Gin poles

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04-26-2003, 01:36 PM

Mexstan

It's my pot and I'll stir it if I want to. If you're not careful, I'll stir your's as well!

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Gin poles

After reading about gin poles in another post a short while ago I got curious about the origin of the word and did some research. Have used gin poles myself for years but never knew where the word came from. There is contradictory infor about the origin but found the following which many be of interest to some: Adverse Uphill road grade for loaded log trucks or trains. Alibi Day Pay day in the camps, when many loggers develop toothaches, requiring trips to town. Backfire Controlled fire set ahead of wild fire to reduce fuel materials. Bakehead Railroad fireman. Also called the "tallow-pot." Barber Chair On stump, slivered wood between undercut and back cut, sometimes sticking up a foot or more, resembling back of a chair. Belly Ache Transmission trouble in logging tractor. Big Blue Butt A large butt log, sometimes heavy enough at one end to sink. Railroad ties from such logs are called sinkers. Biltmore Stick A specialized ruler for measuring height, diameter, and volume of trees. Birling Log rolling. (In water.) Blowup Explosive-like spread of a forest fire due to weather conditions. Boiling Up Washing clothes in camp Boom Log storage in water. Boomer Migratory logger. Bootjack Designed to help loggers get caulked boots off. Brains Company president or other high official. Bucker Man who saws felled trees into log lengths. According to fallers, a bucker is a made-over faller, one who has been hit on the head by falling branches. Buckskin Weathered snag, bark off. Bug Switch used to transmit radio or electric signals. Bug Kill Trees or timber stands killed by insects Bull Choker Heavy choker used when extra strength is needed to move big tog or overcome bad hang-up. Bull of the Woods Logging superintendent. Bullbuck Cutting crew boss. He is a key man, and many technically trained foresters are to be found on this job. Bullcook Camp chore-boy or handyman. Bullwhacker Ox teamster of early western logging. Bumper Full name, knot bumper. He trims limbs still left on logs at landing. Also unhooks chokers. Term applies mostly to Western Pine region. Counterpart in Douglas fir logging is landing chaser. Bunk Log rest on railroad car or truck. Also logger's bed. Bunkhouse Camp logger's home, where new logging records are made nightly, starting right after supper. Bunkhouse Fables Colorful narratives of adventures on the last trip to town. Busheling Contract work at so much per thousand board feet. Camp Inspector Short-stake logger Camp Robber Canada jay or whiskey jack, bird about the size of robin that hangs out among loggers, especially when fed. Candy Side Fast, highball, well-equipped operation. Cat Tractor. Cat Doctor Tractor mechanic. Cat Face Partly healed fire scar on tree, usually at base. Cat Skinner Tractor driver. Caulks (Pronounced "Corks&quot

