Staying Busy and out of trouble, 2020-21?.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

  That cart looks like mine only yours looks like it has Pneumatic tires and would would work better on dirt or such than mine. The tires on mine are solid and work fine on our concrete/tile floor inside but probably not on dirt. It is a very simple but very practical design.

  Instead of a slot with removable boards like cfarm describes I put about a 6' long 2X4 on the front to raise the height. I just drove a nail or put a long screw through the upright one one end and made a cradle on the upright on the other end out of a couple of short pieces of 2x4 for the floating end to rest in. Now I can just rotate/pivot the front 2x4/bar up and rest it on the other upright while I unload wood. This gives me and extra foot of storage height. I just have to be careful not to bump the floating end of the bar when I prop it on the upright or it will rotate down and fall down on my noggin.

  Before I built the box it was a 3 person job to bring wood in. I'd be outside passing wood through the opening, my daughter would be standing on a wobbly chair taking the wood and handing it to her brother who would carry an armload at a time to the next room and stack it while both bickered about the bark or dirt or such falling off on them. The raised box is much faster and simpler and a one man affair. The raised box means I don't even bend over to pick up the wood.

[Old Greenhorn]

I am a little confused by your description. A photo would help a lot. Maybe I should just re-read it slower ;D
 As I said, I don't really want to store more than a says wood in the shop and the pile is so close. That hand truck with the pneumatic tires is the best ticket I think I could have. Bit cash is very right right now, so I will hold off for a bit.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 Closed position. See coal chute above where wood is tossed in from outside. The top 2X4/bar rotates. Lower bar is just for extra height in the box.


 Open position with the top bar resting on the upright for access to the wood box.


 Pivot arrangement. Just a horizontal 2X4 wedged between 2 vertical 2X4s and a carriage bolt holding them together allowing the horizontal piece to rotate up and down.

   This whole box arrangement was made from leftover scrap with no money expended except maybe 50-60 cents for a bolt, nut and a couple of washers.

[Old Greenhorn]

I get it now, perfect setup. Cheap and simple and efficient!

[doc henderson]

need someone's old treadmill setting outside so you can drop it on the conveyor belt and it will zip inside.  a little less effort and  a lot more fun.  might even save your back.
wv I was imagining you box out side.  that makes sense the way you are doing it..

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yeah, i can't believe we struggled to get firewood in for all those years till finally a 16 y/o boy casually suggested the solution like it was so obvious which it was when he said it. The uprights are just 8' untreated pine 2X4s that were laying around. The bottom was a scrap of leftover heavy barn siding. The box is the size it is because that was the size of the scrap barn siding. The uprights are nailed to the floor joists above for stability. Absolutely no extra cost and probably took less than 30 minutes to slap together but we have used it for over 20 years. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Its funny how those simple things can provide such a huge solution. I have a few things around there that I suffered through for years until I finally made myself re-think it through and realize I could have made it better years ago, if I had just thought it through.

Well, today I was distracted by the stove, I am just so tickled to have it done. Even though it was not cold out today, cool, not cold, but I did want to start testing the waters to see how this would effect the building heat in general. So, I stoked it just a little this morning with junk pieces.
 The stove is kind of close to stuff and I wanted to get that cleaned up, so I swung the parts cabinet around. There is a white board, 4x5' I got from a company throwing it out over 15 years ago that I had behind that cabinet. It is too big for me to find any place to hang it, but I like white boards for working out ideas. It is of no use getting shuffled around, so I decided to take it apart and cut it down to a size I could hang and use. I am tired of moving it. While I was working I stuck a somewhat stale buttered roll in that little oven to try it out and it toasted up really nice. Dad would have gotten a kick out of that. The white board. took way too long and killed half the day but I got it hung and then hung the scrap piece up high where I have no idea what good it will do, but it is out of the way. Then I swept and vacuumed up the dust and junk that just seems to appear all the time and wound up with this.


 

While I was working and watching the stove I happened to notice that the catalytic combustor finally kicked in and cleared the little window so I could see that lovely glow. It's been a long time.


