Whatcha NOT Sawin' ???

[terrifictimbersllc]

 I have something to get off my chest.  I wasn't sawing much in the last week or so.  In fact not at all for a while.  But I did use some lumber. 


  

And I did use my tape measure.


  

And I got my Logrite dirty tending the camp fire.


  

Promising to try to be better now.  To try to make up for things here is 2600 bf pine from yesterday.


 

[sealark37]

They say that even an honest man will tell a lie about the size of his fish and the BF that he sawed today, but you provided pics for proof.  Good work!     Regards, Clark

[azmtnman]

 8) 8) 8) 8)
Nice fish!
  I'm not sure I would use my cant hook as a fire poker though!  :D

[Chuck White]

I like the looks of that Brookie!

Haven't seen one that big in years, congrats!

[beenthere]

8) 8) 8) 8)
Nice fish!
  I'm not sure I would use my cant hook as a fire poker though!  :D

Nor that hookaroon.   ;D

[stanwelch]

Nice fish! 8). Wonder how a hookaroon would work as a gaff

[WV Sawmiller]

Sealark,

    I didn't know it was lying when fish were involved. I thought it was mandatory to "embellish" a little.

TT,

    Congrats on the fish. Looks like you had earned the break.

[Nomad]

     I'd be braggin about that brookie too!

[Cedarman]

I hear you can photoshop tape measures.

Nice fish!!!

[barbender]

That is some brookie!

[dgdrls]

Everything,  no time to saw this year thus far,  (No logs or calls either)
Close to having sold-off all my inventory.
Between work and family (kids home from college,
planning a new home). I'm flat out with no saw dust in the near future.
Still glad to be able to visit here

Best DGDrls

[Billbob]

I would have to say that is the perfect use of lumber! :laugh:

[FarmingSawyer]

Not sawin my edging pile....or catching fish either. Too busy chasing the right boards to fill orders....



 

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I'm not sawing using my bandsawmill.
There's nothing wrong with it I'm just having fun making wide thick slabs on my chainsawmill!

[WLC]

If I could catch Brook Trout like that I wouldn't want to sawmill either.  Haven't seen one that big in years and years.  NICE!!!!

[slider]

Jon you had better put your grand paws goggles on while running that thing.

[terrifictimbersllc]

I'll be fishing this weekend again!

[Southside]

Where do you go?  Nice land lock by the way in the earlier photo.  

[PAmizerman]

Terrific
Just curious how many hours you put in to get 2600 ft? Did you have a helper? Do you run an edger? What dimensions of lumber?
Just curious because I have the same exact mill as you and busted my but the other day to get 1200 feet done in 8 hours
What can I do better?

[Just Right]

 


When all else fails . . . . .fishing cures all!!!!!!  35 lb Amber Jack out of Mexico Beach FL last weekend.  And you are right. . . . . when fish are involved  . . . . .a lil' embelishment is expected!

[petefrom bearswamp]

PAmizerman, I have often wondered about the volumes some of the guys report here too.
If I get 1500 or so of 4/4 in a long (7hr) day for me with a tail man I am doing extremely well.
I dont consider myself either inefficient or lazy.
to get the high volumes I would have to go at a dead run and have everything go perfectly.
One of these days I am going to try an efficiency study on my obviously poor sawing performance.
I must include though that when sawing Hemlock, getting around the shake takes up considerable time, and a lot of kindling and stickers are made.

[WDH]

Fish Fry!

[YellowHammer]

Nice!  I've fished Mexico beach, great fishing and scalloping.  The beach run into the little inlet is fun, too.  

[Just Right]

YH I've been fishing there for about 15 years.  Got a great guy I go with.  Always a great time.  We haven't done the scalloping thing though.  Always go out for the fishies.  Years ago when you could get a boat load at a time we would bring in 300 lbs of everything.  Now the seasons have changed all of that and its almost a boat ride and time to drink beer with the boys.  Either way. . . . . it ain't working!

[terrifictimbersllc]

Where do you go?  Nice land lock by the way in the earlier photo.  

