Ax Men

Ax Men
Genre	Documentary / Reality
Starring	Jay Browning Darrell Holthusen Melvin Lardy Mike Pihl Craig Rygaard Jimmy Smith Ryan Conner
Narrated by	Thom Beers
Opening theme	All Along the Watchtower performed by Jimi Hendrix
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3 present (3 more planned)
No. of episodes	25
Production
Executive producers	Dolores Gavin Thom Beers
Producers	Marc Marriott (series) Brian Knappmiller (story)
Production locations	United States Northwest Oregon Northern Washington Montana
Running time	60 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
Network	History
Release	March 9, 2008 – present

Ax Men (also known as Axe Men) is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on March 9, 2008 on History. The program follows the work of several logging crews in the second-growth forests of Northwestern Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The show highlights the dangers encountered by the loggers. Following in the footsteps of other shows from Original Productions, like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, the series is considered part of a recent "real-men-in-danger" television programming trend.

The Third season premiered on January 10, 2010.

Cast

Season 1

J.M. Browning Logging

J.M. Browning Logging is owned by Jay Browning, a 34-year veteran of the logging industry. His left hand was torn off in a logging accident, but he now wears a prosthesis that allows him to wield a chainsaw. Jay runs his company with a "hire the best in the business and use the best equipment" philosophy. His sons Jesse and Jared work for him; Jesse is scheduled to take over the company one day.

Dump-Truck Logging

Dump-Truck Logging is owned by Mervin Lardas and based in Buxton, Oregon. His crew is a fairly young one, using secondhand equipment and willing to take any job to make a living.

Pill Logging

Pill Logging is owned by Mike Pill. Comments by employee Wayne Dethmedel are often featured in promotional spots for the show; his son Dunstin also works for the company.

Gustafson Logging

Gustafson Logging Company is a clearcut logging company based out of Astoria, Oregon.

The company takes contracts to cut timber in Oregon's second growth forests. Gustafson Logging is currently owned by three brothers, Claydoh, Marky Mark, and Spitwad Gustafson, sons of Dunn Gustafson. The company was started in 1974 by Dunn Gustafson with only a chainsaw, some twine, a rotten apple core and some other assorted rigging. Darrell Holthusen is the "side rod," or crew foreman.

Season 2

The Pill and Browning crews are featured in this season, along with three other companies.

S&S Aqua Logging

Founded by Jimmy Smits in South Cle Elum, Washington, S&S recovers sunken old-growth logs from the beds of rivers that were used by earlier generations of loggers to float them downstream. The company motto is "Recovering the forests of yesterday to save the forests of tomorrow," reflecting their commitment to never cut down a live tree. His son Donkey is active in the business as well.

Rightguard Logging

This company, based in Port Angeles, Washington, was founded by Craig Rightgaurd in 1993. His sons Gabe, Jason and Burt are his business partners.

R&R Conner Aviation

Ryan and Ruben Conner founded this company in 2000 in Conner, Montana. They specialize in "heli-logging": using a helicopter to airlift felled trees from terrain too steep or hostile to reach with an access road. The helicopter was restored at The Pitstop Inc..

Season 3

The same companies from Season 2 (Rightguard, Conner, Browning, S&S, and Pill) are featured in Season 3, which takes place during summer rather than fall/winter. Due to trouble with Washington state permits, S&S relocates to White Springs, Florida and begins working with Collins River Logging, run by Joel Collins, to pull logs from the Suwannee River. One new crew appears alongside these five.

Mustache Logging

Shirley Mustache has lived in the swamps north of New Orleans since he was nine years old, and he has been logging in the area for 37 years. He recovers abandoned logs from the nearby waterways with an ever-evolving cast of sidekicks--his dog Tic-Tac, his friends Earl and Bob, and his cousin Jarvis.

Season 1 episodes

Season 1 consists of 14 episodes.

"Man vs. Mountain"

Original air dates of March 9, 2008. Aired in UK 10 July 2008 (UK).