 

The photo doesn't show it well, but it was beautiful. I checked the chimney output and you could not even tell the stove was working, nothing visible coming out.
 I guess I got in the cleaning up and organizing mood a little bit because working and sitting near the stove was kind of nice. I went through a bunch of stuff and papers in the stuff I brought home from work when I left. Most of it was junk and past priorities that mean nothing now. Fire starters now. ;D I did a little cleaning upstairs but didn't make a dent. I sat and looked at that firdge my son brought over last week that is sitting on the bench and took a fair amount of time trying to find a less intrusive home for it, but could not come up with a good idea. I will think on it some more. I don't really like having it on the bench.


 
 I really have to get that bench cleaned up in general, it's a mess, can't stand it. I think though that tomorrow I need to get outside and get back to work. More firewood yet, and I need to get going on the 'water tower'. I feel like I am running out of steam a little.
 Been watching the attic temps and today, even though the outside temp never hit 70, the attic hit 90. Of course the shop was at around 75  ;D. I have high hopes this will be a better winter int eh shop than past years.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[21incher]

Looks nice but I  wanted  to share a issue that I  had with installing a woodstove  in the shop at my last house (Dutchess county) . To get a certificate  of compliance so my insurance  company  wouldn't drop me the stove needed to be 18 inches off the floor.  Apparently shop fumes stay low and the 18 inches was in the code to avoid  problems.  Not sure what code you're location  goes by but most insurance  companies  require a COC if you install a solid  fuel appliance and the inspection  doesn't  cost much to avoid future problems. They just need the UL listing tag and model number / serial number of the stove for the paperwork that the town files after they look at the installation then they provide copy for your insurance company.  From the picture  it looks  like yours is just  sitting on the floor but I can't tell for sure and am not sure if you did this already and your code is different.

[Old Greenhorn]

My stove sits about 12" off the floor. I have no fumes in my shop beyond common gastric issues. ;D Dutchess county is filled with panty waist bureaucrats looking for money any place they can squeeze it. They are over taxed and over regulated (and overrun with city folk).
 But your advice is sound and I will look into it. Since they have come out with the EPA stoves I don't know if they are permitting new installations to use the older stoves, regardless of efficiency.
Thanks.

[21incher]

My stove sits about 12" off the floor. I have no fumes in my shop beyond common gastric issues. ;D Dutchess county is filled with panty waist bureaucrats looking for money any place they can squeeze it. They are over taxed and over regulated (and overrun with city folk).
But your advice is sound and I will look into it. Since they have come out with the EPA stoves I don't know if they are permitting new installations to use the older stoves, regardless of efficiency.
Thanks.

That's why I  left there. After 911 the whole area changed.  It wasn't  the town that was the issue though.  It was my insurance company being  able to deny claims  because of changes to the underwritten insurance policy without proper paperwork. I had the same issue up here in Wayne county when I  installed  a woodstove.  Insurance required a certificate of compliance to keep my policy in effect. Insurance  companies are always  looking for a out.  Taxes up here in Wayne  county are even worse.  It's a good idea to run something  like a woodstove install through your insurance agent to be safe. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well this wasn't such a great day. Normal start, I got out in the shop and started a small fire in the stove just to see what the shop response time would be and to keep my coffee cup warm. I didn't fees it and let it go out by around noon. I did a little more cleaning up and putting away, then around 9 I opened the door and took the mule out to load up with some wood. Came back to close the door and it was stuck, so began 3 hours of misery. The cable came off the spool on one side. It should be well known that I hate garage doors. I messed with this, tore my hands up, skinned knuckles, took stuff apart and put it back together, finally got the door to close, and open again, and close. 3 wasted hours and it is still not really right. I know I am gonna have more trouble with it. Disgusted. I had lunch.
 After lunch I bucked up a few logs, split and over filled the mule and brought that over to the house pile. It was enough, I am calling it done, at just about 5 cord.


 

I had one log left, so I bucked and split that and put it on the shop pile not there yet, but close enough. I am about a half cord (or less) short of the 5 cord goal for the shop but Brandon and I have a few cutting sessions scheduled in a few weeks and he needs my splitter. I also have slabs to cut and split and more coming when I get back to milling, so that half cord will happen without really trying. Calling it good for now.


