Right in my own front yard

[willworkforwood]

Last week I noticed some equipment parked in front of the lot which is across the street in front of our house. It's a large piece of land that's never been developed. A while later they knocked an opening in the stone wall and began cutting trees. I thought maybe someone was finally building a house on the lot. Turns out the land owner just wanted some quick money (lost their job), and had contracted for some logging to be done. Although I've cut lots of wood on my own, I've never had the opportunity to watch a pro outfit in action close up. It's definitely been quite a good show. I took a vacation day today, and watched for a while as they got a couple of loads onto a large flatbed and a small cherrypicker. Plus there was another fellow cutting rounds and tossing them into a smaller rig. Then I went over and talked for a while with a guy in a pickup who turned out to be the honcho of the job. He had subbed the whole job out to 2 separate outfits, and was keeping an eye on things. Now, many of my stacks are visible from the front, and so he knew I burn lots of wood. When I told him I processed everything by hand from my own land, he was more than willing to chat with a kindred spirit who gets woodchips on his clothes.
I told him they processed more wood today than I can do in a full year. He replied that he was always under-the-gun to get as much processed as possible and that it's worse than ever with times being so tough with the economy. I wished him well, and then went out back to cut a (very) little bit of my own. For all the folks out there who have never seen this up close, if you ever get the chance, it's well worth the time spent!

 

[ikessky]

Looks like they are using a Prentice loader. Nice equipment if I do say so myself. ;-)

 

[Skier76]

It's amazing what an experienced crew and some good equipment can accomplish. We had some trees taken down in October. It was amazing to see how it was done.

 

[Heem]

So... they gonna let you at the scraps? I'm sure they leave behind some tasty nuggets.

 

[willworkforwood]

So... they gonna let you at the scraps? I'm sure they leave behind some tasty nuggets.

When I first saw what they were up to, that possibility did cross my mind. But it was kind of unlikely right from the get go, because my only wood hauler is the wheelbarrow. In a couple of years when the boiler pays itself off, then maybe something else. So it was a long shot anyway, but when I found out the guy had a firewood business of his own, I thought definitely not. This fellow is trying to make a living, and there was no way I was going to ask him for any gimmies. Plus I cut my own for free, so I also wasn't interested in buying anything. Late this afternoon I took a walk down the path they cut, just to see what their hinges looked like, and found that all of the stumps were taken right down to nearly ground level (just like I do myself), plus everything was completely cleaned up. Although I didn't see a chipper, it seems like they must have brought one in somewhere along the way. No mess anywhere - totally professional. They did leave at least 50 fairly large logs on the site, right next to the road, along with a dozer. I guess they're not worried about anything walking away from the job site

 

[ikessky]

Were they cutting by hand or using a processor? My father-in-law runs a processor and is pretty generous with what he leaves in the woods, mainly because he knows I'll come behind him and clean it up.

 

[loon]

watched a crew last year by my buddy's deer camp and thought "wow" thats the way to do it ;-)

they sure know their stuff!!

loon

 

[willworkforwood]

Were they cutting by hand or using a processor? My father-in-law runs a processor and is pretty generous with what he leaves in the woods, mainly because he knows I'll come behind him and clean it up.

They were cutting by hand, but primarily into log length. The guy in charge of this job said that most of the stuff was headed to the mill, and that the leftovers were going to his firewood business. They picked up another load of logs this morning, and there's maybe another load left. But they must have also used a chipper or whatever, because the site doesn't have anything left over from their cutting, not even a stray branch.

 

[ikessky]

Easier to clean it up and to get firewood if they are hand cutting. Processors don't handle small diameter stuff (like tops and branches) very well.

 

[LLigetfa]

Ja, I've been on both sides... cutting commercially in the past and now only processing my own firewood. The feller/bunchers/forwarders and grapple skidders were just starting to replace the saw hands and mainline choker skidders when I got out of the game. It was amazing watching how much more they could process in the areas that they did best in.

 

[JotulOwner]

It's amazing what an experienced crew and some good equipment can accomplish. We had some trees taken down in October. It was amazing to see how it was done.

+1 I had some tree removal done recently. I wouldn't want to do that job. Not much room for error and I require plenty of room for error in my job :lol: