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Vol. 47, No. 3

(Founded in 1972—Our 546th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S out front:

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Philibert Timber Second Chance Skidder

March 2018 A Hatton-Brown Publication

Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525

www.southernloggintimes.com Co-Publisher Co-Publisher Chief Operating Officer Executive Editor Editor-in-Chief Western Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Art Director Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director Marketing/Media

David H. Ramsey David (DK) Knight Dianne C. Sullivan David (DK) Knight Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Jay Donnell Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas Jordan Anderson

ADVERTISING CONTACTS DISPLAY SALES Eastern U.S. Kathy Sternenberg Tel: 251-928-4962 • Fax: 334-834-4525 219 Royal Lane Fairhope, AL 36532 E-mail: ksternenberg@bellsouth.net

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Toughing it out through one of the coldest winters North Carolina has experienced in decades, Jessie Thompson, 43, looks forward to warmer days ahead. Page 8.

(Jay Donnell Photo)

Hanneman Forest Products Mulch Making Family

D E PA RT M E N T S

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Southern Stumpin’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Bulletin Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Industry News Roundup. . . . . . . . . . 34 Machines-Supplies-Technology. . . . 40 Safety Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ForesTree Equipment Trader. . . . . . 47 Coming Events/Ad Index. . . . . . . . . . 54

SCTPA Meeting South Carolina Event

Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons Tel: 905-666-0258 • Fax: 905-666-0778 32 Foster Cres.

Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com Western Canada, Western USA Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 Fax: +34 96 640 4331 Aldea de las Cuevas 66 Buzon 60 • 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Bridget DeVane

Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Tel 334-699-7837 Email: bdevane7@hotmail.com

Southern Loggin’ Times (ISSN 0744-2106) is published monthly by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—SLT is sent free to logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel in the U.S. South. See form elsewhere in this issue.

All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $65 annually; $75 in Canada; $120 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries— TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.southernloggintimes.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Southern Loggin’ Times magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Southern Loggin’ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed In USA.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Southern Loggin’ Times, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, AL 36102-2419 Member Verified Audit Circulation

Other Hatton-Brown publications: ★ Timber Processing ★ Timber Harvesting ★Panel World ★ Power Equipment Trade ★ Wood Bioenergy

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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’

By David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com

SLC Success T

he first thing I ever wrote for Hatton-Brown Publishers is still in a folder labeled “First Story.” I wrote it in March 2005, and gave it this headline: “Southern Logging Cooperative Forms, Seeks To Expand Membership.” That was 13 years ago this month; a lot has happened since.

When I wrote that article in March 2005, Southern Loggers Cooperative (SLC) had 35 members in three states (Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas), and just one station. In March 2018, SLC has 2,784 members from 23 states, as far north as Ohio and as far west as Texas, with 29 stations in seven states. In 2005, the one-time initial membership fee was $1,500. These days, you only have to pay $100 for a lifetime membership fee.

Some members buy other goods and services but 99% are buying fuel. Many of the members based in states without a station do business in states that do have a station. Others use their member benefits to purchase fuel from the SLC in bulk and have it shipped to their own tanks from the broker (SLC does not run its own trucks). In 2017 SLC sold about 3 million gallons of fuel in this way; the remaining 35 million gallons they sold came directly from the stations.

In all they had $85 million in sales in 2017—not bad for an organization with only seven people on staff.

Past The SLC was, at least partially, the brainchild of its first President, the man in the black Cat hat, Louisiana logging icon Travis Taylor. It was an idea he’d had for many years, and discussed with several of his industry peers. It took some time to get people on board because, as Taylor told me back then, “It’s one of the most difficult things you could try to do, because loggers are such fiercely independent people.”

Taylor finally got some traction during a visit to Washington, DC with the American Loggers Council in 2004. After a long day of visiting members of Congress, Taylor sat in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, talking with fellow Louisiana delegates Clyde Todd and Mickey Hawkins.

They decided they had to do something about operating costs, especially the biggest one: fuel.

They ultimately planned to form their own purchasing group to negotiate better prices.

With Todd as its first Executive Director and his wife Mary as Chief Operating Officer, they formed the SLC in October 2004. Todd brought with him nearly 15 years of experience with the Louisiana Forestry Assn. and the Louisiana Logging Council, where he served as Executive Director from 1996 until the fall of 2004. He had been about to retire when Taylor approached him 6

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Opening day at SLC's newest station, located at the entrance to the RoyOMartin mill in Chopin, La.

about the co-op. The nine original members, who formed the SLC’s first board of directors, each made an investment of $5 thousand. That money was used to open the SLC’s first fuel station in Winnfield, La. in 2005.

The first year the SLC sold just a few thousand gallons of fuel. Mary did all the work from their kitchen table and Clyde spent much of his time on the road in an effort to locate potential spots for more stations and to recruit more members at ALC meetings.

Similar to Todd’s background in Louisiana, Bill Jones had worked for the Alabama Forestry Assn. as the Executive Director of the Alabama Loggers Council. In 2009, Todd recruited Jones to join SLC as Assistant Director. After nearly doubling its size in one year, from 11 stations in 2011 to 20 in 2012, SLC underwent a change.

Todd Martin and Jason Slatten came on board as, respectively, Executive Director and COO, when Clyde and Mary Todd retired in 2012.

Present On average, members will see 10-15 cents in savings at the pump, though not necessarily at every fill-up. Depending on markets, SLC prices can sometimes be equal to or even higher than non-SLC stations for a few days, especially when prices are on the rise, until the competition catches up with the market. “Because we turn so much volume, we go through fuel quicker and so we buy the more expensive fuel before they do,” Martin explains. Jones adds, “When the price of fuel is rising we are close to the market, but when it’s going down we can generally get ahead of (the market price).” Over time the cost will come out to be less—sometimes as much as 20 cents less per gallon and occasionally 30-50 cents less.

How does it work? It’s a simple matter of strength in numbers. As Martin explains, “If you go to a fuel broker and say we have a good chance of selling 40 million gallons in 2018, you can get it much cheaper. An individual logger doesn’t have that negotiating power because he is buying for just one crew.”

In addition to initial savings, members receive an annual dividend of the cooperative’s profits.

The percentage you get is based on how much you spent during the year. Last year (for 2016, paid in 2017), the dividend was $1.54 million. In the last six years, $5. 34 million has been distributed among the members. One prominent Alabama logger reported to Jones that he was ahead $18,000 last year through SLC programs, with savings and dividends combined.

Other services offered include health insurance, tires, DEF and transfer pumps. Martin says the list won’t end there. “We are always looking for something to save our members money; we are not able to save as much on tires and parts as we do fuel because those programs are still building and we don’t turn as much volume, but as we build those, prices will come down.”

Partner companies include Fuel Masters, service companies Petron, MECO and Emory Collins Co., FleetPride Heavy Duty Truck & Trailer Parts, Continental / General Tires, Hankook Tires and Yokohama Tires, Insurance Resource Group, Fill-Rite transfer pumps program, and DEF supplier Blue Horizon Fluids.

Cost efficiency, Martin stresses, is critical, because every dollar spent comes out of the members’ dividends. Efficiency is one reason the stations are, as Slatten describes, them, “bare bones.” They are unmanned and have no counter sales of snacks or sodas. Stations are located near mills and major hubs, so drivers don’t have to go off their route to refuel. A proprietary ➤ 46

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Cool Customer ■ Jessie Thompson hasn’t let a harsh winter stop his growing logging business.

Two Tigercat loaders team up on Thompson's crew to get the wood out with several Freightliner trucks.

By Jay Donnell TROY, NC essie Thompson is ★ accustomed to rough winters.

He’s been logging in North Carolina his entire working life and remembers when the winters were consistently cold every year without fail. But since he started Thompson Logging back up in 2000 he’s only seen a few winters this brutal.

In fact some have referred to this winter as the worst in the area since the early 1960s in terms of days below freezing. Some heavy hits of snow turned to ice that wouldn’t go away, affecting area sawmills as their incoming logs turned into ice cubes and their chips and sawdust froze up conveyors in the mill.

The recent snowy winter is something many loggers in the South have had to deal with and many will be glad to see the season come to an end. When Southern Loggin’ Times visited, Thompson’s crew hadn’t been able to work their usual five days a week because of the conditions—only working three days a week because of snow, ice and rain

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Thompson uses a mix of John Deere and Tigercat machines.

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The logger has been cutting mainly pine since getting on with Troy Lumber in recent months.

in the woods and in the mills—but they had managed to fight through it. “I’ve been doing this all my life so I know what to expect, but the ones that have it hard are the new loggers in the area who have purchased new equipment and have a bunch of payments to make,” Thompson says with heartfelt understanding.

Thompson, 43, learned how unforgiving North Carolina winters can be as a kid when he would watch his father, Carson, cut short

pulpwood for a living. Carson started with one cable skidder and ran a chain saw up until about 2006 when he was too sick to work anymore.