Pix above several years ago now from Mooselookmeguntic lake near Rangely Maine, we stay at the Cupsuptic Lake campground.
My May 1 2018 comment was referring to going to the Farmington River, CT, near Pleasant Valley, we stay at pretty nice little cabins in the American Legion state forest just above there. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Terrific
Just curious how many hours you put in to get 2600 ft? Did you have a helper? Do you run an edger? What dimensions of lumber?
Just curious because I have the same exact mill as you and busted my but the other day to get 1200 feet done in 8 hours
What can I do better?

Looks like you are quoting me from  my OP above May 2015.    Repeat customer, one helper, ready logs, excavator to replenish log pile, sometimes I step in with heavy waste slab but mostly saw and tend to mill. Might help with rolling on the next log.   Full size dimensional lumber, 2x6 2x4 and 1x10,  looked back at my notes, 2609 bf actual lumber count.  No edger.  Looked at my invoice 9.4 hours charged, I mark my time from arrival to departure less breaks/down time.

By coincidence, I am going there today and need to get on the road in 10 minutes.  :D

[Chuck White]

With a couple of tailmen and an edger, there's really no reason you couldn't put out 3,000 bf in a day!

[Southside]

With a steady stream of logs to the mill and a couple of tailers I usually put up just shy of 2500 feet in a day, I have not had the chance to run a full day yet with help and the edger to see how much of a difference that will make.  

[paul case]

On our '13 LT 40 shd e25 my son Scott working alone can easily saw out 120 3x4-10' cants and some 4/4 lumber from the sides in 7 hours.  I think it works out to be about 1500 ft. using the dragback and banding and moving slabs, lumber and loading logs 4 at a time. I can tell he is doing something. 

PC

[terrifictimbersllc]

By coincidence, I am going there today and need to get on the road in 10 minutes.  

Reporting out, 2632 international pine logs 10-15 ft, 2312 board feet 1x10's and 2x4's.  

Slabbed heavy to get rid of some punky wood and a lot of blue stain.  One helper, logs were staged, 7 hr charged time, 5.5 mill hours.  I used 4 10 degree blades, one of them hit metal early. 

[Crossroads]

I'm bad, I don't typically keep track of board footage since I charge by the hour. Sometimes I scale logs before I start, but typically when I get done chasing the head back and forth at the end of the day. The last thing I want to do is count boards. I've had customers count the boards while I'm tearing the mill down and I'll take note of what they tell me though. 

[Banjo picker]

I am not sawing anything as I had eye surgery last Wednesday, but my mill sawed out a walnut mantle for a guy.  He asked me maybe 6 months ago about doing it.... haven't heard a thing from him then he shows up at the house with a fairly nice log on a trailer.  I can get out and walk as long as I keep my head looking at the ground so I let him unload it off his trailer with my knuckle boom.  I had to coach him as he had never run one before.

Gets back to the house and I'm writing down what he wants and he needs it next week.  At first I said that ain't happening.  But then I thought I would ask my son Bobby if he would cut it for him and he said he would.  So he cut it for him Sunday afternoon and he picked it up yesterday ( Monday)

Bobby hadn't run the mill in 9 or 10 years, but it turned out alright.  I got one more day to keep my head down and then go back to my dr that did the surgery Thursday.  Starting to get a little vision in my right eye.  Banjo

[KenMac]

I am not sawing anything as I had eye surgery last Wednesday, but my mill sawed out a walnut mantle for a guy.  He asked me maybe 6 months ago about doing it.... haven't heard a thing from him then he shows up at the house with a fairly nice log on a trailer.  I can get out and walk as long as I keep my head looking at the ground so I let him unload it off his trailer with my knuckle boom.  I had to coach him as he had never run one before.

Gets back to the house and I'm writing down what he wants and he needs it next week.  At first I said that ain't happening.  But then I thought I would ask my son Bobby if he would cut it for him and he said he would.  So he cut it for him Sunday afternoon and he picked it up yesterday ( Monday)

Bobby hadn't run the mill in 9 or 10 years, but it turned out alright.  I got one more day to keep my head down and then go back to my dr that did the surgery Thursday.  Starting to get a little vision in my right eye.  Banjo

Glad to hear your vision is returning! I pray that all will be good very soon.
BTW, I'm not sawing much that pays!

