# Before the chainsaw....



## dylskee (Dec 25, 2012)

Not sure if this has been posted here but I found it interesting and amazing....... 

*Before the chainsaw*





*When the Northwest logging industry was still young...*
*Just look at the length of the hand saw ...*






*...and look at the size of the heavy duty axes...*






*The work required very strong and courageous men...*





*After a tree was felled the real work began a week or more to cut it up...*





*Maneuvering the logs down the mountain to the train was a complex job...*





*Some of the logs were larger than the train engine...*




*A hollowed out log became the company's mobile office...*





*Hollowed out logs were used to house and feed the crews...*
*Can you imagine this generation's young men attempting this?*


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## nate379 (Dec 25, 2012)

None of your pics are loading.


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## dylskee (Dec 25, 2012)

nate379 said:


> None of your pics are loading.


Sorry about that, fixed......


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## infinitymike (Dec 25, 2012)

WOW,

That's when men were men!

I can't even imagine what that sounded like when it hit the ground!
It's amazing how long things took then yet they still accomplished a lot,
Today we have so much more but it's seems nothing gets done.


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## bogydave (Dec 25, 2012)

The limbs would give me rounds that needed split for firewood


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## jatoxico (Dec 25, 2012)

I know it was a different time but makes me feel bad every time I see pictures like that. Sorry to be a kill joy.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 25, 2012)

I've seen those pictures many times and never tire of them. Thanks for posting.


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## cptoneleg (Dec 25, 2012)

jatoxico said:


> I know it was a different time but makes me feel bad every time I see pictures like that. Sorry to be a kill joy.


 


Why??


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## jatoxico (Dec 25, 2012)

cptoneleg said:


> Why??


 
Majestic beauty that took a millenium to grow, cut down in a relative instant. I wish they were all still here.


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## Lumber-Jack (Dec 25, 2012)

cptoneleg said:


> Why??


Because it represents the disappearance of the old growth forests.

Some 30 years ago I worked on Northern Vancouver island for an outfit cutting cedar shake blocks out of fallen and dead old growth cedars. many of the trunks of the trees we cut into were as big as or bigger than that mobile office shown in that pictures. All the stuff we cut was the left over crumbs from when the original logging outfits went through there and clear cut out all the original old growth trees.


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## jatoxico (Dec 25, 2012)

Lumber-Jack said:


> Because it represents the disappearance of the old growth forests.
> 
> Some 30 years ago I worked on Northern Vancouver island for an outfit cutting cedar shake blocks out of fallen and dead old growth cedars. many of the trunks of the trees we cut into were as big as or bigger than that mobile office shown in that pictures. All the stuff we cut was the left over crumbs from when the original logging outfits went through there and clear cut out all the original old growth trees.


 
Bingo LJ, I suspect after thousands of years where the average age was 40 and infant mortality was 20% (made up #'s but you get the idea) we had to go through a period where we tried to show our "mastery" of nature but it's a damn shame those ancient trees were clear cut. If some wonder "why" that stinks then I guess little has changed.


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## Cross Cut Saw (Dec 25, 2012)

Just doing a little reading before going to bed and thinking of the busy day I have tomorrow of roasting coffee and putting it in bags, I wouldn't last a day doing the kind of work those guys did and with those tools.

It is sad though to look at those massive trees and what was lost in a relatively short period of time...


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## Machria (Dec 25, 2012)

WOW! Instead of just yelling "timbeeeeer", you probably had to notify the next two villages on the down side of the tree!

WOW!


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 26, 2012)

No big deal. Took me a while to figure just where and how deep to notch this one.





Done, but a bit smaller one.




Looking at another one.




After dropping that one tree we had to cut out a path.




That's my wife looking at that tree and wondering if I could drop it and how many years of firewood it would produce.




This one was closer to home. That is my wife resting because I made her fell this tree.


