March 2023

FREEBURG, Missouri – Don’t let the name fool you: Skidmore Lumber Co. centers on a mill now, but the family-owned business has its roots in the woods, and today fields a top-notch logging crew, one that’s ahead of the curve in its area. Owners Doug Skidmore, 60, and his brother Howard, 62, have been running the show here together since they took over from their dad Oreal and other brother Odis in the early ‘90s, about 30 years ago.

Inside This Issue

COVER: Skidmore Lumber: On Track In Missouri

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Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times

SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Offensive Lines

In the February 2023 issue of Southern Loggin’ Times, I wrote a reaction to an article that had recently appeared in the Washington Post, in which it was reported that, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, forestry jobs rank as the overall most satisfying or fulfilling work in America. Loggers are happier than lawyers. This was self-reported and therefore highly subjective and hardly scientific, of course, but it was positive attention to share it and comment on it.

Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times

TAR-nished Industry: The birth, development and demise of the South’s important Naval Stores sector

First Of Three Parts

It was a major component of the South’s economy, but it wiped out untold volumes of longleaf and slash pine timber and scarred the lives of many who toiled at the tasks it entailed. And, in some instances, it left a shameful wake of social wrongdoing. When wooden ships and boats were the thing, tar and pitch were essential in keeping them seaworthy, as they excelled in keeping vessels watertight, preventing shipworm infestations, and preserving rigging. Tar and pitch were known as ‘navel stores,’ a term that eventually included turpentine and rosin.

Article by DK Knight, Publisher/Editor Emeritus, Southern Loggin’ Times

SLT Scrapbook

Vintage clips from the archives of SLT’s 50+ years. Follow SLT on Facebook to see some old clippings.

BULLETIN BOARD

Our Best Leisure Selections From Our Not-So-Sharp Minds

SPOTLIGHT ON: Chippers, Grinders, Etc.

The following manufacturers of in-woods chipping and grinding machines, as well as related components and supplies, submitted editorial profiles to complement their advertisements in SLT March 2023.

Bandit
Morbark
Quadco

FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Multi-Tasking

The trouble we run into with multi-tasking is when it becomes the “driver,” when it becomes the dictator, controlling the actions of our lives, demanding that we must do all of these things. We have lost our sense of priorities, and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in our walk with God. When did you last have time alone with him? When was he your main priority? Not even going to church guarantees that you aren’t going to be distracted. Even now, many of you reading this article have stopped to check for a text or an email.

Bradley Antill is a forester and an author. Excerpted from Reflections on Rebellion and Redemption.

INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP

Byrd Rose To Top Of Logging Ranks
Sawmill In Camden Gains New Life
RoyOMartin Goes Back 100 Years
Log Yard Upgrade Should Be Helpful
Ponsse Names Vidgren To Oversee Dealers
New Mississippi Law Simplifies Light Safety
Study Confirms Forest Carbon Neutrality

SAFETY FOCUS

Logging Equipment Loss Due To Fire

MACHINES-SUPPLIES-TECHNOLOGY

Deere Crawler Loader
Cat 558 Forest Machine

The Right Tracks

Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times

Some families have trouble working together, but that’s not the case here, the Skidmores agree. “We get along great,” according to Howard, who performs a mechanical engineering role and focuses on day-to-day production at the mill. Doug, who oversees operations in the woods and manages business in the mill, says he couldn’t ask for a better partner.

Their father started out in the woods, but after getting into the sawmill business in the late’70s, the Skidmore family had left logging in their rear view mirror, or so they thought. “We got plum out of logging,” Doug says. But, about seven years ago, the brothers set out to grow the mill’s business without increased log purchasing. That led them back to logging. “If we were going to do that, we decided we were going to do it safe,” Doug adds.

To that end, they invested in machines, even though mechanized felling still isn’t terribly common in their part of Missouri. “We are not against the idea of cutting trees the old fashioned way,” Howard stresses. “That just isn’t what we wanted to do. Around here it is still mostly a man on the ground felling with a chain saw. That is still very common here, the most common by far. There are getting to be more machines in the woods though; 10 years ago there weren’t very many.”

Tracked machines allow the Skidmores to keep working in hills and swamps alike.

The Timber Pro came all the way from JWE in North Carolina, bought during the equipment shortage of 2021 to replace a Komatsu that burned in a mysterious fire.

Instead of chain saws, the Skidmore brothers opted to start out with a used Bell feller-buncher. “We had an employee who knew how to run one,” Doug says. The machine worked well, but had limitations; for example, he adds, “You go down a hill in the Bell and the only way to come out is backwards, and you can’t see. You really had to watch what you were doing. They didn’t have cameras on them back then, but they cut a lot of timber.”

Bells were known as three-wheeled machines, relatively lightweight and very maneuverable in tight spaces. The Skidmores actually had two, one of which ran on tracks. “It would go anywhere,” Doug says, but it was a rough ride over uneven, often rocky terrain. Since then, they’ve replaced it with other, larger tracked feller-bunchers: first a Komatsu, and now a Timber Pro. “This one is heavy enough, if you hit a rock, it will usually crush it.”

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