[sawmilllawyer]

Sounds like macular surgery to me. I could be wrong. Anyway do what the Dr. says and get your sight back!

[Southside]

Banjo - if that man ran a knuckle boom under those conditions then I would consider hiring him on.  That's one heck of a job interview.  

[Jim_Rogers]

I'm not sawing a 6" thick by 18" wide by 64" long with one live edge red oak mantle.
The customer can't see to get it through his head that I don't have a log big enough to make that size piece.
And I don't have any way to move it off the mill once cut, if I did.
I told him of the weight but he doesn't seem to understand this at all.

I've given him the phone number of two other mills with wide cut capabilities but he just keeps calling me.

Jim Rogers

[Nebraska]

No big fish here, just couldn't resist taking the picture after the little bull calf was on the ground. Some parts of my job are pretty cool, some aren't,

 but I'm still pretty blessed.

[Southside]

Good looking pair there.  Hard calving? 

[Banjo picker]

Definitely a neat picture f the little man.  My ole man ran a heard 0f 30 brood cows.  Registered black angus with blood lines from Mississippi State University.  Folks came from near and far to get heifers and young bulls for breeding.

[Dana Stanley]

PAmizerman, I have often wondered about the volumes some of the guys report here too.
If I get 1500 or so of 4/4 in a long (7hr) day for me with a tail man I am doing extremely well.
I dont consider myself either inefficient or lazy.
to get the high volumes I would have to go at a dead run and have everything go perfectly.
One of these days I am going to try an efficiency study on my obviously poor sawing performance.
I must include though that when sawing Hemlock, getting around the shake takes up considerable time, and a lot of kindling and stickers are made.

If I can do what your doing at 81, I will be very happy. If you really want to see efficient watch Linda.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN9VWCbHKtg&list=PLFLcYLc7UqWippI2D26Y0lwM8Dvj_u3Fc&index=10&t=0s

[Sixacresand]

Today, the first day since May, I won't be milling when it is too hot.  PTL

[Old Greenhorn]

Holy cow! That gal sure doesn't need to go to the gym! :D She is a working machine, and the other two fellas are no slouches either. I sure hope they are making good money, they certainly earned it!

[WV Sawmiller]

   I think I have seen videos of her before. That woman is dangerous! She is about to work those other two men to death! :D Her husband could at least get her a longer Logrite to load those heavy logs with though.

   One thing to note is there is no wasted motion. With every step she is accomplishing something.

[Old Greenhorn]

With every step she is accomplishing something.

I think she is accomplishing two or three things with every step. Poetry in motion, along with a lot of focus. You can't really teach that, at least not anymore.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   Watching her is like watching a really good waitress at work. Every step is productive whether bringing food, removing dishes, filling tea or water glasses, dropping off tickets, etc. And they have eyes like eagles and the best situational awareness on the planet. They handle multiple tables and know the status of every one of their customers at all times. This lady looks to be the same way whether loading a log, tossing  a knot or edging or slab on the scrap pile, whacking the end off a board, measuring and adjusting the edger then sending flitches in for trimming, etc. And take note how as she slides the boards and flitches off the cant she nonchalantly flips them a few times knocking most of the sawdust off them in the process. Every step produces something of value.

[Dana Stanley]

She has her own Youtube channel devoted to her family mill. The first video I saw of her was astounding, but she has a lot and I didn't have time to look for it this morning. I thought she was in her late 20s, but she is a bit older than that! I tried to show that to my wife, just a suggestion right! She ain't having no part of it. I guess tending to 2 horses is enough. ;D My grandson Joe moved to PA so I'm on my own, until next year when my younger grandson Jaxon is big enough.

[Magicman]

I believe that video is FF Member, Electric Al's shop with his wife Linda and their son.  

[goose63]

After watching her I got tired and had to take a nap she is one working lady

[WV Sawmiller]

She has her own Youtube channel devoted to her family mill. The first video I saw of her was astounding, but she has a lot and I didn't have time to look for it this morning. I thought she was in her late 20s, but she is a bit older than that! I tried to show that to my wife, just a suggestion right! She ain't having no part of it. I guess tending to 2 horses is enough. ;D My grandson Joe moved to PA so I'm on my own, until next year when my younger grandson Jaxon is big enough.