He passed away in 2010, but Jessie remembered the lessons his father taught him and continued to move forward.

With the help of many people and a new partnership with nearby Troy Lumber Co., Thompson has been able to gain enough traction to build up Thompson Logging into a solid business in the Tar Heel state. Fami-

ly owned Troy Lumber is one of the most established sawmill operations in the state, and known for investing regularly to keep the sawmlll modernized.

Carolina Pine While Thompson used to cut a lot of hardwood he is now mainly cutting pine for the Troy Lumber sawmill and occasionally for Domtar in Bennettsville, SC. Thompson’s crew was clear-cutting a large

tract of pine on 120 acres earlier this year.

They were working about 50 miles from the mill in Troy, which is about as far as they usually haul.

Many times they’ll be working just 15 miles away from Troy Lumber, which makes things much easier on their unstable trucking situation.

Thompson’s team generally produces about 80-100 loads per week.

Thompson is used to working on tracts of all sizes including some that were only 20 acres. Now that

SLT SNAPSHOT Thompson Logging Troy, NC

Back row, from left, Jessie Thompson, Donald Thompson and Jody Mccaskill; front row, from left, Roger Freeman and AJ Thompson

Founded: 2000 Owner: Jessie Thompson No. Crews: 1 Employees: 8 Equipment: 1 cutter, 2 skidders, 2 loaders, 3 trucks Average Haul Distance: 30 miles Tidbit: Loader operator Jody Mccaskill helps promote the logging industry on social media through his Instagram account.

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he’s strictly cutting pine he’s able to work on much bigger tracts than he used to work on when he was cutting hardwood.

Thompson had been in talks with Troy Lumber for a long time until a few months ago when he finally got the call that they needed someone in the area to cut pine for them. “I’ve always known them and they needed somebody a couple months ago so they hired me,” he explains. “It’s hard to get a job cutting pine because everybody wants to cut bigger tracts and when you’re cutting pine it’s easier to get them.”

When Thompson arrives on a new tract he builds the roads with a Cat dozer unless roads are already in place, which is the case with a lot of pine tracts his company works on.

He makes sure to take care of all the BMP and SMZ requirements before leaving a job and makes sure to leave the jobsite as clean as possible.

Equipment When SLT visited, Thompson was in the process of purchasing two new trucks (Freightliners) to add to his current fleet of three Freightliners that pull a variety of

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Tidewater in Polkton is Thompson’s Tigercat dealer.

trailers including McLendon.

Thompson has a good equipment mix of John Deere and Tigercat machines as his lineup includes a ’12 TC 724 feller-buncher, ’13 TC 234 loader, ’05 TC 244 loader, ’10 JD 648H skidder and ’13 JD 648H

skidder. Equipment dealers are Tidewater out of Polkton, NC and James River in Mt. Gilead, NC. Thompson prefers to use Primex tires over any other brand.

Roger Freeman and Jody Mccaskill run the loaders while

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Donald Thompson, AJ Thompson and TJ Thompson run skidders.

Thompson runs the feller-buncher himself and can run any piece of equipment out there. He also does a lot of the maintenance work himself with the help of his crew. Thomp-

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son does not have a shop and office which means all maintenance work gets done in the woods.

Employees are paid by the day, but after they get a certain number of loads they each receive a bonus.

The crew usually arrives in the woods around 7 a.m. and takes off at 4:30. They take all the major holidays off and are granted personal time for sickness and family emergencies.

The 43-year-old didn’t always have this many machines, but as his

company began to grow he realized that two skidders were a must.

Thompson expects to buy a new John Deere L series skidder to replace his 2010 before the end of the year. “When you finance through John Deere they offer 0% through 36 months,” he says. “It’s the service with John Deere that I like and they stand behind what they say.”

Machines are greased every week and oil is changed every 250 hours with Rotella 15w40 oil.

Over the years Thompson has seen new logging companies come and go and he believes a lot of young loggers make the mistake of taking on too much equipment too soon.

Thompson offers a word of caution: “We’ve had a lot of young people start logging companies over the past several years in this area and when they go out of business it’s because they bought too much equipment at one time,” he says.

“They get the equipment and they

have two good weeks, but they don’t realize they’re going to have bad weeks.”

He adds, “They’ve got to realize you need to buy one piece of equipment at a time. If you buy a whole new outfit you’re going to be paying around $30,000 a month.”

As is the case with many loggers, trucking is the biggest issue facing Thompson’s business right now. He hopes that purchasing two new Freightliners will help alleviate some of the pain his trucking situation has caused. He uses contract trucks for some of his hauling, but the inconsistency in that that can make things tough.

“I think the only way to really do it is to have all your own trucks,” Thompson says. “It’s hard to get them here and just haul for you specifically because they’re usually going to do whatever benefits them.”

Thompson’s goal is to not have to rely on contract trucking one day, but he notes that trucks can be very expensive and high maintenance.

DOT in the area can be very strict, but Thompson is careful to make sure his trucks are all following the strict regulations that have been put in place. Drivers are paid by the day because he says sometimes truck drivers can get in a big hurry when they’re being paid by the load. “I don’t pay by the load because then the drivers will be flying trying to get another load and somebody will get hurt,” Thompson says. His company has never experienced any trucking accidents.

Big Picture Thompson likes the size of his company right now and notes that one crew is plenty to look after.

He is a certified ProLogger in North Carolina. Often James River will put on a class that consists of everything from DOT regulations to SMZ work.

Thompson is still relatively young for a logging company owner. He knows he can still improve his business practices by paying attention to details and making sure his business is being as efficient as possible. He handles all the payroll for Thompson Logging and keeps a close eye on his bottom line.

Things are going well for Thompson right now after getting on with Troy Lumber, but he knows things can change quickly in this industry. As he ramps up back to full speed during good “and warmer” markets, he and many other loggers may hesitate before putting away their snow SLT garb just yet.

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Second Life ■ Multitasking logger Gary Philibert tries his first remanufactured skidder from John Deere.

By David Abbott KEITHVILLE, La. ★ ary Philibert, 63, owner of Philibert Timber Co., Inc., recently had his old John Deere 848H machine completely rebuilt under Deere’s “ReLife” program, through dealer Doggett Machinery in Monroe. The Monroe branch does the rebuilds, but Philibert normally buys from the Shreveport location; Doggett’s Robert Reeves, who oversees the ReLife program in Monroe, handled the process.

At Doggett’s Shreveport branch, where Philibert has bought most of his machines, Junior Littleton was his salesman before Littleton moved on to become used equipment manager for all Doggett stores. “He can’t really sell to me anymore, so he put me in touch with Robert because the Monroe store does these rebuilds,” Philibert reveals.

“Junior rode with me there to visit with Robert and he explained to me how they do it.”

The machine, a 2008 model, had

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10,000 hours on it. Reeves says the overhaul includes, at a minimum, the power train, engine, transmission, axles and hydraulic pump, at a minimum. “Once we’ve replaced all that, we get into cleaning and testing the cooling package,” Reeves continues. “Heat is really the killer in the woods. When you overheat the hydraulics, the water and the oil, it really takes a toll on the machine.” Past the basics, the skidder also got all new pins, bushings and hoses, a new grapple, had the valves resealed and got a new seat in the cab. Deere financed and warrantied the rebuilt machine at half the cost of purchasing a new one.

The logger had gotten the skidder back and been running it for about three weeks when Southern Loggin’ Times visited his crew in early December. “So far, everything looks good,” he says.

Reeves says it was obvious that Philibert and his crew took good care of the skidder. “When a logger brings in a machine he’s had for a long time, he knows it inside and out and he knows if it’s a good candidate for this program,” he adds.

“A person who has taken care to pay attention to servicing the machine makes the best candidate.

We only had to rebore three of the 10 bores on this machine, so clearly they have been real diligent about servicing it.”

“This is the first refurbished machine I have done,” Philibert adds. “I have always bought new. If it works out right I wouldn’t mind doing the same thing with my sheer.” He was motivated in part by a desire to postpone having to deal with tier 4 emissions standards and DEF. “That was one thing that led me to try this,” he acknowledges. “I don’t have anything out there right now running DEF, but I know that is coming. I would just rather put it off as long as I can.”

For the same reason, he’s also interested in possibly looking into a glider kit truck in the future. “Some folks seem to like that,” he says.

ber and ’13 643K cutter, along with 640H and 750 dozers. The logger has one truck, a Mack, pulling a Pitts trailer. He also uses contract truckers to haul his production. His truck uses Vulcan scales. In all Philibert estimates his equipment investment right at $1 million, with all equipment purchases financed through Deere.

The logger has generally replaced machines when they get in the range of 8-10,000 hours, sometimes less. He is careful to keep detailed records on all maintenance and repair jobs to help at trade in time.

