Still a little sawyer left.

[Jeff]

Been awhile since I sawed for someone other then myself, or even for myself for that matter.  Last week my brudder-in-law called me up and said that a mutual friends of ours in the U.P. was wondering if I was going to have my mill up to the cabin this year, and if so, would I, could I, do some sawing for them.  I told him the mill was in Wolverine at Corley5's but I figured we could stop and get it on the way up if he wanted to go up. So, this past Monday, Pete, Lynda and myself took off for the U.P., making a detour over to Petoskey to see Pete's dad, then on to Wolverine to get my Mill from Greg, then on to Detour Village and the cabin, then on to Stalwart where we were to saw for Lyle and Peggy Patrick.  They had their 80 logged off a year and a half ago and there had been some blow downs since.  A big white pine, some spruce that had the tops blown out of them, then they had some little old cedars they had been saving to have sawn.

Lyle has had several people saw for him over the years, so I was a bit nervous sawing for him, as he's pretty blunt and I was sure if he felt the sawing was substandard, I and everyone I knew up there was going to hear about it. The only defense I would have for him is this: "Hey! What do you expect for free?"  ;D

Anyhow, Pete and I took a drive over and scoped out the logs to be sawn Tuesday night, figuring it would take most of the day to saw them with my old manual mill. We then showed up at Lyle's Wednesday Morning to find that the logs had doubled. There was a new pile of cedar on the ground and another trailer load to unload to saw for Lyle's brother Brian that we didn't know anything about until then.

When we were getting the mill ready, we found that we didn't have my mill ramps. We found out later on that they were on top of the Shingle mill at Corley5's grandma's house.  Most of the cedar's were dry, and small enough that we could manually lift them on to the mill, although that got old real quick. Lyle sat all the bigger logs on with the tractor and tongs.  That made me nervous, especially with the big ole white pines, but we got through it without any slip ups.  We started sawing at 9:00 AM, stopped for lunch at noon, then sawed until we finished at about 8:30 that evening. With the help of Lyle on the tractor, and his younger brother Brian swamping slabs and lumber, We ended up sawing and edging every single log. I don't know how many logs we sawed, or how much lumber, but it was a bunch.  I asked Lyle a couple times during the day how he thought the wood was and he would just wink and give me the thumbs up. I saw him measuring widths and thicknesses 3 or 4 times the first hour, and never again after that.  At the end of the day he told me that it was better then any he had sawn in the past and was more then happy. 

Set up by the garden


Some of the logs


One of the surprise loads of cedar, plus some of the lumber cut in the A.M.


Lyle and Pete after sawing the first run of Cedar Logs.


Pete and Brian getting ready to move a trailer load of slabs while Lyle is gone moving a trailer load of lumber, and gets another trailer.


Cedar and spruce luymber ready to get stickered by Brian the next day.


Couple photos of sawing some White Pine.



Lyle watching me saw 2 by 6's out of one of the white pine to bring home to make Pigroast picnic tables out of. That's some of them there in Pete's truck.



More of the white pine lumber


That was Wednesday. Today is Sunday.  I'm still sore in all kinds of strange places. That was the most I ever ran my old mill at one time and I swear I walked 5 miles backwards.   The good news is, I didn't hit any metal all day and Lyle was a happy man.

[Dan_Shade]

that's nice, Jeff

I've often thought about wearing a pedometer (I think that's what they're called) to see how far I walked in a days time, but I figure with all the walking forwards, then walking backwards, it would just say "0"   :D

[Tom]

Good Show!, Jeff.   

That kind of day make life worth living, doesn't it?   It's especially good when the "customer" appreciates the job.

Perhaps you will be able to do a bit more of that up there.  The word will get out pretty quickly that they have a real bonafide sawyer in their midst now.

It's a good thing y'all have that midnight sun up there on the top of the world, 8:30 would have the flashlights out down here.  :D

Isn't it great to once again see a log opened?  Anyone who's never experienced it wouldn't know the satisfaction you probably had after so long without doing it.  Kinda makes you smile when you go to bed, doesn't it? ;D

[Larry]

Looks like a productive...and tiring day to me.  Amazing how these little mills can put out the lumber at times.

