SLT 0719 by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc.

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 7/11/19 4:01 PM Page 1

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 2

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 3

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 1:45 PM Page 4

Vol. 48, No. 7

(Founded in 1972—Our 562nd Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S

July 2019 A Hatton-Brown Publication

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

www.southernloggintimes.com Publisher David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer Dianne C. Sullivan Editor-in-Chief Western Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor

Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Patrick Dunning

Publisher/Editor Emeritus David (DK) Knight

Stange Timber Three Generations Together

D&D Forestry Leap Of Faith

Art Director Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director Online Content/Marketing

Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas Jacqlyn Kirkland

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 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

Spotlight On Harvesting Heads, Components

out front:

Chambers Logging was in the woods long before Eric Chambers (right) came up with the Chambers Delimbinator. When he brought that machine to market, Chambers hired his old friend Ronny Prewitt (left) to oversee his logging crew. Story begins on Page 8. (Photo by Leslie Burton)

Ponsse’s Cobra New Harvester Debuts

D E PA RT M E N T S Southern Stumpin’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Industry News Roundup . . . . . . . . . 34 ForesTree Equipment Trader . . . . . 47 Coming Events/Ad Index . . . . . . . . . 54

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 +34 96 640 4048 58 Aldea de las Cuevas • 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 ® 2019. 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

●

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 5

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:16 PM Page 6

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

Where In The World Is Jessica? t’s often an adventure out there on the road for the Southern Loggin’ Times editorial crew. Just last week I flew to Rhinelander, Wisconsin to take a look at Ponsse’s new Cobra harvester (see page 32). Rhinelander is a small airport that only has two flights a day, both to Minneapolis. On the way back, my connecting flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta landed with no gates available, forcing us to wait. By the time we finally got inside my flight to Atlanta wouldn’t let me on, so I had to get last-minute booked on the very last flight to Birmingham of the day. And just a couple of months ago I was about to leave my hotel in McComb, Miss. to go see a logger when my phone's weather warning app and some gnarly looking clouds prompted me to go back inside and wait a bit. I then got stuck in the Holiday Inn Express with the power out while I watched the lobby doors get blown off as a tornado passed by outside. Then in 2015, on the way back from Montana, I was diverted mid-air just over Atlanta, got stuck in Huntsville for hours waiting to refuel and ended up having to get off the plane and rent a car to get home instead of finishing the flight. Back in 2012 a storm in Green Bay delayed us so much that we arrived in Chicago after O’Hare Airport had completely shut down for the night. There was no one left to talk to about how they were going to get me the rest of the way home, and I couldn’t even get back inside to sleep in the airport. I took a cab to the cheapest local motel about 2 in the morning and got back to the airport by 5 to get on the earliest flight to Birmingham. Then there was the time I arrived for two weeks in Sweden to discover my luggage, containing almost all my clothes, was somewhere in Iceland…not to mention the incident with the cab driver at the sawmill in Romania, or the infamous sauna logger in Michigan… Read below as our very own "Woods Barbie," senior associate editor Jessica Johnson, relates her own recent experience (this happened to her the same day I was hiding from tornadoes in Mississippi).

Jessica’s Good Directions My sense of direction is somewhat legendary—and perhaps not in a good way? It’s depressing really, as a person who prides herself on trying to break stereotypes to know that maybe I am one. Yes, I am a young lady who gets lost. Like, magnificently lost. We’ve written about my low quality sense of direction before in this space, and I believe one year Mississippi logger Chad Grantham’s quote about me needing to relearn my left from my right actually made it in David Abbott’s end of the year roundup. Once 6

on assignment for SLT’s sister publication Timber Harvesting, I got so lost in Ireland I had to pull over and cry for about 10 minutes. Given my choice of career, you’d think I’d get better at driving… In order to go the extra mile, or in my case an average of 25 extra miles, as all the editors do for SLT, it means having a sense of adventure. So the morning I embarked on the trip to Louisiana and Arkansas from my home in Alabama to see Don Grillo, featured on page 20, I figured it would be a day of travel like all others—extremely early wakeup call, early planes, lunch from a drive through window and in the woods just in time for the afternoon sun to hit its peak.

Jessica finally found Grillo.

Instead, two different sections of interstate were closed, I missed my first plane by five minutes and the coffee cart at the airport was in such a state they literally only had three Mr. Coffee machines plugged in and were serving up plain old black coffee with limited variations. I’ll never forget the guy in front of me in line that morning. “Well, when you make those options sound so great, I think I’ll go with black,” he told the slightly harried worker, before turning to me and asking what I thought sounded good. Bless him; he was behind me at the ticketing counter while I begged the ladies to check my bag and let me run to make my first plane, which of course they did not. So, in an effort to help turn my day around he bought a pair of matching black coffees, one with vanilla, and proceeded to make me laugh for the hour-long wait until the plane arrived.

While I greatly appreciated the distraction, he was heading to Virginia Beach, Va. that day and I remember explicitly asking him if he was going to Stihl, Inc. headquarters. He was not and therefore the question made me look like an actual crazy person; in the back of my mind I knew with a long day ahead this start didn’t bode well for me. I was able to recover once I got to Louisiana, into my rental car and through the Whataburger drive through. As I was blasting Taylor Swift hitting I-30 I felt on top of the world. I was running just a bit late, but I could easily make it up by not stopping. I made great time getting into Bluff City, Ark., the closest town to the block of timber where Grillo and crew were working. I followed the directions he gave me, and used my trusty paper atlas to twist and turn and wind around the seemingly endless acres of pine plantations. This is where it gets dicey. Grillo told me to go three miles down one dirt road before turning at a second dirt road, going a quarter of a mile and taking another left at another dirt road. Or something like that. He told me to be prepared for no cell phone reception. He didn’t tell me to be prepared for what felt like literally one hundred dirt roads with no option to turn left or right depending on the direction desired. I became increasingly panicked. As the mother of two young boys, one of whom was sick as a newborn, I pride myself on not panicking. You know the type—snow is forecast and they go buy six loaves of bread and nine gallons of milk. I am not one of those people. But, with no cell phone reception and the odometer telling me I went way over my four miles with no landing in sight, I was starting to panic. Of course, at this point the dirt road started getting really rutty—a good sign! Log trucks had been here!—but also not great for my rented Chevy Malibu sedan. As I got out to physically push the car out of a small hole, I said a quick prayer. And what do you know, cell phone coverage or no, God answered the call. Not two minutes after pushing my car out of the hole did I hear the unmistakable roar of a diesel engine. Hallelujah! Climbing back in the Malibu, I followed the sound and sure enough: a landing! I bounded out of the car with such energy you’d have thought I had a Publisher’s Clearing House check in my trunk. I smiled a Miss America smile at the man who’d just climbed out of the loader and began apologizing to Don for being so late. At that point I’d been driving around the woods for close to an hour. I was so embarrassed! As I was talking I started snapping some pictures of the skidder pulling a drag. Then the nice fellow delivered the heartbreaking news. His name wasn’t Don. He was Doug, and Doug wanted ➤ 46

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 7

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:00 PM Page 8

Long Partnership ■ Eric Chambers has trusted his crew to his friend Ronny Prewitt for 22 years.

By David Abbott ACKERMAN, Miss. t’s been over 16 years ★ since Southern Loggin’ Times last visited Eric Chambers. He was not quite 44 then; he’s 60 now. Former SLT managing editor Tonya Cooner wrote that feature article, which appeared on pages 26-27 of the February 2003 issue. Her story focused primarily on the development of the Chambers Delimbinator, which was still fairly new at the time (Chambers first started marketing his patented chain delimbing machine in 1997). What many unfamiliar with the

Chambers Logging usually works on private land.

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

man behind the machine may not realize is that, before he started manufacturing and selling Delimbinators, Chambers was, and still is, a logger. Chambers Logging hauled its first loads in 1990, when Chambers the man was 30; before that, he had spent a decade in pipeline construction. Chambers was in the woods full-time, running machines and supervising operations, until the effort of getting the Delimbinator business off the ground started taking up too much of his time. At that point, he called up his friend Ronny Prewitt. Prewitt and Chambers have a long-standing relationship; they were students together at Ackerman High School, though Chambers was

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:00 PM Page 9

a year ahead of Prewitt (classes of 1977 and ’78, respectively). Chambers also graduated with another member of the logging crew, John Shells, who runs the loader. “In 1997, when he was getting the Delimbinator started, he needed someone to come to the woods and run things,” Prewitt recalls. “I was in trucking and getting tired of that.” Prewitt had spent the previous 12 years pulling flat beds and refrigerated trailers as well as hauling gas, propane and a variety of products cross country. He had also spent some time in pipeline construction, like Chambers, as well as working on the railroad and in offshore drilling. In other words, he’d done a lot, but never in the woods. Still, he says, “I feel like everything I’d done helped me a tremendous amount in logging. I guess I was able to get in the groove pretty quick; I kind of had to.” When Prewitt started, Chambers taught him the ropes on a brand new Hydro-Ax. “I was in the cutter with him for all of 20 minutes when he had to go to town for something, and that left me by myself to learn it,” Prewitt recalls. “I took off with it.” That was 22 years ago, and little has changed, so it must have worked out well enough. “I’m assuming it has been good because he hasn’t run me off yet; he probably wanted to a time or two, but I just wouldn’t leave!” Prewitt says with grin.

