Strange projects

[Bibbyman]

We've sawn out lumber for some pretty strange projects.  I thought you find this one a bit interesting. We've just sawn out over 3,000 bf of oak to build three sets of benches for large cats. 



Here is a load for one set of benches.  60 2x6s 8', 10 2x6s 12', 14 6x6s 8'.



Here is the one set of benches that is complete... complete with "Tony" the tiger.



The place is a rescue farm for animals.  Besides two tigers, a lion, a mountain lion, and a bobcat,  they have 17 horses (mostly blind or lame), 30 house cats (mostly running in and out of their house),  about two dozen small coons, a baby dear, and a bunch of big slobbering dogs.

You got to watch your step around that farm!

[ScottAR]

Here kitty kitty....

Neat pics...

[Bibbyman]

Here is Tony checking out the new benches.  I forgot how old he was but the operator of the rescue farm said he was still a juvenal being equivalent to 12 years on in human terms.

I asked about the weeds in the lion and tiger play areas.  The guy said they like the weeds.  He'd mowed the lion's cage one time and she was depressed for three weeks and wouldn't come out of her house.  (A good reason to keep your lawn mowed. Eh?)



Here is a mountain lion.  It too is very young.  All the big cats were raised as house pets by unthinking people until they grew out of their kitten stage.  They were all very friendly.

[SwampDonkey]

When you mentioned the 'slobbering dogs' it reminded me of when ever our house cat would go to her dish for some food. The dog would drool over her because of the food in the dish I guess. The drooling would be so bad that the dog would start licking the drool off the cat. That was so funny and the cat just went along with it. Poor cat. :D :D :D They were the best dog and cat we ever had.

[Roxie]

That is really interesting Bibbyman!   8)

[jpgreen]

Oh my lord..

Pettin' that couger..    We've got big mean ones back here. I love cats, and that would be so awesome to get that close to a mountain lion, but alas- we're on their dinner menu back here, and you gotta watch your back..  ;)

Very nice work Bibby....  8)

[UNCLEBUCK]

Tony the Tiger says "Theeeeeerrrrrrrreeeee  Great" !  Very cool 

[scsmith42]

Bibby - cool pix!  My wife has been involved with something similar; there is a rescue org not far from here that she does occasional veterinary work for.  It has lion's, tigers, wolfs, etc.  Definitely not the run of the mill petting zoo...

[urbanlumberinc]

That is so cool! 8)

[Lud]

And the little cat's cute too......... ;D ;D ;D

[scsmith42]

Lud, my wife will like your comment! :D  :D  :D

[Bibbyman]

Well, here is another first for our sawmill.  I had a customer bring in, among other things, three nice Kentucky coffee bean logs to saw out for his casket. He looks in good healt so we didn't jump right on it.  :D



This is some Kentucky coffee bean I sawed out earlier this year.  I think it's my favorite wood to saw.

[Chris Burchfield]

Thanks for sharin Bibby. Won't be but 3 1/2 yo 4 years before Gdaughter Madison is ready for the Zoo. She's 3 months old today. Been 25 years since I took the boys to the Zoo. I like the looks of the Coffee Bean too. Never heard of it here in Memphis. But then I'm not exactly a worldly traveler and still real green to sawin. 

[woodbowl]

Bibby, the grain of that lumber looks a lot like some catawba that I sawed the other day. It has a broad leaf and the seed pods hang down and are over a foot long. Catawba worms eat the leaves and are prized for fish bait. Everybody around here that likes to fish has a catawba tree in their back yard. I'm wondering if it's the same tree with a different name.

[Whitman]

woodbowl

Here in Indiana we call your catawba "catalpa" but the real name is Catalpa Speciosa. It is different than the Kentucky coffie, real name "gymnocladus diocus. Very close but not the same. Whitman

[Cedarman]

A few years ago a WWII vet came in and asked us to make a board as wide as possible and about 6" thick about 4' long.  We looked at logs until he found one he liked.  We cut a beautiful chunk of wood.  He was going to use it as his tombstone.

[Larry]

I've sawn quite a bit of coffee bean...seems like a lot of logs are prone to shake...sometimes it doesn't show up until you start drying it.  Wonder if the shake is unique to our area or to the tree?

Catalpa is one species I wish I could fine a lot more of...close by.  It's a good seller for me.

[Tony]

      Fellow brought a few oak logs and wanted them sawn
into 1\2" boards for pea shellers 



"Catalpa is one species I wish I could fine a lot more of...close by.  It's a good seller for me", Larry 

     Larry who buys the catalpa (katabby)? I've got a log or 2
and was wondering how they should be sawn ???