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## fossil (Dec 26, 2012)

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/general-sherman.94077/


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## begreen (Dec 26, 2012)

Each one of these giants contained a complete ecosystem. There were creatures living at the upper levels that might never go on the ground. They are also remarkably tough to have survived fires, earthquakes, droughts, insects, and lightning. A lot of the trees that replaced then are not so tough, nor tall enough to provide refuge and habitat for many creatures.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/10/redwoods/bourne-text


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## ScotO (Dec 26, 2012)

Its bittersweet, IMO.  Yeah, its really sad to see most of the old growth forests ***** like that.  But its amazing that those young men did it all by their own shoulders and backs........very impressive, especially when you look at today's younger generation.  You just don't see a lot of that breed anymore.  That chit would make a man out of you real quick!


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## webbie (Dec 26, 2012)

Hard to imagine, but we cut a lot of firewood in WV when I was homesteading there - with a two man saw! It definitely warms you twice!

With a good sharp saw, it's amazingly efficient. A chain saw cuts a wider groove than what is needed.


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## webbie (Dec 26, 2012)

Scotty Overkill said:


> Its bittersweet, IMO. Yeah, its really sad to see most of the old growth forests ***** like that. But its amazing that those young men did it all by their own shoulders and backs........very impressive, especially when you look at today's younger generation. You just don't see a lot of that breed anymore. That chit would make a man out of you real quick!


 
One of the heros of the Hearth industry, Charlie Page, is a BIG (tall) dude who went to work as a logger for many years prior to his involvement in our industry.

His mark on this industry is Vermont Castings, Surdiac, Isokern (fireplaces) and more recently Harman (helped design and popularize them)....and Excel Chimney and ICC stuff.

See! Real Men still walk the earth!

These days he does stuff like build bridges over the creek (wood and steel and decorative) on his camp in Northern VT.


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## ScotO (Dec 26, 2012)

webbie said:


> One of the heros of the Hearth industry, Charlie Page, is a BIG (tall) dude who went to work as a logger for many years prior to his involvement in our industry.
> 
> His mark on this industry is Vermont Castings, Surdiac, Isokern (fireplaces) and more recently Harman (helped design and popularize them)....and Excel Chimney and ICC stuff.
> 
> ...


 Oh, I know real men still walk the earth.  But back in the day, those guys did it all by hand.......


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## osagebow (Dec 26, 2012)

Love those old pics, Scotty!  Hiked around Olympic NP, didn't see anything quite that big.


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## begreen (Dec 27, 2012)

There used to be lots of big trees in Olympic NP, now just the few that were hardest to get are left. The world's largest red cedar and sitka spruce still reside on the western edge in the Quinalt rain forest.


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## Eatonpcat (Dec 27, 2012)

One of the men in this photo was my wife's Dad a logger back in Whitmer, WV (of course I forget which one he is)!


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## Delta-T (Dec 27, 2012)

webbie said:


> One of the heros of the Hearth industry, Charlie Page, is a BIG (tall) dude who went to work as a logger for many years prior to his involvement in our industry.
> 
> His mark on this industry is Vermont Castings, Surdiac, Isokern (fireplaces) and more recently Harman (helped design and popularize them)....and Excel Chimney and ICC stuff.
> 
> ...


 
Charlie also a decent guitar player. 
Big trees, big fun. There used to be some giant trees in Australia as well. They died from some ecological change several thousand years ago but the trees are being harvested from the ground (sank into swamp which preserved them/semi petrified). Big like Redwoods but I thinks they were desiduous (sp?) trees which would be really something to behold.


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## Delta-T (Dec 27, 2012)

...I think he's the one in the hat.


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## Eatonpcat (Dec 27, 2012)

Delta-T said:


> ...I think he's the one in the hat.


 
Yep..I believe that's the guy!!


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## webbie (Dec 28, 2012)

Suspender biz was big time back then. Made a bunch of millionaires. Buttons too! Big fortunes.


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