Ax Men (2008)
Danger is a full-time job for these brave men who put everything on the line each and every day to retrieve the Pacific Northwest timber with which we build our country. Snapped cables, runaway logs and razor-sharp chainsaws are just some of the dangers that threaten their lives daily. Even with new technology that should make the job easier, anything and everything can and does go wrong.
Seasons & Episode
Mike Pihl looks for help from a logging legend; Jason Rygaard faces his biggest test as the new boss and his father Craig's future at Rygaard logging is questioned; The Harkness crew battles winter storms and vertical terrain in the Cascade Mountains; and Wade Etienne goes after valuable hardwood giants with custom machines in Indiana.
Brandon Harkness fights his way up a mountainside in the 29-ton Tigercat; Mike Pihl get his 52-ton yarder lodged between trees; Wade Ettiene's "Big Mama" takes a two-inch steel sawtooth to her face; and Buckin' Billy's son Hogan loses his grip while cutting a tree 60-feet off the ground.
Danny Pihl gambles on horsepower to untangle a massive steel knot that's shut down the jobsite. Rygaard blows out the cobwebs as the company begins logging on their massive, new job. Wade Etienne battles rising mud, trying to get his logs off the jobsite and Buckin' Billy's forced to take down multiple trees at the same time.
Danny Pihl relies on the experience of veteran cutters Dwayne and Chuck to take down massive old-growth trees; Craig Rygaard discovers son Jason made a catastrophic and costly miscalculation; Frank Harkness races to transport $100,000 worth of logs.
Rygaard Logging races to complete four settings and three yarder moves in a single day in an effort to stay on schedule and on budget; Frank Harkness fights for traction while driving the processor up an ice-covered logging road.
Jason Rygaard fights the weather while hauling heavy, slick trees on the steepest setting of the season; Danny Pihl and his veteran crew precisely drop 250-foot, old-growth cedars next to a group of cabins; Wade Etienne struggles to control his customized, new, track cutter: Brutus; and brothers Jay R and Brandon Harkness overload their skyline and blow out the tail-hold.
Jason Rygaard races to clear a hillside in time to fill four logging trucks; Jay R Harkness fights to control the untethered Tigercat on a steep, snow-covered mountainside; Bucking Billy and his son Hogan battle a forest of hang-ups and widow-makers.