Dana,

   Yeah she may look to be in her late 20's but apparently that is her grown son on the tail end of the project catching the boards off the edger and such. I guess all that hard work keeps her young and vigorous.  :D She is my inspiration but don't tell my wife. ;)

[Brad_bb]

I knew just from two comments that ya'll were talking about Linda's sawmill (the youtube channel name).  Yeah, I think she could work rings around many of us.

[Peter Drouin]

She is a worker. The men are in her way.

 I think she could work rings around many of us.

Speaking for your self I hope. :D :D ;)

[rjwoelk]

Brad you stepped into that one.  :D :D :D

[Brad_bb]

Oh, I won't argue that one.  I'm lazy by nature  ;D

[btulloh]

Oh, I won't argue that one.  I'm lazy by nature  ;D

I think you meant to say you are lazy EFFICIENT by nature.   :D  There aren't any lazy people running a chainsaw mill or a manual sawmill (or a hydraulic mill for that matter).

[Magicman]

Very true!  I tell customers that I might be lame, cripple, and crazy.....but I ain't lazy.  smiley_dizzy

[Bruno of NH]

I tell them the same thing MM
Be a big guy my whole life but never been lazy. 
Folks associate fat with lazy sometimes
Fat I am lazy I'm not.

[Brad_bb]

My nature would be lazy if I wasn't working.  Truthfully I take my share of time off recovering from milling etc.

The last two weeks I've been NOT sawing this. I have been sorting the stack on the left, into firewood logs, beam logs, board logs, and brace stock logs.  I was also trimming thumbs and bucking to lengths I wanted.  Stack on the right are beam logs.  The left stack probably started out over 100 feet long.  I cleared all the way through it in 8 days.  I occasionally had to do some other things, like pull a whopper log out of the woods with two log arches, a skid steer and a helper.


 

This is the firewood stack that was to the right of the other two stacks.  I put an ad on Craigslist for free firewood logs at 11 pm and had probably 10 calls by 10am and 6 of them showed up that day, including a guy with a 32 foot gooseneck trailer.  He's coming back next week to get loaded again, then all the firewood logs will be gone.


 

I calculated that it will take me 2-3 months full time to mill all the logs in the yard, which might actually mean 4 months.     All these trees - 95 percent dead Ash, came off this property.  The tree crew cut them down and another hired guy on the skid steer and grapple would fetch them and stack them in the pile.  All the sorted log piles are now at the edge of the gravel driveway so when it starts raining and ground turns to soft mud, you can drive straight in with the tracked skid steer and back out with logs and not have to turn on mud.  The tracks don't pick up any mud when driving staight.

[Old Greenhorn]

Looks to me like you are working pretty hard for a guy that is 'taking time off'. Every time I am not 'doing' something that produces a result I feel like I am goofing off and lazy. But those chores are important to the end goal also if I would let myself admit it. I am glad to see I am not the only guy that spends time sorting and organizing and thinking things through.
 Last night I did some pick axe work trying to smooth out a new spot to re-locate the mill to. It is slow hard work for me and I feel like I got little more done than got it started. I quit at dark. Still, it is work. 
 If this is your idea of lazy, I am glad you can't see mine. ;D

[Nebraska]

 

 

 

 
Got the siding finished on the shed it has  two coats of Viking paint, Ive made a little progress on my spot
since the first piece of locust firewood I tried cutting. Its attached  to the wall in the shed with my family's brand on it. Next year hopefully the old cattle behind the mill will get matching siding and my old barn will get recycled.

[East ky logging]

Good looking shed. I've not been sawing anything been staining everything for the last week or so. I finally got done this evening I think I've stained everything on the place except for the dogs. 

[Southside]

Very nice shed! The roof line on your old barn looks straight. Is it timber framed? 

