Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, pretty excited about getting some of those rollers working for me, but I gotta finish the orders I've got before messing around.

Well today was wierd. Actually it was yesterday because it's after 1 am tomorrow, which is today now. Friday (which is now yesterday) I went to the mill and got a little more work done on the orders, but I had to be home by noon, shove down lunch and take the wife and her gear over to set up the bones for this big weekend outdoor show. We did all that and got home around 3:30. Then I had to repair the garage wall that the coon keeps ripping off to get in. So I screwed the lap siding back on the studs and grabbed a piece of 1x6x12' for good measure and screwed that on top. I just checked a half hour ago and can tell the coon is pithed based on all the stuff he moved as he tried ripping it out to get in. I think I have him stymied. :D ;D

 Anyway I finished that up and before I could decide the next thing to do, I got a text from one of my Crew for a music festival we've worked together for years. She said she is working as a set medic for a music video shoot and they needed background guys. They wanted men over 50 years old and it was being shot in a bar locally. @Spike60  will get a kick out of this, maybe @nybhh too, it was Snyder's Tavern. I have driven past this bar for 40 years, always wanted to stop in, but never seemed to have the time.  Levon Helm shot a video there several years ago. When you drive past it looks like it's been closed for 20 years. Anyway, that intrigued me and I half thought it might by Amy helm doing the shoot, and as I know her, I thought it might be fun. I got cleance from the boss, and followed up. Yes, they wanted me and gave me the details. SO I took a shower, put on my best double front loggers jeans and a plain brown shirt as requested and got there just before the call time.

 I've done a lot of weird stuff just to see what it was like and this was one of those. I have done it now, and probably don't need to do it again. I learned some things like when they say "5 minutes until we need the backgronders" (that what I was, a Bakckgrounder) actually means "you have 45 more minutes standing in a cold parking lot until we call you inside to stand around for another 20 minutes until we figure out where you will stand". The gig was supposed to be 6-10pm, but they didn't finish with us backgrounders until 11:30. I had lots of time to visit with my friend the set medic, and we did some catching up between her explaining who did what and who was who. 

 I had thought I would just be another 'old guy sitting at the bar', but no. They had jobs for all 7 of us and a couple of us had to do close-ups.....over and over and over. I thought the most stressful 'personal space' stress I ever suffered was when I sung some back-up on a studio recording and had to listen to my voice on the playback over and over and they did realtime mixing, filtering, and blending. Now I know having a steady-cam camera inches from your face and trying to hold the same expression you had on a half hour before is more stressful. Over and over until somebody out in the darkness finally said "cut, perfect, let's move on". There were no musicians involved. There was a professional actress made up as some kind of she-wolf person from the swamps in pursuit of something I have yet to discover. We did 4 variation shoots of the same scene which will porbably comprise 15 seconds of the entire video. I thinkk this is a 4 day shoot. They just needed us guys tonight. Tomorrow is a different location, actually closer to my house. There was probably 35 people on the crew, I could only find 3 local people. The other 'backgrounders' were all guys that actually travel around doing this stuff for side money and hoping for a big break, whatever that is. They though I was weird doing it on a fluke and concerned about getting back to the sawmill in the morning. :D I asked them "do you making a living at this stuff?" "oh no, but it's fun and extra cash". To each his own. I was there for 5 and a half hours, actual 'working time' was about 15 minutes. Strange business that. ;D

 Oh and the band (who, as I said, was not there) is the "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's' out of the nyc area. It's an Indy rock band. So I finally got to visit this bar and could not even buy a drink. I think it's more fun to run the mill. Funny thing was, that was the last thing I pictured myself doing today.

 Here's that Levon Helm video I mentioned. The farm shots were done at a farm in my town, now sold off and the Jack Gill in the video is a real life local guy who was the second largest corn producer in NYS. That stuff is all real, no actors. Jack was on the town board for years and is now gone too. 