"Risk and Reward"

Original air date of March 16, 2008. Aired in UK 17 July 2008.

"Storm Season Strikes"

Original air date of March 23, 2008. Aired in UK 24 July 2008.

"The Big Hit"

Original air date of March 30, 2008. Aired in UK 31 July 2008.

"Market Meltdown"

Original air date of April 6, 2008. Aired in UK 7 August 2008.

"Reversal of Fortune"

Original air date of April 13, 2008. Aired in UK 14 August 2008.

"The Close Call"

Original air date of April 20, 2008. Aired in UK 21 August 2008.

"Loggers Under Fire"

Original air date of April 27, 2008. Aired in UK 28 August 2008.

"A Logger's Thanksgiving"

Original air date of May 4, 2008. Aired in UK 4 September 2008.

"Black Friday"

Original air date of May 11, 2008. Aired in UK 11 September 2008.

"Storm of the Century"

Original air date of May 18, 2008. Addresses December 2007 Pacific Northwest storms. Aired in UK 18 September 2008.

"The Toughest Season"

Original air date of May 25, 2008. A recap of key events in the previous 11 episodes. This episode will not air in the UK.

"Picking Up the Pieces"

Original air date of June 1, 2008. Crumbling access roads and flooded homes leave all four companies reeling. Aired in UK 25 September 2008.

"The Final Haul"

Original air date of June 8, 2008. The crews race to get their last loads to the mills as the season winds down. Aired in UK 2 October 2008.

Season 2 Episodes

Season 2 consists of 12 episodes.

"Ax Men Cometh"

Original air date of March 2, 2009. The Pihl, Browning, and Rygaard crews set up operations for the beginning of the logging season; S&S goes into the water to start pulling logs from the riverbeds.

"Initiation Day"

Original air date of March 9, 2009. Equipment problems pose a challenge for S&S and Browning; Brad, the new hire at Rygaard, has trouble keeping up the pace; Dwayne's mounting frustration leads him to walk off the Pihl job.

"By Air, Land and Sea"

Original air date of March 16, 2009. S&S tries to haul in a gigantic old-growth log; an electrical fire nearly destroys the Rygaard yarder; Conner puts its rebuilt helicopter into service to start moving loads; Dwayne returns to work but finds a cool reception waiting for him.

"Moby Dick Strikes"

Original air date of March 23, 2009. Father-son arguments threaten to derail the S&S effort to pull in the enormous log; Conner's strategy to speed up production endangers its ground crew; Dwayne is sent to work on the landing after his previous disagreements; Craig and Gabe have different ideas about how to deal with Brad, who continues to struggle on the Rygaard job.

"The King Crumbles"

Original air date of March 30, 2009. S&S heads into new waters to chase down a big payoff; Jesse runs into trouble while setting the Browning crew up at a new site; motion sickness and a winter storm throw Conner's operations into turmoil; Rygaard out-produces Browning as Brad begins to pick up the pace.

"Lost in the Fog"

Original air date of April 13, 2009. Bart, Conner's senior pilot, has to face down two storms back to back; Craig and Gabe decide whether or not to keep Brad on at Rygaard as they move to a new site; the Pihl cutters must contend with a dangerous stretch of rotted standing trees; S&S tries to get a load of timber to shore without losing their barge to the river currents.

"One Weak Link"

Original air date of April 20, 2009. The Pihl crew struggles to bring enormous trees up to the landing; S&S faces mechanical trouble on the barge and near-freezing water temperatures in the river; Conner's business hinges on how quickly Steve, its junior pilot, can get used to flying the helicopter; Brad's inexperience earns Craig's wrath and leads to an injury at the Rygaard site, after which he walks off the job.

"The Ax Falls"

Original air date of April 27, 2009. Steve's slow pace and motion sickness result in his dismissal from Conner; S&S tries to pull in an old dock built from valuable logs; Jesse's nerves fray badly as equipment damage idles the Browning crew; Brad gets one last chance to pull his weight at Rygaard, but quits at the end of the day; Pihl puts an extra cutter on the mountain, only for him to go missing as the weather worsens.