Philibert says his team has an extremely thorough routine maintenance program for all equipment, including daily greasing. “We keep oil changed and we have a shop where we can do it all ourselves and don’t have to farm it out,” he says.

Operations The other machines in Philibert’s stable are also from John Deere: ’14 model 437D loader with CSI delim-

Gary Philibert (inset, above) had his 2008 skidder rebuilt late last year under John Deere's ReLife program, through Doggett Machinery in Monroe, La.

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The logger says he might consider giving the same treatment to his 2013 cutter.

A fuel tank at the shop holds 2,000 gallons of off-road diesel, and a transfer tank on the crew’s Chevy service truck carries it in two 105gallon tanks to the job site. “We fill up trucks at Southern Loggers Coop stations,” Philibert explains. The SLC has two stations in his area, one at the International Paper mill in Mansfield, very near Philibert’s shop, and one in Carmel.

The logger runs Firestone tires on all his machines, and has always used Rotella motor oil. His favorite brand of grease is Mystik.

Out Of The Woods Philibert’s business interests go beyond the logging crew. For one thing, he also farms, with 1,200 acres

The crew: William Smith, Robert Gray, Marvin Littleton, foreman Bobby Henley, Gary Philibert, and Robert Reeves of Doggett Machinery, Monroe

SLT SNAPSHOT Philibert Timber Co. Inc. Keithville, La. Email: gphilibert@comcast.net Founded: 1994 Owner: Gary Philibert No. Crews: 1 Equipment: 1 cutter, 1 skidder, 1 loader, 1 truck Average Haul Distance: 40 miles Tidbit: Philibert also owns Trailco of I-49, a trailer store, and MidStream Timber Solutions, a wood yard he owns with a partner.

Philibert says he has always preferred thinning; most of the crew's production is pine pulpwood.

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of timber and a herd of 160 head of cattle. Most of his days, though, he spends running Trailco of I-49, LLC, the log trailer dealership he started in 2012. Trailco of I-49 sells Viking log trailers, ITI chip trailers and Eager Beaver lowboys, both to area loggers and construction businesses. Trailco is in Mansfield, about 30 miles from the logging company office in Keithville. Mechanic Terry Blake runs the shop at Trailco.

Another business for the multidimensional businessman is Midstream Timber Solutions, a wood yard he owns with his partner Ryan Winters. Winters runs the daily operations at the wood yard. “We started out running the Bayou Pier wood yard for IP in 2015, unloading trucks off their wood storage yard outside the mill,” he says. “There was a chip mill that closed down that belonged to Anthony Timberlands, before Canfor bought all that stuff out. Ryan and I bought it and use it now as a wood yard for longwood storage and shipping it out to

CSI delimiter works with the loader.

The crew averages 45 loads a week.

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whichever mill needs it.”

Philibert says he never set out to be an entrepreneur. “Everything just kind of happened. I’ve been blessed.”

Philibert and his wife Peggy have been married 10 years and have two daughters, Christi and Holly. Both work for their dad now. Holly does all the title work at Trailco, while Christi helps with bookkeeping at the logging office, using QuickBooks software. She works with office manager Gayle Burgess, who has been with the company for 12 years; her husband Tom Burgess is a salesman at Trailco. Together Peggy and her husband have four grandkids, with a fifth due in April.

Despite having so much going on in his work life, Philibert finds time for hobbies, including catching wild hogs in traps. “I have these electronic traps, I keep corn in them and it sends you the videos at night,” he says. He had about 22 in the pin the night before SLT’s visit. He sells the hogs, though he says they don’t

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bring much money; it is just to get them off his property. He also likes to duck hunt sometimes, though he rarely finds time. For her part, Peggy is a horse enthusiast, keeping up with 15 horses at home. Philibert is a member of both the Louisiana Logging Council and Louisiana Cattlemen’s Assn.

History Philibert was working in a hay field when he first got connected to

the logging industry in 1977. He met a man who wanted to sell some shortwood trucks. “For some reason I bought four trucks,” he recalls. “I borrowed $20,000; I didn’t think I’d ever get it paid back.” Prior to this he’d had no experience in the woods; his dad had a construction business in Shreveport, but Philibert says he had no interest in following that path. For the next several years he hauled shortwood, eventually settling on a job for local logger Billy Ray Bedsole in Mansfield in 1987.

By 1995, Philibert was ready to start his own logging company. He ran two crews, one of them a big crew, until the economy squeezed him too hard in 2010-2011. “We couldn’t haul logs for different companies, several mills closed, and we got into a pinch with low wood orders.” In response, he downsized the company to just one smaller crew.

Crew foreman and cutter driver Bobby Henley generally oversees harvesting operations for Philibert.

“Bobby has worked for me since he

got out of high school,” Philibert says. Henley also has a firewood business on the side. The rest of the crew is Marvin Littleton in the skidder, Robert Gray in the loader and William Smith driving the truck. The main contract hauler on the job is LeMichael Whittaker, though Philibert uses others periodically.

The team conducts tailgate safety meetings once a month. Insurance comes through Regions Insurance Group agent Danny Payne in Shreveport. Amerisafe, Inc. is the underwriter for workers’ comp.

Markets Philibert says that 90% of what they haul is pine pulpwood bound for International Paper in Mansfield. They also haul some small logs to Idaho Timber in Coushatta and a small amount of chip-n-saw to a post mill, Arnold Forest Products in Greenwood. About 45 loads a week is typical, and Philibert pays the men production bonuses.

The company buys its own timber, and Philibert says that Henley’s healthy relationships with timber consultants and foresters in the area are a real benefit. “They all know him and really like his work,” Philibert says. “He does such a good job in the woods that we don’t have any trouble keeping timber. We don’t have to hustle it.”

Most of the jobs they get are privately-owned, and many of the owners know Philibert or Henley personally. For instance, the tract they were cutting when SLT visited belongs to the pastor of the church Philibert attends, Fellowship Community Church in Kickapoo. Tract size varies; they typically don’t cut anything under 30 acres, and have one job coming up that is 900 acres.

Quotas were the biggest problem facing the crew this winter, Philibert says. “We have had so much dry weather,” he explains, though admitting that isn’t the whole story. “We can produce much more than we ever could before with the bigger machines, and with no wet weather, the mills and yards have stayed full. Last year was terrible.”

Looking ahead, Philibert sees little change on the immediate horizon. “Midstream is really starting to do well and the trailer business is doing well, it has been a good venture,” he says. “Logging is only bad because of wood orders being so low, and that is because it’s dry. As long as Bobby wants to continue to do it, we will SLT continue to do it.”

For more information on the ReLife program in Monroe, call Robert Reeves at 318-207-3712.

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Growth Trajectory ■ The Hanneman family hopes to expand its business selling mulch and firewood in eastern Virginia.

The Hanneman family maintains three yards around Richmond where residents and businesses drop off wood debris, supplying most of the company's material for mulch, boiler fuel and firewood.

By David Abbott GLEN ALLEN, Va. ohn-Scott ★ Hanneman, 24, and his brother Evan, 23, were both brought up working in Hanneman Forest Products, LLC. The business was started by their parents, John and Donna Hanneman, in 1995. The

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brothers are 14 months apart. JohnScott was still a baby when their father was in his fourth year of studies for an environmental science degree at the University of Virginia while his wife was pregnant with Evan. By the end of that year, John had John-Scott in his arms as he walked at graduation, while newborn Evan was in Donna’s lap. The professor who handed him his diploma

said, “Here we have both the oldest and the youngest graduate tonight.”

“Truthfully?” John Hanneman, now 60, offers when asked how the company came into being. “It was founded over a shotgun.” Since that obviously requires a tad more explanation, he continues: “I was attending University of Virginia, newly married, and I liked to hunt. I wanted to buy a Browning. So I

John-Scott (in the Komatsu cab here) and his brother Evan have grown up working in the family business.

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started cutting firewood on the side.

I cut a few trees for people and they paid me, and I got my shotgun.”

That was in 1993; he actually graduated in ’95 and accepted a job as a biologist with Virginia Power, where he had already been working part-time as a student. “We did all the permitting for Virginia Power for water studies,” he says. Meanwhile, he kept cutting trees and fire-

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wood on the side, just to make some extra money. As it turned out, it wasn’t just extra. “I found out I was making more on the weekends than I was during the week,” he reflects.

So in 2000 he quit his day job and went full time into the forest products business.

At first John cut firewood and trees, both residential and commercial, and things were going well until September 2003 when Hurricane Isabel hit. By the spring of 2004, Isabel had brought so many companies from out of state into the Richmond area that John felt squeezed. He decided to sell all his tree cutting equipment, kept cutting firewood but switched the main focus of the company to mulch.

Today Hanneman Forest Products is primarily a mulch operation and biomass fuelwood business that also sells firewood (both packaged and bulk) from three yards in the greater Richmond area. “Generally we solicit ourselves as a full service recycling center,” John-Scott explains. The three drop off locations around Richmond are open to the public for any kind woody debris—yard waste, brush, stumps.

