Morning in the woods
As JB ‘s well-worn Toyota pick up made it’s way up the Old Country Road to the landing. His mind was filled with the job. He was wondering if the skidder diver was up there yet, looking for evidence of his pickup having made the trip in over the ruff road up to the landing. JB was thinking of the trees he had down, only three that he could think of, and where was he going to start in this morning.
Coming up over the last ridge, the landing came in to sight. It was an old farmstead. The cellar hole was off to one side of the clearing. No skidder driver there yet. That was both good and bad. It meant JB had some time, but it also meant that he would maybe be missing the skidder driver to talk to before he headed off into the woods. Off to the side of the landing, over by the old cellar hole was a parking spot. The spot was well out of the way so the truck wouldn’t get hit by either the skidder or by a log as it was pushed around on the landing.
Coming to a stop in the same spot he had parked in for the last four months, he looked out over the landing. They had better then a truckload of logs on the landing. That meant the log truck would be in this morning. The skidder was parked over by the fuel tank. JB gave a thought as to weather it had been fueled the night before or weather that was one more thing that would slow down the start of the day.
Getting out of the truck JB felt the aches and pains of the physical work he did. His back was a bit stiff. The legs had a bit of the hill climbing he had done the day before still in them. His left hand had an uncomfortable callus built up across the palm of the hand, from where the saw was clutched hard all day.
Going to the back of the pick-up, he got out his freshly filled fuel can and a fresh gallon jug of bar oil. He set them out on the tailgate of the truck. He then got his boots out of the passenger side of the truck. Taking off his street shoes, he put on the logging boots. They were heavy leather, with golf cleats sticking out of the sole. The heavy boots slid right on, it was like putting the harness on a horse, getting him ready for work.
The landing smelled of mud, freshly cut wood, and a mid September morning, all mix together. The birds were singing over head in the big birch that grew out of the old cellar hole. A squirrel looked curiously at him from the top of the pile of logs.
After the boots came the chaps, an abbreviated set of leggings that caught most of the oil off the saw and were designed to ward off stray chain saws. JB put the fuel and oil jugs on the skidder in a place where they wouldn’t fall off on the ruff trip into the woods. He took a new wedge he had bought that morning and put it in his back pocket. He was ready to set off on the half-mile walk into the woods, to where the show was he was working on.
Following the skid trail into the woods, JB was glade he had the sure-footed boots on. The muddy trail was slippery in spots, but with the boots, when he places a foot, it stayed where it was placed.
After JB was out of sight of the landing, he heard the chains hitting against the up-rights of the log truck as it made its way up the Old County Road to the landing. This was good. It meant they would have one truckload out for the day right at the start, with a chance of getting another before the day was over. It meant with the big wood they were going to be bringing out, they would have more space on the landing. Some of these big trees took up most of an empty landing. It also meant that the skidder would take just a bit longer to get into the woods for that first hitch.
JB came to his camp form the day before. The two matching saws were there, and his fuel and oil jugs. His axe was in a freshly cut stump and his wedges there in the holster belt. He fueled the saws, checked the cutting edges, they were good for the start of a day. He was, after all, cutting softwood today. Snapping the wedge belt on over the chaps, he garbed the pair of saws and set off to find the first tree of a new day.
Off to the downhill side of the trail was a grove of large pines. It looked like their day had come. Each tree was better then a yard trough at breast height. They had beautiful straight stems reaching up over the smaller birches and maples in the area. No better way to start a day, then the taking down of a few really big trees.
Setting one saw off out of the way, JB started the other. He adjusted the helmet so the ear protectors where snug, took a good look up the tree to see how it wanted to fall, and bent over to start another day’s work.
The first cut is very important. They all are. The first one is the cut that establishes how much stump is going to be left behind, and how much of the biggest part of the log is going to go off to the mill. The first cut is a horizontal cut, placed down just as low as possible. The line at the end of the first cut is one side of the hinge that the tree will pivot on to fall to the earth. Where that first cut stops is critical. It needs to go in from a quarter to a third of the way into the base of the tree. The back of the cut needs to be a straight line. A hinge that has a pivot point that isn’t a straight line will not work as a hinge. Because the cutting part of the bar is only 23 inches, the cut needs to be made from two sides. The second side of the first cut is done with the pushing backside of the bar. The next cut is a 45-degree cut, made from above the first to intersect it right at the back of the first cut. This will remove a wedge shaped piece, leaving a notch in the base of the tree. The back of the notch is perpendicular to the direction of the fall.
With pine sawdust now all over him and the smell of two stoke smoke in the air. JB looks up to have another look at the tree. The way it is now cut decides the way it is going to fall. In this case it looks like it is going to come down right on a smaller maple and a few birches. The birches can fend for themselves, but the maple needs to be cut down before the pine is felled.
The pine is still nearly as strong as it was before he started. JB steps into the path the pine will take and quickly fells and limbs the smaller maple. This makes a hole for the giant pine to fall into.
Making sure the axe is right there, and the other saw is out of the way, JB cuts into the back of the tree at the same level as the first cut. As soon as the bar of the saw is into the tree far enough, he places a wedge in the cut. This will keep the tree from having any thoughts of going back and pinching the saw. As the saw works its way in the tree sighs a bit and gives a slight lean in the direction JB has asked it to go. Time to switch over to the far side, the back cut is too long to all be made from one side. A quick lookup the tree to see how she is doing, the back cut starts to spread as the saw goes deeper. It is time to find a safe place to be while the giant pine crashes down to earth. JB steps back at an angle to the direction of fall. Staying to the up hill side of the stump and taking three big steps back from where he had been cutting. The big pine leans slowly at first, then picks up speed. On its way down it brushes the birches and speeds downward. CRASH!! The limbs snap and send sticks flying as the monster tree hits the ground.
After the excitement is over and the giant is slain, JB climbs up on the butt end of the tree, and starts his trip to the top, walking up the tree, as it lies on the ground. He takes all the limbs he can get to, making sure he gets all the ones to his left side as he makes his way up the tree. Some limbs are under pressure with the weight of the tree on them. It is sort of a sense one gains to know witch side to start cutting the big limbs from. One side will pinch, the other will snap. The trunk JB walks on gets smaller and the branches bigger as JB works towards the top of the tree. When the stem is down to the size of JB’s thigh, it is time to top the tree. The tip of the tree will be staying in the woods. It must be cut so it lies down to within four feet of the ground at the highest point. On the return trip JB again makes sure he has all the limbs on his left. But now the tree has rolled a bit. It turned slightly as he took off the top. Now the remainder of the limbs are accessible.
This tree is eighty feet long, the stem that will be pulled out of the woods. Two this size and he has a hitch. That will be all the skidder can pull. This stem will be cut in to five or six, maybe even seven logs on the landing. It then needs to be pushed up out of the way so the next hitch has room to be worked up.
It was going to be a good day. The fall air was cool to work in. There were still plenty of nice trees to be harvested. They had one load on its way out and had another one in the making. Yes it was going to be a good day.

