[TaylorJohnson]

Rick that is the same problem we have up here with the big trucks , by the time you make them legal you can’t afford to run them. License , insurance ….. too much money. Any thing over 26000 lb need to be driven with a CDL . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Jason ,
I have a small network of small mills in the area that are willing to mill just about any product for me now . I have one guy that builds some of the best post and log rails I have ever seen and he wants to use me exclusively for a supplier . I am going to just keep pushing hard in this direction . I even am trying to get set up to do a local net work for fuel wood costumers . All of this I am trying to do local like 25 to 30 miles from home . I am trying to get a meeting with a guy tha owns a big mill and logging business up in Hayward for an out let for my pulp. I am trying to get them to by it on the landing from me and truck it when they get time. He could buy what I put out in a month and lose it on the way to the mill and it would not hurt him a bit LOL . His head forester really like me and my work and said he would get me a meeting in the next few weeks , we will see.
I will tell ya what though man i don’t think any one could pay me enough to do any thing else , I love this work and I love this craft. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Jason , that set up is a dandy I like the versatility or that type truck. We have so many log trucks up here it is unreal but they are all busy. One out fit about 20 miles from me has 70 log trucks on contract. I live on hwy 63 going to Hayward and you could count them one after the other all day long hauling into LP and the other mills in Hayward. The Dot. cops will be on you every day up here with those old trucks though,, think it is stupid because I would love to haul my own wood. My old trucker retired and I am in the process of getting on another ones schudle but I would love to just haul it my self. When I was a kid down in Kentucky we hauled with trucks like you have there, loaded a lot of them with fork lefts. Worked good until it rained and then you might as well have been on the ice lol . We have some big wood up here oak ,maple , white and red pine but we have a lot of small stuff to . My loader is good but if I was buy you guys I would eventually get a bigger loader or a truck like you all have. Jason how are the DOT cops by you guys ? Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Currently I find paying a little more, and pestering the truckers is more effective.

Carl ,,,, LOL That is funny man .
Carl these guys up here are some of the hardest truckers I have ever dealt with . It is just unreal how independent they are. Plus when fuel was high a lot dropped out and the gap has not been filled yet. The trucks that are left are so busy hauling for big operators that they don’t want to commit to a small out fit like me. They get spoiled hauling for the big operators , the piles are so big they never have to move to get a load and the piles are usually right off of a huge road that was built to look like a landing strip 🙂 . I was going to go to the drive way of LP ( Louisiana Pacific ) and just flag them down on their way out to try to get one to haul for me LOL ( I have done it before ) . We are getting some warm weather up here and break up could be early. Every year it is the same about the middle of Jan every logger starts working like mad to get as much done by the middle of march when they put the road limits on. Right now t is like a preshur cooker up here every one scrambling to get there wood out . The worst part is that they will get the limits on and then it will drop down to 25 bellow for about a week or two ,, happens every year .
Carl I have though so much about the same size truck you are talking about . My cousin has one that size and it is a handy tool . He pulls his horses with it , hauls hay , and sorts logs and even hauls some small loads. He got the truck cheap and the loader cheap ( bought seperate of corse ) . He has less that 5 grand into the hole thing and it runs like a top. We got some cheap loaders for sale up here at time but the hood factory is 40 min north of here and printice factory is about 1.5 hours south of here,,, lots of loader around . That truck has a fule miser motor in it and gets about 11 to 12 miles to the gallon know matter what you are hauling .
I have thought about it and I will say that if I had to just pik one piece of equipment to be able to keep and I could not sell it I would want my arch above my loader . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

@Joel 16305 wrote:

See, there is another man talking about dancing.

No one replied to me about the dance so I will acknowledge you, Taylor.

It takes a self-loader about 10 minutes to reset. At $75/hr, low I know, that is $15. How long did it take you to deck that log with a cable & block? Did anybody die? was it worth it?

If one has the room, take advantage of it. If not look for another place to deck. 3 or 4 high gets easier with time.

