First weekend as head sawyer

[RacinRex]

Yeah I admit that it was just my little bandmill but it was still cool. My Wife and I along with my Dad sawed up about 600 bd/ft of various stuff we pulled from some tops that the comercial loggers left in our woods last year after the cleared for the house. Seems they leave about 8 or 10 feet on every top that nets 8-10 boards and makes a great practice stick. out of the 100 boards or so that I sawed I got 3 with a whole lot of wave and it took me a bit to figure out the rule on the mill but it everything yesterday came out great.

It was kind of cool to get into the firewood piles and yank out some logs that would otherwise have been burned in a fire. Made some nice red oak boards that I can't wait to make end tables out of. My father and I compared it to plowing a field when we were still farming. I sit behind a desk all week now and it was sweet to look at that pile of boards, and sawdust, and slabwood and know that I had done something that could truly help the survival of me and my family. My computer job doesn't stir those primative feelings of usefulness in me. My wife even really enjoyed the experience and made a great "tail-saywer". I spent many a day tail-saywing for my old boss and sweeping sawdust and hauling slab.

Most of you guys probably won't even know this name because I am very new but I've been lurking for a bit. I hope to post some pics some evening this week of what we did and what we have in front of us. One of my good friend's is a logger and had a ton of "scrap logs" coming back from jobs. Many are good enough to run across my bandmill and make lumber for my house and his new shop.... :-)

BEEN BITTEN

[Kirk_Allen]

Welcome aboard Rex!  Congrats on your first day of a bright future 8)

So have you figured out how to "really" tell people how it feels?

I have tried to explain it to others and they just dont get it, until they get a mill ;D

Got any pics of your first day sawing?

We love pics!

Kirk

[dewwood]

Welcome to The Forum!

I know what you mean about the feeling of satisfaction when turning some logs into usable lumber, it is what makes this so much more than just a job or hobby.

[Brian_Bailey]

Hey another New Yorker  8).

Since ya been lurking there's no cents in telling ya what a great forum this is.

When I was custom sawing, I sawed quite a few logs that the loggers had left in the woods for some reason or another. Got some mighty fine lumber out most of them.

One nice aspect about this sawmilling thingy is it tends to bring families together  8).

Judging from your handle and location, I assume your near the Glen  :D.  My wife has tons of relatives between there and Elmira.

Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

[RacinRex]

Brian,
You got it... We are actually out in Odessa if you have any idea where that is at.

As far as pics go well I've been trying my hand at setting up my own webserver. Just got it up and running the other day and threw some pics on to test it.

go to http://www.redline-computer.com

The pics on there currently are from the house we are building and I should be developing an actual page to put on that domain and make a respectible site out of it... in between building a house and sawing lumber and working a fulltime job... it all keeps me out of trouble... for the time being.

And to address the issue of great forums. This is one for sure. It reminds me much of the first forum I ever joined on the internet. It was for these little cars called CRX from honda, What a community it was!!!! and this one is much like that in that respect. I still keep in touch with the friends I made over there. Age group may be a little more diverse over here though :-D

[jdunmyer]

RacinRex,
 You're right about the fun of turning an ugly ol' log into nice smooth, uniform lumber. I think a lot of it is the "change of state" that's involved. Someone else mentioned plowing a field; making hay is a similar experience.

Welcome to The Club!!

                           <<Jim>>

[RacinRex]

Here is a pic of the mill and the outside of the house. I'll get more detailed pics and some of it in action this weekend. Please bear with me.

Sawmill.

[RacinRex]