Awww great read indeed enjoyed it the day of a Logger

that was really good...i love all those smells...i miss living in the woods.....brenda

i miss the woods very nice reading though thank you

nice words jb the day in the life of a cutter
ive cut lots of timber in my 25+ yrs in the woods

Like OUR LIVES here on this planet.

All MUST come to an END!

What took TIME and STRENGTH to LIVE and GROW, has NOW come to its END because of OUR need to USE IT.

I LOVE the WOODS and GOD'S BEAUTY he MADE for US ALL to SEE, LIVE, and FEEL.

If WE AS A NATION of people do NOT "TRY" to "STOP" our selves
from NEEDING so MUCH, and INVEST in NEW METHODS to GIVE US
OTHER products that DON'T REQUIRE the USE of WOOD in its prodution,,,,,,,

OUR GRANDCHILDREN, will NEVER SEE, Large WOODS, and VAST forrests...and OUR air and our breathing will be harmed.


Your story was well written and YOUR JOB is very exciting,
and somewhat dangerous..
I drive a truck across this U.S. and started 30 years ago.
Since THEN to present I have seen the WOODS leave,,,,,,,
MANY PLACES. And new trees planted, but "THEY", look more like someones GARDEN than any GOD MADE WOODS.
And the TIME it will take to reach what WAS CUT DOWN,
I WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE.

Sorry JB, im venting about life here in your post, but AWARENESS
I thought was needed for ALL of US!!

Peace, Love, and be Real...