 

One thing I realized, you know how the mind drifts off when you are splitting?  Well more than once I found myself boxing the pith on a few pieces for no apparent reason at all.



 

 So not a great day, hopefully tomorrow is a better one.

[Walnut Beast]

Looks like you did fine. Some days are going to be better than others 👍

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today was better. I had it sort of in mind to do some cleaning up of dead falls out back, but during quiet hours I stoked a small fire int he shop stove and then it occurred to me I had that coffee pot, coffee, and bottled water in the shop and always wondered if that stove top would get hot enough to perk a pot, so I set it up, knowing it was just a small kindling fire in there and not likely to work, then I did a little more cleaning and putting away and finally decided I had enough of not having labels on the drawer set by the bench, so I figured I would take the time and finally do that. After a while I checked the pot, turned out there was not quite enough heat to do a full perk, but the water was coming up the stem and spilling over the coffee, good enough for me, it just took a bit longer. First pot in the shop. Kind of nice. Good coffee too!


 

SO I labeled some more, then had some coffee. Then I set to making a home for the roll around cart, I love the thing as a portable job bench, but when not in use, it is in the way. So I removed some shelves under the bench and made a home for it, plus the lift. More floor space now.


 

Then I finished labeling all the drawers and cleaned out 2 milk cartons worth of 'stuff' that have been sitting on the floor since January and put it all away. Had lunch around 2 and the boys were coming over for a few hours at 3. The wife is feeling poorly (just a cold, but she's plenty tired) and I didn't want the boys in the house and risk them getting sick, so I wanted to keep them in the shop and busy. I went back out and made a couple of bird house kits and was finishing the table saw work just as they showed up. No real time to plan or prep, so I used the 4/4 drops I had from a job. It was pine, but kind of thick for bird houses. SO they came in and we got started. I know these guys get real frustrated trying to drive nails, so I started all the nails for them and provided some lighter cabinet makers hammers for them. Lots of 'ting-ting-ting' going on for quite a while, but not one single bent over nail! They saw how I fixed the ones that went a little sideways and started fixing their own! I found that pretty neat.


 

It took them a while to get good at it, but they stuck with it and eventually they were driving nails as fast as I could start them. Then they told me where to put the access hole and where the peg hole went, helped me glue it and drive it in.
 They were quick to remind me that 'when you are done with work, it's time to clean up, can we run the vacuum?' Yeah, sure. ;D SO they missed a lot, but they got a lot too, and I am behind in my cleaning up anyway.


 
 They alternated turns with a dust broom and vacuum and it looked better than when they arrived, so I call that a win.
 We needed 'something different to do' I was informed and one of them found a plastic bag and thought it would be fun to make a parachute to throw off from the loft and let it drift down. But they quickly realized the bag kept turning the wrong way. So it was fun for me to help guide them through the 'design process' of problem solving. "well it needs a weight to hold the open end down". OK, lets tie a 1/2" nut on it. "No that's too much weight and it pulls to one side". OK, lets try a 5/8" washer and tie it to both handles on the bag. And on it went until they worked pretty good. They came up with the ideas, I just facilitated. once they dropped OK from the loft, they wanted to go outside and try dropping them from the deck, that degenerated into running around the yard, and then around the house with the bag trailing behind whilst I just sat in the yard supervising, because that is an important job too. ;D


 

So once again, I didn't do the first thing I was gonna do today, but it was much better than yesterday. I feel like I got a little done even if I have little to show for it.
Tomorrow I head to my daughters place to help with their firewood for a day or two. I am in pretty good practice these days and they are behind so we should have a day of it and see what we can do.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[Ljohnsaw]

How about making hot air balloons next time.  Get some big bags (dry cleaner or those giant thin/crinkly garbage bags?) and experiment with a candle.  Maybe not outside if there is a fire risk.  You can just hold a bag over a fire (Sterno can) and let the bag go when it pulls.  Won't go high and they should be able to launch it a bunch of time.

