Log Graders and Scalers

The there are no official post-secondary training opportunities for this occupation from the public North Dakota University System.

• Arrange for hauling of logs to appropriate mill sites.
• Communicate with coworkers by using signals to direct log movement.
• Drive to sawmills, wharfs, or skids to inspect logs or pulpwood.
• Evaluate log characteristics and determine grades, using established criteria.
• Identify logs of substandard or special grade so that they can be returned to shippers, regraded, recut, or transferred for other processing.
• Jab logs with metal ends of scale sticks, and inspect logs to ascertain characteristics or defects such as water damage, splits, knots, broken ends, rotten areas, twists, and curves.
• Measure felled logs or loads of pulpwood to calculate volume, weight, dimensions, and marketable value, using measuring devices and conversion tables.
• Measure log lengths and mark boles for bucking into logs, according to specifications.
• Paint identification marks of specified colors on logs to identify grades or species, using spray cans, or call out grades to log markers.
• Record data about individual trees or load volumes into tally books or hand-held collection terminals.
• Saw felled trees into lengths.
• Tend conveyor chains that move logs to and from scaling stations.
• Weigh log trucks before and after unloading, and record load weights and supplier identities.