2009 Classifieds
December 2009 Classifieds
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Bulletin Board
Our best leisure reading from our not-so-sharp minds
At the SFPA Expo in Atlanta in 1985, a much younger equipment man, Mike Guy, right, visited with Barko’s Jerry Nykanen, left, and Dan Ahonen. Nykanen, Ahonen and the model 160A are long gone, but Guy remains at the helm of G&S Equipment in Prattville and Tuscaloosa, Ala. Among other brands, he still sells and services the Barko loader line.
Feature
Better Asset by Jim Mooney
Victor Simmons knew he always wanted to be a logger. He began working in the woods for Barnes Manufacturing just weeks after completing high school in 1993. Later, he worked for several area loggers, then took a job as a green end supervisor when Arbortech opened its new pine sawmill in Blackstone. “Vic is a really good guy,” says Dickie Dost, one of the Arbortech owners. “He worked for us from the start on the yard and we didn’t want to lose him but he has become an even better asset now that he logs for us.”
With some used equipment and a lot of determination, Simmons, now 34, got the chance to start his own operation in February of 2003 as a contractor for Squires Timber. “I liked working at Arbortech but I really like being in the woods rather than standing on concrete all day,” says Simmons. In September of that year he landed a contract with his old employer, Arbortech, and has never looked back. Today Simmons Logging is one of the top producers for Arbortech, pushing
Holding Steady by Jennifer McCary
As the year comes to a close, the owner of Sullivan Timber Co. counts himself among the fortunate. It has been a tough year, no doubt. But Arnold (Bubba) Sullivan has been able to keep both his crews working with little or no downtime other than normal weather related delays.
Sullivan enjoys a 22-year contract supplier relationship with Gulf Lumber Co., one of the few sawmills in the state that has continued to operate and even expand through the down economy. (Gulf Lumber recently announced its merger with Scotch Lumber Co. of Fulton, forming Scotch & Gulf Lumber LLC.)
Nameless Texas Towns
Besides the quarter boss, who sometimes held an honorary commission as a Texas Ranger, mill town law normally consisted of a resident constable, who served the local justice of the peace, and a resident deputy sheriff. In times of tension or labor trouble, as industry historians Maxwell and Baker noted, “the ranger was enforced by deputies, who were especially hated and were described by union organizers as “a bunch of big-hatted boobs who would commit murder or anything else at the command of their chief.”
In truth, all the sawmill town law enforcement officials normally were “company men,” often holding day jobs in the mill and being paid by the company. Such was the arrangement at the Peavy Moore Lumber Co. town of Deweyville, where company lawmen “rode herd on the town under an agreement with the county sheriff.” As at big tenant cotton farms along the Brazos and elsewhere, normally the sheriff contacted company officials for permission before even entering the precincts
Signs Of Life by David Abbott
Business is picking up a little, according to Jay Jordan, 36, of Jordan Land Clearing based here. Jordan and his father, Jerry, run the company together. “Pulpwood has started to show some signs of life. It was a wet fall, and they didn’t get in as much as they wanted.” Typically, he says, when one market is bad, another takes its place. Jordan had sustained itself on logs, but as that market dried up, pulpwood has started to rebound. “Last winter we were wide open, with four places that wanted all the pulpwood we could cut. This spring they had us down to six loads a week. Now it’s whatever we can get out.”
In addition to traditional markets, the family company has recently expanded into residual markets. Jordan Land Clearing has already made all the changes the company expects to make in the near future with the recent addition of a chipper to the equipment mix. Seeing an opportunity to make use of tops and brush that was going to waste on sites clear-cut for pasture or de
Industry News Roundup
Current Industry News
On November 17 Rotochopper, Cutting Systems, Forest Pro and James River Equipment collectively demonstrated that making quality pellet fuel in the woods is feasible. The event was coordinated by Jody Parker with Rotochopper and hosted by Forest Pro, the Barko/CSI dealer at Scottsville, Va. Several loggers, foresters and sawmill representatives were greeted by agents of the manufacturers and dealers.
The demo was staged in a young loblolly pine stand near the Forest Pro dealership. Employees and equipment of Tapscott Brothers Logging felled, bunched and skidded stems to the landing, where a Barko 595 ML loader and CSI FDT 6000 flail/pull-through delimber took over. After delimbing, the loader operator turned the stems and sent the trees back through the flail, butt end first, to remove bark. Then the clean stems were fed through a Rotochopper MC 266 grinder fitted with a 3⁄4 in. screen. According to Parker, the fine material produced, once dried, was suitable for making fuel
Southern Stumpin
The Night Before Christmas... by DK Knight
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the trees,
Nothing was stirring, not even a breeze;
The logs were stacked by the loader with care,
In hopes that better times soon would be here;