Operations Chambers trusts Prewitt to run the day-to-day logging operations, but he’s not uninvolved. “Eric studies this stuff day and night, he is very insightful,” Prewitt says. Chambers buys the timber, making deals with private landowners. He and Prewitt plan where the crew will move next, often looking at tracts together. “From that point he pretty much leaves me to it,” Prewitt says. The crew hauls 50 loads a week. Though it depends on what the mills are doing, they rarely work Saturdays, and never Sundays. “The older

When SLT visited in May, Chambers Logging was working a 160-acre clear-cut of 40-50 year-old planted pine that had never been thinned.

SLT SNAPSHOT Chambers Logging, Inc. Ackerman, Miss. Email: ken@chambersdelimbinator.com Founded: 1990 Owner: Eric and Mary Grace Chambers No. Crews: 1 Employees: 4 Equipment: 1 cutter, 1 loader, 1 skidder, 1 truck/trailer Average Production: 50 loads/week Average Haul Distance: 15 miles Tidbit: The Chambers name is, of course, widely known and associated with the Chambers Delimbinator. Chambers Logging and Chambers Delimbinator are separate companies but operate from the same shop and share the same owners. Eric Chambers is still closely involved with his logging operation, but when the Delimbinator business started taking off, he had to leave daily operations in the woods to his long-time friend Ronny Prewitt, who has served as foreman for over 20 years.

From left, foreman and cutter operator Ronny Prewitt, truck driver Charles Lanthrip, loader man John Shells, and skidder driver James Brown (no relation)

we get, the less we want to be out here on weekends,” Prewitt admits. “We think everyone has something to do when they get home, so we try not to stay out here late in the day.” They’ve been fortunate to also stick pretty close to the home turf most of the time. “We seldom leave Choctaw County,” Prewitt says. “We sometimes go into the surrounding counties, but in the 22 years I’ve been here, I could probably count a half dozen times that we’ve been out of this county.” Chambers hauls pine logs and chip-n-saw to Southeastern Timber Products in Ackerman and utility poles to Brown Wood Preserving in Mathiston. Trucks make a short 15mile trek to haul hardwood pulpwood to Georgia-Pacific’s chip mill, hardwood logs to Rives & Reynolds Lumber, and ply logs to Winston Plywood, all in Louisville. The crew’s longest haul is 75 miles to International Paper in Columbus. That’s where they haul their pine pulpwood, when they can get rid of it. That, Prewitt acknowledges, is

Crew takes good care of its Tigercat machines, which still work well with high hours.

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

JULY 2019 l 9

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:01 PM Page 10

Delimbinator Evolution

T concept: Eric Chambers wanted a delimbing option he Delimbinator originated from a simple enough

one for Black, then a third for logger Sid Massey. Demand grew from there. “That thing took off,” Chambetter suited to his needs in pine plantation thinning. He bers says. found that production with existing options was limited: With Prewitt looking after the woods crew for him, limbing gates were ineffective with small diameter Chambers hit the road to make sales and repairs. “I stems; chain saws were too time consuming. He initially stayed on the road in those early days. Jack Bowie, liked pull through delimbers but soon grew unsatisfied known as Uncle Jack throughout our business, also set there too. He kept trying to think of a better way. up machines, followed up and did minor repairs. We Gradually he developed an open front flail system, went from east Texas to Delaware to the Florida panjust for his own use in the woods. Turned out somehandle and everywhere in between.” one else already had a patent on the exact same idea, Business is cyclical, of course. “We built as many but Chambers eventually bought that patent and as four a week in our heyday, but as the collapse of resumed the manufacturing of his first unit. the economy hit, many wood companies took a noseIn 1996, Chambers had met dive, but we sustained and came Kelly Woolven at a trade show and through it.” Chambers says busistruck a deal for Woolven Mfg. in ness has recovered from the recesNettleton, Miss. to build the frame sion, but still has its ups and (Woolven still fabricates all the downs. “Seems like at times we frames). Chambers then installed can’t build them fast enough and the engine, drums, instrument other times we can’t give them panel and so on. To test the protoaway.” type, he let long-time friend JohnFor the most part, Chambers ny Black use it on his job for a few Delimbinator sales have been in weeks. When Chambers Logging the Sun Belt, according to Ken moved onto a pine pulpwood tract, Paine, who works to open new he returned to retrieve the protomarkets. Paine started selling in type. Black didn’t want to let it go. Minnesota two years ago, and is “He said, ‘That little darling’s not now working on New England. leaving,’ although he used some “In my view God is in control From left: Eric Chambers, "Uncle" Jack more colorful language,” Chamof all of it,” Chambers says. “I Bowie, office manager Rhodena Lang and SLT bers recalls. So he built another acknowledge that fully.” shop manager Tony Dempsey

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

among the biggest obstacles Chambers Logging currently faces. “We just cannot get rid of pine pulpwood. Insurance and all other operating expenses are high, but you can pay all of it if you can get rid of the wood.” The pine pulpwood market is almost nonexistent, Prewitt laments. “There are just not enough mills here. IP Columbus is the only mill within our hauling radius.” Prewitt estimated that the crew hadn’t hauled any pine pulpwood to Columbus in a couple of months at the time SLT visited in late May; they have since been able to haul a few loads. He continues, “I think that will be the future for pine pulp in this area. One of the troubling effects is that a lot of this plantation wood will never get thinned. They will just leave it. That will hurt log markets 15-20 years down the line.” Markets overall had been down recently, but it seems like things are coming back somewhat, Prewitt reports. “What has really helped us is the plywood mill opening in Louisville.” He adds that hardwood pulp is bringing good money these days.

Equipment Not surprisingly, the Chambers crew uses a Chambers Delimbina-

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 11

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:01 PM Page 12

tor—in fact they still use the second unit that was built. It was not on the job site the day SLT visited; that was a clear-cut stand, but the crew uses it on first thinning jobs, in the kind of wood it was designed to delimb. “I wouldn’t want to be out here without one in a first thin,” Prewitt says. A fleet of well-maintained Tigercat machines gets the job done for Chambers, including a 2003 724D cutter that has racked up 20,000 hours; ’05 620C skidder with

16,000 hours; and ’10 234 loader with 12,000 hours. “All of it is still working with no problems; we take care of the stuff,” Prewitt reports. “We service machines every 250 hours and grease daily, without fail.” They use Chevron motor and hydraulic oil and Texas Refinery grease. Dealer B&G Equipment in Philadelphia sold Chambers the machines and still handles major repairs. Waring Oil in Louisville is the supplier for oil and fuel, delivering

on- road fuel to tanks at the shop and off-road fuel to a fuel trailer in the woods. The crew carries an ’06 Peterbilt 335 truck with fully equipped service body. Chambers bought it new in 2006 and had the bed specially built by a company in South Dakota. “I went up there to pick it up,” Prewitt says. “In fact Eric let me pretty well pick out how to set it all up, which I really appreciated.” Chambers Logging hauls with two Western Star trucks, ’99 and 2000 models, both with 550 HP Cat

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

engines. They pull four double deck trailers, a Pitts, a Magnolia and two shop built.

