How'd it go today?

[SoonerFan]

Jim vs Stig, who has their chest puffed out the most now ?


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[MasterBlaster]

Lucky you weren't stung! Was it a cool morning?

 

[Fiddler]

Plans will change sometimes, eh? Sounds like a decent day after all is said and done though.

I had a great visit with an old bandmate from 30 years ago...been that long since we've seen each other. He is up from KY, where he now lives. We ran into each other on Fb a few months ago and keep in touch now. Had fun reminiscing about all the fun we had and shenanigans we pulled back in the day.

 

[pantheraba]

Cool, Stig.....we definitely have to see that video. Pester them for a copy. "Cowboy up"

 

[stig]

Lucky you weren't stung! Was it a cool morning?

Nope, not particularly.
They were out and about, but somehow didn't seem to register us as the perpetrators. Really weird.

One good thing was that when the tree fell, their entrance got buried.
Later the forwarder rolled that piece and we had about 100 of them coming out.
So we took a lunch break and once they's settled down, gave them a shot of alkylate and a match.
But there was still a bunch flying around.

I've never seen that before, So many people around, our crew, film crew, forwarder driver, and the only one who got stung was Thais, my dog. He snapped a couple of them out of the air and they retaliated.

Luck, I guess. But I'm happy about it. It would have f.... my weekend up, if I had been stung.

You know, Dennis, our prospective apprentice asked me if it wasn't hard to fell a tree like that and knowing that it would go on national TV if I screwed up.
I told him to go read the first lines in Jerry's Fundamentals. ( Can't quote them, I've lent my copy to a friend)
It says something like whenever you go to work on a tree, you pit your knowledge and experience against it and hopes it comes out right, this is what some find exhilarating and others scary in treework ( Someone please post the right quote, I don't want to mess Jerry's great book up in someone's mind)
I've always loved the point where push comes to shove, the money shot.
Where you simply have to trust your ability to do it, whether a tricky fell or taking a dubious top out in one piece.
Worked with a couple of guys who couldn't handle it and would gladly step aside and let me do it.
To me, if you don't have that cool under fire thing, you are not a real logger/arborist.
So my chest is only puffed out with professional pride, which ain't that bad a thing IMO.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Jerry's great statement at the end of the author's preface:
"Remember when you walk up to a tree--to climb it, to work in it, to fell it--you are betting your knowledge, experience, and common sense that you'll accomplish your goal without an accident. This is the lore of tree work that makes it exciting for some and fearful for others".

 

[Jed]

Thanks Jay.

STIG! Coolest post I've read in a while. Sounds--to me--like it would have been super fun. Yeah, man, get on with your bad self... Heck, a guy like me with narrow shoulders AND a sunken chest, darn-well better stick the dang thin out once in a while.

Hey though.... Link/pics or it didn't happen, o.k?...

Oh..... Maybe it's just me, but I could swear that all of the bees/wasps/hornets are not as aggressive this year.

 

[Limbrat]

I've always loved the point where push comes to shove, the money shot.

That's what it's all about Stig, what makes it interesting. Are those the same giant hornets they have in the far east? If you get a copy of the video, I'm sure everyone would love to see it, especially me.

 

[woodworkingboy]

The Giant Asian Hornet isn't found in parts of Europe, something fortunate. I guess the closest to Stig would be in a far eastern part of Russia. They are pretty particular about the type of territory that they like to habitat.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I think they should inhabit the inside of a running blender. Those are mean sob's.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Certainly mean when they want to be and go on the attack. I have seen written that the sting is like getting punctured by a hot nail, but i found my one experience to be more like a wallop from a baseball bat, and once you get over that, the multi day itch that can make you want to die takes over. It is terrible. I believe that the itch is your body trying to fight off the infection from the poison, some chemical composition that dissolves human flesh.

 

[Stumper]

Cool Stig! I dropped a big ash in a parking lot for the county today and ground the stump. Filled the truck with chips, firewood guy picked up just under 4 cords.
Sorry I haven't been around on the site much. Life kind of goes through cycles and I have been doing so much work that I haven't felt like talking about work for a while.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Well, dont feel bad Jed. They left me home and went to the lake.