Joel,
I don’t know about the dance I guess, I am not on here enough to know what you are talking about, may be you are reffering to what I say about rhythem in the woods . I don’t know how it is every where else but up here the log trucker are very picky about the logs they haul as far as were there at and how many times they have to get off their truck to load. And as fare as finding a better place to deck logs with more room well there just are some places up here were there are know fields or clearings to deck in. right now I am waiting for a truck to come and haul wood there is close to 5 truck loads on the landing . If it were 4′ high i would have to cut a lot of the trees on the costumers drive way just to pile logs as it is the piles are more condensed and stacked much higher. The nearest clearing is about 3/4 miles away on someone elses property. If a truck don’t show up one week and you get rain the next well you can have a lot of wood on the landing and know were to go with it . I don’t have another job so I can’t go home and just wait for a truck to empty my landing I have to make room my self and keep going . As far as any one getting killed while loading logs, no so that is good.
I would not spend enough on a loader so that it would dictate how I have to log, my loader makes my operation more flexible . 25 or 30 grand on a loader is too much but if you can keep that cost low enough it sure pays to have one. I prefer to put that physical energy into logs ready to be trucked , the more I do the more I make. Are methods are much cleaner and a lot pretty to watch but no matter what it plays out to how much you can “cut down and take to town” as my Dad always said. Unless we are getting paid by the hour ,,, and even then you have to get as much done as possible wile still doing a proper job. Using a loader is just another tool,, eventually there will be one there to pick up the logs any way . Out there in that bigger run of timber you could get by with out one easier plus I think your ground is more cut up with roads and fields. I do think when a land owner is willing to put in the proper type landings and road it is best but with the loader I don’t have to turn them away if they are not able to .
Joel if you asked me something and I did not respond I apologize , I am not on here that much any more and when I do pop in I just scan though fast and more than likely forget if someone asked me any thing . That is for any one else to I am not meaning to answer questions . And Every one know their own struggles with logging and every one will have there own methods of dealing with them. Ballance in life,,, and every thing you do is important don’t commit to any one thing to easily. Flexibility will make you strong but rigidness will break you . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I have done a lot of hand piling and piled with the horses with blocks also just hooking logs in the middle and long chaining them over top of each other. It can be done but for me the only way to get any thing done in the woods is to find a rhythm of doing things. I think this rhythm is the most important thing to learn in the woods. The problem I have had with hand piling and blocks is that you cant do any thing long enough to hit the right rhythm, in order to keep enough room to work you have to re gear to pile. Landing space is another big issue when you can only pile the wood 4 foot high it takes a lot of space to land it all on most of the jobs then if your going to string it out and not re gear to pile then that takes even more room. Ben do you remember that wood we piled in MN when it was to muddy to run the skid steer? That was some slow going that few days. We were there another 5 days and piled a lot of wood but with a loader could have been done in 1.5 to 2 days . All that time on the landing could have been spent in the bush, you or I one was on the landing many hours every day sorting those logs when we could have been pulling log to be piled. If you pile an hour a day at the end of the week you have got a fair day of time in that could have been spent skidding. An hour and a half a day and you have a 7.5 hours worth of skidding time spent piling logs. It can add up fast if you think of it that way and most days there is more than that to pile . I did make up some ropes with slip hooks on each end and a ring in the center of rope to load with . It worked well and the rope and ring system was good for unloading my little dray of pulp, bolts , or logs . The rope was weaved though the ring in a fashion that allowed you to adjust the slack up fast or let it out fast.

What ever type of loader you get should be some what mobile, something that can be hauled with a 3/4 ton truck if need be . Even if you have to get a trailer as long as you can be mobile . A skid steer can work well or a tractor with forks but a good log loader is the best I think. Ben were you are at I think a truck with loader on it would be best or at least that size loader on something. What gets me is the small wood not the logs or bigger wood. I could get buy easier with out a loader if I had mostly big wood . As fare as doing things different well I guess every job is so unique that it would change per job as far as what type of log loader system I would want. Mine is nice , a good medium size loader and very agile plus it is easy to move from job to job. The problem or draw back with my loader is that it is limited in real hilly ground , the horses can only pull so long and so much up. With a forwarder or a small truck with loader on you can climb bigger hills. The advantage to my loader is that in wet ground and muddy conditions it gets around very good , in fact the horses sink more than the loader.
When I was working pine before I got my loader there were nights when I was driving home and it felt like my arms were going to pop from piling logs by hand. It can be done but it is not easy. From what I see that is out there for sale a small truck with a loader is the way to go as fare as how much loader you get for the money and for that big hard wood you boys out east get into you need a big loader. Ben I know a guy that has a truck for sale here privately that is dirt cheap and has a good loader on it , it is a hood loader . You can buy the truck and loader for what the loader is worth . Give me a call or send me a message and I will get you details on it . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Carl,
What is this crew able to put out in a day with forwarder / horse operation ? What do the other loggers in your are get to put wood on the landing ( conventional loggers that is ) ?