Crew Truck driver Charles Lanthrip has been on the job here for 21 years, almost as long as Prewitt. “He is a super nice fella and a very good driver,” the foreman comments. “He is so much more than a steering wheel holder. The truck he drives has more than 820,000 miles and I just put the first new set of brakes on it in January. That is mostly the driver: slowing down long before you have to stop, and clutch work.” Chambers also hires contract hauler Tim Cagle. In the woods, James Brown— no relation to the Godfather of Soul—has been driving a skidder for Chambers since 1991. He’ll be 73 this September and has been in a skidder since he came home from Vietnam. Loader man John Shells has been on the crew 12 years, first trimming loads before taking on the loader after the retirement of previous loader operator Harvey Moore, who had been with Chambers since the start. Prewitt still mans the cutter. “A lot of times we take for granted working and going home every evening, but in this environment, if you can go home without limping and with all your fingers and toes, then it’s been a successful day,” Prewitt points out. The crew has monthly safety meetings and a drug testing program, though regarding the latter, Prewitt laughs, “That is certainly not a problem with these guys.” Insurance is with Risk Management and Forestry Mutual. “It’s hard to find good things to say about an insurance company,” Prewitt laughs, but admits that in both of those companies they deal with good people. At the end of the week, Prewitt goes through the crew’s paperwork, then Ken Paine, sales and marketing rep for Chambers Delimbinator, checks to be sure numbers match and cuts checks to the landowners. “I owe a lot to Eric and Mary Grace Chambers,” Prewitt reflects. “I very much appreciate the opportunity he gave me in 1997, and the trust he put in me. Eric could get out of this if he wanted to, but he feels an obligation to his employees.” The foreman predicts, “As long as we can keep paying our way, we’ll be here.” SLT

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 13

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 14

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 15

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 8:24 AM Page 16

Good Example ■ Robbie Stange knows where the grass is greenest. By Patrick Dunning WHITE CITY, Ala. cattered showers attempt to dampen ★ the mood and the tract, but the sun splits through silver-lined clouds just enough so Robbie Stange, owner of Stange Timber Co., can get a logging truck up and down a freshly built dirt road. Southern Loggin’ Times finds Stange thinning pulpwood on a 190-acre tract in Autauga County, Alabama. The roads are in the bottoms so everything cut is uphill on sandy terrain. Stange says they’re still on pace despite the weather. “I already thinned the other deck so

Larry Stange, left, with Robbie

Loader operator Joey Cleckler stacks a load of hardwood logs on the 80-acre tract.

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

we set up here and have another block down the road,” he adds. Stange, 40, works alongside his son, Daylin, 19, and father, Larry, 62. Stange describes his father as a simple man who, in addition to being a lifetime logger, enjoys buying and selling auto parts from his shop, along with his passion for antique automobiles—his favorite being a ’66 Pontiac GTO painted hot rod red. “I talk to my dad every day, I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Stange says. He recalls riding around in an older model John Deere feller-buncher propped up on his father’s leg when he was barely old enough to walk. “I would spend all day out there. I would either ride

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 8:24 AM Page 17

Stange’s father, a John Deere man, operates on a tract a couple miles down the road from Stange’s other crew in Prattville, Ala.

around with him or I’d sit in the back of the work truck from sun up to sun down and watch him work.”

Timber Today Stange operates two crews, the newer one here producing 40-45 loads per week in pine pulpwood, with most hauls going to the International Paper mill in Prattville. The original crew was working on an 80-acre tract near Maplesville, producing 60-65 loads of pulpwood, chip-n-saw and hardwood saw logs. Stange prefers thinning because it isn’t so tough on the equipment. He started a second crew a year ago for his son, who began working for him after high school. “He never

A ’19 model Cat skids pine pulpwood out of a bottom to the loading.

SLT SNAPSHOT Stange Timber Co. White City, Ala. Email: Rstange79@gmail.com Founded: 2014 Owner: Robbie Stange No. Crews: 2 Employees: 8 Equipment: 2 skidders, 2 loaders, 2 cutters, 7 trucks and trailers Average Production: 45-50 loads weekly Average Haul Distance: 18 miles Tidbit: Stange learned to log from his father and is working alongside his son who is looking to take over one crew in the next year or two. He’s uses strictly Cat equipment and operates out of White City, Ala., going anywhere his contractor Lee Davis, Vice President of IndusTREE, has wood.

Second crew, from left: truck driver Devin Hill, skidder operator Daylin Stange, cutter operator Robbie Stange, loader operator David Stange

David Stange is thinning up a ridge in new ’19 525D Cat feller-buncher.

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

JULY 2019 l 17

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 9:07 AM Page 18

wanted to work in the woods when he was younger,” Stange says. “When he graduated he didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he knew he loved mechanical work.” Daylin worked a spell in a Caterpillar shop, but soon called his dad about joining the logging business. He has come on strong since then and his dad plans to sign over the second crew to him in a year or two. Stange Timber contracts with IndusTREE, a provider of forestry and timberland services based in Wetumpka, Ala. IndusTREE Vice President Lee Davis and Stange maintain a close relationship, having known each other since Stange’s father cut for Thornton Timber Co., which Davis later bought out to form IndusTREE. “Lee helped me get my business started,” Stange says. “He’s treated me well ever since I’ve been with him. He keeps me busy so we just go wherever Lee has the wood.” Another company made Stange an offer to come work for them and he did, briefly. But it soon went downhill. The money wasn’t there, the wood wasn’t there, Stange recalls. “Ever heard the saying the grass is always greener on the other side? Well I was color-blind.” He managed to make it through a troubling stretch of time and get back on his feet.

Original crew, from left: cutter operator Gerald Cleckler, loader operator Joey Cleckler, skidder operator Edward Cleckley, owner Robbie Stange, truck drivers Class Logan and Barry Chapman

Davis called Stange and asked if he was ready to come back to work for him. “I said ‘yes sir.’” This November will be two years since Stange has been back working with Davis. “When I got back with Lee I started doing good again,” Stange says.

Equipment While his father loves John Deere products and expresses he’s never had any issues other than changing hydraulic hoses, Stange’s equipment is strictly Cat because he believes they’re easier to get financed. He also thanks Lee Davis for assisting with the purchase of his first Cat loader.

When SLT visited, Stange was operating one of his newer pieces of equipment, a’19 Cat 563D fellerbuncher. Additional machinery on this job includes a new ’19 535D skidder and a ’16 559D loader. His lead crew operates with a ’16 Cat 559C loader, ’16 563C fellerbuncher and ’16 535C skidder. Strange has three hauling trucks on this tract and four on the site in Maplesville. He owns two ’16 model Mack trucks while the other five are owned by contract haulers. They run three Freightliners, a Peterbilt and a Kenworth. Stange just purchased three Pitts trailers to supplement the four Magnolias he

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

already had in place. Every 250-500 hours Stange changes the oil on all his woods equipment while greasing at least once a week. Truck oil is changed every 15,000 miles. “The truck drivers do a really good job keeping their trucks up,” he says. “They wash them and grease them every week.” Stange prefers Rotella oil for woods machinery and trucks. All Cat machines use 10-weight hydraulic oil from fuel distributor W.H. Thomas in Clanton, Ala. Stange has dealt with Thompson Cat in Alabaster, Ala. for five plus years for all equipment purchases and maintenance.

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 19

Ledkins Insurance Agency of Thomasville, Ala., manages Stange’s on-site safety protocols and provides logging equipment protection. When Stange first started his logging business, Ledkins, an American Loggers Insurance Program, agreed to terms with Stange and they haven’t had a setback since. His wife, Odara Stange, manages the books and accounts. “I couldn’t do it without her,” Stange says. “I’m not very computer-literate so I rely on her to keep the books balanced and pay our bills.”

Original crew hauls 50-60 loads a week to the IP mill in Prattville.

Crews, Kin Stange gives credit to both of his crews. Without them, none of this would be possible, he says. “They deserve a little recognition.” The roster includes truck drivers Devin Hill, Chass Logan and Barry Chapman; skidder operators Daylin Stange and Edward Cleckley; loader operators David Stange and Joey Cleckler; and cutter operator Gerald Cleckler. Stange also operates a cutter. Stange is a family-first kind of guy, priding himself on the values his father instilled in him and passing those generational morals down to his son as well as his crew; he considers them all to be SLT like kin.

Changing a hydraulic hose

18-mile haul to the IP mill

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

JULY 2019 l 19

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:10 PM Page 20

Small On Purpose n Don Grillo’s D&D Forestry crews stay focused in Arkansas

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 9:14 AM Page 21

SLT SNAPSHOT D&D Forestry Camden, Ark. Email: dgrillo52@yahoo.com Founded: 1991 Owner: Dianne and Don Grillo No. Crews: 2 Employees: 9 Equipment: 2 feller-bunchers, 2 skidders, 4 loaders and a dozer Trucks/Trailers: 3 trucks, 4 trailers Production: 50-60 loads Average Haul Distance: 70 miles Tidbit: Don Grillo really loves working in the woods, but his pride and joy is his family: wife Debbie, two sons, two daughters-in-law and five grandsons. decided I will get into logging too, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Crews

By Jessica Johnson CAMDEN, Ark. rowing up in the Texas Panhandle, Don ★ Grillo, 67, didn’t see a lot of Southern yellow pine trees. But after spending time with his mother’s family in east Texas as a young boy, far from the elm and cottonwood back home, Grillo says he knew he wanted to work in forestry. That desire stayed with him as he grew up and in 1974, Grillo graduated with a degree in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Tex. Following graduation, Grillo bounced around various jobs in east Texas managing timberland. In 1979 Grillo and his college sweetheart turned wife, Debbie, moved to Arkansas as he took a position managing timberland for a mill. Grillo says he enjoyed managing timberland and working for the mills in the region, but after 12 years of working for someone else

he decided to take a leap and step out on his own. In 1991, the Grillos started D&D Forestry in Camden, Ark. At first, D&D Forestry focused on procurement and management, contracting out all logging and trucking needs. But after 10 years of buying timber, Grillo says he wanted to start taking

care of his clients even more—and decided to get into logging. After four years of using contract loggers and contract haulers, he made the choice to transition to company owned crews and company owned trucks. “I just decided I had had enough,” he says of juggling the contractors. “So, 24 years ago I

Now, D&D Forestry has two crews—one smaller crew with two operators and one larger crew with three operators, including Grillo on the loader/delimber. “I’d run some equipment before,” Grillo explains. “And about six years ago, the guy on the delimber quit, so I just jumped on it. One client in particular that we have has a lot of hardwood, so I decided instead of hiring someone I would run the delimber and merchandize the logs myself.” But after attempting to train another operator who quit after a few weeks because he was “too hot,” Grillo’s foreman, Micheal (Lefty) Johnson, who runs the feller-buncher, said not to worry, they had a good delimber operator already trained.

