Tips for more Effecient Logging

[BrokenTrack]

Tips for Logging (Many while alone).

I have always logged alone, and so here are a few tips I learned over the years to make production more efficient, and in some aspects, more safe.

1. Know your saw. For instance, when logging with a skidder, I know my saw can last for (2) twitches before refueling. With my bulldozer it was (3) twitches, and with my tractor it was (4) twitches.) Knowing this, you never have to run low of fuel, and walk back to your fuel jugs and refill. The saw always has enough fuel and oil.

2. As quick as possible, drive a road as far back into the woodlot as possible, to the very back, then work your way out. In this way, you can cut a few trees, then on your way back out, you can pick up additional trees, that way you are never working hip deep in logging slash, have a tangle of trees to limb, and yet always have a full twitch.


3. Learn to fell well. You only spend about 15% of your time felling, another 15% of your time limbing, 15% of your time bucking, but 55% of your time pulling out wood. Spending a few extra minutes controlling where each tree lands will save a ton of time getting the wood to the landing.

4. Spinning tires is a waste of time and money. On the first trip out of an area, I have a really light twitch to test the twitch trail. Go light, go often is always the best option in logging. Far better to get from stump to landing without stopping, then getting stuck, rehooking chokers, etc.


5. Get a winch. It is far safer to log with one, and a winch always has 100% traction.

6. Cut what you can get out. Dropping trees and leaving them may mean you cannot get back and get them. I cut what I can get out. With a skidder it is 7 trees, with my bulldozer it was five, and with my tractor it was four. At the end of the day, what I felled, is on the landing. There is nothing I hate more than seeing the work of other loggers who cut trees, and did not get them out. Those trees take years to grow to size, and a landowner paid taxes all during that time. Having them rotting in the woods does nothing for anyone: if you cut a tree, figure a way to get it on the landing.


7. Any trees that got unhooked on the way to the landing, I clean up on my last twitch. For instance, if I lost 3 trees throughout the day on my twitch trail, I just fell four trees on my last twitch, and pick up the three I dropped. This makes for a full twitch, but an easy one; perfect for the last twitch of the day.

8. Climbing is where fatigue is compounded. Do as much as you can when off the tractor as possible. Climbing up and down quickly wears a logger out. Planning is everything in life, and especially logging.


9. Stop logging when tired. It is not worth it; live to fight another day. Before I got cancer, I could cut 10 cord per day. While logging with cancer, I would just cut (3) twitches (3 cord) per day and then stop. It took me longer, but I was still getting wood out? A true feat when a person has cancer.

10. Keep your saw sharp. Not only does this make for higher production, it makes your saw last longer too. A dull saw heats up the bar, and a bar is bolted to the low end of the saw body. That is where the crank is, and can cause the saw to fail sooner.

11. Carry a spare bar and chain with you. That way if you get your saw pinched (we all do it), you can remove the pinched bar and chain from the saw body, and then put on the spare one. That way you can cut your pinched saw out. A spare bar and chain can easily be stashed, rather than trying to carry a spare saw, or going to retrieve the spare saw. All my life I have only logged with one saw out in the woods with me.

12. Get the biggest saw you can handle. A saw is cheap when compared to the value of the work it performs. The more powerful the saw, the more it can power through, and not pinch.

 

[yomax4]

#11 hits home. I've left my expensive saws pinched in the woods to go get another saw several times.

 

[Ortimber]

Excellent advice, thank you for posting this!

 

[Citydude]

All good advice! Of the close calls I’ve had, fatigue was the root cause.

 

[Jstpssng]

6. Cut what you can get out. Dropping trees and leaving them may mean you cannot get back and get them. I cut what I can get out. With a skidder it is 7 trees, with my bulldozer it was five, and with my tractor it was four. At the end of the day, what I felled, is on the landing. There is nothing I hate more than seeing the work of other loggers who cut trees, and did not get them out. Those trees take years to grow to size, and a landowner paid taxes all during that time. Having them rotting in the woods does nothing for anyone: if you cut a tree, figure a way to get it on the landing.