                                          Tony  8)

[Larry]

My market is wood carvers.  I understand turners like it also...just haven't sold much to those guys.  It does take effort at marketing...just like everything else.

Saw thick, as you can always re-saw to fill a customer order.

[rebocardo]

I wish the coffee bean trees around here got big enough for lumber. I have not been brave enough to use the beans for coffee, though I understand you can.

[Bibbyman]

We got an order through another party to saw out 3x3s, 4x4s, 5x5s, and 6x6s' all 30" long.  When I delivered them,  I was told it was for a city nearby and they were going to split them corner to corner with a chainsaw and used them for wedges to block up derailed railroad cars.  I told them we could have made wedges out of them on the mill - but it would cost double.



These kinds of orders take more time but we kind of like them because we could go through a stack of low-quality 6x6s we had on hand and make them.  But our stack was covered with ice.  So I put the "clean" side down and sawed the ice off'n them.

[SwampDonkey]

How many 6 x 6 's did ya make from the ice? ;D :D

[pasbuild]

Had a guy show up with a truck and trailor load of nuthin but junk, half rotten spruce and aspin, had me cut it up into 1X whatever to hang a net over the pheasants he was raising.

[Robert Long]

 The local university had an unusuall request to cut out 6 cm x 6 cm square (stick) out of 8 logs 10 ft. long of Norway Maple.  The 6 cm square piece had to come out of the quarter saw wood 10 cm. from the center core of each log.  It was to do a paper on the fiber density of the Norway maple ???

They sent students out to be sure the square came from that area of each log

By the way... nice looking work Bibbyman!  Like your truck too, does it dump?

Robert

[getoverit]

"By the way... nice looking work Bibbyman!  Like your truck too, does it dump?

Robert "



I swear I just got new glasses :D I had to look twice at that question to see what it said :D :D :D

Nice work Bibby!

[Bibbyman]

By the way... nice looking work Bibbyman!  Like your truck too, does it dump?

Robert

Here is a little cleaner picture of our 99 Dodge 3500. (It was raining)  We've been running the wheels off'n it.  It's now got 34,000 miles on it.  Had to put two new tires on the front last week.   The bed does not dump.

[Cedarman]

The rain really made that cedar look nice.  The truck looks good too.

[Bob_T]

Bibbyman,

Thanks for the post on the Kentucky Coffee Tree lumber.  We've got several of them growing here outside of Reno, Nevada that I planted from bean pod seeds sent by a friend in Kentucky.   As I recall the beans were so hard you had to cut a notch in them with a hacksaw so that they'd germinate.  I didn't know the wood was so pretty.  Also have a Catalpa tree.  Amazing what you can do in the desert when you have a water well. 

Bob

[Robert Long]

Bibbyman; ;)

yup eh eh, nice truck!    It would look nice pulling my orange machine, I see your machine is fixed indoors (the electric motor atop of her gave that away).

Robert

[sawdust]

Bibbyman, I have to ask about the trailer in the background. Is the name on the side Combs?
If it is that was my great grandfathers name,,, had a little bit of trouble and added an a and moved out of Missouri. Went wAAAAy north.

sawdust

[Bibbyman]

Bibbyman, I have to ask about the trailer in the background. Is the name on the side Combs?
If it is that was my great grandfathers name,,, had a little bit of trouble and added an a and moved out of Missouri. Went wAAAAy north.

sawdust

This Combs was in Ponca City, OK.  We did a little business with him one time.  Don't know anything about him or his family history.  :

[Bibbyman]

Here are 6 - 6x13.5 by 10' beams to go in a new restaurant right up at the end of our backtop. We've already sawn out a bunch of cedar 6x6 posts that will be used inside and along porches on the front and back. We're also sawing out full 2" thick rafters that will be exposed on the porch parts.

I can hardly wait to see it all done. More pictures to follow as project progresses.

[Bibbyman]

We went by the restaurant project the other day and the guys were placing the ridge beams.  It would have made for a great pictue but I didn't have my camera.  I went back the next day and got these pictures.



It must have been quite a tussle getting those red oak 6x13.5 up there by hand.  There will be a porch running the length of the front and most of the back.  We sawed out the 6x6 cedar post for the porches and interior.  We also sawed out the full 2x6 red oak headers and rafters for the front and back porches.



The owner/builder of the restaurant fabricated the steel brackets himself.



Here is the back porch with the post and headers in place.

These pictures were taken on Tuesday.  We were passed the project on Wednesday and they had some of the boxing on and were putting up purlins between the long rafters.

