The Forestry Forum

This poll was run a couple of years ago.  It will be interesting to see how things have changed.  Poll expires 11/27/06

I voted so I could be the first to vote!  ;D

I've barely done enough to even call it a hobby but I aint done yet.

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After four votes I find myself in the overwhelming majority

Currently full time logging and firewood processing.

I 'am a part time sawyer ;D The rest of the time I'm felling trees, bucking logs, hauling logs, oganizing the log yard,cutting stickers, stacking lumber, loading trucks....ya part time sawyer. :)

Have a crew running my Peterson, and building a bandmill.

Thinking about jumping in next year. 8)  I did cut full time for a WM owner for 2.5 years back in the late 90s.

Mine is a hobby operation which is threatening to turn into a full-time business. I'm trying to discourage that, I'm retired, don't want a full time job..

Full time husband, brother, uncle, christian/church member and (I hope) friend.  Part time logger, sawmill operator, carpenter, electrician, plumber, engineer, mechanic, tractor/heavy equipment operator, retiree, welder, machinest, volunteer, cook, baker, fisherman, hunter, etc;  jack-of-all-trades;    MASTER OF ABSOLUTELY NONE! ::)

Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  Added homemade hydraulics to a 1988 manual WoodMizer LT40. I work alone most of the time, off bearing including.

After almost 12 years of it I am about whipped.  :-\  I work like a borowed mule and it is starting to catch up with me.  I love it, but it pulls all the goodie out of me before the weekend and I'm not good for much till the next week. Something has got to change, and soon.

I was Tom's offbearer once for a can of generic peas. Had to carve my own spoon. ::)  Temp was 97° F and there wasn't any shade cause someone cut the trees down. :o Sweat was dripping from the bill of my cap, my wallet was sopping wet and my feet squished in my shoes when I walked.  Does that count? :-\

You DanG right that counts Charlie! That's what I'm talking about. It's exhausting, it's hot, it's hard work and it's fun. Sometimes a fellow can only stand so much fun.  :D

I'm with Lewee except I would have to add that I do have another job 'cause I am a full-time bill payer  :D

Quote from: woodbowl on November 13, 2006, 12:05:57 AM
You DanG right that counts Charlie! That's what I'm talking about. It's exhausting, it's hot, it's hard work and it's fun. Sometimes a fellow can only stand so much fun.  :D

Maybe you guys just need to move North...It's snowing/raining right now and I gotta get some sawing done today :( :( :(  I'm gonna be squishin' but it ain't gonna be from sweat.. :D :D :D

I even broke out the Long Johns today...... :o :o :o

Quote from: Burlkraft on November 13, 2006, 09:28:06 AM
I even broke out the Long Johns today...... :o :o :o

Hmmm ......... I had on short pants and a tee shirt.  ::)

Do ya think that's funny Olen... ???  ???  ???  ;D  ;D

Burlkraft did too.............over da longjohns.. ;D ;D ;D

BT,

Obviously you aren't going to show up for work today.... :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Gang, it's very intersting that this popped up and I found it today!
Why you ask?
Because, after working for Uncle Sam for the past 4 years, and working for "The Man" for the past 19 years, today is the day that I give my two weeks notice, and jump into the lumber and milling business FULL TIME!
It's spooky and exhilarating at the same time, and it's been a long time in coming.
So, on the weekend following Thanksgiving, I will be "Gainfully Unemployed", and completely SELF EMPLOYED!
WOOHOO!!!
Superdave

Quote from: Burlkraft on November 13, 2006, 10:03:07 AM
Do ya think that's funny Olen... ???  ???  ???  ;D  ;D

Naw ...... It ain't funny! It ain't funny one bit, in fact it's quite a sad situation.  ;D  ;D

Work ::) ???

When the sun shines, slight breeze, 50-60° ....... I'll be there....... just like the other day.....
:) :)

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Did ja get my email ??  Don't get stuck in the mud......I'm slippin an sliddin here gettin firewood moved....wish it was frozen this morning as it would be much better.  Even snow would be cleaner to move around in than this grease..

Good on ya treecyclers. Now the fun begins.

I'll be seein' ya next spring then...huh.. ???  ???  ???

Actually it's not that bad out...a little muddy...but good workin' temp ;)  ;)  ;)

Good luck treecyclers.We are all sending you best wishes.  8)   8)

The closest I come to sawmilling is running Tokyo chainsawmill for my Industrial Arts classes.  I would like to sawmill fulltime one day, perhaps next summer when we return to the U.S.

Jim

Mary and I are involved full time...  If you don't include all the long-winded customers and the occasional nap... zzzz_smiley

Quote from: OneWithWood on November 13, 2006, 09:14:41 AM
I'm with Lewee except I would have to add that I do have another job 'cause I am a full-time bill payer  :D

I could use one of those other jobs.  ;D then I could pay them bills faster. 8)

Part timing.  But then, I reckon most all that I do is "part time". 

Just entering in, really.  Made the initial set up, cut up logs I had, enough to learn a great deal of the process and reasonable expectations.  Made the lumber I need to work on some projects already conceived and build the mill shed. 

Got the mill moved and stored, drying stacks dispersed, stacked and stored and have begun the mill shed.  Holding four owners with cedar logs at bay until I get the new set up ginning.