It works similar to a landfill, the older son says. “We process that for mulch or boiler fuel, depending on where the markets are and what we need,” John-Scott says. “Any byproducts will be processed for firewood or screen topsoil. Anything that comes in goes back out a different product; nothing is wasted.”

The yards sometimes charge dump fees, but it depends, according to John-Scott. “If we need material, we will take what people bring in for free,” he says. “When we do charge to take it, we keep (the fee) low; nothing more than $20 for residential. For contractors, it will be $75-100. We try to be flexible with everyone we work with, to try to help everyone’s bottom line.” He figures about 75% of their raw material supply is brought in to the drop off locations.

The remainder is generated from following land clearing or logging crews to a job site to collect residue.

Once the logger is about 80% finished with the job, Hanneman will move in with its grinder and excavators and start the cleanup while the logger is finishing up the tract.

They also have standing arrangements with some companies. “People will call and say, ‘hey we have a job getting full, do you need material?’”

John-Scott explains. For example, John-Scott learned of Davey Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Excavating in Covington, Va., from an article that ran in Southern Loggin’ Times in 2017, and made an arrangement with him to collect material from his land clearing and logging crews.

On commercial jobs, BMP and

Multi-Tek processor sends firewood through a tumbler to a dump truck for delivery to a packaging site at the Hanneman homestead.

SLT SNAPSHOT Hanneman Forest Products Glen Allen, Va. Email: hannemanarbor@comcast.net

The Hannmean family, from left: John, Donna, Evan, Megan, John-Scott, Candace

John and Evan repaired a hydraulic hose on the day SLT visited.

SMZ work is generally handled by the contractor, but on residential jobs it falls to Hanneman. “We have to talk to the county and pull land disturbance permits, find out where we need a silt fence and the like,” John-Scott says.

Machinery The company uses a Morbark 3800 horizontal grinder, a Doppstadt screen, and three excavators (Komatsu and Hitachi) including two fitted with stump sheers. John-

Founded: 1995 Owner: Johm and Donna Hanneman Equipment: a grinder, firewood processor and multiple excavators Tidbit: John Hanneman has a degree in environmental science and worked for Virginia Power during and after college. He started cutting firewood on the side during school, initially just to get money for a new shotgun.

Eventually he realized his side business was making more money than the job he studied for, and devoted himself to it full-time.

Scott says the family hopes to grow into a bigger grinder as demand warrants. Hanneman also owns several Komatsu wheel loaders with various sized buckets and attachments, including forks.

For the Komatsu machines, John-

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Scott reports they get good dealer support from Rish Equipment in Richmond, while James River Equipment in Ashland supplied and supports the Morbark. The Doppstadt screen came from Carter Machinery in Mechanicsville.

To haul its mulch and boiler fuel, Hanneman Forest Products has two Kenworth T800s (’10 and ’17 models) with ITI and Trail King chip vans. They generally run 450 Cummins engines in the trucks. The ’17 has an Allison automatic transmission, which John-Scott says has been “phenomenal. We were skeptical at first, but we took the advice of the salesman, Russell Perkins, from Truck Enterprises in Richmond. He said a lot of drivers love

the Allison and that, with our firewood deliveries, it would be a good transmission in the city, where stop and go isn’t a big deal like with a clutch truck. We are sold on it and absolutely we will buy more in the future as we see fit.”

The Hannemans’ preference for Kenworth trucks stems from their experience with the brand, JohnScott says. “We always had good service out of them and they are a dependable, quiet, well-built truck.”

With Komatsu excavators, a lot of their loyalty comes from dealer support and financing programs. Likewise, he says, for Morbark. “At any given time, no matter where we are, the James River dealer is within an hour away, and the Ashland branch

is the main hub for Morbark so parts and inventory are well stocked. We get what we need and we’re back up, running quickly, and that is key.”

The family handles most all the maintenance and repair work inhouse, everything they can do; anything beyond their scope goes back to the dealer. Oil changes and greasing are usually done in the field, but for bigger jobs they have a 4,000 sq. ft. shop equipped with cutting torches, a welder and anything else they need.

Seasons As mulch season winds down but before firewood season really

kicks off, Hanneman does some custom grinding for companies like Tidewater Lumber and O’Malley Lumber, both in Tappahannock.

“We call it our starvation period,” John says of late summer and early fall—the season between the seasons. Last year, mulch season started early, in January, due to a mild winter; normally it doesn’t get going until March, when landscapers typically get busy. By August that business tapers off through September before picking up again in October.

Firewood season actually starts before temperatures drop very much, around the middle of September, when Kroger starts putting the bundled firewood packages out.

“They have it out there because people want their first fire as soon as we get a cool night,” John explains. But, that doesn’t help much, because it is 30 days after delivery before they get paid.

Thus, from the end of mulch season until they actually get paid for firewood, from the end of July till the end of October, John says, is the “Jamestown starvation period.” Fortunately, they make enough money the rest of the year to set aside savings and get through it.

Markets Hanneman has been selling packaged firewood to Kroger grocery stores throughout the eastern half of Virginia for more than 15 years. They cut firewood at the delivery yards as well as at a facility near John and Donna’s home, by the shop, for packaging.

A Multi-Tek firewood processor uses a circle saw to cut logs into

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16 in. lengths and then split it 16 ways. The logs flow into a MultiTek tumbler to remove undersized pieces, then up a conveyor from which it falls into a dump truck, bound for the packaging facility.

Most of the mulch goes to local landscape suppliers. “We have local landscapers here in Richmond— anything from a single guy doing it alone to companies with 100 employees, and most of our mulch, probably 90% of it, goes out wholesale to them,” John explains. “We

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take it out in tractor trailer loads, but at this time we are not delivering mulch to homeowners. We used to, but we just don’t have the manpower.”

It is mostly just John and his two sons doing all the work. They do employ one part-time driver, Todd Engel. He is a fireman for Henrico County and works for Hanneman on his off days. John-Scott says, “We are looking to expand. Benefits and health care are restricting us, but we have the sales and projects

to warrant growing and adding more people.”

Indeed, with loose plans to add more chippers and an employee or two, Hanneman Forest Products appears poised to expand with market opportunity in the area. “We need a couple key machines and a couple more people,” John says.

“Recently, we bought a Doppstadt because we had a lot of people asking us to screen top soil. We can also screen our chips because right now we are grinding them and

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screening is much cheaper than grinding. So the way boiler fuel prices are around here, because it’s not clean chips, you have to do it as cheaply as possible.”

Right now most of the boiler fuel goes to Dominion Power at Hopewell. “I am trying not to haul chips anything over 50 miles,” John says. “We just got a contract with WestRock. We hauled boiler fuel to them and to Enviva before Dominion took the contract over, and now we have WestRock as a backup. Enviva is expanding with the big port in Norfolk and putting in two new mills in North Carolina, and they were the supplier for Dominion. When the contract expired, Dominion decided to do it themselves. What Dominion has done has changed the landscape for us. Enviva took chips in from almost everybody.

Small guys like me! Dominion has maybe a handful of five main suppliers and they put big numbers up and it cuts us out. So that’s why it is so tough around here to try to move boiler fuel.”

The health of the market is mixed, John reports. “Truthfully we are wide open on firewood, but the chip side stinks right now because it’s so dry. Mulch…we’ve had double-digit growth since 2012, every year. That’s why we need our fourth or fifth person to help there.”

He continues, “We have a guy we want to hire, and he wants to work for us, but his family needs healthcare and it would cost us $3,300 a month to do that. The way I look at it, when I hire someone I want them to work for me forever. Business should be that way.”

Health care for John and Donna actually comes from her job. She teaches third grade at John Gandy Elementary School in Hanover County. She will be finishing her 33rd year there this spring. She would have retired already, John says, but with the transition after the 2016 election and health care up in the air, she decided it was best to wait. Evan’s fiancé Megan just got a job as an RN and, according to John, “The benefits package is just unbelievable.” Evan and Megan were engaged last July.

John-Scott married his wife Candace on October 7 last year.

Donna uses Quick Books Online on her home computer to handle most of the business management, and she has a high school friend in Colorado who helps her keep the books online. The company also has a CPA, Rob Schutrumpf, with Schutrumpf and Co. in North Chesterfield. “Among the three of them, they keep the books right and SLT the bills paid,” John says.

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Trucking Focus ■ Collective call to action: common sense, diligence, driver training, better fleet management

By DK Knight MYRTLE BEACH, SC ransportation challenges and ★ suggestions to help get them under control were the focus of the annual meeting of the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn. (SCTPA), held here February 9-11. Some 420 attended the event, which incorporated a board meeting, entertainment, general session, luncheonbusiness meeting, awards ceremony, SFI workshop and prayer breakfast.