Don Grillo

Micheal (Lefty) Johnson

Timber (TJ) Johnson

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

JULY 2019 l 21

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 9:14 AM Page 22

Grillo says he was confused and asked Johnson who that operator was: “He pointed to me and said, ‘you, get back up on it.’” With two crews and nine employees, including son Chris, who is a registered forester and

registered appraiser with a MBA, the company stays busy. “The Good Lord above looks out for us,” he reiterates. Crews usually stay within 70 miles of Grillo’s home in Camden, where he has a small shop. In

terms of average tract size, D&D Forestry is all over the place, Grillo says. Sometimes tracts are just 20 acres, sometimes they are 200—but the average is 40-50. D&D Forestry has stayed small on purpose, Grillo says, and the com-

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

pany has done well for itself. In good times, both crews can move about 50-60 loads per week selling to every mill within a reasonable distance. D&D Forestry currently concentrates on hauling to Anthony Tim-

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 23

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 9:14 AM Page 24

berlands in Bearden and Beirne, Ark. as well as Georgia-Pacific in Gurdon and Fordyce, Domtar in Ashdown and Rogers Lumber Co. in East Camden. Basically, he says, where logs need to go is where he hauls them.

Iron Registry Grillo says over the years he’s not been quick to rotate equipment, but has started fairly aggressively getting old pieces replaced, buying

both a new loader and new skidder this April. Of the 2019 John Deere 748LII skidder, he says he can barely get it going with how many joysticks and buttons there are—but skidderman Timber (TJ) Johnson loves it. The total registry includes a mix of the very old and new: ’96 John Deere 643D feller-buncher; ’13 John Deere 843K feller-buncher; ’19 John Deere 748LII skidder; ’14 John Deere 748H skidder; ’07 John Deere 650J dozer; ’07 Prentice

2384 loader with CTR delimber; ’15 2384C Prentice loader with CSI delimber, and ’19 Prentice 2384D loader with CTR delimber. Prentice loaders are purchased and serviced by Don’s Hydraulics in Sheridan, while John Deere dealer Stribling Equipment in Camden handles the rest. Grillo and the crews handle what they can for maintenance in the woods, but lean on the dealers for major repair work—Grillo’s “itty bitty” shop in Camden isn’t as well equipped as

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

the machines need. Oil is changed following manufacturer guidelines, and general service is done on the machines weekly. Sewell Oil Co. in El Dorado and Calley’s Station in Gurdon take care of needed support products. Bounds Tire in Camden and Calley’s Station keep tires on machines and trucks. For in-woods machines, Grillo tends to purchase Primex when needed. For haul trucks he prefers new tires on the tractor and recaps on the trailers. Moore Logging Supply in Dierks usually handles Primex deals. Nelson’s Welding Service in Camden handles welding and repair services. While all Grillo’s new machines run DEF he reports to not have had any issues. “I’m surprised by how much they don’t use,” he comments. “They’ve been very efficient and don’t use much DEF. I haven’t filled the loader up in a little over a week, and it is a five gallon tank.” Grillo gets products hauled with three Mack trucks purchased from Tucker’s Truck in El Dorado, and on a contract truck that has been with D&D Forestry for over 20 years. The three Macks, year models 2018, 2016 and 2015, pull Viking plantation log trailers. “I think Mack is the best out here,” Grillo says of this trucking fleet. “They are a very good truck that is well made. We haven’t had a problem out of any of them, even the oldest one.” Drivers service the trucks themselves and all major repairs go to Tucker. The crews usually get started working at daylight, Grillo says, and most of the time the day’s workload is dictated by the trucking power available. “During the summer and fall most of our hauls are real short when we work in the hardwood bottoms,” he explains. “One truck can move five or six loads per day pretty easily. When we get longer that’s when we need another truck running.” Grillo says he, like many loggers, has problems with trucking. He says most of the good, qualified drivers in his area are working for themselves. He’s been lucky to have had the same contractor for years, who also can run a loader. But finding help is still a struggle. “Our average age is getting old,” he believes. “And a lot of things are easier than what we do. It takes a lot of time and doing whatever the job requires. But we try to get enough wood out in the afternoons so we can get a good start the next day. It’s a chore sometimes, but it’s also important SLT work.”

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 25

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 26

It Pays To Pay Attention

“It’s not about how tired you are. It’s about how tired you’re making everyone else.”

Happy Birthday Darling!

The professor started the class with this statement: “In A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching veterinary medicine it is necessary to have two imporhis wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since tant qualities as a doctor. The first is that you not be disher birthday was not far off he asked what she’d like to gusted by anything involving an animal’s body.” have for her birthday. To illustrate, he pulled back the sheet, stuck a finger “I’d like to be eight again,” she replied, still looking into the rear end of the cow, withdrew it, and stuck the in the mirror. —A father explaining finger in his mouth. He then told his astounded students On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made bedtime to the kids to do the same thing. The students freaked out, hesitated her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to for several minutes, but eventually took turns following Adventure World Theme Park. What a day! He put her the professor’s example. This was followed by assorted gagging, retching on every wild ride available. and spitting. Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reelWhen everyone had settled down, the professor looked at them and said, ing and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald’s “The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake. finger but sucked on my index finger. Now learn how to pay attention. Then it was off to a movie and attendant snacks, including popcorn, a Life is tough, but it’s even tougher if you don’t pay close attention.” large soda, and her favorite candy, M&Ms. Finally, she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, “Well dear, The story goes that on his death bed, Alexander the Great summoned what was it like being eight again?” his generals and told them of his three ultimate wishes: the best doctors Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed as she should carry his coffin; the wealth he had accumulated—money, gold, preyelled, “I meant my dress size, you idiot!” cious stones—should be scattered along the procession to the cemetery; The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he’s gonna get it and his hands should hang outside the coffin for all to see. wrong. Alexander explained: 1. “I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that in the A COLD SEAT IN A PUBLIC face of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal.” RESTROOM IS UNPLEASANT. 2. “I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on earth will stay on earth.” A WARM SEAT IN A PUBLIC 3. “I want my hands to swing in the wind so that people understand that we come to this world empty handed and we leave this world empty RESTROOM IS FAR WORSE. handed after time, the most precious treasure of all, is exhausted.” The takeaway is this: We do not take to our grave any material wealth. Time is our most precious treasure because it is limited. We can produce Some of the artists of the 1960s are revising their hits with new lyrics to more wealth, but we cannot produce more time. accommodate aging baby boomers. They include: When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life l Bobby Darin—Splish, Splash, I Was Having A Flash that we will never take back. Our time is our life! The best present that l Herman’s Hermits—Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Walker you can give to your family and friends is your time. l Ringo Starr—I Get By With A Little Help From Depends l The Bee Gees—How Can You Mend A Broken Hip? l Roberta Flack—The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face The definition of the word conundrum is a confusing and difficult probl Johnny Nash—I Can’t See Clearly Now l Paul Simon—50 Ways To Lose Your Liver lem or question. Here are six socialism-related conundrums prevalent in l The Commodores—Once, Twice, Three Times To The Bathroom the U.S. today: l Procol Harem—A Whiter Shade Of Hair 1. America is capitalist and greedy, yet half of its population is subsil Leo Sayer—You Make Me Feel Like Napping dized in one way or another. l The Temptations—Papa’s Got A Kidney Stone 2. Half the population is subsidized, yet those citizens think they are l Abba—Denture Queen victims. l Tony Orlando—Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall 3. They think they are victims, yet their representatives run the governl Helen Reddy—I Am Woman; Hear Me Snore ment. l Leslie Gore—It’s My Procedure & I’ll Cry If I Want To 4. Their representatives run the government, yet the poor keep getting l Willie Nelson—On the Commode Again poorer. 5. The poor keep getting poorer, yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about. 6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about, yet A young woman was visiting her parents and while helping her mother they want American to be more like those other countries. prepare dinner, she opened the refrigerator. On the inside of the door she saw a spicy picture of a lovely, slender, perfectly built young woman. “What’s this about, mom?” she asked. “Oh, I put that up there to remind me not to overeat,” her mother answered. “You come from dust, and you will return to dust. That’s “Is it working?” asked her daughter. why I don’t dust. It could be someone I know.” “Yes and no,” her mom replied. “I’ve lost 15 pounds but your dad has gained 20.”