Yesterday we sawed out 1200 bf of white oak siding for this project.  He said he had some recovered barn siding he was going to use but it wasn't working out.  He said he'd be ready for it tomorrow.

[Tony]

Here are 6 - 6x13.5 by 10' beams to go in a new restaurant right up at the end of our backtop. We've already sawn out a bunch of cedar 6x6 posts that will be used inside and along porches on the front and back. We're also sawing out full 2" thick rafters that will be exposed on the porch parts.

I can hardly wait to see it all done. More pictures to follow as project progresses.

      Hello Bibbyman, I have a very dumb question. Is the owner
putting up the timbers green ??? ??? ???   The patrons may want to
know what all the snap, crackle, pop sounds are while they dine


                                                      Tony

[Bibbyman]

Yes,  he put them up green.. 

Here is an update on that project with more pictures.



Mary talking with Mike on the front porch. We sawed out the cedar 6x6 post, red oak headers and rafters and rough sawn white oak for the vertical board siding on Mike's new restaurant.  There is another porch on the backside done the same way.



This picture caught Mike looking up and the underside of the porch.  He used the "jacket boards" off squaring out the cedar posts for nailers on the roof.  I pointed out the defects in the header above the front door an asked him why he used the worst one where they would be most visible.  He commented he wanted the ones with the most "character" where people could see them.  I told him I probably threw out a lot of them he'd a liked better.



The main room is two stories high.  We sawed out the 6x13.5 main ridge beam out of read oak.  The posts are 6x6 cedar.  He made the metal brackets to bolt them together.   The rafters are "store bought" pine.  He paneled the underside of the roof with galvanized tin.  The light fixtures are used milk house fixtures he obtained from his electrical contractor that happened to pick them up at an auction.



Mike is using some low grade western red cedar to panel the inside.  He's got a long way to go.  We have some 2x12 by 18 white oak stair jacks sawed out plus a number of 2x12s for tread and landing.  He'll be ready for this early next week.

[Bibbyman]

 

This guy (on right) kept pestering me to saw him out some hickory bow blanks.  He called and wanted me to take a large hickory stick he'd cut and saw it this way and that way.  I finally got out of him what he expected to make out of it and knew what he wanted me to do.  But I told him I wasn't interested and that it'd be too much trouble.  I explained it that my mill was not set up for sawing a small piece of wood in such a manner.

But he kept after me. So I finally agreed to saw one of my logs – an 8' pig nut hickory about 14" diameter.   I should have taken pictures of the process and end product but it was basically quarter sawing.  All he wanted was the outside rind. 

Poor fellow can't afford store bough..  He's a retired insurance salesman.  Guy to the left owns most of GM dealerships plus a couple of foreign car dealerships in town.

He's holding a couple of hickory bows he'd made.  The car dealer guy is holding a laminated bow he'd made.

[Paschale]

Hey Bibbyman,

Did the restaurant ever open?  It's gotta feel good to know that you cut all of those beams yourself...and hopefully you get a discount when you stop by!   ;D  How's the food?

[Bibbyman]

Hey Bibbyman,

Did the restaurant ever open?  It's gotta feel good to know that you cut all of those beams yourself...and hopefully you get a discount when you stop by!   ;D  How's the food?

Yea,  it sure did.  We've eat there a couple a two, three times.  It's a bit overpriced for us!  And we don't get a discount!  Food has been great though.

Kind of funny.  Mike is a carpenter and he built the restaurant for his wife to run.  About the time they got well under way with construction she came up pregnant.  About the time it opened she was VERY pregnant and really couldn't take part in it.  So Mike found himself in the restaurant business.  The three times we've been there – twice he was a "waitress", as Mary points out, as they were short of help. He looked very tired trying to keep up his carpentry work and work at the restaurant.  The last time we were there,  he was a cook. Last time we were there he didn't look so tired so I guess he's got things a bit better organized.

Next time I go,  I'll take my camera along and get some pictures of it complete and all decorated up.

[jpgreen]

Everyone's tired in the restaurant business..  :D

[Bibbyman]

We sawed a lot of oak flooring lumber and house logs this summer.  But we've also sawn other things.  Here is three projects we've worked on in the past month.





Here is a small load of walnut beams we sawed out for Derec Nevins the timberframe builder.  It'll be part of a disply he's building for a home show. The main beams will be of cypress.  The walnut will be used in the king post, etc. 

Derec is a Forestry Forum member and says he'll post pictures when he's got the project completed.





The phone didn't take a good picture but this is an awful nice walnut log. We're sawing 8/4 off the outsides and 5/4 out of the lower grade middles.  There will be at least a trailer truck load before we're done.