I just put a steak in the microwave for supper, had a good but FRUSTRATING day spraying. I was kinda grouchy.

I guess I figured they would at least argue with me a bit when I said go on with out me. Nope. Cloud of dust!

 

[pantheraba]

Ha! Ungrateful curs!!!!

 

[squisher]

Cool Stig! I dropped a big ash in a parking lot for the county today and ground the stump. Filled the truck with chips, firewood guy picked up just under 4 cords.
Sorry I haven't been around on the site much. Life kind of goes through cycles and I have been doing so much work that I haven't felt like talking about work for a while.

Good to read you Justin.

The money shot stig. I hear ya. When people asked me what I meant I used to tell them you're either spending money or making money. Lol.

 

[Mick!]

I remember that phrase Justin, on that fell by the bridge.
I'm no Jedi on the felling side of things, but naturally I have to put some things on the ground that make your insides curdle a bit.
I cannot relax until it's on the deck and safe, so a normal takedown would involve me climbing all morning to leave it as a stick before lunch/tea break.
Now, if I'm sitting there eating sandwiches and drinking tea and looking at the stick I'm always thinking "did I take enough height off? Does that lean need a tractor/winch?"
Then I get this visualization of a worst case scenario, trees cutting through houses like a hot knife through butter, county wide derision in all the local bars, life long notoriety as the guy who......
So I tend to rush into the fell, it happened yesterday, slipped off the harness, picked up the 395, did the gob, thought to myself "this isn't that sharp" then by the time I started the back cut I realised it was a clusterduck of a chain. So I picked up the 372 and tried to finish it, it went over ok but I won't be posting any pictures of the hinge!
Anyway I've got to try and calm down, take a breath, compose myself a bit before the money shot.

 

[Peter]

You need to get on a forestry harvesting site Mick, really sharpens up your skills and confidence. I felled about 200 big poplar on a job last year, nothing compared to what Stig does every year but it really made a difference to me. I've done a few since that would have had me second guessing myself like you say, but now I just set it up and knock it down. Still a little frisson of excitement but that's what makes it fun!

 

[Mick!]

Would be nice, unlikely to happen though.
But what if the rope snapped?
Looked like a good day.

 

[Peter]

I had a wedge in the back cut, it would have sat down on the wedge.

Edit: is it even possible to snap a 3/4" double braid with a tracked chipper?

 

[treebilly]

I agree with a logging season helping out. I've never done it but when I get on a big clearing job I use that to experiment with what I can do. I tell my guys to try to hit a tight lay. They usually don't listen.

 

[flushcut]

Listen or execute? I tell them every cut is practice so make them perfect.

 

[Jed]

Well, dont feel bad Jed. They left me home and went to the lake.

I just put a steak in the microwave for supper, had a good but FRUSTRATING day spraying. I was kinda grouchy.

I guess I figured they would at least argue with me a bit when I said go on with out me. Nope. Cloud of dust!

Good to hear from you Justin.

Mick..... Really good description. The forcing the Dry as Dust sandwich down because one is so preoccupied.

 

[treebilly]

Neither. I show them what needs done. I explain why and what happens when not done. As soon as I turn my back they just put trees everywhere. A lot of the problem is I've never had to teach before. I just did it. A lot of the guys at work have enough experience to drop trees in the woods and get a job done. Just not efficiently. Crews have been getting switched up lately so hopefully I'll get a greenhorn that is teachable Worked with one last week that asks a lot of questions and seems to retain what he's been told. The kid has been wearing chaps everyday just in case he can cut.

 

[squisher]

I remember that phrase Justin, on that fell by the bridge.

Yah. The beaver tree. That was a odd scenario, and perfect example of the money cut.

 

[Grendel]

Pull line drop at the Dead River Storage Basin. Absolutely beautiful day. Video seemed inappropriate as there was a bit of a crowed gathered. . .