The event followed the semiannual meeting of TEAM Safe Trucking, a non-profit made up of loggers, log truckers, mill reps, associations and insurance companies that recently rolled out its first free training module for drivers (visit teamsafetrucking.com). About 45 attended that meeting, held at the same hotel.

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Common Sense In his SCTPA presentation on Log Truck Owner’s Responsibilities, Jimmie Locklear, Business Development Manager for Forestry Mutual Ins. Co., a TEAM Safe Trucking organizer, and former log truck driver, appealed for log truck owners simply to use common sense, which he said “is a lot like deodorant: the people who need it the most never use it.”

He conceded that finding quality drivers today is tougher than ever but exhorted owners to try harder and to thoroughly vet drivers before hiring,

Jimmie Locklear, foreground, makes a point while fellow guest speaker Dustin Meierhofer, left, and SCTPA Chairman Bo Bo Seckinger look on.

pointing out that it’s better to keep a truck parked than to put a risky driver in the seat. He said: “Don’t take their claimed experience or driving record for granted. Get in that truck with that driver and assess his skills.

Make sure he understands the dynamics of the load and the differences between handling a loaded log trailer and chip van. Monitor your drivers and know what they are doing behind the wheel.”

Locklear showed the image of an Alabama driver’s weight ticket he had found on Facebook. The driver had boasted of delivering a 42-log load that weighed 110,000 lbs. to a sawmill. Log loads in Alabama are legal up to 88,000 lbs. He told of a well-known North Carolina logger’s situation after he installed GPS in his trucks: “He had to make some changes among drivers he thought

Crad Jaynes, right, with Collins Activist Award honoree Bob Lussier and wife Cindy

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were top-shelf.” He appealed to owners to clamp down hard on drivers guilty of DWD—driving while distracted. He concluded: “The way we haul logs has changed, but has the way we hire drivers changed?”

BC Benchmarks Efforts to drive down truck accidents and related deaths in British Columbia, Canada in recent years were detailed by Dustin Meierhofer, Director of Transportation within the BC National Forest Safety Council.

In response to rising deaths among truck drivers and timber fallers, and fearful that its social license to practice forestry might be in jeopardy if it did nothing to turn this around, all stakeholders—log truckers, loggers and mills—united to establish standards for both log hauling and

felling, according to Meierhofer.

He said the ongoing pilot program being conducted through a Truck Advisory Group for BC’s 3,000 log truck drivers, who collectively transport about 50 million tons per year, involves systematic training, use of telematics (GPS, cameras), electronic on-board scales, and fatigue detectors.

According to Meierhofer, the program is forcing accountability, is restoring professionalism and confidence to the levels seen in the late 1990s, and is helping establish a new and improved culture. It has helped reduce severe accidents by 50%, helped lower fatalities by 75% and helped elevate legal weight compliance to 80%. Among other things, this is helping attract new drivers, a very important aspect since the average BC log truck drivers is 55.

Legal Perspectives Attorney Rob Moseley of SmithMoore-Leatherwood, who is widely known as an advisor to trucking companies and for defending trucking firms and insurance companies, cited several large jury verdicts across the country since 2011, noting several involved the same few legal firms. He said the public’s “somebody’s gotta pay” attitude has effectively recalibrated verdict values, which are influenced by the well-publicized salaries often paid to professional athletes and the amounts often seen in lotteries.

“Trial lawyers understand your business,” he said, “some➤ 30

Greg Hudson, right, and Sharon Smith, left, with SF Leadership Award winner Jimmy Smith

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26 ➤ times better than you do.”

But he also said defense lawyers are getting better at defending clients in lawsuits. “They are from smaller firms and have time to better prepare; they’re smart; work hard; are tech savvy; are more knowledgeable; and they swing for the fence.”

Some more of his comments: l “In hiring, be diligent and thorough and document what you find.” l “Make drivers follow policies set by your company.” l “75% of truck crashes are caused by a passenger car.” l “I’ve never seen a camera that hasn’t paid for itself.” l “Don’t put your head in the sand. You must adjust and adapt.

You cannot ignore federal rules and requirements.” l “Juries tend to like drivers, but they don’t necessarily like truck owners.” l “Work on driver retention.

Many accidents involve drivers who have been on the job less than six months.” l “Don’t let other people pull your trailers. If you do, you’re opening the door to trouble.” l “Be aware of drug and alcohol use. Just because a driver passed a DOT drug test does not mean he is drug-free. Watch your people. If

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Forestry Mutual’s Philip Sligh, second from right, presents SC Logger of the Year Award to the Varner family, from left: Tyler, Dennis, Phillip and Austin.

somebody is acting funny, start acting questions.” l “Down the line, mills will probably want more than $1 million coverage on trucks that enter their wood yards.”

Industry Overview In a luncheon address titled Constant Changes, Constant Challenges, DK Knight, Co-Publisher and Executive Editor for Hatton-Brown Publishers, presented a broad overview of the U.S. forest products industry’s status and focused on the South’s prominent role, then addressed logging and trucking.

Even though U.S. pulp and paper fiber demand continues to shrink

nationally, it remains strong in South Carolina and the South as a whole, and OSB and pellet plant fiber intake continue to increase, he said.

Knight noted the capital investment impact of Canadian companies that collectively now own 44 Southern softwood sawmills and pointed to the robust performance and outlook for Southern softwood lumber, saying production would likely hit 19 billion BF in 2018, which would tie the modern record set in 2005.

But he also indicated that record lumber output will mean record chip output, potentially dampening roundwood demand at mills of many types going forward.

Knight said the trend of fewer but larger and higher performing logging

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and wood supply organizations continues to grow and could become the industry’s dominant supplier model.

He said studies show that the most successful loggers are those who constantly challenge the process, tweaking efficiency, building their teams, improving working conditions and strengthening margins.

According to him, logging equipment will continue to become more sophisticated, among other things helping to level operator performance in the same machines in the same conditions.

On trucking, he said: “I’m not sure trucking can be turned around any time soon, given the overabundance of hungry legal hounds and a society bent on blaming the other guy. Still, it makes good sense for truck owners to step up and do all they can to operate by the book and not give trial lawyers a weak spot to exploit.

“This involves a mindset shift from reactive to proactive. It means developing and implementing indepth driver policies and procedures and embracing systematic driver training. It means using more assets such as GPS, dash cams, fatigue detectors, on-board scales, reflective tape, flashing lights, grill/bumper guards, and so on.

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“It means shifting to a much higher degree of overall fleet management designed to drive down mishaps and reduce insurance claims. Remember, nobody looks after your business like you look after your business.”

Insurance, More Rick Quagliaroli highlighted a captive commercial auto and liability insurance program now available to South Carolina and Georgia loggers through a new insured-owned company, Forestry Insurance Co. of the Southeast. He said the company is designed for clients who demonstrate they are proactive in fleet management and who otherwise think of and treat trucking as a serious business. According to him, benefits include competitive rates, access to operational guidance, access to those who complete a dedicated log truck driver school in south Georgia, and the potential to receive annual dividends.

SCTPA President/CEO Crad Jaynes informed attendees the group had joined others in supporting state house bill 4800, the socalled DUI-E (electronics) bill, which would put teeth in a state law that prohibits drivers from using electronic devices while driving.

“There is fairly good support for this in the House,” he said, asking: “What are you doing? We must help ourselves before others will help us.”

his many years of passionate service in that capacity and for his support of loggers and the SCTPA. Jaynes presented the group’s President’s Award to DK Knight, CoPublisher and Executive Editor for Hatton-Brown Publishers. He also gave special recognition to Jeremy Ponder, a special needs young man who has fallen in love with logging and its heavy equipment.

The Sunday morning prayer breakfast featured His Way Mine, a group of three sisters who have

been singing together since childhood.

Meeting sponsors and/or exhibitors included Swamp Fox Agency, Forestry Mutual Ins. Co., Blanchard CAT/Pioneer SC, Flint Construction & Forestry Div., Domtar, Palmetto State Insurance Agency, Norboard, CRTS, Sonoco, Colombo Energy, Carolina International Trucks, Collum’s Lumber, Worldwide Equipment Kenworth, Pinnacle Trailer Sales, The Pete Store, Southern Loggers Co-op,

Company Wrench, Colony Tire, Triple T Truck, Shealy’s Truck Center, Forestry Ins. Co. Southeast, BITCO, Tidewater, Palmetto Pulpwood & Timber, Backwoods Logistics, Hawkins & Rawlinson, KapStone, WestRock, Duke Energy, Chippers Southeast, TEAM Safe Trucking, Excel Truck Group, Clark Trailer Service, Vermeer MidAtlantic, W&W Truck & Tractor, Carolina Honda, Schaeffer, Thomas Tire, and Horry-Georgetown TechSLT nical College.

