Pics From The Logging Site This Week

[Gordon Gould]

Here are some small scale logging pictures of my site from this week. It is timber stand improvement work. I am cutting over mature balsam fir which has butt rot so that new growth can start in the sunny opening. Some times I loose quite a bit off the butt log. All the slash will protect the new growth and rot down to provide nutrients.

 

[dex3361]

Makes me want to go out and cut some logs up. :thumbsup:

 

[Chilly807]

Looks good Gordon.. makes me wish for some cold weather to freeze the ground so I can start cutting my firewood. The land I cut my wood on isn't exactly swampy, but it's soft until the frost gets in it. Your snatch block looks very similar to mine, they make hauling out a lot easier. Did you see the ones that automatically release when the log gets to them? I wanted one, but the price was ridiculous, around $300 I think. I ended up building a plain one, even the simple commercial version of the one I have was overpriced.

Do you cut your stumps down lower when you're finished with an area?

Sean

 

[Grandad4]

Nice photos, Gordon. You make me envious. Beautiful timber and cold weather to work in! We've done some clearing of a few acres in front of our church this fall, but I've not had any time to work on our own property. Still all kinds of deadfall, leaners and still standing dead pine. All nasty stuff. It will look so much better if I live long enough to get it thinned out. Thanks for sharing.

Sean, I swallowed hard and bought one of those self-releasing snatch blocks. It's the cat's meow if you're working solo, as I often must do.

 

[Rock knocker]

Ick, butt rot.

 

[MIKE R]

Looks good. I feel I should go and cut some trees. I'll wait till this storm passes then I will have some to clean up in the sugar bush and a good reason to get the chainsaw out.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Do you cut your stumps down lower when you're finished with an area?

Sean

I cut these a little higher than normal hoping to be above the worst of the rot for better hinge wood. The pictures are on the down hill side too making them look even higher. Sometimes I will go back and recut the real high ones. But even if they were flush to the ground I couldn't drive my tractor down in there. It is steeper and rougher than it looks. I like to keep the tractor on the road.

I know what you mean about the price of releasing snatch blocks. I make a lot of extra trips up and down the hill because I don't have one though.

 

[20 20]

Thanks for sharing. Is any of the wood going to be milled, I understand there is bottom/butt rot but is any of the wood further up the tree any good. I have milled many trees like this and it is surprising how much board feet can still be used? What caused the rot, around here we are having a horrible time with pine boring beetles?

 

[Gordon Gould]

Thanks for sharing. Is any of the wood going to be milled, I understand there is bottom/butt rot but is any of the wood further up the tree any good. I have milled many trees like this and it is surprising how much board feet can still be used? What caused the rot, around here we are having a horrible time with pine boring beetles?

Yes I sell it to a local mill. I skid out whatever I can make a saw log or pallet log out of. Every thing else I just cut so it lays close to the ground and let it rot. I load my truck with 10 and 12 foot logs and an occasional 14 footer. A typical load is 500 board feet like the picture from a couple weeks ago.

I don't know what causes the rot. But any fir around here older than about 60 or 70 years has it. They grow to good size in that time if they are not crowded. But if they dont have room they get stunted. That is one reason I am opening this area up.

Here is a picture of that big tree from last summer when I put the spur trail in. You can see how crowded the woods are behind it compared to the picture of it above laying on the ground all limbed out.

 

[arrow]

Thanks Gordon…my favorite kind of pictures. Your butt rot can be caused by a couple of things but it is mostly armillaria fungus lesions. This is a fungus that has been measured to be the largest living thing on the planet. It sends up little tendrils into the tree base looking for carbohydrates and begins to literally "suck" the life out of a tree base.