Speaking of fire risk, last year during what would be considered a light fire risk time, a church thought it would be a good idea to launch some floating candle boats on the lake in the evening.  Previous years they launched paper hot air balloons that landed in peoples yards.  Fortunately, the wind was blowing toward shore so the risk was minimized.  Kinda wonder what some people are thinking.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I might try that one in the shop. We were just getting into flow dynamics theory with the vacuum output hose (balancing a ball) when they got hooked on the bag thing so we went with that. You can only keep a science lesson going so long with 5 year olds before it jumps off the rails. Small steps a little at a time.
 Don't get me going on those paper candle lanterns, they look neat, when used right, with NO breeze, at night, and just a thermal lift. BUT most folks just can't wait for the right conditions. One of the music festivals I work at they are a real safety issue, folks setting them off and they come down on a tent 100' away (because: WIND). Not good at all. 6,000 folks camped in close quarters and the last thing we need is fire in a tent with sleeping people inside. So we banned them and politely asked local stores to stop selling them during the festival week. There is also the issue of the remnants winding up in someones yard. It is litter after all. Living in fully wooded country, I am surprised we don't get more fires from them.
 What I should have done with the boys is try out the vacuum output under their bags. Never tried that I might play by myself in the shop one afternoon. ;D (OH wait, I do that every day, never mind.)

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   We had a power outage a few years back and I had Becky cook up a pot of beans or stew or such on our big wood heater downstairs. She seemed surprised you could cook on it. I was surprised she was surprised.

   I spent the day helping my son. He had bought an 8X10 shed from someone and wanted to jack it up and load it on his 14' dual axle trailer. He needed a bunch of cribbing and some long planks. Guess who has a sawmill and sells crib blocks and assorted sizes of lumber, including some 15' long ash 2X12's? Yep - call good old Dad! I loaded up last night which including having to restack the top 1/4 of a big stack of my ash lumber. I drove up and unloaded because my wife needed my truck today for a Dr appointment while her truck is in in the shop. We spent most of the day jacking up the building a few inches at a time, lowering on to the trailer, strapping it down, transporting then reversing the process. When finished we had the shed in place and sitting on 4 cinderblooks. He will use it to store his wood pellets for his pellet stove which is his primary heat source. The timing was right so I called a customer coming to pick up his 1865 bf lumber order and driving right passed my son's house so I rode home with him, we loaded and saved some time and mileage and everybody left happy. I love it when a plan comes together. We were nearly finished before my world famous guard guard dog Sampson woke up from his nap inside the house, heard us and woke up my wife to see what was going on. :D

   My son moved an old BBQ grill to place the shed and I still don't know how he did not get stung because there was a very active yellowjacket nest in a hole in the ground under it. They were everywhere when I spotted them but we lucked out and killed them without getting hurt.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, wood stoves are great for warming stews and things like that, but boiling water I don't believe I have ever tried. Our insert stove in the house barely has enough exposed top to put an old camp coffee pot of for water to evaporate. It is not a normal stove and has too many baffles and cover to be much good for cooking.  This one worked well well a small fire. Temp control is always a little tricky. Now I need another pot with just hot water to wash the pot, maybe a steel jug just to keep water hot, then I can wash my hands too! ;D

 Sounds like you had a tightly planned and scheduled day that worked out just perfect. The yellow jackets can be annoying but they never really bothered me like hornets do. I have walked through more than a few ground nests without incident. Glad everything went smoothly for you, that has to feel good. 
 Hopefully today we can get a boatload of wood done. My daughter tells me they have most of it bucked up so that would mean we can go like mad getting it split and stacked. Just in case I will throw some saws and stuff in the truck. My duaghter is just 2 miles through the woods from NYBHH, so I may swing by to see how his shu sugi ban siding is coming out. I saw photos, it looks super!
 Time to get this day started......after another cup of coffee.