Steel pegs in soles of heavy boots, giving loggers secure footing in woods. Chance A "show,” or an operation. Example: "Truck chance" means transport by truck best; "winter chance" means loggable in winter. Chaser Man who unhooks chokers at spar tree. Cheat Stick Log scaler's measuring rule. Cherry Picker Crane or other power rig for picking up logs along railroad or truck road. Sometimes used for short skidding jobs. Choker Steel necktie, wire rope loop to grip logs for the pull to landing. Usually 3/4 to 1-1/2 inch diameter, 15 to 35 feet long, **** at both ends and sliding hook for either ****. Chokerman Also known as choker setter. He fixes the chokers around logs. Chunk Broken log. Cold Deck A pile of logs yarded in to a tree. Cold Trailing Digging fire line along edge of forest fire that appears to be dead, as a safety measure in case it should revive. Conk Tree disease, usually detectable from fruiting body growth. Crown Fire Fire traveling through foliage of trees. Crummy Caboose of log train. Crew bus of truck logging outfits. Dendroctonus A destructive bark beetle that annually kills millions of feet of timber. Dinging Loaders riding hook or tongs. (Prohibited by safety codes.) Donkey Steam engine, upright boiler, several drums, mounted on heavy log sled, used as logging power plant. Now largely supplanted by gasoline and diesel units. Donkey Puncher Engineer Drag'er To quit. Duff Humus and partly decayed organic matter of forest floor. Dynamite Snuff. Eagle Eye Section boss. Faller One who cuts down trees. Called sawyer in pine region. Fir region buckers say fallers are buckers who were hit hard in head. Fernhopper West coast forester. Fire Line A strip dug to mineral earth around a forest fire. Usually built now with bulldozers, its purpose is twofold: To try to stop the fire; to be starting line for backfires. Fly Camp Stub, or temporary camp Flyer Type of skyline donkey used in the 1920's. Flying Dutchman A rigging hookup for high-leading parallel to railroad. Fore And Aft A skid road built in steep country for sliding logs into water. Gandy Dancer Section worker on railroad. Track gang member Gandy Dancing Hiding gravel. Raising rail track after new ballast has been dumped. Gilflirt (Verb) - All fouled up. (From horse logging days.) Gin Pole Short spar tree for loading Give'er Snoose To increase power, to hurry up, to get the babbitt out of the well-known shoes. Goat Switching engine in woods. Also applied to small, pressure-tank burner used for starting fires in oil-burning donkey engines. Gopher Powderman. He shoots small holes under logs so rigging men can get choker around log. Got’er Made Quitting. Grapple Fork-like hook used in yarding operations. Grapple yarder. Groan Box Radio. Grouse Ladders Limby trees, wolf trees. Gut Robber Cook. Gyppo Contract logger or small operator. Many versions are heard as to origin of word. One is that during World War I, when log skidding was frequently contracted out to small operators who had a team of horses, such operators moved about a lot and got to be known as "gypsies." In pine country, they were also known as packsackers. With the years, "Gypsy" developed into the euphemism "Gyppo." The term may have had a certain tang of "haywiring" in its earlier days, but not now. "Gyppo" is widely used and universally accredited, and it does not denote "gypping." Hair Pounder Teamster Hangup A turn of logs fouled up in a root, snag, or stump. Hardtack Outfit Poor feeding outfit. Haulback Steel cable That pulls main line And chokers back to the woods from yarding tree. Hayburner Horse. Haywire Out of order, second rate. Haywire Show Poorly equipped logging operation. Hen Skins Tight summer underwear High Lead Logging system using lifting power of high rigging to get logs up and over obstructions on way in from woods to landing. High Lead Block Gigantic steel pulley, weighing up to 3,600 pounds, strapped to top of spar tree for carrying main line. High Wheels Gigantic wheels once used for skidding. Highball Hurry up. Highball Side The fast, regular logging side of any operation. Highclimber Man who cuts off tops of chosen spar trees and hangs rigging in them for the setting. Hindu Loop at end of straw line, carrying hook. Hit The Ball Get going. Speed up operations. Hit The Pike Head for town. Hitler In one area of the Western Pine region the first gas-powered chain saw came from Germany in 1936 or 1937. It was manufactured at Kiel, parts assembled at Vancouver, B.C. Loggers got to calling all gas chain saws "Hitlers.” Term did not become general and did not stick. Hoghead Locomotive engineer. Holster Jammer operator in pine country. Also known as puncher. Home Guard Steady employee, opposite of camp inspector. Hooker Common in pine country, pairs of men at landing, handling the loading hooks. Hooktender The boss of the rigging, or yarding, crew in high lead logging. Hoosier Green man in woods. Hoosier Up (Verb) -To play practical jokes on embryo loggers. Hoot-Nanny Undercutter. A device to hold crosscut saw while sawing from underneath. Hypsometer An instrument for measuring height of trees. In The Bight Dangerous area in rigging, where line under stress may strike a workman. Increment Increase in wood growth. Increment Borer Instrument for core-drilling tree trunks. Foresters read history of tree in core, which records annual growth. Inkslinger Timekeeper. Iron Burner Blacksmith. Jagger Wire rope sliver or "whisker." Jillpoke A prop, a pole to pry; also, an unloading device. If a logger slips on a log and his posterior alights on a limb stub, he has suffered a painful "jillpoking." Job-Shark Employment agent. Kerf Slit made by saw. King Snipe Boss man of track-laying crew. Landing Where logs are loaded. Leader Latest year's height growth on tree's main stem. Leftovers Wood materials for which there is no economic use. Log Brand Hammered identification mark on logs ends. Loky Locomotive. Long Butt (Noun or verb)- When tree butt is decayed or crooked, or otherwise economically unsuited for use, tree is "long-butted," which means the butt cut is left in the woods. In south, the term is "jumpbutt." Man Catcher Employment agent. Meow Kink or bad twist in steel rope. Misery Whip Bucking or crosscut saw. Molly Hogan A substitute for cotter