TALL TIMBER
Jack McCuish is a bit of a legend in Nelson Forests. Now facing retirement, he looks back on a colourful history.
YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW tricks, it seems. Take Jack McCuish, an old-time logger who spent a good part of his 45 years in the bush on the end of a chainsaw, falling trees manually.
Never set foot inside an excavator until he was almost 60. And within a couple of years he was on the other end of a winch-assist and harvesting trees on some pretty steep slopes like he’d been born to it.
Not so much Jack the Lad, more like Jack’s the Man!
He’s a bit of a legend in Nelson Forests and just a couple of weeks before retiring from full-time logging at the age of 71, Jack again showed his pedigree and why so many of his colleagues look up to him.
As he completed falling a line of trees in his Hitachi 290 harvester, unhitching from the tether and driving down to a more level section to continue cutting, he spotted flames coming from the rear of the machine.
Ross Holloway, 2IC with the Moutere 1 crew picks up the story: “I was on the backline and the next thing I heard him call up saying ‘I’ve got a fire in the digger’. We asked him to repeat it and he said ‘fire in the digger’.
“He took it out away from trees and then called up ‘bring more extinguishers down’. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to the edge and then grabbed extinguishers to go down and help fight the fire.
“Jack had used both of his extinguishers to control the fire until the other crew members got down there with extinguishers and 40 litres of water. It took six extinguishers in the end to put the fire out.
“When I took the extinguishers in to be recharged the guy said most people get the hell out and don’t try and fight it. If Jack hadn’t got onto it so quickly and got it under control it would have been a whole lot worse, we’d have lost a machine and maybe the forest. Those initial bursts from his extinguishers made the difference – he didn’t use them all up at once, but in bursts to give the others time to get there. Jack just played it down as if it was something he does all the time.”
Indeed, Jack was back working in the repaired machine the next day, completely unfazed by the close call. Turns out the
cause of the fire was a chaffed diesel feed line from the tank squirting diesel around, ignited by some chaffed electrical wires. Because the fire started outside the engine bay, the Fire Suppression System fitted to most of Moutere’s machines did not pick it up. The damage was limited to five hoses, some electrical wiring and a bit of scorched paintwork – all easily fixed.
Keeping it physical
When NZ Logger spoke to Jack a few days after the fire, he never even mentioned the incident. But he did speak freely about his time in forestry
Interestingly, forestry was a second career choice for Jack. He started off as a commercial Paua diver, earning good money in his younger days.
“All my life I’ve been a physical worker and
diving wasn’t physical enough for me, so I got a job in the bush, working for Baigent's in the old days,” says Jack.
“I started off on the skid to get the idea of running a chainsaw, trimming trees and then went falling. Back then they would take you straight off the streets to do jobs like that, you couldn’t do that today, with all the training and safety.
“When I was diving, I used to make $120 a day. In the forest job, we worked five-and-ahalf days a week and the money I made from my first 11 days – which nearly killed me – was $180. I bloody near went back diving. But I stuck with it because I liked the physical aspect of it – until I got too old. And the work itself, it was interesting and I worked with some real good men, real good people.”
That first forestry stint was in Golden Hills (just behind Nelson city) in one of Baigent’s
plantations. It was also the same year that a major snow storm hit the region, knocking down trees in one of the valleys and his crew was tasked with clearing the mess and recovering wood.
“I got given a chainsaw and followed a skidder and was told to ‘feed that bugger’,” says Jack.
“It’s a wonder we never got killed working in windthrow. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Harry Hartley was the crew boss of my gang back then. I used to work with an old Polish fellow, Simon Antoniach, he was a good old stick. He’d come through the war and was a tough old bugger. He got killed in the bush. Hit with a tree one day, hit in the head. He seemed to be alright, and he went home and got out of the bath and collapsed and died.”
Jack managed to keep himself safe, in spite of the dangers and worked with Baigent Forests for about nine years.
“And then I went to work for George Pakipaki,” he says. “I worked with him for 13 years, mostly in the Carter Holt Forests around Nelson. Another good bugger, old Pak. I was always on the saw, falling in those days. Loved the saw.
“I wasn’t really taught how to fall, I pretty much taught myself. You learned from your mistakes – what do they call it, calculated risk? There were no trainers in them days.”
Moving forward
When asked the secret of being a good faller, Jack says “I’m not a good faller”, but he must
have been to still be around today and he then goes on to add: “I took my job seriously, I was very careful with what I did. I’ve seen a lot of stuff in the bush that was potentially lifethreatening, so I was always careful.”
Jack then went on to become a supervisor for Carter Holt, using the skills and experience he also built up with George Pakipaki, helping to set up the ropes for the skyline on the hauler.