[Old Greenhorn]

Long day. No photos, no time. Got to my daughter's at 9:30 and got right to work with the SIL while my daughter was at work. They had a couple of very large trees down, all maple and very stringy, we had to fight every blessed piece apart it seemed, some up to 28" diameter. They had rented a splitter for the weekend because they didn't want to 'bother me'. >:( the rental was not quite up to my standards and I had to do a lot more reaching and bending, plus it was underpowered, but did split everything we put on it. Seemed to me the engine never really ran at full speed. Anyway, we worked straight through until 4:30 when we ran out of wood. ;D then we rested a bit and I "may" have fallen asleep in the chair on their deck in the sun for 30 minutes or so. I was really pooped out. Then they may some REALLY good rib eye steaks, so I had to stay and have some, it would be rude to do otherwise. ;D As we did a final walk around before I left we found a 30" diameter ash chunk from last year that they had left because it was too long. My SIL's Stihl is too small to get through that so I fired up my 372 and had at it, but when I was nearly through we got a spark show. I managed to part it in half, but I think I have a lot of filing ahead of me. The one drawback of a 28" bar is the number of teeth. I will also admit that when I grabbed the saw to cut that last chunk it seemed awfully heavy which has never happened before. 
 I got home at a little after 5 and layed on the couch for just a little bit resting my eyes. I think I will be in bed on time tonight. I am tired, but I think we split them up over 2 cord.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[Old Greenhorn]

Strange day. Slept past 7 after staying up past 11 last night when I got sucked into the new star wars movie I had not seen. Given yesterday's hard labor I was kind of slow getting going today, but I got out to the shop and it was cool. No heat yesterday while I was away and cool over night. Figured I would start a fire and see how long it took to get the shop up to temp. SO I got that going, made up the coffee pot and stuck that on. I had planned on sharpening the chain up of the big saw, but I had to unload the truck first. When I opened the garage door to unload the truck parked out side the dang garage door went nuts again. Stuck at 3/4 mast. After I emptied the truck I resolved to fix this once and for all. I am tired of messing with it.
So went the next 3 hours as I tweaked, adjusted, observed, thought, cussed and stepped up and down off the worked step a thousand times. This time though I looked at each and every binding point and figured out why. I eliminated several, only to find more or new issues I created. I FINALLY figured out it came down to two things. 1) the torsion spring did not have enough lateral running room to change length as it went from de-tensioned to tensioned, it was 'solid heighting out'. and B) The sliding bearings on the spring shaft needed oil. Once I figure that out and aligned, tensioned, oiled, and set everything it worked like a dream. The door goes up and down as if it weighed 5 pounds. I don't even need the 'hold nail' I have been using for 2 years to keep it at full height (the Mule will catch it if it is even a 1/2" low from the door frame. Life is good now. It was 2pm by the time I got it done.
Enjoyed my second pot of coffee all throughout this humiliating experience. Every time I got really frustrated I had another cup and thought about my dilemma. Because I had started the stove and was trying to get the temp up in the shop, this time the stove top got hot enough to do a proper perk and I happened by just as it was starting so I could time it out and make a very tasty pot. Nothing better than a good pot of coffee while you are trying to solve a problem.
Hard to believe this thing (the door) had me nearly whipped.


 
By the time I got that done and as late as it was I decided to piddle in the shop. I cleaned up some more tools that had been collecting on a lathe bed for 20 years and am really starting to enjoy having that one drawer set labeled. (Man I have a LOT of allen keys!) Easy to find stuff now and put stuff with other stuff just like it.


 

I used the white board I sized and hug the other day to work out what I will use and how I will make that little water tower. Easier than a sketch on paper I will likely lose. A good way to think it through and make changes as they occur to me.


 

I grabbed an old camp pot and a wash basin to throw on the stove to warm some water and see how that worked. It would be nice to have some warm water to wash my hands off without going in the house. Worked pretty good, in fact, I set them up on some spacers to keep them from getting too hot. It's part of a habit I got from being a young Scout "never start a fire without a purpose and always stick a pot over it, even if it is just hot water which has very many uses."


 

I think I am going to try to bank a fire tonight and keep the shop temp up overnight. We have a frost warning tonight and I figure it is a beginning test to get used to the stove adjustments again. Stoves are like 'partners', it takes a while to figure them out and what makes them happy. I sure don't get tired of seeing that combustor glow, it means it's happy and the flue is clean.