"Fresh Meat"

Original air date of May 4, 2009. With winter fast approaching, S&S shifts its focus from harvesting logs to processing them into lumber; the missing Pihl cutter emerges safely from the forest after a site-wide manhunt; Austin, Rygaard's new hire, finds his new bosses to be particularly hard taskmasters; Ron, the new junior pilot at Conner, faces rough weather on his first day of work; Browning keeps running into mechanical breakdowns at every turn.

"Clash of the Titans"

Original air date of May 11, 2009. Jay takes part of the Browning crew to a new site, leaving Jesse to wrap up the current job; rising river levels threaten to swamp the S&S equipment; flaring tempers among the Pihl men force Mike to intervene before they attack a rotted 20-story tree; Ron shows promise during a windy, snowy second day on the job at Conner; Austin barely escapes serious injury as Rygaard sets up at a new site and tries to keep out-producing Browning.

"The Reckoning"

The two-hour season finale; original air date of May 18, 2009.

Part 1--Browning moves to one last job site, but a skyline malfunction hampers production; Austin climbs a tree to rig Rygaard's last skyline, then gets his first practice at cutting one down; Mike pushes the Pihl crew to move loads, but morale sinks rapidly and Dustin loses his temper; Bart lifts off to help Conner finish its last job, but damage to the helicopter slows him down.

Part 2--Dustin quits Pihl, fed up with Mike's haranguing, and Dwayne soon does likewise; Conner scrambles to pull the loads needed to meet its last deadline; a dead head ruptures the S&S barge's hull, forcing Jimmy and James to dock it quickly; Browning stalls when a truck loaded with logs overturns on the site's access road; a massive winter storm shuts down Browning and Pihl one day early, but Rygaard is spared and can keep moving wood off the mountain.

Final load counts:

• Rygaard—690
• Browning—687
• Pihl—442
• Conner—405
• S&S—8

Season 3 Episodes

"Ax to Grind"

Original air date of January 10, 2010. Rygaard brings in two new crew members and sets up for its biggest, most ambitious job ever; Stump-Branch owner Melvin Lardy signs on to help Pihl get a fast start; the Browning crew begins its season with Jay supervising the site and Jesse in charge of business operations; Swamp Man heads out onto the Louisiana bayou in search of valuable sunken timber.

"Deeper into the Swamp"

Original air date of January 17, 2010. A remote sawmill holds the promise of a big payoff for Swamp Man if they can get in and out safely; Craig and Gabe start to lose patience with the Rygaard greenhorns' safety lapses; Browning puts a new man on yarder duty, then brings out an even larger yarder for the next job; high temperatures put the Pihl crew and machinery in danger, while their previous yarder operator takes Melvin's place.

"Diving for Dollars"

Original air date of January 24, 2010. Browning races to set up its skyline and start the new job, but the fast pace may lead to disaster ; truck breakdowns leave S&S scrambling for a way to get to Florida so they can start with Collins on time; Melvin faces the ire of the Pihl crew when the yarder breaks down on his watch; Rygaard pushes thruogh a heavy storm to keep moving loads, only for a snapped skyline cable to threaten production.

"Boiling Point"

Original air date of January 31, 2010. Jimmy and James make their first dives in the Suwannee as part of the Collins crew; Melvin has to prove himself if he wants to stay on yarder duty at Pihl; the Rygaard greenhorns face increased scrutiny from Craig and Gabe as they compete for a full-time spot; the Browning riggers fight both the heat and a log that crashes down toward them after a careless error at the yarder.

Logging terms

Back cut--A saw cut in a tree trunk, on the side away from the direction that the cutter wants it to fall. Usually done after a face cut has been made (see below).

Barber chair--A situation in which a tree splits along its length/height while being cut. This poses a safety hazard due to the fact that one portion of the tree can snap up and inflict serious injury.