Levon Helm "Poor Old Dirt Farmer" Official Music Video - YouTube

[Ljohnsaw]

Boy, I  sure lead a boring life! :-\

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, but I keep working on it. I'll figure something out someday.
EDIT:
 Sorry, I thought you said that I lead a boring life, which I do. I think yours is pretty exciting with that build you've got going on and all the running back and forth and dealing with the extreme weather. I guess "one man's ceiling is another man's floor". ;D

[Spike60]

Yeah, I get a kick out of it. But it better be over for Sunday football, or that crew will be what's getting kicked.

Actually have a movie story of my own from there. Stumbled on another movie shoot of some sort there once. Weekday afternoon. Stopped there after leaving my store. Just walked right in past everyone. Me and a couple other locals that were already there sat at the end of the bar by the pool table. They were filming a scene where a couple is having an argument and the chick storms out the door. Finally got a good take with the actress getting angry enough for the director, which I attribute to her getting fed up with having to do 6-7 takes. Then they started packing up and someone from the crew bought a round of drinks for us regulars. One of which thanks him and says, "ya know, it's not too late for me to be "discovered" and be a big movie star, but I'm probably too old for love scenes."

[aigheadish]

A mushroom logging legend turns music video star. Hilarious!

Excellent explanation of the process Tom, sounds more like a drag than I expected. Also the Yeah, yeah yeahs, I think, are pretty popular. You'll have to let us know when the video comes out. And tell us the first time you get recognized for that video. 

[Old Greenhorn]

You know Spike, it's funny that Synder's got listed a few years back in one of those 'top ten' lists and it has, I'm sure, been a great source of bemusement for Chet and the regulars. Go on yelp sometime and look at the comments. Everything from "What ever you do, DON'T bring up politics in this joint!" to "OH, It's a quaint and lovely place with caring and friendly local working folks" and lot in between. Hysterical reading for me anyway. I guess it (The tavern) got on some kind of listing for location scouts for movie and video shoots. I just hope Chet makes a good buck from it. 

....................
Speaking of that shoot. Doc mentioned "city guys in flannel shirts" in another thread and I didn't want to hi-jack that one, so I put this here. 
 When I arrived at the location, it was clear from all the New Jersey plates on the cars and equipment trucks that these folks weren't from around here. Yet when I walked in they were all dressed like urban outdoorsmen, or in some cases homeless folks. More than a few had artic parkas on. At the time it was about 55°. One guy was walking around asking if anybody had an "AP" on their phone to identify poison ivy. There was great entertainment in watching these folks work in what was apparently a hostile environment to them.
 The kicker for me was when the 'Wardrobe person' came to check out my appearance for suitability. Now you have to understand, that this Asian gal of about 30 something is wearing a tight leather-like top that leaves a line of her belly showing, nice stylish black leather pants, and new looking loggers boots, but with a flat heel. This is in contrast to all the afore mentioned folks in parkas and holey pants. The first time she came by she looked at me smiled and said "You look just perfect! Love that hat". This after making a couple of the others find different clothes a few times. Kind of made me feel good. Well 30 minutes later she comes by to give me a second look and stands in front of me and asks me to remove my jacket to see the 'overall look I present'. Her face goes blank an she folds her arms and looks very concerned, even confused. After a long pause she points and says "What are THOSE?" She is pointing at my black braces. I said "These are braces, but you probably call them suspenders. Is there a problem? I could take them off if you like." She appears very confused and starts to talk and says "Well, um..... I don't know.... you could.... let me....." and never finishes any of those sentences. She says nothing more, then looks at the Set Medic standing next to me with an expression that says "Have YOU ever seen such a thing?" but she says nothing, just keeps staring. Finally she moves on and points out the small bright yellow tape measure on my belt (I forgot about it) and says "can we lose that, and the phone too?" Sure I said, no problem and I put them in my jacket pocket along with my pen and cigarette pack. Then she sees my black sheathed folding knife and "that 'thing' goes too". I mumbled under my breath "I wonder what you would think if I had a sidearm on? :D" and she said "What's that?", I just said 'oh never mind.' ;D (The Set Medic got a good chuckle out of that.) She comes back to the braces and resumes 'the stare' and folded arms. I remain confused. Finally she says she needs another photo so she can show the director and see what she thinks. She is not too happy with this bump in her road. She did say she 'loved' my hat, It was just a green woodsman's crusher. Lastly she had me button up my shirt all the way to the neck, something I never do and didn't even know if the collar would fit. But it did, but I thought that was weird. She left and I was still processing the prior minutes when the Set Medic says to me "What THE HECK was THAT? Did you see the way she looked at me? What was her issue? That was Weird!" Now realize this isn't the set medic's first rodeo and it is mine. She has worked with dozens of different crews in the 5 years she has been doing this work but this is a new crew for her too. She knows what is 'normal" for these folks. I thought the whole thing peculiar and funny because I really didn't care. ;D :D
 Well, apparently the braces were 'OK' and were never mentioned again. I never saw the wardrobe gal again either. In fact it would appear that whatever I looked like made them single me out and put me by the juke box rather than with all the other guys at the bar or pool table. I think I leaned on that juke box for 2 hours. They did SEVERAL close up panning shots of my face and one other guy (over and over). I now know that 'close up' means a lens 6" from your face as you try to maintain an expression in reaction to something totally different that happened 30-60  minutes ago. I found it was not a warm fuzzy experience.
 All in all, fun to do.... once. If I ever do it again, it will be for friends or something that gives me a better reason to take the time out. I am supposed to get a hundred bucks for it but they seemed kind of lax about getting detailed info for payment, so I don't know if I will ever really see it. Anything for a laugh, right?
 Austin, recognized? Really? I seriously doubt that could or would ever happen. I have no idea when it will come out. These things sometimes get rushed for an album release and sometimes held for the same reason. I've never heard of this band, but what do I know? Yes, as I commented to the guy whose job it was to simply turn the fog machine off and on as they were shooting or waiting: "you guys are professional stand-arounder's, aren't you?" And he replied "Yup, if you aren't good at that, you don't belong in this business." I just said "Well I can say, it ain't easy."
 Back to real work, today is another day.

[doc henderson]

Your wife can start selling autographed 8x10 glossies at her craft shows.  Bill may have to get you a driver.  you can start wearing shirts that show your middle with your black suspender brace thingies as she prob. referred to them as.

oops almost forgot the smiley.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, funny Doc but not bloody likely. :D It appears Austin is right and these guys have been around a while and doing some big gigs. Not exactly my music, but it takes all kinds, right. I just went and looked at a few things on you tube. Looks like they spend a bunch of money on video's and the lead singer is apparently very fashion conscious. I can see what my braces were such a concern now. ;D
They seem to have a thing for werewolves and dirty faces. Must be their 'thing'. Whatever.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion - YouTube

[Nebraska]

Nope....I guess I will wait til you tell us the video is out before I click on another.
Not really a style of music I appreciate.

[aigheadish]

Yup! I mentioned it to the wife and her first comment was along the lines of "whoa! They're pretty big!" and she actually knows what she's talking about.

I totally think you'll get recognized and I'll laugh and laugh when you come back to report as much! Especially with your close-ups. Only 5 million views on the video you posted, Tom, no big whoops...

This is one of the best things I've ever read! City girl comes to look at legit logger and tells him how to dress more like a logger! The tape measure belt should have stayed, with a slow close-up shot from boots to hat, that belt would have sold to a bunch of hipsters, I guarantee it. You're going to start a whole new Brooklyn fashion trend Tom! I can't wait!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I have already nearly put it out of my mind and if they actually pay me, that will let me put it all the way out of my mind. These things can take 3-52 weeks to be released and sometimes they never even get released or get entirely red-done. SO I won't hold my breath. The changes that my face shows up in this is about 5% or less and who knows when it will be out, if ever.

 I might go look in a few weeks or months and see if it showed up. Something to do on a snow day. ;D

 Aighead, it is tough enough t find good quality leather logging boots anymore with the manufacturers switching over to cheaper designs to sell in the city. I will not be part of that trend. I wasn't supposed to look like a logger, nor did I, just jeans and a brown checked shirt. It's a 'whatever thing'. Maybe your wife can tell us all when the video comes out.

