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Rick Alger
ParticipantI will volunteer to work on the Worker’s Comp Insurance issue.
ParticipantWell done Lancek. Good of you to share.
ParticipantHi Joel,
There certainly are a few jokers at FF, but there are also some really knowledgeable guys and some excellent info.Rick
ParticipantThe first thing I would like to work on is uniting with practicioners in my region .
I think Carl’s offer to host the group’s internet outreach is our best option.
Regarding apprentices, the big stumbling block here in NH is Worker’s Comp as it is apparently for Taylor and Lancek.
ParticipantHi George,
1. I haven’t had the benefit of the Game of Logging, so I can answer only from my experience. Think of it as shearing a sheep. Keep the saw on the log running at full speed. Follow a pattern – far side, top side, near side -step – near side, top side, far side. Adjust your whole body to the angles instead of just your hands. Come back down the tree limbing the bottom side.
2. That’s what I do. My only advice here is to make sure what lengths they are taking, and what ratio of short logs to 16’s they will accept.
3. I don’t do much hardwood. There is some good stuff on the Forestry Forum that covers bucking hardwood. A lot of it comes down to local specs and market conditions. I am pulping white birch right now that would have brought in a small fortune as boltwood twenty years ago.
Participantyes .
ParticipantLancek,
Thanks for your interest and the well intentioned advice.My “service area” is Coos County New Hampshire. It has a land area about the size of the state of Rhode Island with a population of less than 40,000. There are very few wealthy out of state landowners, although this is slowly changing. Most landowners here are not wealthy, but they are well aware of the value of their wood, and the going rate for the labor to harvest it. Consequently I’ve got to stay somewhere in the pragmatic range for my pricing. We are in the Northern Forest here which translates to either spruce-fir stands or mixed hardwood of generally low value.
I’ve been doing horselogging for over ten years, and I worked with skidders before that. I know about half the consulting foresters in the area personally, and most of the USDA and state guys as well. I have my name on several greeny listings, there have been at least half-a-dozen articles about me in the local papers, and I’ve given three demonstrations at various sites with a combined audience of around 500 people.
None of this has resulted in a single job. It has always been word of mouth. (The forester I’m cutting for now is a next door neighbor.)
What I am hoping to do is transition out of industrial forestry by building connections with the next wave of landowners- such as those who visit this site. I’m trying to offer myself more as a hired hand with some expertise than a contractor.
I know what my break-even is, and $750 isn’t far from it, but it beats saying, “Welcome to Walmart.”
Take care,
Rick
ParticipantMy offer to work with landowners on woodland projets still stands.
Under reasonably good conditions, we could harvest next year’s firewood in a week or pile up enough sawlogs for a small barn.
An added bonus would be trails you can walk on with slash lopped to hip height and the residual stand left intact.
If you can arrange rough quarters for me and my horse, I will provide a full week of professional horselogging assistance for the introductory figure of $750.
Rick Alger
603 449 2262ParticipantThanks Mark. I sent her an email also and invited her to visit my current job. She wont see any ruts.
ParticipantI have a separate General Liability policy for logging. It costs around $500 a year and is required for some of the jobs I undertake. My agent is Kris Armstrong of WJ Cox Insurance in Keene, NH. She is very competent and helpful.
Participant#1. yea
#2. nay
ParticipantTo foster the use of draft animals for sustainable forestry practices.
I think “appropriate technology” would be better as an objective than as a part of the mission statement.
ParticipantSorry to lose contact. I am cutting wood 45 miles from home and generally staying in a camp that is off the grid. When I do get home, I crash.
As far as the vote goes, I’ll be okay with “Share techniques and strategies” even though I was one of the ones who brought up the Worker’s Comp issue.
It looks like the majority wants to go in a visionary direction instead of a pragmatic one. That’s not my first choice either, but I’ll go with it.
I do hope that we will not lose sight of the every day issues facing the working logger.
ParticipantScott,
To answer your earlier question, probably 120 – 150 pieces per week. I’ve done over 70 in a day, but I can’t expect to average that because there are a lot of blowdowns and undergrowth that have to be cut for trails along with all the limbing and brush piling. This is obviously not a lucrative job, but in my area at this particular time it is as good as gets.
ParticipantHaven’t agreed on an exact price, but I expect it will be between $120 and $130 per thousand. Marked wood. Thirty to forty logs to the thousand. Mostly red spruce.
There is another another company that pays $90. They usually clearcut.
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