That was me 4 years ago... in summer I prefer to cut and fell in the morning, then bring them out in the heat of the day. I had about a cord of spruce all dropped and limbed, and broke my winch on the first hitch out, which paunched me for the day. That was also when my tractor started showing it's age, and I never did get that wood out. Every time I see those trees I think of how handy that $150 would be if it was on a truck instead of sitting in the woods rotting.

 

[BrokenTrack]

That was me 4 years ago... in summer I prefer to cut and fell in the morning, then bring them out in the heat of the day. I had about a cord of spruce all dropped and limbed, and broke my winch on the first hitch out, which paunched me for the day. That was also when my tractor started showing it's age, and I never did get that wood out. Every time I see those trees I think of how handy that $150 would be if it was on a truck instead of sitting in the woods rotting.

I get my wood out, but so many times I will be hiking through the woods and see where other loggers have cut trees and just left them. That bugs me, along with those loggers that leave half a load of wood on the landing. I tell my truck drivers I got half a load there, so they can pick it up, and they clean up the landing! A trucker can stop twice to make up a load. It is not a big deal.

That kind of stuff is what gets a logger additional woodlots.

 

[CobyRupert]

Good stuff.
...but seeing how this is the internet..
#11: I substitute a 3lb hammer and a couple plastic wedges. They can prevent you getting pinched in the first place and can usually get you out of a bind when you’ve guess wrong. It depends on the size of the tree, and forces. I imagine there can be situations where getting the powerhead off a stick bar can be tricky. I also bring a second saw if farther away from home.

#12: Big saw are good for felling and cutting the trunk, but for me that’s probably only 25-30% of run time. Much more is limbing. I’d rather carry a lighter saw for trimming and not wear myself out. Your results may very.

 

[BrokenTrack]

#11: I substitute a 3lb hammer and a couple plastic wedges. They can prevent you getting pinched in the first place and can usually get you out of a bind when you致e guess wrong. It depends on the size of the tree, and forces.

Good catch on the plastic wedge. Yeah I do not go into the woods without one, usually stuffed into the side pocket on my pants (Carhartt's have a side pocket just above the knee on the right side).

I used to take a hammer with me, but lost too many. What I do now is, if I need to drive a wedge home, I cut a limb or sapling 2-3 feet long, 2 inches or so in diameter and use that. I just use it like a club to pound the wedge in. Hardwood works best, but softwood will work in a pinch. Typically there is something nearby to make one. Doing that just saves having to lug a hammer with me.

You can often cut a longer one, and use it as a lever to help unstick a stuck bar too. I always have one out on the landing in case a tree rolls and pinches my bar. I can use the skidder, but it is often faster to just lever the log up, then climb up on the skidder, push the tree, get down, cut the log off the rest of the way, climb back up on the skidder, back it up, climb back down...you get the idea. That climbing wears me out quickly.

 

[Jstpssng]

I get my wood out, but so many times I will be hiking through the woods and see where other loggers have cut trees and just left them. That bugs me, along with those loggers that leave half a load of wood on the landing. I tell my truck drivers I got half a load there, so they can pick it up, and they clean up the landing! A trucker can stop twice to make up a load. It is not a big deal.

That kind of stuff is what gets a logger additional woodlots.

That bugs me also, but it happens. On a large scale, sometimes it can't be helped. I try to walk all of the trails before they pull the equipment out but it doesn't always happen. A good part of my firewood supply this year was yellow birch veneer which got buried under the snow the previous winter; you really can't send somebody back six months later for 400 feet of wood. (about a cord.)
Unfortunately they don't always cut exact loads. Generally though, the yards do get cleaned up.

 

[yomax4]

My property hooks on to state forest. they often thin or harvest the woods. I usually let the loggers know that I will clean up what ever big tops and full logs they leave behind. They gave me about 50 cord one time and it took 2 years to cut it up and heated with it for 3. All oak, hickory and cherry.