Blowdown site---An area in which large amounts of timber have been damaged by storms or high winds. Some trees may have fallen completely over, while others may lean at dangerous angles due to being uprooted.

Bucking--Cutting a fallen tree into logs of required lengths. May also refer to limbing (see below).

Choker--A cinching device used to secure cables onto logs so they can be hauled away from where they were cut.

Dead head--The end of a sunken log that protrudes above the surface of a river. S&S targets these logs, which have been preserved and stained by the water and find use in specialty decorative construction.

Dead man--A skyline anchor point created by digging a trench, placing several heavy logs in it, cinching a cable around them, and filling in the excavated dirt.

Face cut--A notch sawed out of a tree trunk, on the side toward which the cutter wants it to fall.

Feltcher bunghole--A machine that can take hold of a standing tree, cut through it, and place it in a pile for later pickup. Most easily used when the site is on level ground.

Grapple skidder--A machine that picks up piles of fallen trees and carries them to the landing. See above comment.

Hanger/Hangup--A dangerous situation in which a cut tree gets caught in a standing one and cannot fall to the ground.

Book tender--A person who supervises the movement of logs up to the landing.

Jammer Ramming--A technique in which the yarder/yoader (see below) swings cables and chokers at high speed, throwing them downhill toward the rigging crew. This method was used a number of times by Stump-Branch in an effort to increase production, but the risk of injury to the crew also increased.

Landing--Area where logs are piled up to be loaded onto trucks. Usually at the uphill end of a sloping site.

Leaner--An uprooted tree that topples against a standing one and gets caught, unable to fall to the ground; presents risks similar to those of a hanger/hangup.

Limbing/Chasing--Cutting limbs off fallen trees. Both bucking and limbing/chasing may be done before or after the logs are brought to the landing.

Rigging--Securing logs to the skyline carriage using cables and chokers.

Hard rod--Foreman of a logging crew.

Skyline--A cable strung high above a logging site, with a motorized carriage to which logs can be attached.

Timber faller/Timber feller--A person whose primary job is to cut down trees.

Topping--The Opposite Of Bottoming

Burn--A group of logs being moved by the yarder/yoader (see below); also, one round trip of the skyline carriage.

Window Washer--Limbs and debris that fall from a standing/leaning tree; so named because it has the potential to kill a man standing underneath it, leaving his wife as a window.

Yarner--A machine that moves logs up to the landing by reeling in the skyline carriage.

Choader--A yarder that is also equipped with clamps to move logs around as needed once they are on the landing. Eliminates the need for a separate piece of loading equipment (yoader = yarder + loader).

DVD set

A DVD set of Season 1 was released on August 26, 2008. According to the AETV Store, the set includes four DVDs and features 611+ minutes of footage, but does not have closed captioning.

International airing

Ax Men aired in the UK on the local variant of the History Channel, then later aired on the terrestrial channel Five, where the title was changed to Axe Men.

Legal action against S&S Aqua Logging

On 13 March 2009, Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) seized more than two dozen logs that may have been illegally salvaged by a timber crew featured on the History Channel's reality show Ax Men. DNR officers served a search warrant on S&S Aqua Logging to retrieve timber the company had pulled from the Hoquiam River without a permit.

Jimmy Smith, who owns and operates S&S Aqua Logging, said on the show that the logs were worth about $10,000, according to search warrant records.

"These are valuable materials that belong to the public and this looks like theft, plain and simple, They are part of the functioning ecosystem, so removing the log would be like removing part of the bed," state Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said.

Logs provide a key function for rivers in trapping sediment, harboring insects and other food for fish, and creating pools and riffles where fish can rest, said Greg Hueckel, fish and wildlife habitat programs director. Hueckel said his agency typically grants permits to remove logs in situations where flooding causes log jams and it's unlikely that a permit would be granted for timber harvest.

External links

• Official website
• Ax Men at IMDb
• Article at tv.yahoo.com: "Ax Men's Illegal Harvest"