[Nebraska]

No timber frame, built out of circle sawn cotton wood and whatever odds and ends they could find. (The finest of "Swedish" construction, all the odd stuff they could scavenge or saved) They built bulk bins out of fir flooring and fancy bead board. The back half of the barn had the foundation rooted out of it by hogs before I got here and is beyond fixing.. The only reason it's still here is I want to dismantle it because of the old stuff in it. If the foundation was good it would have gone to the front of the line in the game of projects, with at least a steel skin added  to it. I 've buddies with excavators that could squash it down in a matter of minutes. I've no shortage of projects it's replacement is a round top Sears barn in storage.i think this barn is a 20's or thirties vintage.  My house on the original side was square nailed so it's pre 1880,  sometime shortly after that was when the local lumber yards got modern round wire nails

[Nebraska]

@Southside Here is picture of a similar Sears barn. It's the same size as my trusses will build. Plan is 3 ft block stubwall foundation to give 10 ft ceiling heighth, lean on each side. Board siding same as saw shed. 

 
 My trusses only have a seven foot sidewalls this barn looks taller. Hope to have it done by the time I'm 60.

[alan gage]

Well it looks like another year is going to go by without me sawing my big stack of bur oak, walnut, maple, and elm. Once again my real job, other projects, and life kept me from spending as much time at the mill as I wanted. Not a complete loss though as I got to use a lot of lumber I sawed last summer as well as milling up a bunch of spruce logs and cedar utility poles to build a new wood shop for myself. But the pretty hard woods will have to wait a bit longer.

Alan

[Jim_Rogers]

Well, I'm not sawing anything for a while.

Wednesday, I hooked my mill up to my current ride and and hauled it out of my sawmill yard for the first time in a very long time.



 

I hauled it out to an engine repair shop where I bought this second engine on my 1994 sawmill some 18 years ago.
Yesterday, they gave me the bad news.
The engine was dead as it has sucked a valve or something like that and had beat up the block.


 

I will be upgrading to a new 25 hp Kohler that will be installed by WM Maine once they get an engine in.
I was given a time estimate of 2 weeks to a month, if I waited to have it shipped via their truck.
I selected to have it shipped by freight truck instead hoping to get it in sooner. We'll have to wait and see.
They have one engine to prepare and send out before mine is ready to ship. And with the staff at the plant on reduced work force, it may take some time.
I guess I may start making some of Bruno of NH's planter boxes with on hand lumber to sell while I'm waiting.
Jim Rogers

[Bruno of NH]

Sorry to hear this Jim
Hope they send it out quickly. 

[Brad_bb]

Total bummer Jim!  Did you get your money's worth out of the old engine?

[97redjeep]

 

 Did a little SXS logging last night, couple weeks and I can get my toes wet. 

My ass, Baby, wondering what the heck I'm doing lol not sure how to rotate pics yet. 

[Jim_Rogers]

Yesterday, was one week since I ordered my new engine. No progress on my order yet.

Jim Rogers

[DennisK]

Can you talk to a good cylinder head machine shop and get an oversized valve seat installed?

[KenMac]

My business is picking up, but I'm not sawing any ERC or white oak. I can't find any logs locally or reasonably accessible. >:(

[Jim_Rogers]

On my invoice, that I got by email, it said if you have any questions about your order call this number......
So yesterday, I called that number. I got a customer service guy working from home and he said he had no way to know if my order was being worked on or not.
And I asked if the engine on order before my order had been shipped out so that I could know if I was next.
He said he'd try and find out and let me know, by email or phone call.
Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

I got an email this morning that my engine has been shipped.

Wow, great news. I wonder how long it will take to get to Maine?

Jim Rogers

[trimguy]

Still not sawing anything since I wrecked the frame on my mill. But this is giving me a chance to get some of the other stuff done that I need to do before I pick up my new Lt40 next Friday. 8) 8)

[Jim_Rogers]

I got a call from WM Maine on Friday at noon. They said they tracked my engine to a terminal in Portland and should be at their shop very soon.
I'm planning on hauling my mill up there on Monday.
So @thecfarm you'll need to keep an eye out for me if you want to see a mill on the road ;D
Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

That is good to hear Jim so you will soon be sawing again.

I got a call from the hydraulic cylinder shop saying that my cylinders are ready, so I will pick them up early Monday morning.  We will have them on and be back to sawing in short order.  ;D

[thecfarm]

I am so busy at the hardware store I won't notice if 20 go by.    We are short on help. We ran the store with 3 people for 3 weeks.  :     
Just had one quit. We do have 5 there now. Should have 7. We are blowing quota by at least $2000 each day and some days even $3000.  Can you say busy!!!!

