[TaylorJohnson]

Man Carl, You make it sound pretty good you half got me looking forward to it LOL. Winter is not all bad there is a lot I like about it but it can get long in Norther WI were I live for sure. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I really like the seat on my cart It is a Pioneer seat I believe but Tim likes his better because he can flip it up and it is out of the way when he stands. Mine I would say is more comfortable and has more adjustment on it plus a spring. Todd rigged his up with an air bag and it is pretty cool and I am sure it rides nice. I rough ground I am standing most of the time any way but a good ride is important for sure. I can not imagine not having any suspension in the seat , you would get tough or die I guess LOL . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Most of the time a single. A lot of the time I just fell the trees and bucked them ( bucking had more to do with my plan that the felling as far as my skidding went ) so I could hook a drag and skid it to another tree , stop the team and back the cart up unhook the drag hook some more pull it up hook the hole load and go. Sometimes I would pull up to a drag , let some slack out on the load that I had on the cart, pull over the skid I wanted to hook , hook both drags , pull them ahead , back the team up, hook the slack drag tight pull ahead to even them , set them both and go. (In the time it took me to write this down I would have already been on the landing LOL. I am a better logger than typer for sure. )
When I fell a tree putting it in the right spot for the forest is the most important thing. The next thing I do is plan my skid. In the pine in the pics I would use my tape measure out 2 8′ mark the bark on the first one make my cut on the 2nd one. this pine was 6 to 8 sticks ( most any way ) so I would measure out the rest of the sticks wile I was limbing then fell another tree. After I had 2 fell , limbed and marked I would decide were to buck the wood so that I could easily put a skid together trying to keep every thing in at least 16′ lengths. Most of the time bunching the smaller logs up to the first cut letting the but cut log be hooked by its self. In this way in a row cut you can put big skids together with out a lot of trouble doing the hooking as I described up top.
Looking back at what I have typed I wonder if it will make any sense to anyone or not . But any way doing it like this allows you to bunch skids and not have to unhook the team from the cart , it sounds slow but it is not . I have had Lyme’s disease most of the summer and was still able to get out an av of about 3 cords and some days 4 or more in this little stuff. That is an average , some days all I did was cut , some days I just skidded wood. These are full work days not short days , there were some days I got very little out but weeks when I could work a full week with out an interruption I would av this no problem.
Scott you will love your cart , I mean they are handy to have for sure. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Ya Tim is my buddy with the Farmer Brown cart in S MN give him a call he can tell you all about it, he has pulled a lot of wood with it. That is how I used mine in the pine thinning this summer . I pulled drags together and bunched wood up to make bigger drags for my cart . It would haul a big load out with ease. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Back in Feb of 98 or 99 I was felling trees in a t shirt in MN and the NOV before that I hunted deer in jeans and a flannel shirt. Not this year , 7 months to go,,,,, well what ever life goes on . We had a good summer up here all 3 weeks of it and the 2 weeks of fall were also nice LOL . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Hey , thanks for taking the time to post all those pics. You done a good job it looks great , thanks again. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Scott , This is my cart here, a man in MN made it . It is a good cart and has good lift on it . I have another friend in southern MN that has a Farmer Brown cart and if he could not get another one I dint think you could buy it from him. I have not used a forestry brand cart or even seen one used but they look like a good cart. They are a handy tool to have for sure and when you get one you will think back to so many days that you did not have one and start to sweat just thinking about all those extra steps and jumps over logs and stumps. I love mine and would not want to be with out it for sure , not now after I have been spoiled by it . I wish that I had pics of some of the drags I have brought out with mine I mean really big loads .
The man that made mine is Todd Eggler , he is a horse logger and a good fabricator . He is a Marine and is hard to get a hold of at times but when I talk to him I will get a number that I can post on line. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Scott,
It sounds like you are having some challenges to say the least. It is a blizzard here right now as I look out the window,,,,, I to am not ready for this. I am not even over last winter yet. But like the old Norwegians say around here ( well I guess we will do what we do in the old country ,, let it snow ) . Taylor Johnson.

[TaylorJohnson]

Nice little team there and nice wagon to. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

tbiglug,
That sounds like a good day to me . be safe and have fun. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Jason ,
I sure wish I could have been there , I am glad it went well sound like a lot of fun. Next year I hope to have a little more cash in my pocket so I can come. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I love this site and I love Rural heritage magazine ,, I cant afford it right now but I look at my old ones from time to time and before long I will be getting it again. I do not post as much on rural heritage front porch because I don’t know how to post pics on there yet ( my wife has to do it for me and she is busy with a 4year old , an almost 2year old , and one coming in October so I let her be for now 😉 ) . But I do read it and I have posted on there . I like both sites a lot and I thank who ever keeps them going.
One late winter/ early spring I was working over in MN with a friend of mine and he had stacks upon stacks of rural heritage magazines in he motor home We must have worked there 2 months and I read stacks and stacks of those books ,, it was a good time and some of them were very old ones to boot. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