Awards Presentations The SCTPA presented its flagship honor, the Gene Collins Logger Activist Award, to Bob Lussier and Great Woods Companies, LLC. Located in Bennettsville, Lussier, a 35-year logging veteran, deploys two crews. He and his wife, Cindy, relocated to the state from Connecticut in 2009 when New England markets began to decline. The Lussiers were previously selected as the South Carolina 2016 Outstanding Logger of the Year by the state forestry association. In a companion SCTPA business meeting, Lussier was elected as a board member of the group.

Other recognitions: Forestry Mutual Insurance Co. honored Dennis Varner Logging with its E.K. Pitman Safety Award.

Swamp Fox Agency selected Smith Logging Co. for its Timber Industry Leadership Award.

SCTPA’s Jaynes cited former chairman/board member Billy McKinney for his years of loyal service and singled out former state forester Gene Kodama for Southern Loggin’ Times

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For Those Who Don’t Know Everything

abstemious and facetious.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it would digest itself.

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone’s business card indicated he was a used furniture dealer.

An Episcopal priest, a Catholic priest, a Methodist minister and a BapAll 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the tist pastor went on a fishing trip together and decided they were going to back of the $5 bill. show their ecumenical trust by confessing their sins to one another.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

The priest said, “Well, I must tell you that once in a while I disguise An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. myself and go to a burlesque show. I find it helps to relieve my celibacy.”

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the The Episcopalian said, “Well, I just can’t help myself. I’m a miser. I just child reaches 2 to 6 years of age! hoard money.”

Butterflies taste with their feet.

And the Methodist: “Well, about once a month I just lock myself in my Cats have over 100 vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10. cellar and get as drunk as a skunk.”

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”

They all turned to the Baptist, and he said with a grin, “Well, my sin is February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full gossip…and I can’t wait to get back home.” moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

A husband and wife came for counseling after 15 years of marriage.

If you are an average American, in your whole life you will spend an When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionate, average of six months waiting at red lights. painful tirade listing every problem they had It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. ever had in the 15 years they had been marLeonardo DaVinci invented scissors. ried.

Maine is the only state with a name consistShe went on and on and on: neglect, lack of ing of just one syllable. intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling No word in the English language rhymes unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list with month, orange, silver, or purple. of unmet needs she had endured over the Our eyes are always the same size from birth, course of their marriage. but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Finally, after allowing this to go on for a Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynasufficient length of time, the therapist got up, mite. walked around the desk and, after asking the Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. wife to stand, embraced and kissed her pas‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word typed with sionately. only the left hand and ‘lollipop’ with the right.

The woman quietly sat down as though in a The average person’s left hand does 56% of daze. the typing.

The therapist turned to the husband and The cruise liner QE2 moves only six inches said, “This is what your wife needs at least for each gallon of diesel it burns. three times a week. Can you do this?”

The microwave was invented after a reThe husband thought for a moment and searcher walked by a radar tube and a chocoIn March 1978 SLT devoted its cover story to Wayne Williams, a successful, conscientious, third generation logger based in replied, “Well, I can drop her off here on Monlate bar melted in his pocket.

Georgetown, Ga. Running two crews, Williams kept the family tradays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I fish!”

The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps dition going with an engaging spirit and good people, not to menover the lazy dog” uses every letter of the tion four Timberjack skidders, a John Deere 450 dozer, Poulan, alphabet.

Husqvarna and Stihl chain saws, a Barko 140 knuckleboom The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niaga- mounted on a ’67 IH truck, and a Timberjack 1700 front end loader.

His two Mack Maxidynes shared hauling duties with two White A Sunday School teacher decided to have her ra Falls froze completely solid.

Road Bosses.

Trailers were popular brands of the day: Tuff Thom young class memorize one of the most quoted The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ and ‘level’ are and Johnson. Wayne’s retired father, Wilson Williams, 65, at left passages in the Bible: Psalm 23. She gave the the same whether they are read left to right or above, often shared tailgate space and stories with his son. youngsters a month to learn the chapter. right to left.

Little Rick was excited about the task, but There are 293 ways to make change for a he just couldn’t remember the Psalm. After dollar. much practice, he could barely get past the There are more chickens than people in the first line. world.

On the day that the kids were scheduled to The average person cannot lick his/her elbow. recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, There are only four words in the English Ricky was very nervous. When it was his language which end in ‘dous’: tremendous, turn, he stepped up to the microphone and horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. said proudly, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and There are two words in the English lanthat’s all I need to know.” guage that have all five vowels in order:

Ecumenical Trust

Marriage Counseling

Georgia’s Wayne Williams, 1978

“All I Need To Know”

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP Komatsu Acquires Quadco, Southstar Komatsu Ltd. is acquiring the Quadco and Southstar forestry attachment operations from Prenbec Equipment Inc. of Quebec, Can. The deal does not include the forestry equipment businesses of

Tanguay and Forespro delimbers.

The acquisition is being made through a wholly owned subsidiary of Komatsu in the U.S. Komatsu will be adding the Quadco felling heads and Southstar large harvester heads to Komatsu’s existing lines of Log Max and Komatsu small and medium-sized harvester heads.

Quadco and Southstar will continue to operate as independent companies within the Komatsu group and will maintain their existing sales networks. In order to offer improved value to customers, a forestry attachment division within Komatsu Forest AB will be formed, which will manage the Quadco, Southstar and Log Max brands.

WestRock Expands, Purchases Kapstone WestRock is acquiring KapStone for $4.9 billion.

KapStone is a leading North American producer and distributor of containerboard, corrugated products and specialty papers, including liner and medium containerboard, kraft papers and saturating kraft.

KapStone also owns Victory Packaging, a packaging solutions distribution company.

“KapStone is a great fit with WestRock. Their complementary corrugated packaging and distribution operations will enhance WestRock’s ability to serve customers across our system, particularly in the Western United States, and the addition of their specialty kraft paper products that we do not make enhances our differentiated portfolio of paper and packaging solutions,” say Steve Voorhees, CEO of WestRock.

The transaction increases the mix of virgin fiber-based paper in WestRock’s paper portfolio. KapStone’s 3 million tons of paper is made using 78% virgin fiber and 22% recovered fiber. This increases WestRock’s overall mix of virgin fiber from 65% to 67%.

KapStone operates four paper mills, 22 converting plants, and more than 65 warehouses and distribution centers in North America.

Mid-South Show Begins Offering Space Management personnel for the Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show have announced that the booth/site selection process has begun for exhibitors who participated in the 2016 show. Once the pre-selection process is complete (March 19) non-claimed space and general exhibitor information, including the site selection map, will be posted at www.midsouthforestry.org and can be accessed by clicking the link for exhibitor information.

The MSFES event, which ranks as the South’s top live equipment demo/display venue, will take place September 21-22 a few miles south of Starkville, Miss. The 2016 show set records for exhibitor participation and overall attendance.

2018 SWPA Meeting Logging & Trucking Expo Southeastern Wood Producers Assn. (SWPA) will again gather for its annual meeting coupled 34

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with a logging and trucking expo in Waycross, Ga., on March 15-17, 2018, at the Okefenokee Fairgrounds. Outdoor spaces will be available with equipment and trucks on display, while inside will offer continuing education opportunities and industry vendors. SWPA’s board promises the not-to-bemissed event gives SWPA members and supporters the chance for fun and fellowship while viewing the latest logging and trucking equipment and technologies for wood

fiber harvesting and transportation.

Other events include a golf tournament to be held on Thursday, March 15, benefitting Log A Load for Kids, as well as a loader competition and a truck rodeo on Friday, March 16 and Saturday, March 17.

Both Florida Master Logger Renewal Update and Georgia Master Timber Harvester credits are available beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, with expo areas opening at 1:00 p.m. The SWPA will hold its business meeting/dinner at 6:30

p.m. with keynote speaker Richard Schwab of M.A. Rigoni, Perry, Fla. General admission to this familyfriendly event is free to the public.

For more information, visit swpa.org or call 904-845-7133.

Grand Opening Event Will Include Demo An equipment demo and late afternoon meal will highlight grand opening festivities for Equipment

Linc, Inc., Alabama’s newest logging equipment dealer based near Maplesville. The event is set to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 7.

The demo will take place in a timber stand located almost adjacent to Equipment Linc’s location at 13711 Highway 191, Maplesville.

According to company president Tommy Moore, Equipment Linc plans to feature a new Delfab Phoenix 703 tri-wheel feller-buncher and Barko loader/CSI delimber combo. It is also hoping to demonstrate a new Barko 270 track processor fitted with a Southstar head.

“We welcome everyone to come watch the demo, talk with factory reps and our people, check out our facility, and enjoy some good food and hospitality,” Moore says.

Equipment Linc opened its doors last fall. Its product line includes Barko, Delfab, Rotobec, Big John, CSI, Eco-Tracks and Tiffin parts.

Call 334-366-4661; visit equipmentlinc.com.