The Gift Of Time

Revised Lyrics For Old Hits?

American Conundrums

Refrigerator Figure

Housewife Logic

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 27

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 28

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 29

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:42 AM Page 30

Spotlight: Heads, Etc. Southern Loggin’ Times invited manufacturers of feller and processor heads and related components to submit information on their products. Submitted material has been edited only for grammar and style, not content.

Gator Teeth For over 10 years Gator Teeth have been recognized for their superior performance due to their quality materials and patented extra cutting tip designs. Gator Teeth are the only saw teeth in the world with extra cutting tips that share the cutting and last significantly longer. In addition to lasting longer, Gator Teeth cut more efficiently and don’t slow the saw down as much. This is especially important in large timber where stalling the saw part way through the tree can be costly. The latest innovation of Gator Teeth is the X Series, which is the only self sharpening saw tooth in the world. The X Series patented design builds out the carbide at the corners of the saw tooth where conventional saw teeth tend to round off and become dull. The X Series self sharpening design channels the saw chips in between the built out cutting tips, thereby wearing down the middle of the tooth as the cutting tips wear, keeping the corner part of the tooth wider than the middle part of the tooth. This keeps the saw tooth sharp or self sharpens it, allowing it to cut better and longer. Gator Teeth are now available in all popular sizes in both carbide and steel. For more information or to locate a dealer near you visit timberblade.com

Southstar Southstar Equipment QS Series— QS500, QS600 and QS650—is a full line of 4-roller processors with industry leading multi-stemming capabilities offering contractors up to 70% increase in production without affecting length quality when processing in smaller diameter tree stands. Also, with its robust design and high feed speeds, it is just as productive in the toughest processing environments. Southstar’s operator friendly DASA Control Systems provide one of the most advanced control and measuring systems available, recording and delivering detailed production reports and GPS tagging of wood that can be emailed directly to home base computers from the machine. Other unique Southstar features include hydraulic traction control for feeding large diameter trees; side steeping, allowing operators to independently feed one tree while holding others when multi-stemming; and hosethrough design from stick to head, helping prevent snagging exposed or hanging hoses. The wide frame design for multi-stemming capabilities give added strength to the head, which features an extreme duty 3-4 in. main saw with a saw limiting option and two-year structural warranty. For more, visit southstarequipment.com

Log Max The Multilingual Log Mate 510 is the market's most powerful production reporting system with multi-stemming reports; monitoring and optimization of the machine's performance; production per operator details; and aver30

●

age stem volume. It works together with the StanForD 2010 v.2 and v.3 forest standards, and has online support. Running features such as Active Friction Control and Four Point Measuring natively on Log Mate or having the ability to test and control all I/O are just some of a long list of features Log Mate 510 offers. Built using rugged hardware, the Log Mate 510 will withstand rough outdoor environments. The 10-in. screen computer is IP65 standard compliant and has a Solid State Drive, eliminating moving parts. The brand new communication modules are all built according to the tough IP standards. One module is mounted on the head, one in the cabin to transfer and receive data and power to the harvesting head. All feature standard M12 and Deutsch contacts. All communications are made over a two-channel CANbus system. The computer is Windows 10 based, which makes it easier to administrate and update/upgrade the Log Mate 510 system. Log Max Xtreme- XTSeries Harvesting Heads are heavy duty and made for the most extreme forest operations. The 7000XT with its large, hightorque feed motors, gives up to 45kN / 11,600-lb. of feed force and delimbing power. High-flow hydraulics provide increased performance in any application and the toughest conditions. For more, visit logmax.com or call 360-699-7300.

Quadco Quadco offers a broad range of harvesting-processing heads, including the Ultimate 5660, which is basically the same as the original Quadco 5600 but with a different saw base imported from the 6000 model. The saw has a 24 in. cutting capacity and develops 60% more power. Incorporating new High Speed Hydraulics and Quad Tooth, the saw’s fast cutting speed provides high production and quality cuts. The circular saw is more forgiving than chain and is practically trouble free. Benefits also include the capability of cleaning unwanted underbrush to enhance Quadco Ultimate 5660 visibility, resulting in high production, long tooth life and low stumps. The great durability of the teeth, low maintenance time required, and superior availability are the main factors that reduce the after-investment costs. In normal conditions, maintenance is limited to changing the seven saw bearings annually or every 2000 hours. Visit quadco.com for more.

John Deere John Deere is rolling out upgrades to its felling heads. Compatible with select MSeries tracked feller-bunchers, the updated FR22B and FR24B models have been redesigned to increase durability and extend the life of the wrist and head. “The forestry industry is challenging and pushes equipment to the limit to get the job done, making it important for manufacturers to provide reliable solutions designed for logging applications,” says Jim O’Halloran, product marketing manager, John Deere Construction and Forestry. “Our new FR22B and FR24B felling heads provide just that—a reliable felling solution designed with the operator’s needs in mind.” The new felling heads feature improved flow capability, increased hydraulic hose size and routing, and updated ring gear and frame welds, all resulting in increased durability. Visit johndeere.com.

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 31

Waratah: Profits Are Up Down South By Sarah Larson Change can be difficult, and it can be especially tough to make a switch after a long time of working with the same machines and methods. For Harrison Logging Inc., Wade Byars Logging LLC and Bar Forest Products LLC, change was necessary. These companies, all headquartered and working in the southern U.S., adapted to cut-to-length Waratah processing heads and now they’re reaping the benefits of their decisions.

Making the change For Kevin Harrison, president at Harrison Logging in Grenada, Miss., it was a Several southern loggers are using Waratah processing heads. calculated decision as he noticed mills were becoming stricter about the quality of logs. Harrison’s father and grandfather began the business in the early ’80s. “I like growing with the times,” Harrison says. “The processor, to me, is a sign of the future to come, with the way the mills want the logs. I think the Waratah head is the future in logging down the road.” Wade Byars, whose operation Wade Byars Logging started rolling in 1992, had previously used a pull-through delimber, a typical operation in the Southeast. The Carroll County, Miss. company quickly noticed a difference once they purchased Byars Harrison the Waratah HTH622B from Stribling Equipment. They liked the head so much the confidence the Waratah team had in their they also purchased an HTH623C, which is products. “The salesman said that we guarantee now the primary workhorse. “Waratah is pretty much the top of the line, the Cadillac of the pro- you not to fail,” Rolison recalls. “That has really cessing industry,” Byars says. “I would tell any- stuck in my mind because nowadays when somebody will stand behind their product, that means one that they would make a good choice with a lot to us in the logging business because they the Waratah.” Wade Rolison, owner of Bar Forest Products in are willing to put their product on the line.” Rolison quickly realized the reliability and why Butler, Ala., considered efficiency before switchthe Waratah team stood behind their harvesting ing to the cut-to-length process. The company, which began full-time logging production in 2005 and processing heads. “The 622B is built tough,” he says. “It’s not just a slogan but it’s actually with one crew and expanded over time to seven built tough. We’ve had zero downtime with the crews, purchased a Waratah HTH622B. “We were looking for ways to get our logging business head right now. Typically, I’ve seen some other competitors where you’ve had some downtime, more efficient; not necessarily more productive, but the 622 is built tough and reliable.” but more efficient,” Rolison says. “We started The simple maintenance and uptime of looking at different processors about a year ago Waratah heads was something Byars noticed in and just kind of honed in on the Waratah head. his operation as well. “They’re real tough,” he We just decided to go with a 622B to really get agrees. “I mean, they delimb a lot of wood. They efficient with our business and see how it would help us manage our cut-to-length systems better.” look complicated, but they’re not. They’re really simple to maintain and do any kind of maintenance. They take a beating and they really don’t Time to transition show it.” For each of the three companies, the transition Harrison also marked the precision of the was a smooth one. A Waratah support team mem- Waratah head. “The Waratah processor helps get ber was on site with each head delivery to help every stem to the right size,” he says. “It smooths calibrate the machine settings and explain proper the knots up a lot better than a pull-through use of the head. The companies appreciated this delimber. The skidders don’t have to fool with boots-on-the-ground approach because it was dif- the tops. It’s less waste in the wood. You get all ferent than their experiences with other machines the wood and you send it to the mills. The mills they’d bought in the past. love the processor.” “When we took delivery of the new 623 head, the Waratah team came out and helped get every- Reaping Benefits thing set up on it,” Byars says. “They make sure After settling in with their new cut-to-length everything is right, make sure you’re comfortprocessing heads, the businesses quickly realable with it.” ized the benefits of Waratah’s cut-to-length Beyond the set-up, Rolison was also struck by