As the owner/operator/manager/accountant/technical engineer/advertising executive/marketing strategist/janitor, etc. of three diverse DBA's with individual and convergent subsidiaries, sawmilling and its various tangents is becoming a welcome part of the family.   :D

I've been a part time on looker from a comfortable distance.  :D

I picked part time as it seems to fit a bit better than hobby mill but I'm not producing lumber to be sold.  It would be more accurate to describe my mill as one of many Timber Framing tools I use.

Well, since there is no "Hobbiest Log and Wood Collector" checkbox, I checked "Thinking About Getting Into It".  That is actually kind of correct because I go to bed thinking of sawing and which mill would be the best for what I like to do.  But the reality is that I'm already to many things as it is, so "Thinking About It" will have to do.

I picked " part time"because even though I don't have another job I don't always saw every day. 90% of what I do is custom sawing both at the customers site and here where I live. There is not enough business in this area to saw every day but that works for me as I'm semi-retired and if I had to saw every day it would begin to feel like work :D  As it is I love sawing 8)

Bill

Treecycler, congratulations. It is tough to make the leap. Invigoration!!!!  Your brain will be fully engaged, you will be surprised at the things that will happen now.  You will think wood 24-7 and love every minute of it-even the rough times. If you have that entreprenureal spirit life will get even more exciting.  Money won't be the best reward, action will be.  Ride like a champ.

Started on an old LT-30 manual in '83.  Went full time about '89.  Lived poor for some time as every dime went into building the business.  Life is great. Am working 6- 12 hour days most of the time.  Not just sawing, but all the other things that make up the business. On the phone a lot with some really interesting people.  Just talked to the executive manager of an Indian nation in Ok. Never would have done that before.  I still love sawing nice ERC.  I can't think of a time when I have hated hearing the phone ring.  What new challenge will this be?

There is no "Other" category.  ;D I grew up around loggers and spent some time cutting firewood and fence posts. Got into small engines and chainsaws over 30 years ago. Spent a few years heli logging and now sell saws (among other things). I have developed a real interest in milling since joining this forum.

Im in the early stages of building a saw carriage from a kit i got from Gary at Linn lumber. 8)

I checked Thinking of Jumping in because I already jumped in and there wasn't a "In Limbo" choice. Spent a better part of all vacation days this year dismanteling a Fencing/Circle Mill operation that will be used later on down the road.  When I was 13, my friend Armand also 13 got me a job cleaning the debarker at Blier's Cedar Fence Mill in Keegan Maine on Saturdays. From there I graduated to putting the fence boards into the machine that made the dog ears on the boards. (Second shift) :D
The mill burned down about 30 years ago.
Todays child labor laws would have had a field day with that place. no_no

Greetings all,

I just came across this site a few days ago and had to join. I picked the jumping in catagory,  I currently live in seattle but my folks have a 40 acre wood lot in Ohio and my dad is wanting to cut some boards and build a shop. He's offered to by the mill so next spring it looks like it's good by to the big city and hello rural living again. yahoo  8) is all I can say. I got the name and number of a guy in the seattle area that has a TK 1220. I drove for an hour to go see it and he let me run it. what a nice little mill, then I got stuck in traffic on Saturday on the way back and it took 2 hours to get back home.  >:( I'm ready to get outa here. any how, as the days go by I'm sure I will learn a lot and ask a lot of questions.

blessing to all,

steve

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, blaze83.

Welcome blaze83.If you ever want to go to a event where you can see sawmills in action check out the calender on the top of the page.Hope you get to live your dream.I do every day and I am lucky I can.Now if I did not have to work for someone else to do it.I'm more than half way there.

  I reckon I am part time but I custom saw around fourty hours a week and work second shift at a hospital another fourty so maybe I have two full time jobs.!!!
  I hooked up with a logger and saw all his walnut and cherry which he then wholesales
He says I'm makin him money.whooopeeee :) :)

That's a long week, sawmiller.  Don't forget to smell the roses.  Life is short.  :)

I sawed 4 walnut logs for a guy this week, been down for 2 years. Black, slimey, ugly looking logs. Inside though, was some really nice lumber, that hopefully is going to be around for a long time as furniture, floor, whatever - That part i really enjoy.  :)

Mike I had some nice butternut logs on the ground for a couple years, while I waited for them to be sawed up. Actually, they were suppose to be sawed up with a bunch of other wood a couple months after i delivered to the guys yard. But, that's another story. Anyway, those logs cut out some nice lumber. They were a little bit darker, but not punky or spalted. It seems the wood is quite rot resistant. I've used it out doors without treatment and it seems to last for ever. After a couple episodes with portable mill owners I just hauled my logs to a circular and picked them up as boards at the end of the day.  :)

I got my w/m to work on projects on my home site after katrina nocked down a bunch of trees, then a neighbor would stop by and need a little something cut, or his friend in town was interested in having the trees on his lot turned into beams for his new home.......It looks like it is taking on a life of its own. I have two more weeks in school(yeeeeeehaaaaaaaa)and I think I will start to actually pursue some work and see if I can let the w/m pay for itself! Anyway, I get encoureged and educated everyday when I stop by here to see whats going on with you folks. I hear of yalls sucsesses and tight spots, how you work through'em and from what I can tell, everybody gets to eat at night. I do want to try to go full time one day!