The Price Is Right In Fulghum Fibres Deal And the winner is—The Price Companies.

The Price Companies of Monticello, Ark. submitted the highest bid in a bankruptcy court auction for the purchase of Fulghum Fibres, an affiliate company of Rentech. The Price Companies out-bid an affiliate of Scott Davis Chip Co., based in Alabama.

The Price Companies officially closed on the deal in mid-February.

Rentech, amid filing for bankruptcy, earlier reported that it had sold its Fulghum Fibres business to an affiliate of Scott Davis Chip Co. for $28 million. But on January 10, The Price Companies and its affiliate, Firehunt, Inc., filed an objection to the sale motion and delivered a competing bid for the Fulghum assets. The Price Companies, which like Fulghum is a chip mill operator and contractor, contested Rentech’s disclosure statements for not containing enough information on the transaction, why certain affiliate properties of Rentech had filed for bankruptcy and some hadn’t, and why it would be acceptable for Renetch to sell Fulghum Fibres for $2 million less than what The Price Companies said it had offered to buy Fulghum Fibres.

At a hearing on January 17, after arguments from Price and other creditors, the Bankruptcy Court allowed an auction for the sale of Fulghum to proceed. After receiving several bids from Scott 36

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Davis and Price, it was determined that Price had submitted the “highest and best bid” for Fulghum.

Price agreed to acquire Fulghum and assume certain specified liabilities for a base purchase price of $33,750,000 (which includes the assumption or payoff by Price of approximately $20,000,000 of debt). Upon the closing of the sale, the Fulghum sellers were to terminate the earlier Fulghum purchase agreement with Scott Davis and pay

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the $840,000 break-up fee required under the terms of the agreement.

The Fulghum sellers were to be reimbursed for the break-up fee by Price.

On February 2, 2018, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order authorizing the sale of Fulghum to Price.

Rentech purchased Fulghum Fibres in 2013 for $112 million, including 32 wood chip mills, six of which were in South America.

LOGGING LIFE AT HOME Work Is A Place Where Life Goes On

By Deborah Smith

T

he news of their sister going, passing, slowly sunk in, deep, in the early morning hours. She was supposed to get better—last week’s doc-

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tor report was so good. She was the one who made us laugh, the one who remembered every birthday, and made the best biscuits and would be there for you with just one phone call.

We sat in her living room, in dark morning hours. Our talk about nothing and everything slowly turned to the reality that it would soon be 6 o’clock, and we had to face the day.

With just a few words, Keith and Travis decided they would stay home, and TL (Travis’ son) would go to the woods with the crew. Being busy helped TL grieve in his own way. Putting in a good day’s work was our crew’s way of saying they were sorry for the loss of Keith and Travis’ sister.

The next day, a couple inches of snow shut down our town and the surrounding areas. But not Smith Brothers. Travis hesitantly told me they were going to work, and I understood. There was nothing he “could do” at home.

Carol’s services would not be until Friday and Saturday, and this was Wednesday. To go to the woods was a good thing. I later learned that it took them twice as long to get to work, and they were the first to make tire tracks in the snow on the highway to work.

From my place as a logger’s wife, I saw a new side of our crew.

They are there for each other. They each put in some hard work that week, on freezing cold days, when whole towns were closed because of weather conditions. It was as if they knew that work is a place where life goes on. For them, work was a place where the other guy knew what you were going through,

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and he had your back.

Working together in one of America’s top 10 most dangerous jobs makes them watch out for each other, but it goes deeper than that, too. They respect each other. They pick on each other. And when someone is going through a tough time, they pitch in and carry on for each other.

I’ve always been thankful for each

man that makes up our woods crew and those who haul the wood, and my respect for them has only grown.

They laughed when I didn’t recognize them all cleaned up with no ball cap at the receiving friends night.

They wouldn’t like all this mushy stuff I’m saying about them, either.

But I’m right. And I couldn’t be more proud and grateful for each one.

MACHINES-SUPPLIESTECHNOLOGY Bandit Horizontal Grinder

Bandit Industries has added an additional option to The Beast horizontal grinder lineup with the Model 2460XP, available as a towable or track machine with 520 HP. Special attention was paid to making the 2460XP among the easiest horizontal grinders to service and maintain. Common maintenance items were designed to be accessible from either the ground or

on built-in platforms.

The 2460XP is equipped with a 60” wide by 30” diameter, 30-tooth cuttermill running Bandit’s patented sawtooth style cutterbodies. This regulates the size of the tooth’s bite, so most of the material is sized on the initial cut, allowing material to be sized correctly on the first pass so it exits the larger screening area more quickly.

For the tracked 2460XP, Bandit offers Strickland and Caterpillar, giving customers an additional option for their track machines.

Visit banditchippers.com.

Pierce Grapple Processor

The Pierce grapple processor is designed to optimally grapple and process as effectively as traditional processors. It dangles like a grapple, with 360° continuous rotation, 53” arm opening and full measuring and processing, turning the work of the processor and loader into one dual purpose machine—and with perfect balance under a yarder.

The GP enables loggers to gain utility and productivity from a single machine, while saving valuable time, labor, maintenance, fuel and transportation costs. The GP shovels, sorts and loads like a grapple, and delimbs, measures and cuts like a processor. Visit piercepacific.com.

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Operator Lacerates Hand while Changing Teeth on Buncher BACKGROUND: On a warm, sunny, summer day in the South, a

feller-buncher operator was installing new cutting teeth on a cutting head

outfitted on a wheeled feller-buncher.

His procedure was to use a 36-inch

breaker bar to loosen the one-inch bolts that secure the teeth. Then he used an impact gun to remove the bolts and change each tooth. The cutting disk was held in place with a piece of wood or a large metal bar so it would not rotate.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The buncher operator was 25 years old and had been with this employer for over 2 years. He had completed this task many times before and was considered fully trained to perform the replacement.

He wore all the required personal protective equipment.

UNSAFE ACT OR CONDITION: After he had changed several teeth successfully, the breaker bar slipped off one of the bolts that he tried to loosen, and he fell forward.

ACCIDENT: The operator braced his fall with his left hand and landed on top of one of the recently changed, razor-sharp teeth.

INJURY: He cut his left hand, suffering a severe laceration with extensive tendon and nerve damage to the hand.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CORRECTION: l Although extension bars have been designed for use with this type of job, they still require that the user grip these extension bars firmly with two hands, while maintaining proper body position and firm footing; the face and body should be positioned out of harm’s way. l Using

the impact wrench prior to using the extension bar may loosen the bolt and prevent the need for the extension bar. l Require

the use of cut-resistant gloves when performing this operation.

Supplied by Forest Resources Assn.

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6 ➤ card—not a credit or debit card, but more like an access card— can only be used at SLC station pumps. Each card is tied to the member’s account. At the central office, an invoice is generated on Monday for the previous week’s purchases, and funds are automatically withdrawn from the members’ accounts the following Friday.

There are no checks or bills in the mail, and this is also in the name of efficiency and saving members money. “There is no way we could process all that every week with just

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six people in the office,” Slatten points out; they’d have to hire more staff, and that would cost members on their dividends.

“We are, as Bill Jones would say, strong as new rope,” Slatten says.

“It was strong in 2012 and has gotten nothing but stronger. We have paid off debt, freed up cash, and had record net profit years, which translates into record dividends for our members. We have driven down overhead and administrative expenses while increasing sales volumes. So the co-op is doing well,

and we have our members and our staff to thank for that.”

Future “Our plans are to move into anywhere we can get the right piece of property where our services are needed,” Martin says. “We have no stations in Georgia so we are concentrating on filling that gap between Alabama and South Carolina.” Slatten concurs, “We are looking hard at Georgia within the year.

Bill has put a lot of effort in there.”

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They also hope to open a station in North Carolina to fill the gap between South Carolina and Virginia, and they are seeking locations in Arkansas, where they have no stations yet. Slatten adds that they also plan to expand their presence in parts of Mississippi where they have no stations yet. “We have a big span in Mississippi, in the east and north that are wide open, and that is a massive wood basket and would close the gap between western Mississippi and Alabama.” Jones reports strong potential sites in South Carolina and in Columbia, Miss. “You might plant a seed today and it might be years before it comes around,” he says. “I started talking to people in Columbia when I started the job almost nine years ago, and now it might be coming together finally.”

They currently have a station under construction at the new RoyOMartin mill in Corrigan, Tex., and will soon begin construction near the Graphic Packaging mill in West Monroe, La. Additionally SLC is in the process of acquiring property for stations in Columbus, Miss. and Bogalusa, La. (at International Paper mills), Florence, SC (at a WestRock mill) and Macon, Ga. (at a Graphic Packaging mill).

“The main thing I tell loggers is, this is your co-op,” Jones says.

“You own it, you’re a stakeholder in it. Our goal is for you to have access to fuel at a convenient location at as competitive a price as we can get. Over time it will even out to save you several cents per gallon and that can be huge when you burn 3,000 gallons a week. It adds up pretty quickly.”

