Ax Men

2008 • HISTORY
4.7
229 reviews
TV-14
Rating
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (14)

1 Man vs. Mountain
3/9/08
Deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, rugged men make their living doing one of the deadliest jobs in the world logging. Their mission is to retrieve timber perched on mountainsides too steep to access with machines, but it's no easy task. Plagued by mechanical failures, relentless weather, and unpredictable terrain, these brave men risk their lives retrieving the timber with which we built our country. Meet four companies trying to survive each day. Pihl Logging a rag-tag group of loggers based in Vernonia, Oregon. Gustafson Logging a close-knit crew working one of the most dangerous jobs in the region. J.M. Browning the best of the best. Stump Branch Logging the young guns with a lot to prove. These are the Ax Men.
2 Risk and Reward
3/16/08
Just days into the fall logging season, the Ax Men are already being put to the test. J.M. Browning races to meet a big deadline. Stump Branch Logging tempts fate by jury-rigging their old equipment. The Gustafson Company races mother nature as they attempt to build a road to access their logging site. Father teaches son the lessons of logging as the men of the Pihl Company haul in the forest's cash crop.
3 Storm Season Strikes
3/23/08
As a storm closes in on the Oregon coast, the Ax Men race to stay one step ahead. Jesse continues to push the J.M. Browning crew to meet its looming deadline, while muddy roads trap trucks on their way to the Stump Branch site. Robby battles for control of the Gustafson crew. Pihl Logging feels the effects of the slumping lumber market.
4 The Big Hit
3/30/08
Across Northwest Oregon, the Ax Men continue to grind it out. Storm season arrived with a vengeance shutting some crews down while others struggled to stay afloat. Now a bigger storm is brewing. The stalled housing market's effects are hitting the Ax Men hard. Jobs will be shut down; men will be put out of work. This week, the housing market hits home on "Ax Men".
5 Market Meltdown
4/6/08
The Ax Men are reeling from the news of upcoming layoffs. While Gustafson Logging tries to get back on track, Browning races to meet a big deadline. Pihl Logging is now under the gun to finish their Pig Farm job, and to find more work. Despite Melvin's best efforts to keep up with his old equipment, Stump Branch loses one of its most important machines.
6 Reversal of Fortune
4/13/08
Logging giants throughout Oregon are falling. Two of the biggest - J.M. Browning and Gustafson Logging - are fighting to survive. Jay Browning, usually flush with lucrative deals, is forced to make tough decisions. Gustafson Logging is down but not out. Smaller outfits, like Stump Branch and Pihl, find winning strategies in their young leaders.
7 The Close Call
4/20/08
The season is halfway through, and the gap between winners and losers is widening. Stump Branch tests a new but more dangerous logging strategy... and it poses great danger to the men in the rigging. The Pihl men play while the bosses are away. Browning Logging is a team divided. Jesse struggles to prove himself to his father... but faulty equipment isn't helping matters. A mistake on the Gustafson crew may end one man's career.
8 Loggers Under Fire
4/27/08
In the wake of the plummeting logging market, the Ax Men are barely surviving. The Gustafson bosses have a close call while taking over for their laid-off crew. An old hook tender returns to the Browning team, stopping Jesse's ascension to company management. Pihl loses a crucial member of the team as it struggles to finish Pig Farm. At Stump Branch, the young guns take matters into their own hands when Melvin has to leave the site.
9 A Logger's Thanksgiving
5/4/08
As Thanksgiving arrives, some loggers have more to be thankful for than others. Winter weather strikes and the men of Pihl lose one man after another to illness. While the bosses toil away at Gustafson, the younger crew members blow off steam. The season's first snow is a warning of things to come for the Stump Branch crew. The Browning gang is back together, but Jay is forced to ax some of his staff.
10 Black Friday
5/11/08
Thanksgiving is over, but the return to work brings more trouble for the Ax Men. Back from a devastating two-week layoff, the Gustafson crew now faces a nearly impossible deadline. As the deadline at Pig Farm approaches, half of the Pihl crew skips work, leaving greenhorn Cody to pick up the slack. At Stump Branch, mistakes and inexperience put profits and lives at risk. Jay Browning makes a troubling discovery about his next job.
11 Storm of the Century
5/18/08
The town of Vernonia is declared a disaster area as the worst storm in 25 years pounds the Oregon coast. Members of Pihl and Stump Branch are forced to flee. Jay Browning can't be found. Darrell must act fast to save his house from falling trees as the town of Astoria descends into a blackout. The future of the logging industry is in jeopardy.
12 Toughest Season
5/26/08
Ax Men looks back at logging's toughest season. The crews of Stump Branch, Pihl, J.M. Browning and Gustafson Logging have battled the elements, each other, and themselves in the race for green gold. With just three weeks left in the season, though, the worst storm in 25 years threatens to change everything.
13 Picking Up the Pieces
6/1/08
The Ax Men are ready to get back to work and put the storm behind them, but it's easier said than done. As Gustafson returns to work, Darrell makes a startling discovery that could mean the end for the Challenge job. The Stump Branch crew must figure out a Plan B and find missing greenhorn Michael. Still without phone service, Jay Browning struggles to gather his troops. The Pihl crew bails out one of its own.
14 The Final Haul
6/8/08
As logging's toughest season winds down, the battle is far from over. J.M. Browning continues to fall from glory, leaving Jesse to question the future of his family's business. The Gustafson crew returns to the Challenge, but rumors of a final pullout abound. The Pihl crew wraps Beaver and celebrates a successful year, and one member of the Stump Branch crew announces that he will not return.

About this show

For more than 100 years, larger than life characters have spent their days among towering trees and powerful machines and their nights in outposts far from the comforts of civilization.

Ratings and reviews

4.7
229 reviews
Timothy Coleman
October 27, 2014
Shelby is one of the baddest loggers out there. Cuts snake bites...it aint nuthing to him...now thats bad to the bone. .love every munite of it.
16 people found this review helpful
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Tyler Deal
February 9, 2015
I think this show is cool they need to keep on rygaard and bring back some of the old ones like pihl or JM browning and have them all log the same site hands down rygaard would win
8 people found this review helpful
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Captain Banana
December 6, 2014
Absolutely insane. You never know what that guy is gonna do next. He makes the show all by himself.
10 people found this review helpful
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