pins, fashioned from strands of wire rope. Formerly widely used, still persisting despite safety codes forbidding them. Monthly Insult Paycheck. Mulligan Car Crew car. Node Circle of knots in tree trunk denoting end of one year's height growth and beginning of next. Nose Bag Cold lunch. Nose Bag Show Camp where crew carries lunch to woods. Outlaw Camp Small crew preparing next campsite. Parbuckle Method of moving a log by rolling in bights of two lines. Pass Line Highclimber's elevator on spar tree Paul Bunyan Logger's hero. Pea Vey Cantdog. Tool for rolling logs by hand, Peeler Short log, or bolt, suitable for peeling for plywood. Pike Pole Long pole with steel point and hook, used to move logs in water. Pot Steam donkey engine. Powder Monkey Dynamite man. Also called gopher Pre-Logging Removing small breakable timber before the main logging. Pulaski Special tool combining ax and hoe principles. Named after ranger hero of 1910 Idaho fires. Pull the Pin To quit the job. Pung Logger's purse Punk Logging camp bread. Also "The punk" for whistle punk or signalman. Push Foreman Quebec Choker Peavey. Is short Raft Logs in water, kept in leash by boom-sticks. Red Lead Catsup. Re-Logging Business of combing harvested areas for additional materials after primary Logging is finished. Often done with lighter equipment that makes it practical. Reprod Forest reproduction. Teenage and younger trees. Residual Stand Trees, often of sawlog size but good growers, left to grow for next harvest cycle, nucleus of next crop. Also called reserve stand. Rigging Lines, blocks, hooks, etc., at business end of logging. "Working in the rigging," means any log-moving job from the stump to wheeled haul. Rigging Crew The crew that brings in the logs. Consists of choker setters, hook-on-men, whistle punk, chaser, rigging slinger and hooktender. Rigging Slinger Hooktender's first assistant. He picks logs for the turns, untangles rigging, signals to the whistle punk when to start and stop lines. Ripe Trees that have reached their "three-score and ten." "Over-ripe" means trees that have attained high old age. Road A strip of harvesting area embracing everything that can be yarded out from spar tree to tail block. Rotation Timber crop cycle. Round Stuff Logs. Russian Coupling Unfinished log cut left by bucker. Very dangerous to rigging crew. Salt Chuck Tidewater. Saplings Trees up to 4 inches diameter. Saw Timber Trees over 12 inches in diameter, breast high. Scaler Busheler's enemy. Section 37 Where all good loggers go when they cash in their chips. No underbrush there. Every tree is straight and eight feet in diameter, 400 feet tall. No scalers are allowed there. Section 37 in Klamath Lake near Algoma, Oregon. Seedling Tree developed from seed. Very small trees. Setting Area within yarding distance of spar tree. Sheepherder Logger who wears bib overalls. Shoo-Fly Building the road around by way of the head of a canyon instead of by bridge or fill across it. Used either as verb or noun. Show A logging operation or logging chance. Side One complete logging operation. Side Winder Tree knocked sideways by another tree. Also denotes fork of a tree growing straight up, parallel to main trunk. Sister Hooks Twin hooks on a single line. Siwash (Verb) to bend a powered linearound a stump to change direction of pull. Skid Grease Butter. Skidder Powerful engine for skyline logging, "usually with own steel spar. Skidroad Roads on which logs were dragged in early days. Usually built of peeled logs. Term later was applied to loggers' favorite hangout area in town (tenderloin district). Eastern writers, ignoring bitter western protests, have sought to pervert the term to "skid row" and apply it to seamy urban districts frequented by derelicts. Sky Hooks Mythical, all-powerful hooks that hook-tenders cry for when they have to fight bad hang-ups. Sky Pilot Traveling preacher who visits camps. Skybound Tree that refuses to fall, even when wedged. Also denotes buttrigging fouled up in high-lead block. Slash Leftovers of the timber harvest. Sleeper Railroad tie. In fire protection circles, a "sleeper" is a forest fire, possibly set by lightning, which smolders quietly and unobserved perhaps several days, later to blaze forth unexpectedly. Slush Coffee. Also called mud. Snag Dead tree, standing. Snoose Swedish conditioning powder, Scandinavian dynamite, galloping dust, snuff. Snorkle Boom extension used to pick up logs. Spar Tree Work tree of high-lead logging. Limbed and topped, it supports blocks and rigging hung high to give lift to the pull. Spider Web Early-day term on larger streams and bays, denoting log booms strung across mouths of feeder streams to catch escaped logs. Spike Top Standing tree whose top is dead. Springboard Board with steel shoe on one end, formerly widely used by fallers as a platform. Shoed end was stuck in a small notch in tree trunk. Stag Tree Tree whose top has been broken off. Stag High-water pants and shirts. Straw Line Light line for rigging up. String of Flats Stack of hotcakes Stump Age Standing merchantable timber. Can also denote price paid for timber. Sucker Big limb. Talk Creaking of tree immediately before falling to the ground. Tin Hat Hardhat now almost universally used by western loggers for protection. Made of aluminum, plastic or laminated paper - anything but tin. Tin Pants Heavy, water-repellent duck trousers. Tin Pants Show Rainy weather, rainy country. Tree Farmer Rubber-tied skidder Turn A load. In high-lead logging, it is usually two chokers full of logs. Undercut Notch cut to regulate direction of tree's fall. Wanigan Floating camp of river-driving crew Whiskers Jaggers on worn chokers. Whistle Punk Signalman. Whorl Circle of limbs denoting end of one year's growth. Widowmaker Dangerous limb that may fall. Windfall Bucker Bucker who works alone on wind-thrown trees. Fallers say windfall buckers are loggers who not only talk to themselves; they also answer themselves. Winter Chance Harvesting operation not likely to be forced down by winter weather. Wolf Tree Tree that occupies more space than its value warrants. Usually a limby, low-value specimen. Wood Buck Man who saws firewood for camp. Yarding Moving logs to a central spot. Verb developed in west from eastern and southern "timberyard."

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04-26-2003, 02:03 PM

westcoaster

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Re:Gin poles

Interesting read...
here is a link to the wcb site click on "fallers and buckers handbook" look in the glossary.
http://www.worksafebc.com/publicatio...on_index/f.asp

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04-26-2003, 03:20 PM

Mexstan

It's my pot and I'll stir it if I want to. If you're not careful, I'll stir your's as well!

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Re:Gin poles

Checked your link. Ahh, modern man

Much prefer the old timers words and descriptions.

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04-26-2003, 04:06 PM

redramnc

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Re:Gin poles

I missed any previous mention of gin poles - that term would have caught my eye. If you are (or ever were) a radioman gin poles are probably known to you - if not, I have found very few people know what they are. I once used a gin pole to help stand up a row of Leyland cypress that got blown down during Hurricane Fran. The friend of the family they belonged to was going to get a small hydraulic boom truck to do it but the ground was too soft and sloped too much so the operator wouldn't touch the job. My old Powerwagon w/winch and a gin pole got everyone of them up from flat on the ground. Had to stake the trees to keep them upright but it made them happy and I got to dazzle them with brilliance at being able to raise them. I agree with Mexstan, the old definitions are much more apt most the time.

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04-26-2003, 04:21 PM

westcoaster

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Re:Gin poles

the gin pole question was in response to me posting this pic. http://www.dodge-diesel.org/yabbse/i...threadid=14047 Actually the reason why I posted the wcb site was because I thought a barberchair was where the trunk of the tree you were cutting split vertically, sometimes killing the faller. having read the definition more closley in the glossary it is the stump they are refering to. I had then edited the post just not cleaning it all up...

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04-27-2003, 12:02 AM

Dieseldude4x4

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Re:Gin poles

Hey redram, I need to do your trick up here. I got two of them stupid Leyland Cypress that won't stand up and they are about 20 feet tall now.
I'm getting ready to "BUZZ" them. No, that wasn't in the glossary, that is a term I just made up meaning I am going to use the old moving link mechanical reciprocator on them if they don't soon stand up.

PS:
Always wondered what the term "bamboozle" meant so I went and looked it up one day.

My wife's grandma use to always say his head is harder than a "brick batt".

I miss the old time sayings.