Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

[doc henderson]

me too, but could not find it but i thought it was on the thread.  

[WDH]

Rob, that is quite an accomplishment, Sir. 

[tule peak timber]

No sawing today but we did push a lot of wood out the window. I set up sort of a "hillbilly" finishing line that ran lightly through the sander to clean both sides of the boards, then through a trough at the window in the first building. A second trough where a hand applied coat of oil is brushed on, then into the second building where there is inspection and drying tonight. This is end matched, grain matched, colour matched, labeled sequenced walnut for the NNRH project. The crates in the center of the room are for water proofed (rain) shipping. I had 4 tail gunners today and they did a great job.

 

 

 

 

[Banjo picker]

Short leaf.  Not much long leaf up here.  Nice close grain, but the main buyer in this county won't buy anything that has the pith off even a little bit still makes great boards.  Pretty much has to be perfect.  They do pay well for what they buy.  I'm working on it. 

Over 2500 bf in that stack.  Tim

[mudfarmer]

Flat stacked, ready to ship or??

Love to see you guys cranking out the good stuff

[Banjo picker]

Customers wood he is coming to pick it up. I only sticker my own wood.  Got finigualed into doing it once ,but never again. Tim

[WV Sawmiller]

   Why not? Just charge enough more to pay for the extra work.

[Banjo picker]

Simple.  I don't like to to it. Tim

[WV Sawmiller]

   I told my wife that once - just once! :D

   Good enough reason I guess. When I get asked to do things I don't like to do I just quote unreasonably high rates. Unfortunately that doesn't stop some customers and I just remember to charge even more the next time.

[tule peak timber]

I cranked out a quick mantle this morning. From distressing to first of 3 coats of finish.

 

 

 

[doc henderson]

looks like crap!...   guess that was what you were going for.  If folks ever move away from rustic, will you just retire?     would love a summary with pics sometime  with stepwise ideas about distress, and also the hollow beams and mantles you make.  I think my wife wants one.  Not sure I can afford one of yours,      8)   :D :D :D  looks great.  i like your arsenal of tools.  need a holster.

[JJ]

I think I look more like Gandolf from Lord of The Rings,,,personally.

You do look like Gandalf, the Wizard of the Wood

[WV Sawmiller]

   My repeat customer from my  longest mobile job (75 miles away) came by today with his SIL brought this load of "logs" by today for me to saw. They were just the tops out of a walnut and cherry. The biggest walnut core/pith is barely 6" and mostly sapwood. I sawed them into 5/4 but they were nothing to write home about. One hour mill time. Apparently the butt logs are beautiful but they could not transport them with their equipment (No trailer brakes - steep hills - too heavy) so I suggested seeing if they can find someplace near them where I can go saw them. We will see.


 When I finished sawing the customer looked at my mantels and bought my wrought iron banded spruce mantel I made a couple years ago. I guess I will have to find another candidate and get my blacksmith friend to build me another one.


 He also bought a 6' X 2" Le Slab that approached 18" max width. He saw my "Need a customer with more money than sense pile" and told me he will be back for my $1220 LE Walnut I had cut 2.5 years ago on a counterpart sawyer's Lucas Slabber. It is about 40" X 4.5" X 10'. 

Then he spotted an old roughly 2"X 12" X 6' Basswood "Board" I sawed with a chainsaw 8-10 years ago, long before I ever thought about buying a mill. I had been using it as a trailer tailgate and had leaned it up against a post on my lumber shed. He wanted to know how much i wanted for it. I laughed and gave it to him. He plans to make a hat and rustic coat rack out of it. It is funny but you just never know what will catch a customer's eye.

[tule peak timber]

looks like crap!...  guess that was what you were going for.  If folks ever move away from rustic, will you just retire?    would love a summary with pics sometime  with stepwise ideas about distress, and also the hollow beams and mantles you make.  I think my wife wants one.  Not sure I can afford one of yours,     8)   :D :D :D  looks great.  i like your arsenal of tools.  need a holster.

JJ and Doc, Yes I am the wizard of crap, thank you.......I also do very fine diamond finish like work but most folks don't want that from reclaimed wood. I only deal in California beetle kill, fire kill, urban limber, mitigation take downs----basically fire wood crap.This year has been really good to me.
 Doc, shoot me three numbers, and I will shoot you, a mantle

[Old Greenhorn]

Doc, shoot me three numbers, and I will shoot you, a mantle

I think this is called "an offer you can't refuse".  Very generous Rob. Your stuff is SO gorgeous! Sometimes it just seems like it spews out of your butt you make it look so easy.
 "Wizard of Crap" seems just a tad inelegant, there has to be a better way to express this.

[Old Greenhorn]

 It is funny but you just never know what will catch a customer's eye.

Sounds like that little job worked out pretty well. ;D I do note however, that you missed and opportunity to sell him new deck boards for his trailer. :D

[firefighter ontheside]

@WV Sawmiller I had a customer bring me a trailer load of walnut firewood that he picked up from a roadside where the power company had cut up a walnut tree.  I managed to cut most of it into boards.  I had recently figured out a good way to mill short stuff on my mill.  I milled all but about 2 of the shortest pieces he brought.  He was very happy with it.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   I don't know that he needed new trailer decking as much as he just needed some fasteners applied to what he had. ;D

FFOTS,

   I had a guy bring me some Paulonia one time like that. If it will fit across the rails (26" I think) I can clamp and saw but some of these I had to put a 4/4 board down underneath and another on the side to clamp against. The biggest thing was I had to remember to add that extra inch into my measurements. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Sounds about exactly the way I do it.  

[Larry]

Slabbed a short 40" walnut for a friend.  Being so short and wide it took about an hour to get it positioned before I could saw it.  Thought the color was exceptional.  Lots of red and purple.  We were going to turn bowls out of the log but thought the highest use might be slabs.









It was a "V" crotch so I expected lots of included bark.  Probably turn some big platters out of a few of the slabs.

[doc henderson]

WOW @Larry  (honorable mention to mother nature)  nice crotch wood.  

@tule peak timber .  Of course I was teasing.  much easier to find an old board to look rustic than take a nice piece and make it look old and worn.  I am in aw of your work.  I have been trying to figure a good way to do a mantle, as it is behind my woodstove, and only min. stove pipe clearance to the wall.   may have to put it on the side.  she also wants a matching 30 foot beam at the peak or our 16 foot cathedral ceiling.  hard to ship.  thanks for all the good info and inspiration.   .  I hope we can do a get together this spring and we can all catch up.

[tule peak timber]

Respectfully I think I will keep the handle "Wizard of Crap". The business model for what I do is so, so different from what you would think of buying a mill, making quality lumber and having a good business doing it is where I am at. Bluntly put, I still own the 1x6's I first cut 14 years ago. There just is no market here for dimensional lumber at all. Plus all of the weird restrictions in CA limiting what you can do with wood.

In the early 90's, after working very hard, I was the undisputed "king of slime" in the hag fish industry here on the west coast. Not a very elegant title, not a very elegant business either. I just kept my head down, my mouth shut and made frequent trips to the bank. Being top of the dung heap never lasts very long. Something else I've learned during my years.

Cheers and enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

[doc henderson]

I often hesitate to throw anything in the fire, waiting for it's destiny to present itself.  my highest Regards oh TPT the WOC, former KOS.  

[Ohio_Bill]

Sawed some curly soft maple yesterday with ambrosia beetle streaking  .

[hersnsh#590]

I have a pile of "Not worth saving, but too good to throw away" wood.  It's surprising how many times I go to that pile when looking for something.  Every couple of years I burn the whole pile and start over.

Dale