 

I never did get to sharpen that saw today. :D I did make some observations about the shop and attic temps. By 11am, the attic was up just over 80 even though it was about 62 outside. The shop floor was 65 and the loft area was 68. I'll just keep watching this until I decide how I can best use that attic heat. It was partly cloudy today.
Tomorrow is another day, let's see where that goes.

[Nebraska]

Oh now don't be saying that frost word,  I am in no way ready for that stuff.

[Old Greenhorn]

Oh now don't be saying that frost word,  I am in no way ready for that stuff.

Well the boys up north got it in the last 2 nights, now might be our turn. I was jawing with a gal who has a farm stand and garden operation this evening and she told me they had a hard freeze last night just 30 miles to our northwest last night, everything was white, probably right in Bargemonkey's front yard. ;D So we are due. Hope the tomatoes make it through the night for picking tomorrow. The wife wants to hold off until the grandson's are here to help her tomorrow, not that she needs it, but they enjoy the picking part so much.

[Old Greenhorn]

Been an off week for me. I am distracted (more at the bottom). Monday we had the boys all day, so I set up for them to paint their birdhouses in the shop. It was like turning monkeys loose in a paint store. But we got through it. ;D
 I managed to do some stuff in the shop while they were 'at school' (online) in the morning, mostly routine chores that I have already forgotten. Then we hooked up with their Dad and took them all out for his birthday. Yesterday we got and early morning call that he was sick, from what we can figure, it is vertigo, his first bout. We took the boys here for the day so he could sleep a bit and work it out. There was an internet outage that covered our entire area for most of the day, so there was no 'school' either. That pretty much killed my day, but I did manage to get some stuff done. I got out in the shop early and threw the big saw up on the bench to repair the chain damage from Saturday. Turned out there was very little, so I got that sharpened and as long as I had the stuff out, I did the small saw too, and the Ryobi battery saw the neighbor had gifted to me (man that chain was a mess with huge flank and top plate wear). Then I took the 18" bar off the 450 and put the 20" back on that had an issue a few weeks ago. I had fixed that last week so put it back on and sharpened that chain too.
 

 

 I have a mess of odd chains that have been hanging on the wall for decades. I have no idea where they came from. I sorted through them and found 2 that would fit the 20" bar. I started to sharpen them, but then realized they are so far gone it wasn't really worth it. By the time I filed out the damage, there would be almost no teeth left. SO I hung them back up, in case of emergency, I could salvage something out of them. In the process of looking this stuff over I found this bar and chain. It appears to be old Oregon stock in very good shape, but the chain is very weird:


 
It has a nice roller nose and is only about a 12" bar. None of the common markings used today (gage, pitch, etc). Looks like 3/8, .058 gage. Look at these teeth:


 
Now I can see it has been somewhat butchered in the resharp process, but still the way these teeth are made seems quick strange to me. Anybody know what this is?


 
I also repaired the bench vise my son removed from my work bench 20 years ago. Somehow he had lost the locking bolt and t-nut for the swivel base so I had to make up a new one. Then I painted and mounted it and cleaned up the jaw faces. It's good to have a proper vise back on the bench. The second half of the day yesterday I tried to get the boys interested in building something and pulled some lumber off the pile to make that water tank stand, or at least get it started. By the time their Mom came to pick them up at 6, I had this done.


 

Now I just need to figure out where to put the pump shelf, paint it, set some blocks for the base (I need blocks, I am out), and set it up. Just in time to winterize it. ;D I may mess around with this some more today.

