It's a vendor conspiracy

[Jim_Wahl]

Wow! Talk about long stories with happy endings. This one is for the books! Congratulations to all
"characters" involved!

[Tom]

Standing here looking at that new mill in my driveway and I figure I might need some help.

Pease pudding hot, Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot - nine days old.
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot  - nine days old.

[thurlow]

Beenthere.....Thurlow......are y'all having a good time? :D :D :D

We's having a good time...........you wouldn't believe how easily I'm amused.   smiley_whacko

[beenthere]

 :D :D :D :D 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Tom]

May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.......


Time sure flies.  It's been a long time since I sawed any wood. 

I got back from Sawlex with the new mill and my body refused to do anything.  I parked the mill out front and there it sat.  I've looked at it through my window for months.  It just sat there.  It's a funny thing about being physically decrepit, the more you favor yourself, the more you need favoring.  The doldrums roll over you and eventually there is not a bright spot in your life anywhere.   I've dragged around here all these months and have gotten to where I hate myself.   The Moultry show was an effort, the pig roast was an effort.  Saying I was retiring didn't even get the monkey off of my back.  My phone won't quit ringing.  I know I can't perform to my expectations and it's downright depressing. 

I did have one bright moment when Dang came over to visit and we set the mill up.  It boosted my spirits and made me want to "gitter done" as Larry would say.  Dan and I get along real good.  We are pretty much peas in a pod when it comes to how we lead our lives.  I was really enjoying him.  Neither of us is physically fit to do much, but our wants and successes match pretty good.  Without him, the mill would still be sitting out there in the field.

There were a few challenges in setting up the mill, but we managed to get it leveled.   A couple of the legs are in a hard-to-get-at place and leveling around the loader was difficult, but that was true with the old mill too.

We felled a tree from the swamp and dragged it to the mill.  Then I had an awakening.  The mill wasn't set up like I thought that I could use it.  All of the log handling paraphernalia was on one end.  The turner and clamp were at seven and eight feet respectfully and the first two fence dogs were 3 1/2 feet on either side of the clamp.  The loader was attached at the operator end of the mill and I was concerned about loading a long log.   As best as I could figure out, the mill was designed as a 16 foot mill.  Twenty feet might be difficult and twenty-four feet was going to be an impossibility, even though the bed was long enough for a log that size.

We cut a small log and it worked pretty good, then we put on a twenty footer and the turner and clamp wouldn't handle it.  I was exasperated.  Dan and I came back in the house and visited until he had to leave and then I sat, looking out of the window at the mill until the sun went down.  Boy!, was I dismayed.  The next couple of days, I would hobble to the mill, about 250 feet in front of the house and try to figure out how to use it, or what it would take to change it.  Everything I came up with, I couldn't afford.  I went back to the house and wrote Tom a message about it.  I suppose I frustrated him.  We haven't done much conversing and I figured that I was being classified as "looking a gift horse in the mouth".  

I've been house bound all of this time and the mill has sat there, intimidating me with its presence.

Finally, I had a neighbor want some wood sawed.  Gael volunteered me.  In the process of trying to figure out how I was going to accomplish it, another neighbor, a young man who has been hanging around me a bit, said he wanted to learn how to saw.   Gael and his wife are good friends and, before I knew it, he was going to become an apprentice.  I don't know how good it's going to work out, because he's the Youth Pastor at the church down the road and that comes first.  Still, there may be a way that he will be able to schedule saw jobs around those obligations.

This all happened about three weeks ago and I got another call from someone wanting wood sawed.  There is a new horse farm in Bryceville with some logs.  I tentatively agreed and took Bobby to show him how to spec a job.  It was one of the typical the-more-you-find-out-the-bigger-it-gets type of jobs.  Starting with 4 or 5 logs, it turned into 30 or 40 trees. Many are in the 30 inch class and one is huge and will need to be split.  There is a couple of trucks worth that are in the 12 and 15 inch range.   The trees are bucking 5 and 6 (16 foot) logs each with some running 20 and 24 feet.   There are a few 8 footers where the sweeps are being cut out.  All in all it will be a pretty big job.  We showed the boy at the ranch how to buck them up and oversaw the job until the dangerous ones were on the ground.  Then we left.

Now the mill has been taken down and moved to the neighbor's house.  It' s freebie that I thought was to be about 2000 feet of flooring.  There are trees everywhere and more coming.   Again I was dismayed.  Labor is wanting because he works and the kids are in school.  It's Christmas and trips are planned.  What a discombobulated mess this is turning out to be.   I can't make Gael look bad, I don't want to turn the neighbor off to sawing his wood, but I see thousands of feet laying on the ground out there.

I showed up with my apprentice and set the mill up. Mostly I watched and hobbled to my folding chair every 3 or 4 minutes.  We finally got logs bucked.  I talked him into 10' and 16' logs mostly because I didn't feel comfortable with my ability to handle anything longer.  I didn't want to look like an idiot.  He sure had his heart set on 24' boards for his floor.  He wanted to span the room with single board runs of as-wide-as-I-could-cut pine.   I still might me able to manage a few for him.

So, with hat in hand, Ive been sawing flooring today.  Bobby isn't getting much hands on experience because I want to take advantage of the available labor.  I also found that sawing was some of the best therapy I've experienced in several years.  It's not that I can really do it, it's that I'm making myself do it.  We stacked about 2000 board feet of flooring and some miscellaneous 2x material today.  I took a lot of breaks and sat in my folding chair.   It was almost like old times.  I was actually being productive. 

