'You never know how you're gonna get killed'

"You never know how you're going to get killed" is the quote that attracted us to the new History Channel series "Ax Men."

The rugged, often perilous life of Pacific Northwest timber cutters is captured in "Ax Men," premiering Sunday at 10 p.m. on History Channel. During its 13 episodes, "Ax Men" documents the challenges of four logging crews through a season in the forested wilderness of northwest Oregon. The task: to retrieve timber perched on mountainsides too steep for accessing with machines — and to get out alive. Snapped cables, runaway logs and unforgiving weather (including a hurricane) make the job harder and riskier. "That's the trouble with what we do," says one logger — "you never know how you're gonna get killed." The series, from the team that produced History Channel hit "Ice Road Truckers," will also chronicle the long history of the logging industry, while bringing viewers up to date on modern-day tools of the trade.