Rolison

function. “I reckon production is steadier, and the quality of the wood is the biggest thing I’ve seen, getting every stick to the correct mill and getting more money out of every tree, which in today’s market means a lot,” Harrison says. Byars says one major change has been improved consistency in production. “The difference that we’ve noticed mostly between the pull-through operation and the processor operation is the processor is more consistent with the production that we need to have in today’s market,” he says. “With the pull-through delimber, we could get production on an up-and-down basis. The processor is more of a consistent daily production.” The company had previously hauled about 100 loads in several days but can now haul 106 loads in a mere three and a half days. Byars is pleased with his decision. His son Klint, who operates the HTH623C, agrees, noting the extra 7 to 10 loads per day. “The biggest difference with the Waratah is definitely production, then the ease of sorting between the species,” Klint says. “That’s the biggest difference to me, whenever you grab the stem, you already know what the diameter is instead of just guessing in your mind. If they want a 7 in. top, I go to a 7 in. top.” With weather and other variables affecting the amount of working days, along with an evolving logging industry, a reliable head is of paramount importance. “When we come to work, I expect to be working,” Harrison says. “That’s why I run newer equipment and that’s one of the reasons I went to the processor. We buy a lot of our own timber and we try to get all the monetary value out of every piece of wood that we cut and process.” Visit waratah.com.

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 31

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:09 PM Page 32

Bright Side ■ Ponsse introduces its newest harvester, the Cobra, at an event in Wisconsin.

Ponsse set up the demo near its U.S. headquarters in Rhinelander.

Mercifully, only one of the cobras in this picture was real.

Customers and prospects got a chance to see several machines in action.

By David Abbott RHINELANDER, Wisc. he weather tried and ★ failed to stop Ponsse from hosting an event on Friday, June 14 to launch its newest harvester, the Cobra, to the U.S. market. The debut and demo took place at a site just outside Rhinelander, where Ponsse North America is headquartered. Despite heavy rain and unseasonably cool temperatures, around 150 customers and prospects from Wisconsin, Michigan and surrounding states huddled under a tent that morning, munching on breakfast doughnuts and observing the Cobra, and other Ponsse machines, in action.

●

Micah Laban, who works in marketing for Ponsse in Rhinelander, points out that, while the weather didn’t cooperate, it did allow customers to see how these machines would operate in such conditions. “So there’s a bright side to everything,” Laban says. Those in attendance also had a chance to participate in SFI training for CE credits, and Ponsse had a catered shrimp boil for lunch. Antti Räsänen, a training manager from Ponsse’s Finland factory, explains, “Cobra is a totally new machine that kind of falls between our four cylinder harvester models and Ergo, which is our bigger six cylinder model.” It has the same six cylinder engine used in Ergo harvesters, but with just one circuit hydraulic system. The other sixcylinder machines have two circuit

In the Cobra cab with Wisconsin logger Billy Streu

Ponsse had several other machines on site as well.

systems, one for the crane and one for the harvester heads. “That is the main difference,” Räsänen says. “It is a little simpler, a little lighter weight, for a little smaller tree size, so there are a lot of benefits when

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

the conditions are right for that kind of machine.” Billy Streu of CTL Timber Harvesting in Long Lake, Wisc., has been a loyal Ponsse customer since 1995, making him probably

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 1:54 PM Page 33

one of the earliest U.S. loggers to do business with Ponsse North America. He runs Ergo and Scorpion harvesters on his jobs, so Ponsse asked him to drive the Cobra at the demo. “I think it’s a good machine,” Streu said. “It’s very stable and has plenty of power in those six cylinders.” Streu says the Mercedes Benz Tier 4f engine gets Lunch was shrimp and veggies. about 275 HP. The Cobra has been in development for several years. “For which time, and which cylinders us it is always market demand,” operate. With the traditional way Räsänen says as to what drives the you have to manually control each development of innovations at Pon- joint individually. Here, you only sse. “We had received a lot of have to move the grapple, its direcrequests for a machine that is a little tion and speed, with one joystick, bit smaller than Ergo, but bigger and that’s it. The automatic system than Fox and Beaver.” takes care of the rest.” Also on display at the demo was Active control is available on the Ponsse’s new active crane on its bigger model Ponsse forwarder harvesters. “It makes it so simple booms, and the Cobra is available that someone who had never run to order; delivery time from the facequipment before could operate it,” tory is about a year, but fortunately Streu believes. Räsänen adds, “The for U.S. customers, some Ponsse difference between the active crane North America reps already have and traditional crane controls is orders in the pipline. Cobra is that the active crane takes care of already in use in Europe and South SLT deciding which joints to use at America.

June in Wisconsin isn't like June in the South.

The new machines are available to order.

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 33

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 34

INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP Careers Act and the Safe As We See It: Getting Things Done Logging Routes Act have now been introBy Danny Dructor In today’s political environment, getting things done in Washington, DC is difficult, if not impossible. Yet the American Loggers Council is making progress in this Dructor

divided 116th U.S. Congress. Why? Loggers understand the importance of building relationships. When it seems every idea these days is framed in partisan terms, our ability to build relationships explains why both the Future

duced with bipartisan support. Relationships are key, both in our personal lives and our professional lives. Loggers are drawn to the ALC because they see the value of building and maintaining relationships with other loggers across our nation. Loggers also see the value of having good relationships with the equip-

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

ment manufacturers and others that help make our industry possible. We take the same approach to Capitol Hill, as evidenced by another year of record attendance at our 2019 D.C. Fly-in. The ALC has long-valued our relationship with Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, the only forester in the United States Congress and past recipient of the ALC President’s Award. Bruce is not just another politician seeking our votes or campaign donations; he is a true friend and advocate of our industry because he understands what we do and why we do it. Recently we were pleased to endorse his introduction of the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2019. We also provided a statement of support that was included in his office’s press materials. Congressman Westerman has introduced past versions of the Resilient Federal Forests Act in previous years, and was instrumental in passing this legislation through the U.S. House of Representatives multiple times. Though it has previously stalled in the U.S. Senate, some minor components of this comprehensive legislation have been adopted through federal spending measures. Yet there are still areas that are in need of attention in order to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and help prevent the loss of lives and property as witnessed last year in and around Paradise, California and other Western states. The Resilient Federal Forest Act continues to build on the bipartisan support that Congress has agreed to in the past that would allow expedited environmental reviews on areas of the forest where there is degradation of wildlife habitat, wildland urban interface exposure to life threatening wildfires, and overall improving the health of our nation’s federal timber lands. The Resilient Federal Forest Act also proposes an alternative to litigation in the form of arbitration where litigants bring alternative management options to the table rather than just offering up “no” as a solution. Our national forests are one of this country’s greatest assets. We believe that members of Congress should be concerned about the overall health of those forests and the need to restore and improve those forests as quickly as possible by giving the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies all of the tools that they need to accomplish that task. Congressman Westerman could easily spend his time focusing on other issues that are important to his district, such as health care. Yet he continues to introduce compre-

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 35

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 36

hensive forest management reforms because he believes in our ability to restore these federal lands back to health. This is one benefit of our relationship with Congressman Westerman, and we must reciprocate. Even if you don’t have a federal forest within your working circle, please tell your own federal representatives that you support the Resilient Federal Forests Act. Because relationships matter. The American Loggers Council is an

501(c)(6) not for profit trade association representing professional timber harvesters throughout the U.S. Dructor is executive vice president of the ALC. For more information, phone 409-625-0206, email americanlogger@aol.com or visit amloggers.com.

GP Shutting Down Crossett Wood Yard Georgia-Pacific is shutting down the equipment and processes sup-

porting the bleached board operations at its Crossett, Ark. location as of October. The company will permanently shut down the bleached board machines, as well as the extrusion plant, wood yard, pulp mill and a significant portion of the energy complex. The company also in July will shut down one of the mill’s older tissue machines that doesn’t support the long-term competitiveness of the tissue business. Approximately 530 jobs at the

facility will be impacted by these closures. Georgia-Pacific will continue to operate and invest in the Crossett mill to support its consumer tissue and towel business. Until the assets are shut down in October, Georgia-Pacific employees will continue to operate the mill in its current manufacturing configuration. During the next month, Georgia-Pacific will begin discussions with union leadership and the hourly and salaried workforce on how the process will work for employees affected by the job reductions, including the potential to transfer to other Georgia-Pacific locations.