[TaylorJohnson]

I think things have got to be in balance. If you go to a clients property and see what they want done and the worst that they want to take is not going to cash flow and the client can not pay what do you do? You could walk away and leave the land owner to deal with another contractor that is going to have to take a lot more to come and do the work heck his moving cost alone just to get machines there will demand a much harder cut. One thing you can do is take the worst or what ever is right for the land and take some of the high value wood to help pay for the over all project. Ideally it always works out for the best as far as the land and what is best for it but it is not always possible to do this. I think it is better to help them get the job done even if you have to take some of the high grade timber to do so. Here is were the balance comes in , if you leave them to deal with other contractors the land will get a much much harder cut than it needs or you can work with them and help him do the best that he can aford for his land. In the long run the horse logger with the right intentions is a better choise.
There are time when you will have to walk away from a job that is best suited for a mechanized operator or a high grader. I have told land owners that there job was not for me to find someone else for the type of cut they wanted . If a harvester and a 6 wheeled forwarder can do the same cut that they want me to preform well why pay me to do it . Be forward and honest with them and tell them to to get someone else to do the job. If buy hiring you they can make some adjustments and improve on what there plane is then why turn it down even if it is not exactly what you would like to do in an ideal world . As far as Tim goes and his jobs go I am sure they very greatly. I did do a job with Tim about three years ago in MN , the land owner had a forester come to the job before we got there and mark the wood. We walked the 40 acres and when we were done Tim told the land owners assistant ( that is who was handling most of the sale ) to hire someone else with a machine if he wanted the job done in this fashion . The man handling the sale said well wont it pay for you to do the job and Tim said well ya it will pay ( it was a buy the hour bid ) for me to do it but you will be wasting your money on me because you can hire a bulldozer to do this for way less money. We did end up doing the job and we made a lot of adjustments that were not in the original plan and the forest was better off than it would have been with out us doing the work. If we were just after the money there would have been a lot more bill able time there in the heavy cut that the forester wanted than what we did. There were some thing that they did there that did not make a lot of sense but it was there land and up to them ultimately. Through finding the balance on that job in the end the land was better off than it would have been and we got paid. Absolutes are seldom of use in business . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Tim is there a way we could set up what we talked about the other day? may be even just a thread with what we have to offer right now. And on another thread what some of use might be looking for. This would work until something better gets going. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I do use mine to keep the snow and rain off of my collars . When they are not on the horses they each cove some open topped tool boxes in my trailer. I have a few of these and all are very beat up and old but they work well. The thick leather on these make good ax sheaths . I have a good friend that raised Belgians for years and he has stacks of these things. He has so much tack it is just scary. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

You all can not imagine all the time I spent as a kid dreaming up the ” SUPPER MULE” lol . I would love to see those Fjord mules in person . I have always thought that would make a good mule. I have thought that Fjord were very primitive and had many mule qualities .
I had a little fjord that was a working machine but though a long string of trades, swaps , and purchases I don’t have him any more.
He was not for just any body to run but he was not a horse to blow up on you ether. Every thing he did had a reason it seemed , someone that did not know better would think he was nuts if they watched him work. He was not nuts and when talked to was as calm as a six o clock pond , he never got over excited he just plain had a gear that most horses don’t .
One time he got wopt a good one by a porky pine, nose and the side of his head were covered pretty good. He came right to me and let me pull them and I never had to tie him to do it he did flinch on a few but I have pulled quills on coon and bear dogs that raised more of a fuss than him. Now he would not have just let any one pull those quills but he liked me a lot in fact I had to make every one else leave but my wife she had to hold the bucket of water for me. In many ways he was more like a mule than a horse.
I have always liked those little primitive horses. When I was in Norway I got to ride some good ones for sure and some awesome Icelandic horses as well,,, those were in a class of there own. There we go Icelandic mules LOL. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I most of the time hit my saw with a file ,,, well almost every tank and rackers as needed for the wood I am cutting. Tongs are interesting to me because I don’t think the angle has to be off much to make them a hassle. I have one old pair i got at an antique shop that work well on medium logs
i use chains in the woods and tongs on the landing sorting big wood. I would like to see a display of a bunch of tongs ( old ones ) and talk to the guys that use them . I have one small pair that I filed the ends hard to change angle and it did help , some times just filing the points flat on the inside can help a bit. I know guys that have a good pair swear by them and seem to guard that pair . I know one old guy that my dad worked with that has a set that he wont even let any one see any more , said his wife knows were they are at and that is the only one that will. He says they will be put on his stone when he dies. My one cousin tried to get him just do show him them once and he just would not , he would feed you every night of the week if you wanted but he will not even show you those tongs LOL. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

Jason you should write the guy that builds the forestry carts , I am not sure but he might sell them to . I had his catalog and still do some were,, I will look and get back to you . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

LOL Scott that is funny . Now you got me really wanting to see it. It is real hard to describe how I felt then this limes is something else. It is like you are half a sleep or drunk , you just plain old feel week and tired. It came back on me and I had to go on medication again so I have been off the meds for about 2 weeks now so we will see how it goes. Some prayers would be very much appreciated .
Scott my wifes best friend is moving there in a couple of weeks, they play fiddle together and have for years. I will be coming out there sometime to visit her I am sure and when I do I would like to come and see you to. They all want me to move out there , her and my wife are like sisters more than friends. I have never been to CO so I look forward to the visit. Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

I had seen those grabs in northern tool and wondered if they were any good. Taylor Johnson

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