Some local guys have buddies in Texas that have a farm/ranch where they hunt hogs.  They are building a hunting cabin on the land.  The local guys are supplying the cedar for paneling.  These boards are over 14" wide.  It's all sawn 5/8" thick.

[Bibbyman]

We've got a project coming up I hate to get started on.  Local customer came by last evening with a whole sheet of paper filled with a list for two of these and one of those sizes.  He was restoring an old building that was framed with full thickness sycamore and wanted (maybe had to) replace with same dimension and species wood.  I wouldn't mind it a bit if it was a run of a couple of sizes with some quantity but there are quite a number of sizes and quantity very low of each.  And, we don't have any sycamore on the lot.  Mary talked with the loggers to have them hunt some down. 

I told Mary we need to get a pretty penny for all the trouble we'll have accumulating all these parts.  She said, "I quoted oak prices."  Even that is not enough.

Keep you updated as I know more.  Maybe get pictures of the construction.

[ElectricAl]

On a job like that we would sell the customer the log or logs with a slight up charge. Then the sawing would be based on our hourly rate.

If the logs had to be ordered we would get a pre payment for the log or logs plus an estimate on the sawing bill. We would try to get within 90% of the final bill.

If the customer is serious about getting the work done they'll pay up. If they are on the fence so to speak, you don't want to take the chance of working for free plus loosing the money invested in the log or logs.

[Bibbyman]

I found out today it was only a quote for now but likely to be an order because there is no real alternative. 

The only saving grace is that most of it is full 2".  We have an order for 1000 2x3 by 40" blocking. So any cull or extra can be cut into pieces parts.

[Bibbyman]

I found out today it was only a quote for now but likely to be an order because there is no real alternative. 

The only saving grace is that most of it is full 2".  We have an order for 1000 2x3 by 40" blocking. So any cull or extra can be cut into pieces parts.

We, the quote became an order right away.  We got after the loggers to supply us with sycamore logs.  "We'll getem'", they said." 

The customer kept calling and asking for an update.  Mary kept calling and talking with the loggers at every chance.  "We'll getem'". Over most of the last two months only two odd sycamore logs came in.

Last week we were forced to go cut some sycamore on our place to fill the blocking and this order.  We're about to start sawing this and that for this order.  It's going to be a real head scratcher to figure out how to get two of these and 4 of those, some this thick and some that thick and so on out of the logs we have.  We cut at least twice as many logs as we'll probably need but you never know what we'll run into.

So no matter how much we make on this order, we'll go in the hole.

[beenthere]

Trying to decipher if you are happy or sad.
If going in the hole, then must be sad.

But why do the job if "going in the hole" ??

[slider]

I had a fellow show up at my mill last week wanting me to saw some hickory for him.While attempting to break the local watermelon chunking record he cracked the framework on his catapult.He did manage to hurl one over 700 ft.We sawed him some 6x12 and 6x6 cants .That ought to do the trick.After he rebuilds it i will post some pix.

[Magicman]

So no matter how much we make on this order, we'll go in the hole. 

I hope that statement was "tongue in cheek".   

[Bibbyman]

The sun was up but not yet hitting the loading area when I went out to load the sycamore project. I think it was 16 when I got back in the house a bit ago.   



 

All the parts needed to restore the roof and porch on an old building.  One or two of these, 4 of those – four different thicknesses and lengths up to 20'.    Rafters, ridge pole, beam, fascia boards, sheeting and boxing.

Mary's off delivering.  I'm back in to warm up a little as it's still well below freezing.

[Bibbyman]

 

 

The sycamore lumber is in the foreground and the rock building in the back ground that is being restored.

I'd asked Mary to take pictures.  She stood in the shadow of a big tree so she could see the display of the iphone.   Yep,  she got a good picture of the shadow.  Maybe we'll get back when they've got it framed up.

[Tony]

   Only the customer knows what the project is going to be. They just told me to cut the "log" into 2xs.
                                              Tony  8)



 



 

[Magicman]

   What is that, Pecan??

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Looks like White Oak......what's the diameter?

[Tony]

Water oak      32"   :

[Magicman]

 ???  OK, now whatcha gonna make  ???

[WDH]

Whew, that scared me for a moment.  Pecan =  .