The sawmill was working great.  Like any other tool, one must become accustomed to it.  It's similar to my old one but different.  I love the hydraulic handle configuration.  I still reach for the wrong ones, but it doesn't take me long to realize it when the toe board raises instead of the turner turning.   There are still issues and I'm hoping that familiarity will solve my inadaquicies.  At least I'm willing to give it a try.  The issues are mostly log handling.  The head of the mill is a little slower, up and down, than my old mill but it sure is stable.   The cutting speed in 12" boards is phenomenal.  What to attribute it to, I don't know.  A lot of it is probably due to Brian's deftness in adjusting guides.  The guides are a different style and seem to be easier to adjust, but I'm still on the first blade.  It comes off when I go back.

The head has been totally redesigned and critical parts encased in compartments away from the weather.  I like it.   The debarker is a new experience and I sure like that too.  it saved the day on one large log that had clay embedded in the bark. In the old days, I'd have been out there with an axe.

When I can get back to sawing is a big question.  Not because I don't want to, but because nobody is home.   I'm chomping at the bit.

Tonight, I sit here typing away and grinning from ear to ear.  Have you been so happy that you have trouble holding back tears?  Well, that's where I am now.  What's the joke, "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was"?  Well, I haven't lost the knack.  I still know how to do it.  I might not put as much lumber on the ground as I was able to once, but I'm enjoying it as much and maybe more.

I don't know the whole story and I'm not going to pry, but Tom Stout and Mike McNail have made me one happy little boy.

[DanG]

YEEEHAWWW!! 8) 8) 8)  I knew you were supposed to saw today, and I been thinking about it all day.   I'm sure glad it went well!

[Part_Timer]

Glad to hear your back in the sawdust.  Perhaps that is just what the doctor couldn't perscribe.   Taylor says to tell you " WAY TO GO TOM, glad your feeling better"

[sprucebunny]

Tom, I'm really happy to hear that you've got some wood dust on that mill.  8) 8)  8)

[Don K]

Tom, I'm glad your sawing again. Take your time and enjoy it. That is one lucky apprentice to be able to learn from you.

Don

[Radar67]

Grandpa always told me if I fell off a horse to get right back on, seems that old man had the key to the best therapy. Glad to hear you are sawing again Tom!  8)

I could feel your excitement in the words you typed.  ;)

[Jeff]

Im smilin the biggest smile Ive smiled in months.

[woodbowl]

Hot diggadee dog, it's sawing time again.   8)

[beenthere]

Sure glad to hear that Tom... 8) 8) 8)

[Gary_C]

I am so happy to hear you are back to sawing. I am trying to get back to cutting trees but getting my equipment ready is tough in this below zero weather. But us 65 year old guys can still giter done.  8)

[farmerdoug]

Well Tom, you did it.  You have everyone a smiling.  Way to go. 8) 8) 8)

Thanks for getting the smile on Jeff's face too.  He needed that. ;)

Farmerdoug

[rbhunter]

Glad to hear you are sawing again. Wish we could all see you. Keep us posted as you learn about the new machine and sawing longer logs.

[ronwood]

Tom,

Glad to see your back to sawing. Doing something that one truly loves is the best medicine one could ever have. 

Ron

[Raider]

Tom glad to here you are cutting again 8) I know what you mean to work thru it, but easy to see after than before. How do they say it "Youth is wasted on the young"... Good days ahead    Raider

[customsawyer]

Great to hear that it is working out for you. Don't it feel good to make something. ;D

Best of luck
Jake

[thecfarm]

It's must be a great feeling to be at it again.I would enjoy being by your side and watching the blue paint wear off on that big sawmill.  We could even sit in the shade and talk about what our plans are for the world.I'm smiling too by the way.Good luck to you.

[DR Buck]

When I saw this post come up to the top, I thought, 'that's an old post, can't remember what is it about?'   I guess I should take a peek.


Well WAY TO GO TOM !     8) 8) 8) 8)

Glad your back at it.   Nothing like a little saw dust getting in your lungs.   Way better than that perscription and over-the-counter stuff.  ;D 

[Bro. Noble]

Good for you, Tom 8)  Some of us codgers that are long in tooth know just how much you are enjoying this.  As much as I joke about having to milk the stoopid cows,  I had to stay at the house the other evening while my wife took my place in the barn.  After catching up on the forum,  I was extremely bored and wishing I felt well enough to milk.  I guess I worry more about not being able to work than I do about being able to retire. :

[sawguy21]

 ;D Sure glad you are feeling better Tom. I find I get down and bored easily then it is tough to be motivated to get off my butt. Once I do, the world seems a better place.

[johnjbc]

My father had his Knee Joints replaced in his early seventies and never got up to speed. The doctor prescribed one of those electric carts and at first he was only going to use it at Computer Shows and Fairs but ended using it just to go to the Mail Box or the Shopping Center. Later he ended up in the Hospital with a bleeding Ulcer. After they operated and fixed it he didn't have the extra strength to get up and get going again.
When I had mine replaced I gritted my teeth and kept pushing. Now I can do anything I want.
Glad to see you are back out there running your Mill. Just keep pushing.
Good Luck on your next million board feet!

[sandmar]

I always said that" only thing worse than working for a living ,is being unable to work for a living"  :( Glad you are back at it Tom,best therapy ever  ;)