 I will bet you a 30 pack of Bush against whatever it is you like to drink that nobody ever tells me they recognized me in that video without a clue from me or somebody else.

[aigheadish]

Does it count if I recognize you?

I think it's all great and I'm proud of you for participating in the weird things you have. I'm not sure I'da been comfortable enough to do so.

[Old Greenhorn]

No it does not count. You have inside information therefore all your family members are exempt. ;D :D

 Yeah, well I'll do anything for a laugh...... once.

[Nebraska]

Never imagined you as a hipster.... :D :D

[Spike60]

Talked to Chet on Sunday. He said that shoot went way over the predicted time and didn't get over with until 1:00 AM in the morning. Were you there that long?

I have read most of those reviews, and get quite the kick out of them. Like all things Yelp, it mostly reflects a NYC viewpoint/judgement on what a place is or ought to be in their minds. Things like "not enough craft beers" or "no table service" aren't going to change anytime soon. There's no room for more beer variety in the cooler anyway.

It's funny to watch some of these people pull in, get out of their cars, and then peer in the window before coming in, and sometimes get back in their cars and high tail it out of there. Truth is, friendly people are friendly people regardless of where they come from, and that's how it is 99% of the time. You do occasionally see the "I'm from the city!" blowhard and we'll ask "Which city?" or "Ya mean from Kingston?".

[Old Greenhorn]

And you would be correct Nebraska. A hipster is the opposite of what I am or ever was. ;D (Think 'sarcastic old man' and you will be pretty close.)

Spike, Chet was a trooper, gosh they had him standing behind that bar in one spot for hours on end and he couldn't move because he had bank lights on the floor leaning against the back bar for effect. We were 'hired' for 6-10pm and were released at 11:30. I was tired so I took 28 home rather than 28A, easier but longer drive.

 Yeah, those reviews are funny. Where I grew up we had a lot of neighborhood bars and taverns. We called them 'Old Man Bars' and I actually preferred them over the fancy club places. 25 cent beers, 5 for a dollar. Pretty much the same folks were in there anytime you stopped in on your way home from work. I enjoyed a good conversation over loud music and I learned a lot in those places as a youngster. I learned a lot about 40's music too and came to love it. I even worked at one for a while making pizzas and such. Synder's is just like the one I liked the best from my early years called "Jack's Town Tavern" which was just a few blocks from the first apartment we lived in when we were married. I worked nights and would get off around 2:30am with barely enough time to get there. At the legal closing time, Jack would turn off the front lights and lock the door but the regulars would sit at the bar for another hour or so, with a few drinks lined up,  while Jack cleaned up. Sometimes I'd work late and they would let me in anyway. The inside of that place looked exactly like Synder's, and the outside, not so much, but nothing looks like Synder's really. ;D I heard Jack passed about 25 years ago. Jack's place was a good mix of nationalities. There was another place a mile down the road called "Teddy's" and I would stop there once in a while, but if you weren't Italian, you were never really trusted and would not fit in. I also am pretty sure there was a book making operation running there because I lot of guys would stop in, get a short beer at the bar, and leave a wad of cash with a little slip of paper, then leave. ;D But I was 18, what did I know.

-------------------------------
 Well it is truly a drizzly, snotty, not-so-nice, day today. I think I will be out in the shop and maybe take a run down to T&T with some saws. Kind of glad I did that small fire in the shop stove last evening, the temp is 57 out there and should be easy to kick it up a tad and dry out the air. But first I think I'll cook me up some eggs.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well as expected, it stayed real drizzly all day and we got some real rain in the late afternoon, and evening. I started another smudge fire in the shop and it took a couple of hours to get it up to 60° with a small fire but it was dry and comfy all day in there. 65° out there as I write this. I worked on the drum sander getting it apart. This is a somewhat unique rebuild in my experience because I haven't broken anything or had to cut anything off yet. 8) Even though everything is rusty, it still comes apart, some nuts and screws even come out with fingers after breaking loose. This will probably go easier than I thought and Bill stopped by when I was halfway through the day and started suggesting I didn't need to replace the main board drive belt, it might be saved ($$) but I will wait and see. Changing that belt again later means taking the whole machine apart again. I want this to be 'one and done' with a nice machine as the final result. I notice a lot of the current twin drum machines use an abrasive belt for the board drive and they are a lot cheaper than a custom rubber belt. I will look into both and decide. So far I know to motors run smooth and all the bronze and  roller bearings run nice and free. I have a lot of surface rust to polish off, but frankly I am shocked to see that all the parts I assumed I would replace or make new are in perfect shape, they just need cleaning up. At this point:



 

I have the sanding rollers off and the main belt rollers removed and the platen is ready to lift off. This is one of the big questions: do I need to make a new platen (pretty certain I do), and if so, what do I make it from? The original is a high density flake board, sorta like MDF, but it had gotten wet at some point. To replace it I will need to find some 1" MDF that is about 36x36 or so. That might not be easy. But ideally, that is what I think I want to do. Could be 1" marine ply also, but that's gonna be hard to find also. But that's down the line a bit. Before I go further I have to test the motors again and see if I am still popping the breaker in my panel. It popped every time I tested it, but those drive belts are so dried and stiff and they were banjo string tight, that I believe they were overloading it. I want to see if my breaker handles the two motors with no load. Once i do that I can unwire the motors and finish the teardown. Looks like more rain for tomorrow so I guess I will carry on with it. I want to get it to the point that I can at least do a quick and dirty paint job on it with some quick sanding. Clean paint will make the sawdust cleanup easier. I can see this machine will work well and is in great shape despite it's appearance. I started rebuilding machines like this since I was about 12 after watching my Pop bring home rusty rotting machines with a broad smile. 6-12 months later he had a museum quality machine humming in his shop. It's how he got ALL his machines. I will never be as good as him, and the time you put into this stuff is something you can't think about, but making something work again and be productive is a feeling that's hard to describe until you've enjoyed it. I know a lot of guys here understand what that means.

---------------------------------------
Mid-afternoon I changed direction and headed out the my Husky dealer. I didn't want to mess up his day my my PITA visit, but time is growing short and it was a snotty day, so I thought it might be slow in the afternoon. 1st saw I brought in was my 450. He did tell me to bring it back for a checkup after I ran 4 or 5 tanks through it, somehow my brain transposed that to 40 or 50 tanks so after I hit the mark (some time back), I figured I would get him to just give it a check and make sure any adjustments I made over time didn't screw it up too much. It didn't, but he gave it just a little tweak to get the WOT RPM's where they should be. Sounded good. Then we looked at a dead 350 I am trying to get life into and he gave me a few suggestions where to go next. Lastly I brought the new 562 in to get my last chance to see what the computer said abut how it was doing. Surprisingly I had about 7 hours run time on it and everything looked normal. I really thought I had less actual run time on it because I don't have a habit of setting a saw down to let it idle while I do 'stuff'. After that we just hung out and chatted for a while and helped out one fella who came in with a minor user induced issue on an older saw, I think it was a 55, but Bob can set me straight. It was a nice conversation as the rain came down and I enjoyed that a lot. Part of the pleasures of retirement is being able to spend time just enjoying other folks in the middle of the afternoon. Bob will figure that out by about this time next year. :D ;D
-------------------------------------
 After I left there I headed to town for a beer run but mostly because I broke the 25' tape I use at the sawmill and my 16' tape is driving me nuts. Could not get the one I wanted, they have moved on to other styles now, but I got one that will work. Of course it was more than I wanted to spend on a tape I know will last maybe 4 months. They all break, get mislaid, run over, lost, left behind, buried under a dark truck seat never to be found again until you sell the truck, or wind up in somebody else's tool bag. ;D It's the same with socks in the dryer. Since it was still raining I wandered a bit to see if I could find any of those 'high quality, make a statement' slabs but my store has none. What I did find was some shiplap that looked like this:



 

That is an "all the way through" crack. How this got past all the hands that board has been through is beyond me. If you like cracks and character like that, there were plenty to be found. They are plenty proud of them.