The SLC’s first member, Travis Taylor, passed away in 2014. Martin says Taylor’s impact cannot be overstated. “In my opinion it would not have happened if he hadn’t pushed it,” he says. “He and my dad, Benny Martin, talked about it a lot in the late ’90s; dad passed away in 2001, three years before their talks became a reality.

A lot of people did a lot of work, but if I can attribute it to one person who got it started, it would be Travis.”

Jones recalls the advice Taylor gave him before he got the SLC started. “He said to me once that if you want to get serious about helping loggers, find a way to put money in his wallet,” Jones says.

“This has been a way we have done that.”

For more about the Southern Loggers Cooperative, visit southernloggers.com, email info@southernloggers.com or call SLT 888-641-8081.

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PRINT CLASSIFIED AD RATES: Print advertising rates are $50 per inch. Space is available by column inch only, one inch minimum.

Click. Connect. Trade.

DEADLINES: Ad reservation must be received by 10th of month prior to month of publication. Material must be received no later than 12th of month prior to month of publication.

www.ForesTreeTrader.com

CONTACT: Call Bridget DeVane at 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613, email bdevane7@hotmail.com or visit www.southernloggintimes.com

13288

Logo indicates that equipment in the ad also appears on www.ForesTreeTrader.com

2008 Tigercat 234 Good condition .................... $60,000

2007 Prentice 2670 Single tower head, 30.5 tires-40%, 8730 hours ......................$65,000

We now have Babac single ring chains in stock 28L x 26 3/4" ring chains........................... $2,550 3.5 x 32 3/4" ring chains............................ $2,875 35.5 x 32 3/4" ring chains.......................... $3,100 67 x 34 5/8" ring chains............................. $2,000 FREE FREIGHT when 2 pair bought together

TED SMITH

5840 Hwy 36, Russellville, AL Home: 256-766-8179 • Office: 256-766-6491 Fax: 256-766-6962 • Cell: 256-810-3190

KEVIN MONTGOMERY

Logo indicates that equipment in the ad also appears on

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256-366-1425

13267

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FINAN C AVAILA ING BLE

5569

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www.equipmentandparts.com

Office : 903-238-8700 • Jason Bruner: 903-452-5290 Bill Bruner: 903-235-2805 H REDUCED PRICES H

SKIDDERS

2008 John Deere 648H Skidder – 9,300 hours, Good 30.5 x 32 tires Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work! ...................................Reduced to $64,500

2005 Cat 525B Skidder - Engine and transmission rebuilt around 1,000 hours ago, 30.5 x 32 tires, Winch............ $49,500

FELLER BUNCHERS

2014 Cat 553C Mulcher - NEW FAE 200/U225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, CAT 6.6 TIER 3 engine ,Cab with air, Good 30.5 x 32 tires, ready to work! 200 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthly rental available!... $185,000

2012 Prentice 2670C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U-225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 7.1 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 0 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthly rental available!.... $189,500

2013 Deere 643K Feller Buncher STK# LT654068; 8242 hrs $58,000

2015 Deere 643L Feller Buncher STK# LT672506; 2975 hrs $162,000

2011 Deere 437D Knuckleboom Loader STK# LT193099; 0 hrs $42,000

2014 Deere 437D Knuckleboom Loader STK# LT258241; 9169 hrs $95,000

2014 Deere 848H Skidder STK# LT655945; 6743 hrs $131,000

2015 Deere 948L Skidder STK# LT668850; 3336 hrs $190,000

2015 Deere 848L Skidder STK# LT669812; 4571 hrs $188,000

2012 Deere 648H Skidder STK# LU641386; 9052 hrs $98,000

2015 Deere 748L Skidder STK# LU670157; 3814 hrs $205,000

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2011 Cat 563 Feller Buncher – 7,400 hours, SC-57 Saw Head, 28L tires, Cab with air, Ready to work! .................$69,500

2005 Timberking TK350 Feller Buncher – 9,100 hours, Waratah FD22 Saw Head, 28L tires, Cat engine with new injectors, Ready to work!.......... Reduced to $47,500

2017 Kubota SVL 95-2S Mulcher – 46 hours, Equipped with a New FAE mulching head. Rental available! Weekly / Monthly / Rent to own......... Call for price!

LOADERS

2014 Cat 559C Log Loader – 6,600 hours, Mounted on Hydraulic leg trailer with CTR delimber, Cab with air, Ready to work! ....................................................... $99,500

MULCHERS

Late model used Saw Heads – Good used take offs that came off of Cat 553C, Cat 563C, Cat 573C..............Call for price

2015 Cat 553C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 6.6 TIER 3 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 400 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher.

Monthy rental available! ................... $189,500

Visa and Mastercard accepted

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RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!!

Bent or Vibrating Disk?

I have many years of experience straightening cutter disks Any make such as Tigercat, etc.

We do other repairs to disks

Carver Sawdisk Repair Washington, North Carolina 252.945.2358 566

FOR SALE

1461

In addition to new machines, CHAMBERS DELIMBINATOR, INC. now has factory reconditioned DeLimbinators. These units have been inspected, repaired, and updated as needed. Call us and we will help you select a DeLimbinator for your need.

WE ALSO BUY USED DELIMBINATORS Call: 662-285-2777 day, 662-285-6832 eves Email: info@chambersdelimbinator.com 1123

Hose, Fittings & Crimpers

3939

Call or Text Zane 334-518-9937

Helping Loggers Save Money For Over 20 Years Contact: Chris Alligood 1-252-531-8812 email: chrisa.cavalierhose@gmail.com

8309

2014 CAT 559C Loader, CTR 426, saw hyd, hyd leg trailer, 5500 hrs................$128,000

EUREKA! EUREKA! EUREKA! OWNERS HAVE OVER 30 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE!

N

EUREKA SAW TOOTH CO., INC.

7180

We can save you money on Saw Teeth. Hundreds of satisfied ACC OW EP customers. Rebuilt Exchange or New. We specialize in rebuild- CRE TING DIT ing Koehring 2000, Hurricana, Hydro Ax split teeth and all CARDS other brands. Call Jimmy or Niel Mitchell. Quantity Discounts!

4275 Moores Ferry Rd. • Skippers, Virginia 23879 PH./FAX (day) 1-434-634-9836 or Night/Weekends • 1-434-634-9185

13289

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FOR SALE 2016 Caterpillar HF201B sawhead.

Full rotation wrist.

Approximately 400 hours. Like new $60,000 obo

FOR SALE

• Weigh boy scales, used 6 months....................$12,500 obo • 94 450C double arch skidder, 9,000 hrs.................$20,000 obo 256-479-5036 3034

Parting out: Tigercat 720B w/5400 head, 240B, 635 and 845B. Deere 437D, 648G, 748G, and 843. Prentice 310E, Cat 522B, Timberking 360, and Timberjack 735.

South AL 251-513-7001

945

IF YOU NEED

To buy or sell forestry, construction, utility or truck equipment, or if you just need an appraisal, contact me, Johnny Pynes with JM Wood Auction. Over 25 years experience.

770

Day 334-312-4136 Night 334-271-1475 or Email: johnwpynes@knology.net

WANTED TO BUY

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Cat 518 & Cat 518C skidders in TX, LA area Call Kent 936-699-4700 r_kentjones@yahoo.com

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• 2005 Tigercat 718 Fellerbuncher, 90% Front Tires, 40% rear Tires, Good/Clean running machine REMAN ENGINE 2800 HRS, MACHINE HRS 9,800......................................................................... $52,000 • 2000 Peterson Chipper 5000G........................................................................................ CALL FOR PRICE • 2005 Peterson Chipper 5000G........................................................................................ CALL FOR PRICE • 2011 535C Tigercat, 30.5 tires, 10,000 hrs......................................................................................$60,000 • 2011 Tigercat 822C with 110 degree head, 70%bottom, Recon Engine................................... $170,000 • 2004 TIGERCAT 822 10,000 HRS NEW BOTTON, RECON ENGINE............................................ $110,000 • 635C BOGGIE SKIDDER NEW ENGINE, NEW HYDRAULICS, NICE RUNNING MACHINE..........$135,000 • 170 franklin pre hauler.......................................................................................................CALL FOR PRICE • Ardco Rehauler.....................................................................................................CALL FOR INFO & PRICE • 2005 Kenworth T800 (ONE OWNER) CAT ENGINE (Ready for work) • 2000 Kenworth T800 (ONE OWNER) CAT ENGINE (ready for work) ...................................................................................................................................Call for Price on T800s • 2015 Tigercat 822, 2600hrs.......................................................................................................... $330,0000 • 2006 Tigercat 630C, new engine, new hydrostats, & 35.5 tires....................................................... $65,000

Any sized used tires & wheels for forestry equipment

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