This fire wood job I am going to start I got last year and at the time I thought I would have some help ( but I was not banking on it) but when they looked into there cost to start and what they could make ,,, well they just stepped back. One man even has a nice team of black mares and a log arch but until I can figure something out he can not be on the job. With a little help I could easily get out 5 to 6 cords a day. Now that is not going to flood any markets but it would make for a more steady income and we could all make a little.
Tim Carrol and a Man named Mark from up in northern MN came up with a good way to work as a group wile horse logging, it goes on shares . Every man, team, saw, tool truck ,,, what ever gets used is worth something. It sounds complicated but it is not once you see it work but there again if every one don’t have the insurance and all the BS then it cant work not because it cant just because THEY SAY SO! I could put quite a few guys to work in this fire wood and I think make a much better go of it.
It is hard at time to get these land owners to understand that What we do is worth the money and time to them and there land. From what I have seen most foresters don’t help the move meant to much . I am starting to just get calls from people that want me to cut wood but I did a lot of pounding on doors before to find projects to work on. I really believe that what we are doing is a good thing on many levels but the system is stacked against us right now. I think a big step in getting over this would be having the right to work with one another to up volumes and to get jobs done in a more timely fashion.
I taught a young man to drive horses last winter and he loved it and he had the strength to work hard but when it cam down to going to work and when faced with what he had to do just to work he could not do it , he even had a horse. So he looked around for a job for about three months and eventually ended up in jail for jacking around and getting his truck stuck up on a big mud bank in the fair grounds ( he was on probation to start with for a bunch of hair brained stunts ) . Were if he would have been working with me he would have been to tired to go out and act stupid and get into trouble. He had a lot of pride in learning to drive a team and at one point he said he was so excited that he could not sleep ,,, well wouldn’t it me nice to put him to work pulling out fire wood this winter let him soak a couple of shirts a day . I bet his PO officer would be much happier with him and so would his parents,,, A 6′ 210 pound man that has an over abundance of energy and they wont let him just go to work at 18 years of age what a joke. If he was with me he would be tired out and would not act stupid because he knows I will not put up with it . If they would turn use loose I know that a lot of us on here could make a much better go of it in a lot of different types of stands. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Thanks Scott G I will check it out.
I got this job for $5.00 a cord and I have to cut all the oak because there trying to restore it all to white pine again. There are some logs on the job but it is not a log job , more fire wood than any thing else. I am hoping to be able to stay in that $70.00 a cord range on the landing for my 8′ stuff . I have been making some calls and it sounds like I should be able to. I hate to work cheap but man right now it is just a survival game until things improve a bit. I have some hourly stuff coming up but it seems like no one can make a move right now , there waiting because of money. I will be selling wood cut and split to and that should help me move some product. Plus the land owner is going to keep the road and landing plowed out for me so and up here that is a big expense for the 5 months it will need it. It will be nice to stay out of the red pine for a wile ,, that stuff is tough to make any thing in for sure . I have to go and look at a Maple job here real soon and that would be nice to get it is a 160 acres with maple and bass wood and right now i have a market for both.
When I took this job I thought I would have some help on it to but now I will not . Just cant do it with the cost of insurance and all. It is a joke that in the United States of America that 2 men cant inter into a contract or sign a waver that they will not sue one another . It is impossible to put some one to work with workers comp being what it is and most guys are not willing to make the commitment that it takes to be self employed and do subcontract work. I have at least 3 guys right now that would go to work for me right now that I cant do any thing with because of insurance. If I could put them to work it would up my income and give them something to do instead of twiddling there thumbs . I wish they would get off are backs and let us do what we have to do. That is the difference in America today and when my Dad was young ,, back then when times got tough a bunch of guys could get together and make a go of it and help one anther out cutting skidding what ever now well you have to careful every one wants to sue every one else ,,,, it is all BS. Lawyers are ruining are country and there is no common sense left in law. Contractual law means nothing any more if it did wavers would hold up in court and people could sign them and work together! Well I am done with my rant for the morn so we will talk to you all later. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Ya, I have heard that before to about moving a lot of wood and this and that. Most of the time they got about 3 or 4 loads sold then there waiting to.
The fire wood bizz can be tough but if your steady at it you can make a little. I might buy a pickup box trailer 3/4 ton that I can pull behind my truck or my logging arch,, in fact I think I will buy 2 . I can pull them around the trails on this job and pick up cut and split wood load it in the trailer pull it out to the landing hook it to my truck and throw a load on the truck to and make a delivery. That would be a $250.00 dollar pay load plus I could charge for trucking. I will also sell 8′ wood to the truckers and folks that want it. Fire wood is a by product of logging and the logging is slow here now so not as much fire wood on the market. I hope it holds strong for a wile. That is what these guys around here were getting last year for prices in there yards so I think it will , less loggers now than then. Taylor Johnson

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