“Tom Broderick gave me a job going around all the haulers and helping the boys out with their rope systems and stuff like that,” says Jack.
“I enjoyed that. I just had a 12-month contract and when I finished there I was with Mike Nolan and if he was logging today, I’d still be with him. I was only there for about nine months and then the key supplier thing came in and Mike didn’t get the contract and had to sell up. I was pretty disappointed. He was good to work for.
“Dale Ewers got the contract as a key supplier and he bought Mike out, so I went and run the crew for him. And I’m still working for the bugger.
“I first ran into Dale when he came back from the Coast – he wasn’t on the bones of his arse but wasn’t far off it and what he’s got today, he’s built up himself. He’s a selfmade bugger. Bloody impressive. He’s a good bushman but a better businessman.
“Been working for Dale about 21 years. Me and him went into a contract together, bought a yarder over in Marlborough for about eight years, called JD Logging (for Jack and Dale). Me and him were partners and I ran the crew. We’ve since sold out of it – I got a little bit old.”
Still at it
Just when he thought he could kick back a bit and enjoy a rest from working so hard, Jack got a phone call.
“I was just mucking around one day and Dale rang up and says ‘I’m short of machine operators’ and I was on a skidder at that stage and I come over here (to Nelson) to work for him for three months,” says Jack.
“I’m still here. Been working in the one crew since I arrived (at Moutere 1 under foreman Ricky Harris). I was about 60 or maybe a bit younger when I come over and I started driving diggers. That was the first time, I’ve never driven a digger before.
“I’ve enjoyed it. Doing a bit of falling, shovel logging, putting in some tracks, which I used to do with dozers over the years and I quite like it.
“And then I got onto a falling machine for the last few years. It might be safer in a machine, but I still prefer a chainsaw, just not in windthrow – I don’t know how we did it in the old days.
“I’m in a Hitachi 290 with a falling head on it and I’ve been on a rope for the past five or six years. I’ve got the second winchassist Dale built – I think he’s up to machine number 105 now. He’s doing well with those, they’re impressive machines.”
It’s hard enough getting used to falling with a machine at such a late stage in life,
but harvesting on steep slopes on the end of a tether? He’s either mad or a fast learner. Must be the latter, because he says: “Being on a tether doesn’t worry me. I thoroughly enjoy it.”
It’s all part of life in the bush and Jack has certainly enjoyed the last four decades as a logger.
“I’ve met a few characters over the years,” he says, reeling off some names, “Zeke Bellis who has his own crew for years with NFL. Rex Kelly. All good guys.
“We used to play up a bit in the old days – got up to a few things that I won’t mention. But it’s different today. In the old days you went into the bush because you liked the bush but today young people who come in don’t seem to want to start at the bottom and work their way up – they all want to come in and sit in a machine straight away.
“It’s not just this industry, it’s all over. Everyone and their dog wants my job, they think it’s great but it’s more than just falling trees – I start pretty early in the morning, around 4 o’clock, so I’m up around 3 o’clock. I don’t think many of them could hack that."
A top bloke
When Jack clocked off for the last time he got a rousing reception from his colleagues at Moutere Logging and a glowing eulogy from boss, Dale Ewers, who says: “I’ve known Jack since 1996 and he’s been a big part of my life all that time. He taught me a hell of a lot of stuff in my career as I progressed.
“Christine, my wife, refers to him as my second dad. He is a very knowledgeable
person, whom I hold in very high esteem.
“He’s a top bloke, a real legend in my eyes, not just as a logger – he’s one of the best in the business – but as a person, as well. Everyone who has come into contact with Jack has benefitted from the experience.
“All our team wish him well in his retirement, although I’m not sure if he will ever really retire, because he’s already had two goes at it. There’ll always be work for him whenever he wants to come in, we’ve talked about that.”
So what’s in store for the retirement years? “We’ve got a caravan and me and the old girl are going to jump in that and we’ll bugger off around the South Island for a month or so and then I’ve got a bit of work to do around the home,” says Jack. “And in wintertime I’ll go and see the boys – Dale’s offered me a couple of days a week.”
Jack has promised his wife of 48 years, Tini, that the part-time work won’t turn into a full-time gig again, saying: “She’s put up with a lot, so now it’s time for her. She’s always come second to the job, so it’s her time.”
Still enjoying the physical life, Jack admits, “I’m 71 now and I’m starting to get a few aches and pains,” but adds, “I’m too bloody old to learn to cook. I still dive for Paua. Before the earthquake we used to go down to the Kaikoura coast and park up on the beach to get them. Go down to the Sounds a bit now. I still enjoy it. I still have all my diving gear, but I do a lot of snorkelling these days.”
They definitely don’t make them like Jack McCuish anymore.
NZL