I mentioned I am distracted. Some may recall a few years ago I was teaching some technical classes at night. For whatever their reasons, the college decided they could do better without me and have one of their own instructors teach the class. I believe it was because they wanted me to tech the class in their classrooms with no tools or equipment and no hands on portion of the class. I explained this was useless. If the students did not actually apply the simple fundamental concepts I was teaching they had little chance of grasping the most important parts. The shops that were supporting the class agreed, as did the students. The college had bigger ideas. So for a year and a half I heard nothing from them and assumed we were done. They did contact me about doing a class, but then I saw it in their catalog and they had somebody else teach it. Yup, we're done, I figured. It's just as well, glad to leave that all behind me.
A month ago I get a letter from the young fella that taught the introductory blueprint reading and shop math class (the pre-requisite for my classes). He had completely forgotten that I had audited his full class and we discussed content and teaching approaches at length, about 2 years ago. In his note, he asked if I could help him 'set up a class and perhaps be his assistant instructor' for the spring. I sent him back a note and reminded him that the material is complex and requires hands on work. I pointed out a few other things too just to give him an idea of how hard this would be for him to teach it when he had no hands on field experience himself. I did not say that directly. I left the door open for further discussion and invited him to call me to talk. I never got a reply......until Friday (a full month later).
Now he wants to know if I would teach a class with him as my assistant and possibly become and adjunct instructor with the college. Sounds good right? Well I consulted with my guru who got me into all this in the first place. He owns the company where I was holding the classes and is very involved in creating learning and apprenticeship programs to support both his own company and the other local manufacturing shops. He sees in this email what I see. They want me to teach the class so that this other instructor can take notes, record it, then just do it himself. I believe what happened was that after my last email he went and read the text book and looked at all the teaching materials to try and figure out how to do this class. He is a smart guy, but trying to learn from a book what took me 30 years to understand and apply is no small task. I think he may realize that now. So I am trying to decide what I want to do.
I shared this email with my guru and asked what he thought. He agrees they are just going to use me until they don't need me. He also knows they really can't teach the material like I do and that they will not be able to field questions from folks who take the class and are actually working in the field with it. Knowing all that he asked if I would still consider teaching the class. He will be sending students to it and needs them to understand these concepts well. He wants me to stay involved in sharing my knowledge, even without the college, possibly working as a coach with his apprentices or in some other form.
The thing is, I already made my peace with the industry and put it behind me. I was happy to let it go and move on. However, the harsh reality of a minimum fixed income is rearing it's ugly head these days and the money would be really helpful. Now I hate myself for selling out and going back to work in an industry that nearly killed me, just for the cash. I do like helping the kids and adults get a leg up on new and important knowledge, it gives me a kick. But dealing with the bureaucracy of the academic world is something I have little patience for. These folks walk around in their own reality much of the time and have little idea of the working world. It makes it hard to relate. They make decisions based on grants and funding and budgets, not based on what the students need to make a living. They spend a ton of money on buildings and software and bells and whistles and internet and multi-media centers, but have no tools in the classroom for students to work with.
I am trying to figure which way I want to go with this and I am really distracted by it.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   If the teaching work is something you really enjoy I'd suggest you talk to the school and let them know you would like to teach some classes but lay out your terms that you can live with and feel would help the students while still being fair to the university. Even if your don't work for them you might offer to tutor the students and still be involved. I would not be interested in the assistant position where you do all the work and the other guy gets the credit - but thatis just me.

  My wife was wavering on taking her retirement as soon as she was eligible and a rep from a local college she knew saw here and talked and told her at a band performance, where her HS band did real well, that if she did retire they wanted her. That was enough to push her over the edge and she gave her notice a month later. Once at the college as an adjunct professor directing their school band (which was also a community band) and enjoying that she asked the college if she could teach photography too as she is a free lance photographer and had opened the HS program a few years before. They told her how many students she'd have to have sign up and what they'd pay and that worked out well for both the school and her. One professor was teaching a photoshop class and sent the school an e-mail at 3:00 a.m. quitting the first day of class so they asked her if she could do it and she taught it and saved the semester for them. They were getting along well till the school folded and was bought out by others who had her classes covered at their other campuses.

  Bottom line is, ask and suggest. They can't eat you! You may find common ground Good luck.

[Nebraska]

If you can do it on terms acceptable to you and on a schedule you dictate then I think you should try it. If your guru is sending students and will support you all the better. Do I think you should go back full time,  nope....(unless the pay is stupid good  ;)).  I hope to retire some day as well. I think you could help some folks feed families and have a skill set they otherwise wouldn't have and that is a good thing.

[RAYAR]

That weird chain appears to be one that the saw has a sharpening stone mounted on a plunger that you press it against a spinning chain to sharpen it. That's why the angled teeth with the flat cutting edge.

This image has the set-up on a lever.

Pull lever, chain sharpens. Bingo!

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