Estonia Firm Buys Texas Pellets Mill Graanul Invest affiliate Woodville Pellets, LLC submitted the winning bid in an auction conducted on May 9 for the assets of Texas Pellets, Inc. and German Pellets Texas, LLC (Texas Pellets). The assets include Texas Pellets’ Woodville, Tex. pellet manufacturing plant and its Port Arthur, Tex. port terminal. The transaction was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas after a hearing held on May 15. In connection with the acquisition, Graanul Invest received financing from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC. The estimated manufacturing capacity of the wood biomass pellet plant in Woodville is 450,000 MT of pellets per year. The Port Arthur terminal has a total storage capacity of 68,000 MT, and is

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 37

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/26/19 8:24 AM Page 38

capable of loading vessels up to approximately 60,000 MT. Acquisition of Texas Pellets’ assets enables Graanul Invest group to expand its business to the United States to ensure greater security of supply to its customers. It also provides better logistical solutions for entering the Asian market, in particular the fast-growing markets in Korea and Japan. With 11 pellet plants located in the Baltics, the Estonia-based

Graanul Invest group’s annual production volume is 2.2 million tons of pellets, making it the biggest pellet producer in Europe. Acquisition of the Texas Pellets pellet manufacturing plant offers a possibility to increase the group’s production capacity up to 25%. “We have been looking for a suitable opportunity to start pellet production in the United States for over 10 years,” comments Raul Kirjanen, CEO of Graanul Invest.

Graanul Invest operates in the field of bioenergy and renewable energy production, forestry and biomaterials development. The group employs more than 500.

Keppler Says Woody Biomass Is The Key John Keppler, chairman and CEO of the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, Enviva, says

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

Americans are tired of half measures on climate change and that seven in 10 Americans want utility companies to overhaul their operations and generate 100% of the nation’s electricity from renewables in the near future. Keppler, in a guest column in the Richmond (Va.) County Daily Journal, said renewable energy accounts for just 17% of electricity generation today. “Utility companies often claim an all-renewable future is impossible, since wind and solar only generate power when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining,” Keppler says. “Fortunately, there’s an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels that utilities can use around the clock. Wood biomass, trees and the parts of trees that the timber industry can’t use, is plentiful and reliable. And it helps utilities dramatically reduce their carbon footprint on a lifecycle basis. Replacing fossil fuels with wood biomass should be part of our approach to preventing catastrophic climate change.” Keppler said The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a report detailing the potential consequences of global temperatures rising 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It warned of more extreme weather events, rising seas and risks to water supplies. “That level keeps rising as we burn more fossil fuels,” Keppler says. “We don’t have much time left to prevent further temperature increases. That’s why Americans are embracing renewable energy.” Keppler says it would be relatively inexpensive to incorporate wood biomass into the existing energy infrastructure. Many coal plants would only need a few upgrades to

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 39

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 40

use this cleaner form of energy. For more proof of biomass’ potential, according to Keppler, look to the United Kingdom. The UK cut its carbon emissions 38% between 1990 and 2017. Biomass was responsible

for about a third of those reductions. “Money may not grow on trees, but the solution to climate change does. It’s time for Americans to embrace clean, sustainable biomass,” Keppler concluded.

LLA Seeks Better Hauling Conditions Louisiana Loggers Assn. is anticipating a historical event in the

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

upcoming election with new term limits set in place for the legislature. “It’s going to be an insane election this year. We’re really pushing for this governor’s election and a change in this atmosphere,” LLA Executive Director Toni McAllister says. A political action committee was set in place January 29, 2019, to represent and redirect the purpose of the LLA, a 25-year-old organization representing loggers and log haulers who have long-suffered due to insurance and strict regulations. Four bills have passed through the House of Representatives and now sit on the governor’s desk with hopes of improving conditions surrounding logging and hauling. l HB 106: The Right to Farm and Forest Law; to include timberland and forest and timber operations in the legislative declaration that agricultural land and operations must be protected. “Under this new law we’re going to be looked at as farmers and also get the federal aid that would be available to all farmers,” McAllister says. l HB 217: Increase certain special permit fees and dedicates the proceeds of the fee increase into the Construction Subfund of the

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:44 AM Page 41

Transportation Trust Fund. Senator Jim Fannin brought an amendment to add on optional forest and timber harvest season permit that will allow a 10% variance (90,860 lbs.) for log hauling trucks equipped with onboard scales. This permit will be a $100 option to the regular harvest season of $10 that only allows up to 86,600 lbs. “We have a problem with our scales in Louisiana that we need to work out. The agriculture department calibrates the scales in the mills, Louisiana state police have their own government calibration so there is always a variance there. We believe that the 10% variance of 98,860 lbs. allows us to bring in legally what our mills ask for, which is 90,000 lbs.,” McAllister says. l HB 369: Louisiana Motor Transport Assn. brought this bill to create the Louisiana Trucking Research and Education Council. This council is to develop programs and projects, including safety and training, providing research and development and educating the public. Senator Beth Mizell brought an amendment that would allow funds of the annual log truck tag fees to go into a “Trucking Research and Education Council Fund.” These dollars will allow

for a member of the LLA to have a seat on the council and with the governor of Louisiana when discussing Louisiana hauling. l HB 364: To provide a time frame for harvesters to remit payments to landowners

Florida Tallies Damages After Hurricane Michael Jim Karels, state forester with the Florida State Forest Service, reports a new data collection system to

assess timber damage following Hurricane Michael in 2018. Working in coalition with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, the FFS has proposed a modified data collection protocol, one that gathers downed and standing

Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

JULY 2019 l 41

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:45 AM Page 42

tree data faster than the traditional ground survey. The existing Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data provides a 743point composite map for initial feedback. However, it’s important to collect additional post-storm data for the benefit of forest resource managers trying to determine damage sustained and make decisions accordingly. The process is expected to take several months to complete, yet is still less time-consuming than a full

FIA plot data collection. After the data has been collected, the Southern Research Station will conduct analysis and provide a report for the state of Florida. This data is integral to helping forests in the Florida Panhandle recover.

Team Safe Announces New Training Program Team Safe Trucking, a provider of training solutions for forestry trans-

portation, has released the name of its new training program for drivers wanting to obtain a CDL specifically to drive forest products following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s announcement of new requirements for CDL students. Team Safe Trucking Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) will be fully operational by February 2020 for state, public and private CDL schools. The new ELDT rules include setting minimum standards for CDL

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

schools, so instead of being determined state by state, the minimum standards will now be set at the federal level. Schools must record and report hours spent behind the wheel to the DOT even though there is no federal minimum, and will be required to register and self-certify. Individual instructors do not have to register with the DOT, but some states will require them to be registered. Instructors are now required to have a minimum two years of driving experience, a clean MVR and a medical certification for classroom, on the road and private range instruction. There will now be 31 theory course topics compared to the four knowledge topics previously required by the DOT. These course topics will be joined by 19 behind-the-wheel skills now mandated and will be tested along with vehicle inspection skills at the state DMV. Currently, any organization that meets state requirements can be a training provider. Starting in February 2020, a new Training Provider Registry (TPR) will come into effect with CDL schools having to apply to join. With Team Safe Trucking’s ELDT, students will have 24/7 access to Team Safe Trucking’s ELDT Theory Provider Program as well as its instructor-led trainings. By adopting the TalentLMS training platform designed to meet the needs of schools, Team Safe Trucking makes it easier for CDL schools to meet the requirements of the new ELDT mandate. This new design collects information of registered students, including all data required by the mandate. Additionally, Team Safe Trucking is looking into adding a section where behind-the-wheel training providers for the industry can log behind-the-wheel hours from individual driver-trainees, and automatically send student completion data, including proficiency scores, to the TPR. The program is a way for the industry to meet FMCSA ELDT training regulations and save the industry financial resources in training new CDL drivers. Supporters believe it may help attract more young people to the forest products transportation sector who prefer learning through technology and apps. For more, contact Miranda Gowell at miranda.gowell@teamsafe trucking.com or 207-841-0250.

