The west coast dawgs from both manufactures are at best good till about 60 maybe 80 year old timber. You start getting older that bark gets shaggy and custom dawgs are a necessity or in the fun of the Red Cedar that makes me itch even thinking about cutting it. Jamie on the heli side stuff were you in the old growth?
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I love the western red Cedar, Jerid. Makes you itch? I believe it's a natural poison. (Herbicide) Nothing grows under ancient old growth Cedar stands with a deep floor of needles, Just ferns.
So you are certainly not a fern or another flourishing species of the PNW. A bot? Because Loggers aren't flourishing in Washington..haha
Big gov there like BC.
Fir is my poison, like sitting down for too long, as in driving. If I had to drive for a living or cut big fir, then I would starve. I have spent more time on the deck coughing my guts out from that, than I have in 30 yrs cutting from anything else. I have never cut a lot of fir. Most everything, you are conditioned to block out the pain but how do you block that out? How do you block out §hit when your knees are so wet and stiff that you have no mobility anymore, man?
When you are good at threading the needle but find yourself milling around for 5 minutes because you can't nut up and pull the trigger in a 60ft gap with the consequences of a 40ft hemlock top comming back at you. You evaluate the sketchy ground over and over.
Well that says a lot about alot of things.
Dad always said.." Son! You get them with these and these and if you can't get them with those, then you get away with these".
You always need a back plan up my friend
I'd love to see some of the best commandos on this planet try that? I've quit in 5 hours In July on the central coast BC for going through too much wet salal. As they say in the boxing world. "Quit to fight another day"
I've never f♡ed 5 guys out of 100-$150.00 and seen them so happy. I finished my strip that morning but buddy has 2000ft of face so he leaves me 30ft at the top of his in the engineered ground. So I have to cliff climb on top of the boundary for all the snags. (And up and down so I didn't get to close to him)
Now that's when the ported 372 and the saftey pro dogs especially come in handy. Just roll your chain off and wrap it around the handlebar if it's a rocky climb. and grab a strand of salal or finger grip..if that's all you have. Make sure you step on your saw with your caulk boots on the way up then hold on and reach down and grab it.
On the top, there will be banks with plenty of salal to get you soaked up there.
I mostly cliff climb anyways, instead of finding a way around. Generally I may not drag my saw if I'm looking for a side left of side or right side plan but say you got a couple 5 ft cedars
leaning into the cliff and another one up 40ft then you have to get up there and find the lean to make a plan. or can you beat #2 over?
"And that's all I have to say about thAY-iT"
_______
The big dog thing you were saying? Oh, ok, that's probably why some climbers wear big gaffs eh? And I just thought they were gay? J/k
I would say Cedar leans in all directions (especially on flat ground) and not very uniform at times. Bigger dogs may not help either. If its defective and/or leaning in the direction of fall. Very bad with forward leaners from one side. (with Humboldt & wrap bar)
Lastly you asked me if I fell old growth on heli. Every time buddy and of the worst kind.
Cedar snags to hell. Actually there is never any signs left of old growth cutting or harvesting.
Word is, they have been cutting those areas close to the water for 150 yrs. Maybe they logged with A-frames ? They only get so big
close to the water on the hill unless they live on the bank then they feed better.
Not usually over 6ft but 7ft snags on the banks
Depends where you are. If you get 4-5 ft pipes then that's good steady chewin'.
I've cut for heli and conventional minutes apart. It's not always a water drop.
It's cheaper to drop it to an existing road and hire Loggers than heli if there is roads on that side, even if the water is close. If you are deep inland and it's not worth blasting more roads for a few veins of timber then yeah, I've cut big wood on the island. Dave told me in '79 when they started heli in BC, they were picking off 9-11 ft firs i
off the banks. Pard (Ken) got a 14 footer(Cedar)one summer in the bottom on heli. Not too long ago. Biggest I could find was an 8'. We are the same age and his Grandfather got killed on the hill and his Dad got killed on the hill also, In a slide in the early 80.He is truly one of the best big wood Fallers on the coast. He told me that himself..haha He did say he wasn't bragging, if that counts?
Ken got washed away in a river and plucked out by heli. So weak to grab on to save his own life.
The other story, he was cutting a good sized cedar standing off a small stump. So he gets pinched. He stands off and the saw gets free. It happens again. The third time he gets pissed off and forces though. Well its a sucker that he was standing on so he goes rolling down the hill and looks up and the tree decides to come too.
Last I seen him he said he quit the coast after two guys he broke in got killed in the same summer. I remember when I showed up in Tahsis on an old growth show. We go to the beach and have a few beer and he puts it on me like "Jamie it's good to see you again but what are you doing here.. you can get hurt out here and I don't want to see you get hurt.
I told him it was a bit negative but
he wasn't lying. That was some ground.
They put me in the cream the first day falling bar size Hemlock and Balsam just 'daylighting' to the new spur roads so they can be picked. Just undercut and back cut. Every tree just grew perfect and not a branch for 100-120 ft.
So I passed that with flying colours and went to the §hit for life..lol
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