 

 Anyway, a knock around day. A little of this and a little of that. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

[aigheadish]

I wish I had the patience/knowledge to work on old tools. I have a bunch of old rusty hand tools, which I've never used or needed really, that have been passed down to me over the course of time. Some stuff is likely wall art at this point but some could probably be handy. I can't talk myself into sitting down with stuff like that and messing with it. Maybe when I'm really done with the barn I can build a bench out there that I can dedicate to tearing some stuff down on, so I don't make a wreck of the shop.

I'm envious of your abilities there Tom. Can't wait to see it cleaned up.

[Spike60]

Was glad you stopped by and had time to hang. Plus that late in the afternoon I was out of gas as far as banging out any more shop work. The guy with the 55 just had a couple of simple issues to solve while we were there BS'ing. And it's easy to stick that mount in a 55, not to forget that we don't want to miss an opportunity to run down the parts inventory.  

That cracked board might be there a long time. Had a similar experience at that very same store several years ago. Picking up some plywood and the top sheet was just junk. And you could tell it had been there a while as the color was changing and it was different from the rest of the stack. Set it aside, and while I was getting some nice sheets, two HD employees walked by and the one said, (partly for my ears), "I guess we'll have to pick up that sheet again." Couldn't resist that one and replied, "Hey guys, NOBODY is going to buy that sheet. Look at it; would you buy it? If you don't want to keep picking it up, then get rid of it."

Was still there a week later.

[doc henderson]

the decision to remove that sheet is prob. made at the cooperate level out of state.  
Tom, that looks just like my Grizzly.  I replaced the drive belt with a nice rubber one, no looking back.  It was better than the origional.  I have seen smaller versions like the 10/20 type open side with a sanding belt to drive.  the old one was hard and had the shape worn into it.  they stretch over time and more on the edges so tracking is hard to adjust.  get the manual from grizzly and it spells all that out.  my MDF was split on the edges but flat.  a little glue and clamping and it holds the brackets for the drive roller fine.  

[doc henderson]

you could sandwich two sheets of 1/2 inch, even put a sheet of steel in the middle.  

[beenthere]

the decision to remove that sheet is prob. made at the cooperate level out of state. 

Maybe two reasons to leave that ugly sheet on top..  or three. 

1. Might be perfect for a customer who doesn't need better quality.. (could then offer less money to buy it).
2. Leaving it there protects the sheets below it. 
3. Leaving it there to be moved aside, makes the sheets below look so much better. 


I once went to the lumber yard and needed less than a full 4x8 sheet of drywall. While at the stack, there was one piece that had two corners broken off. I started to pick it off and an "employee" came by and offered to help, but apologized for the broken corners. I said that it would work for me, as I just needed a 3' x 7' size and would trim off the broken corners. This guy offered to cut it to size for me and he did. As I was walking away with the trimmed piece, he said "no charge". I thought "no charge" for the trimming he did, but he sent me home at no charge at all. Turned out he was the owner of the lumber yard and was glad to help, and glad to get rid of a sheet of drywall that had broken corners. 

[doc henderson]

well you clearly still have a warm fuzzy glow in your heart for the yard and owner, and what else was he going to do.  if he delivers it to a big construction site maybe ok, but may pith off that customer.  I called for special O rings at my hydraulic place.  three were to be laid out on the counter so my wife could pick them.  guy at the counter said not here, so my wife called me at work, got the guy on the phone, and I told him, "josh was to lay 3 of the proper O rings on the counter labeled Henderson".  the guy fumbled a bit and said well there is a pack here that says Henderson with 3 O rings in it.  ...   so my wife said he did not charge her either.

[beenthere]

Doc, had to laugh at that. Reminds me of Woody on Cheers (watched a re-run of Cheers last night), and that counter response is just what Woody would say.  :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Doc, where did you get your belt? The platten on this one is 36.5 wide and 30.35 long and 1-1/4 think. So the distance between roller must be about 37" overall or 35" O/C. Is yours a double drum? I forget.