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 43

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 44

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 45

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 2:16 PM Page 46

6 ➤ to know who in the heck was I and what was I doing with that camera?! In my life I’ve done some really dumb things. I still remember being the dolphin trainer in the kindergarten circus and getting so nervous I peed my pants and fled the stage in shame—I thought that was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Well, it might have been, until May 7, 2019. Doug was not Don Grillo. And no, he didn’t know if there was another crew out here cutting. And no, he didn’t have cell phone reception either. Back to the Malibu and the dirt roads for a last ditch effort to find my intended D-named logger in south-central Arkansas. I told

myself I would give it 15 more minutes before I just gave up. And then, like a light at the end of the world’s longest tunnel, I saw pink flags! The sun was shining down and I swear it looked like the flagging was glittering. I enthusiastically made the turn and as the landing came into focus I was so relieved. I walked out of the car and introduced myself. When the man in the loader introduced himself as Don Grillo I wanted to scream in victory. I told him everything that had happened including bouncing up on the wrong crew and how when I saw that pink flagging I wanted to hug him as hard as I could. After hearing about the whole ordeal, we laughed a lot be-

fore we dove into who supplies his oil and grease products or why he likes John Deere machines. Talk about a great icebreaker! Don and his operation work land they love in a small but careful manner that to me is the picture of SLT. Hopefully, I do his story some justice because it will be one I will never forget for the rest of my days.

David Welcomes The New Kid We want to publicly welcome new editor Patrick Dunning to SLT. A recent graduate of Auburn University’s journalism school, Patrick officially joined our team on May 16. He’s already had one story in Timber Harvesting; check out his

JULY 2019 l Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

Patrick Dunning

first SLT story on page 16. I was 26 when I started here in March 2005; when he introduced me in his column, I remember DK noting that he had neckties as old as me. Well, Patrick is 23; I’m pretty sure I got my first necktie for Christmas in 1995, and I still have it, which means that I’m now the one who has neckties older than the youngest editor. DK took me to Arby’s to get to know me my first week; I took Patrick to lunch at Mellow Mushroom (Jessica scolded me for not taking him somewhere better, but hey, Mellow Mushroom has good hoagies!). Patrick has already visited his first two logging crews under the mentorship of senior editor Dan Shell. He’s well on his way to learning the job, but he has yet to visit a logging site on his own; hopefully he’ll have better luck than Jessica did this last time! If you get a chance to meet Patrick in the woods, do me a favor and make sure to make him feel welcome. SLT

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:45 AM Page 47

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

Click. Connect. Trade.

www.ForesTreeTrader.com

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

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

FOR SALE

Call or Text Zane 334-518-9937

3939

2014 648H John Deere, dual arch & winch, 8k hrs, BRAND NEW ENGINE, BRAND NEW TIRES,VERY NICE!!...........................$122,500

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

Logo indicates that equipment in the ad also appears on

www.ForesTreeTrader.com 6288

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 47

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 48

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

13267

2891

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

●

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 49

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

7951

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 49

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 50

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

2687

1461

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

●

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 51

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

7393

4433

13189

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 51

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 52

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

2290

2965

2016 Deere 803M • $289,000 STK# LT291767 • 3,482 hrs

2016 Deere 843L • $165,000 STK# LT676363 • 4,106 hrs

2013 Deere 643K • $48,000 STK# LV650889 • 6,623 hrs

2016 Deere 437E • $150,000 STK# LT295787 • 2,713 hrs

2009 Chambers CD1 • $39,000 STK# LTD10295 • 0 hrs

2014 Deere 648H • $88,000 STK# LT659780 • 8,954 hrs

2015 Deere 748L • $155,000 STK# LT669606 • 6,403 hrs

2015 Deere 948L • $129,000 STK# LT669026 • 7,975 hrs

2015 Deere 748L • $150,000 STK# LT667210 • 6,265 hrs

5078

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

●

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLTjuly19pgs_SS.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:46 AM Page 53

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

WANTED TO BUY

13289

280

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

RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!!

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

562

Hose, Fittings & Crimpers

Want 0 Downtime? Repair Your Own Lines In The Woods! Start-up Kit Less than $5,000! Contact: Chris Alligood 1-252-531-8812 email: chrisa.cavalierhose@gmail.com

8309

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.

6209

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

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

Name ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City _____________________________________________________________________ State________ Zip ___________________________________________ Phone_________________________________________________________ E-mail _________________________________________________________________

Please send me _______ bumper stickers at $5 each. Enclosed is $__________ total.

Visit ForesTreeTrader.com for online listing opportunities.

Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

●

JULY 2019 ● 53

SLT_0719_ASM.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/28/19 2:53 PM Page 54

A D L I N K ●

●

ADVERTISER American Logger’s Council American Truck Parts Around The World Salvage B & G Equipment Bandit Industries Big John Trailers BITCO Insurance Bullock Brothers Equipment Caterpillar Dealer Promotion John Deere Forestry Doggett Machinery Service Eastern Surplus Equipment Linc Flint Equipment FMI Trailers Forest Chain Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance G & W Equipment Granger Equipment Hawkins & Rawlinson Hitachi America Industrial Cleaning Equipment Companies Interstate Tire Service Ironmart Kaufman Trailers Kentucky Wood Expo Komatsu Forestry Division Mike Ledkins Insurance Agency LMI-Tennessee Magnolia Trailers Maxi-Load Scale Systems Moore Logging Supply Morbark Peterson Pacific Pewag Chain Pitts Trailers Prolenc Manufacturing Puckett Machinery Quadco Quality Equipment & Parts River Ridge Equipment S E C O Parts & Equipment Southern Loggers Cooperative Southwest Forest Products Expo Stribling Equipment Tidewater Equipment Tigercat Industries Timberland TraxPlus Vermeer Manufacturing Victor O Schinnerer VPG Onboard Weighing W & W Truck & Tractor Wallingford’s Waratah Forestry Attachments Waters International Trucks

●

PG. NO.

PHONE NO.

54 46 52 35 25 5 36 36 11 13 52 40 40 18 12 46 47 55 38 52 19 27 24 51 49 3 43 23 43 37 45 42 36 28-29 34 40 56 46 50 38 51 44 41 33 22 48 7,50 1 48 14-15 39 10 44 41 33 2 51

409.625.0206 888.383.8884 936.634.7210 601.656.7011 800.952.0178 800.771.4140 800.475.4477 800.248.1052 919.550.1201 800.503.3373 225.368.2224 855.332.0500 334.366.4661 404.859.5790 601.508.3333 800.288.0887 803.708.0624 800.849.7788 800.284.9032 318.548.5977 888.822.1173 914.332.1031 910.231.4043 864.947.9208 888.561.1115 336.790.6807 502.695.3979 888.285.7478 800.766.8349 800.467.0944 800.738.2123 877.265.1486 888.754.5613 800.831.0042 800.269.6520 800.445.2895 800.321.8073 877.563.8899 601.969.6000 800.668.3340 386.754.6186 855.325.6465 800.733.7326 318.445.0750 501.224.2232 855.781.9408 912.638.7726 519.753.2000 912.283.1060 601.635.5543 641.628.3141 301.961.9800 800.237.0022 843.761.8220 800.323.3708 770.692.0380 601.693.4807

COMING EVENTS July

September

10-13—West Virginia Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Canaan Resort Conf. Center, Davis, W.Va. Call 681-265-5019; visit wvfa.org.

5-7—Great Lakes Logging & Heavy Equipment Expo, UP State Fairgrounds, Escanaba, Mich. Call 715-282-5828; visit gltapa.org.

26-28—Georgia Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Westin Jekyll Island, Jekyll Island, Ga. Call 478992-8110; visit gfagrow.org.

6-7—Virginia Forest Products Assn. Annual Conference, The Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit vfpa.net.

27-30—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, WV. Call 336-8858315; visit appalachianhard wood.org.

8-10—Alabama Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 334-265-8733; visit alaforestry.org.

August 20-22—Florida Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Sheraton Bay Point Resort, Panama City Beach, Fla. Call 850-222-5646; visit floridaforest.org. 23-24—Southwest Forest Products Expo, Hot Springs Covention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501-2242232; visit arkloggers.com. 23-25—Virginia Loggers Assn. annual meeting, Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, Va. Call 804-6774290; visit valoggers.org. 27-29—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget, Lake Charles, La. Call 318-4432558; visit laforestry.com.

ADLINK is a free service for advertisers and readers. The publisher assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

20-21—Kentucky Wood Expo, Embassy Suites Newtown Pike, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org. 26-28—American Loggers Council annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 409-625-0206; visit amloggers.com.

October 2-4—North Carolina Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Hotel Ballast, Wilmington, NC. Call 800-2317723; visit ncforestry.org. 2-4—2019 National Hardwood Lumber Assn. Convention & Exhibit Showcase, Sheraton New Orleans, New Orleans, La. Call 901-377-1818; visit nhla.com. 8-10—Arkansas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Little Rock, Ark. Call 501-3742441; visit arkforests.org. 16-18—Tennessee Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Knoxville, Tenn. Call 615883-3832; visit tnforestry.com.

November 6-8—Forestry Assn. of South Carolina annual meeting, Wild Dunes, Isle of Palms, SC. Call 803-7984170; visit scforestry.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

●

JULY 2019 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 55

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

SLT0719pgs_bkj.qxp_SLTtemplate 6/25/19 9:43 AM Page 56

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!