[Magicman]

That silvery bark looked scaly and gave me a fright.  I see now that it is smooth.  That big crotch "lumber" is going to be interesting to dry and it might also be a 

[homesteader shane]

I have a customer that has brought some honduras mahogany out to the house to be resawed from 2X12, 2X10,2X8 into 1/4 inch materal. turns out he a wooden sail boat builder and it goes on the boat he build as flooring. He has told me each board is aroud 500$ and it takes 3 weeks to ship up to Ontario. I found I vary strange the frist time he called he was calling form Montreal Quebec. Its about a 4 hour drive from here but he comes up the visit with his family and brings the wood with him. He has been out 3 or 4 times now. I must be doing somthing right. I don't want to mess any up. $$$

[Bibbyman]

http://youtu.be/IyGowQmp6JQ

Mary and I have take up the hobby of Cowboy Action Shooting.  The club we shoot with just moved to a new range this spring.  The sport is shot from "stages" that give the impression of being in the frontier west.  The stages didn't make the move very well so Mary and I decided to build one. The above video is our handiwork at the second stage. 

It's constructed of cedar we sawed out of some small top logs.   The siding is cedar slabs I had ran through the edger.  We built 5 panels and assembled them on site with lag bolts. Since this video we added a painted metal roof and some small embellishments.   If I'm shaking and sound out of breath it's because it was very hot and humid with no breeze.

We need to make a sign and hang it.  We decided to name it "Boone Store" in honor of Daniel Boone who had a major role in the settlement of this area.

[Sixacresand]

Whew, that scared me for a moment.  Pecan =  .

Danny, I made my Pig Roast Square out of Pecan. Glad you didn't see it.  :D

[bandmiller2]

Bibbs, your going to have to show us a picture of you and Mary in western garb. Mayby have a contest here for your "handles", sounds like fun. Frank C.

[redbeard]

That sure is a neat idea for a shooting club.  Daniel Boone is one of my favorites.

[buzywoodliff]

Someone mentioned Ponca City on here.... Small world, I have a brother in law from there.... He's a fireman over in Blackwell

Interesting stories on here and thanks for the pictures!!  I'll have to figure out how to get some of mine on the forum.

[beenthere]

busywood
Put your location in your bio so we can tell about where you are from. pls.

Go to your profile (click on your name will get you there) and add the info. It will show up when you post. tks

You also can set up your pic gallery while in your profile. That is needed to add pics.
A primer for pics is found on the first thread under the "Behind the Forum" forum on the "Home" page.

Look forward to some pics.  ;)

[Bibbyman]

Bibbs, your going to have to show us a picture of you and Mary in western garb. Mayby have a contest here for your "handles", sounds like fun. Frank C.

So far we've not gone all out cowboy garb.  Just jeans,  long sleeve shirt,  cowboy hat and leather boots with plain soles. The minimum requirements.   I had to get suspenders to feel comfortable out of my bibs. 

We have aliases, as they are called.   I decided on Warden Callaway and Mary,  Sawmill Mary.

[WmFritz]

That sure is a neat idea for a shooting club.  Daniel Boone is one of my favorites.

I like the name too. I named my 4 year old Labrador Retriever  'Boone'.

[LeeB]

Bibbs, your going to have to show us a picture of you and Mary in western garb. Mayby have a contest here for your "handles", sounds like fun. Frank C.

So far we've not gone all out cowboy garb.  Just jeans,  long sleeve shirt,  cowboy hat and leather boots with plain soles. The minimum requirements.   I had to get suspenders to feel comfortable out of my bibs. 
We have aliases, as they are called.   I decided on Warden Callaway and Mary,  Sawmill Mary.

:D :D :D :D I wear bibs all the time at home and coveralls at work. I guess I never really notice because home and work are essentially two different lives for me. I change clothes and slip into a different setting. Sometimes the inbetween is a little strange with a bit of an adjustment period while traveling.

[Bibbyman]

http://youtu.be/GUIjhKs9UIM

Here is stage four of our stage building project.   I stated in the video we recut 7x9 ties to 6x6 but really we cut them to 6x8s.  The paneling was the off-all from the resizing.

[Bibbyman]

http://youtu.be/RsR2cI-QLQM

The new stage was well received by the Cowboy Action Shooters.   Here they are.  Long on cowboy and shooting but a little short on action.

smiley_horserider

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Being a Western fan Bibby.....I got smiley_thumbsups to tell ya.....I love it!

[Bibbyman]

Cowboy Action Shooting started out as an amusement from "three gun" shooting.  Guys got to talking (likely after more than a few cold ones) about what it would be like to shoot the targets using old-timely western guns. It was about the time the movie "The Wild Bunch" came out.  They apparently had fun and it lead to the founded SASS - Single Action Shooters Society.   It has grown to over 100,000 members all over the world. Probably some 30,000 active members. 

http://www.sassnet.com/

There are a number of other cowboy action shooting organizations with variations but SASS is the largest.