam satisfied and tired  :D My mind still thinks like Iam twenty but my body disagrees and its hard for me to change my mind if that makes any sence to you.
Bill

SquareG

When it warms up it will be to muddy.  I'll take summer.  It's always dry ground.  I don't take the heat any better than anybody else, but I'm going to starve at this rate.  And the sawmills are hungrier in summer.  Got alot done last summer by my standard.  4am to 2.

cutter88

well im a long way off 50 and after 8 or 9 hours cutting and skidding with my 640 deere in snow almost to my waist in the big maple I can hardly stay awake to eat my supper lol
Romans 10 vs 9 
650G lgp Deere , 640D deere, 644B deere loader, 247B cat, 4290 spit fire , home made fire wood processor, 2008 dodge diesel  and a bunch of huskys and jonsereds (IN MEMORY OF BARRY ROGERSON)

SquareG

I'd like to think I'm half tuff, but there's a bunch of you twice what I am.  Conditions aren't near that bad here, and I ain't gettin nothin done for skidding or trucking.  Knocking some down.  Even my pickup quits with a couple feet of snow.

SwampDonkey

Good honest days work, and the wife knows where ya are after supper. :D Nothing easy about woods work, but sometimes it seems so when you get a little boost in pay and production for a time. ;)


Just some fodder here. ;)
Some fellas are burning lots of chain saw gas, 5 gallons/day? I suppose it's the size of the saws.   I'm just comparing to a brush saw here, only 57 cc's, but I can only burn at most 1 gallon in 8 hours and that would have to be real thick ground with the saw screaming. Normal cutting I can use a 5 gallon jug 7 or 8 days. I get 50 min in thick ground and up to 1 hr and 45 mins in very light plantation. We were on one site this year and I cut 2.5 acres 4 days in succession.  On 4 - 5 tanks a day for $400 ain't bad. Was very light, lots of walking, but not much cut'n. Some of the fellows said, 'what?' There's the strip on the map, there's the gas jug. I like them light strips. Sometimes it's a pain to have to go searching for the gas jug along the edge of the work strip though. Ah, back there 50 yards. Need a gas boy. ;D Sometimes we have a 600 yard walk to the back of a strip, if it ain't too hilly we work from the back to the front, shorter walk each day. Gotta work smart at times. But if it's all hill gotta start from the bottom and work up. Top of the hill could be at the road or the back. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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