[Tom]

It's a four handed job, Larry.   You have to take the reins in both hands and give the whip to someone standing close by.  :D

[Jeff]

I think what impressed ol' Lyle the most was that at 5:00 when he said we had better quit as it had been a long day, I said to keep em coming. At that point on we only had big logs and after each one he would question whether to put another on. I'd motion to him to go get me another one and he would give me a big grin.  He knew I was tired because everyone else was beat. What he didn't know was how much fun I was having. (besides, I had a pretty good idear I would not be able to get out of bed the next morning to come over and finish if I quit before they were done);D

[Jeff]

Tom,  I got the next pay job before we finished. A guy stopped and wants 80 spruce logs two sided later this fall when I come up to bear hunt.

[Tom]

Oh yeah!  It makes it really tough when they throw money at you.  :D :D

[Norm]

Way to go Jeff!

Those are some nice logs, and some great lumber being sawn. 

[Don K]

Good job Jeff. Gets the blood stirred up doesn't it. I've got a big paying job coming up in a coupla weeks. I'm excited but it is a new customer, so I am a little nervous. Think I will saw for myself tomorrow to work out the kinks.

Don

[SwampDonkey]

Good Show!, Jeff.   

Perhaps you will be able to do a bit more of that up there.  The word will get out pretty quickly that they have a real bonafide sawyer in their midst now.
:D

That was Wednesday. Today is Sunday.  I'm still sore in all kinds of strange places. That was the most I ever ran my old mill at one time and I swear I walked 5 miles backwards.

Oh yeah!  It makes it really tough when they throw money at you.  :D :D

;D I'm wondering what's going through Jeff's head right now.

[fishpharmer]

Impressive.  Although, I am not surprised that you did a great job.

A great testimony for "experienced"  sawyers and old Wood-Mizer's ..........or is it the other way around ;)

Reminds me of the Toby Keith lyrics:

"I ain't as good as I once was
But I'm as good once as I ever was"

Jeff, I hope you know my good friend, Ibuprofen.

[bandmiller2]

Ain't it always the way end of the day everyone is dog tired but no one wants to blink and say quit.Its the crew you work with that makes the differance,good guys and good friends make a good day,something you miss when you cut alone.Frank C.

[Lud]

Way to go, Jeff.  Feels good to make a stack while putting a bit of dust in the air.

[davemartin88]

Wow, looks like a full day! I'd love to get a job with some logs that look like that- a lot of what I see is one step above firewood but it has a "sentimental" value so we cut it! Thanks for sharing all the pictures, you made a lot of lumber in one day!

[thecfarm]

A nice job was done by all. Like that old Ford tractor. Made you feel good he was checking your sawing with a tape measure the first hour and than he trusted your work. Good job. You know what you are doing. May not be a saw like what you use to run,but it's the same idea.

[OneWithWood]

back in the saddle again  8)

[Slabs]

Sounds like a fun day Boss.  Wish I could have been your offbearer.

I haven't worked a manual mill yet.

[crtreedude]

Sounds pretty cool Jeff.

We just had 5,000 BF of Spanish Cedar dropped off. Some very nice logs. We are now buying logs instead of cut wood, since we have the saws. The yield was 5,727 BF, which was a nice bonus.

We bought it for 500 colones and after dried, it sells for 1,000 colones (and then we make furniture and doors out of it, more profit). Probably costs about 100 colones per BF to cut. I figure we make about 400 colones per BF just for doing it ourselves, which ain't bad to say the least.

Oh, for those who wish to calc, 570 colones = 1 dollar.

We had to cut some of the logs in half to be able to saw them. Some beautiful logs. One of these days I want to go out and play, but I ain't holding my breathe anytime soon.  :

[bandmiller2]

Its like riding a bicycle once you learn you got it .Jeff if they dusted you off and threw you back in your old booth you'd be back up to speed in no time.frank c.

[Jeff]

I'm afraid not. Oh, I'm absolutely sure I could saw like I always did with in an hour, but I'm also absolutely sure my shoulders would fail somewhere in the first day.

[WDH]

That is some nice lumber from the old Pro.   

Nothing can wear you out like wood.  It is heavy, rough, long, and demanding.  It must be seen too and stacked right.  Wood is work, but I love it ;D.

[LeeB]

I like work too. I can watch people do it for hours.  :D

[bandmiller2]

Jeff,i didn't realize thats why you quit the big saw.All day on a bandmill can't be too good for the shoulder ether,spare sawyer parts are hard to find.Please take care Frank C.

[Jeff]

Yep, a total of 4 shoulder operations was enough. I get by now, but the repetition of commercial sawing is something that this body won't tolerate any longer.  I do miss it though. I sometimes find myself still sawing in my sleep.