[Banjo picker]

Yep.  People stuck at home and not working can think of all sorts of things they want to build.  Banjo

[SawyerTed]

I cut rafters, sheathing boards, lean-to shed headers, siding for garden sheds, mantles, lumber for raised beds, and live edge "floating" shelves for "bored" stay at home people.  They take a lot of time because they don't buy rough cut sawmill lumber very often.

One guy started out wanting 4x4s and 2x8s to build a raised bed garden.  He came by the mill and I spent an hour redesigning with him so he could use 5/4 lumber because 2x8 was bigger than he thought!  :D :D

[farmfromkansas]

Nebraska, is the old barn in the pic of your mill shed the one you are writing about?  I also have a old barn in bad shape, use it to store lumber, but when it was built, the foundation was poured so cheap, it is broken up and leaning.  They mixed concrete and put in forms with big sand rocks and no rebar, so the things lean where it cracks.  If I were younger, would consider replacing a piece of the foundation at a time, but not up to it any more. Still like to work, just can't handle tough jobs.  

[bigblockyeti]

I know this is a bit of a necro post but I'm not sawing many logs that I could be at my parents place.  They tired of living in the middle of nowhere and despite constant new projects up into the beginning of 2022 they chose to move from 12 acres of heavy woods to a retirement community where a service takes care of their 1/20th acre lot.  I knew it was coming as they got on a waiting list in the middle of 2021 with an expect wait time of 3-4 years, I guess residents were "vacating" faster than expected.  I got my mill in 5/21 and the long term goal was to leave it at their place and easily cut up 4000-8000 bdft over a couple years.  I was able to get a couple Ø20" black cherry trees felled and hauled off before the house was listed but a dozen or so black walnut, 20 white oak, 6 eastern red cedar, half a forest of hackberry and more red oak and tulip poplar than you can shake a stick at conveyed with the sale.  Grandma not letting me cut 300 cedar from her golf course after she sold it and was allowed to remove any/everything from the property as it was to be turned into scorched earth didn't sit too well either.  She "liked the way they looked" even those well beyond what could be seen so they were deemed off limits.  I should have just cut what she couldn't see and would have never known about but it could have turned into quite a project I couldn't have simply hidden from her.

[beenthere]

bby
Is that also the land you were thinking about for the cellular trail cam?

Bummer to lose that potential harvest for your milling.

[bigblockyeti]

No, that's my property.  Mom & dad lived at their place full time with gates at both drive entrances & their builder was three houses (1/2 mile) down the road so security there was a non-issue.  I'm at my property every 2-3 days to 3-4 weeks depending on how busy I am.

It was a bitter pill to swallow but my only recourse was buying the place from them, likely for a very good deal but wife's job, kids in school and the pain that comes with every move killed that idea before it got off the ground.  I just need to hook up with some tree services around here that can let me know when they've got a good log or two that needs disposal.

[WV Sawmiller]

   In my case today it was 800 total 6' long pressure treated 8" diameter posts like the road department uses to put guardrails up with. They won't fit in his post driver and he needs them trimmed down a little over an inch. It would only take 1-2 passes and I could probably do them 2 at a time. I was all set to do the job then I remembered pressure treated is generally a real no-no and told the guy I was sorry but I was going to pass on this one.

   Has anybody ever sawed PT posts with good results?

[Magicman]

I would also pass on sawing pressure treated material.

[Jim_Rogers]

Soon after I got my sawmill, back in 1994, the local golf course wanted some 6x6 pressure treated cut in half to make two pieces 3x6 for a bridge deck. The needed these pieces to be spaced out so that the sunlight could filter through to the swap area below the bridge.
I called WM and asked what advice could they give me.
They said just use a regular blade, but to wear a dust mask to no inhale any treated sawdust.

I did the job, and I made them haul away the sawdust that I bagged up for them.

Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

The center of pressure treated lumber has the least amount of "treatment", same as treated utility poles.  Open um up and you can expect the exposed center to rot first.

[jpassardi]

Probably best you passed on it though I believe they have to use a less harmful preservative in it now. I'd pass rather than risk inhaling the dust.