Making it thrugh another year, '24-'25

[Old Greenhorn]

So yesterday I ran off the 20'9" log which was a real PITA. 1 inch of clearance on each end of the log to the blade and I could not use the drag back for slabs or lumber. It took a lot longer than I wanted, but I knew it would so I just bit the bullet and enjoyed the ride as best I could. It was a perfect workday after all, temps in the high 70's and a breeze, but near the end, the wind changed to a strong breeze and came out of the north, putting me in the dust cloud plume. My glasses worked fine, but breathing was 'compromised' a bit. I put 13 boards on the rack, good enough to make the 8 piece order. I topped off the slab rack with 3' cutoffs. Need more logs on the deck for the rest of the order. Need a fresh slab rack too. Maybe now we can get back to the 19, 18, and 17 footers.  Running the head from stop to stop just kind of pushed it all to the limit and I had some trouble with the dust hose catching obstructions at the very end of the run as I got close to the deck, so lost time fixing that, lost time hand dragging 20' boards, and dealing with the long (heavy) slabwood. Fairly clean boards though, I hope they work. At least I could wear pants and keep the chips out of my boots.

 I came home and checked my crate wood in the attic kiln. 14%MC and I thought that would be OK to plane out, but I could feel moisture when I pulled it down. It was about 120° up there and the wood was sweating. I planed it out to 1/4" anyway, thinking a smooth and thinner surface might dry faster, then I stuck it back up in the kiln space. I could feel the sap stickiness on my hands. That's not good, I am going to have to wait this out for a few more weeks I think. I've only had the thin stuff up there for a week. Hopefully being thinner, it will dry faster now.

 Today I was a bit too slow to pull the trigger and get to the mill and by the time I was ready it was already too hot. Yesterday's weather spoiled me. I was waiting for a package in the mail, but that's a different story (it did not arrive). I did get an email with the artwork for the beer client so I forwarded those files over to my (new) laser guy and gal so they can work up some samples and get an idea of how long it takes them. They just got their machine recently, are local folks I know through my teaching in the Fire service and are trying to get going. So I thought this would be a good way to build a local relationship. Hopefully I can get good pricing from them that doesn't run my costs up too much. I figure if I prep the wood well, just give the flat stock in some decent quantities they should be able to do OK. If not, I might have to step over the edge and get a small cheap laser. Frankly, I had hoped I left that stuff in my wake, I did it for too long. Anyway, we'll see how this goes, and either way, I will learn something, I always do.  I'll get some wood samples for them to play with tomorrow.

 I have a lot of stuff I should be dong, but for some reason I took a 'retired day' today. Tomorrow is another day.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   You know if you need to you can remove the rubber bumpers at each end of the mill and buy yourself 4 more inches of working room. May not help with the drag back and such. I sawed about 80 20'10" cabin logs for a customer 2 years ago and it is a royal pain. Every log has to be cut perfectly square and when you flip them they want to slide forward or back past the mark so you constantly have to raise the rollers and roll them froward or back an inch or so. 

   Good luck on the laser work and new alliances and new customers.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I don't know how I am going to gain about 4" of room by removing 2 stops that are about 1" thick, but maybe the math is different down there? Either way, I manually pulled the head against the back stop each time I dropped the blade, just to be sure.
 Yes, I did have trouble when rolling the log. There was a mis-cut in the butt end and there was an extra inch of wood on one half of the log. So I moved the hear forward and trimmed that inch off. I did have to make adjustments on every flip. 
 But it still beats being a greeter at Walmart!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well another one of those days when I thought I had a plan, but no.
 I dawdled too long then the mail arrived and my 3 probe remote thermometer finally got here. Traveled a whole 118 miles in just 9 days, amazing! SO I messed with it and got it set up, 1 Probe in the attic kiln, 1 probe in the shop, and 1 probe in the trailer. My hope was to see these temps from my desk in the house, but I knew it was a stretch. The trailer is on the other side of the shop and has aluminum panels, the house has aluminum siding. But it appeared to work as hoped, so I left it one the desk and went to the mill around 11am. Ran into Bill in the yard and helped him off load the dozer by the shop. he was out grading stone on a new road cut and blew the water pump, so he trucked it home to do the work. I think the job is about a mile from his yard. 
 I went down to the mill and got started opening up a 16' log, he showed up in a bit and helped with the slabs on the first 3 sides, then he needed some help to run off a load of small split firewood. So I shut the mill down and helped him sort and re-split on the proceddor. It took about 40 minutes to fill the dump truck. On his way out, he asked if I wanted to go on a log run with him in the next town over for 'Earl' around 2:30 or so. "Sure, why not?"
 I didn't finish the log off, working the processor out in the sun filled my shirt with sweat top to bottom. I finished off the last slab, edged about 5 boards while I brought the cant down and just have a 10x10 cant to zip off when I go back. I was oput of sweat and had other stuff to do. So I came home, piddled a bot, then ran errands in town and dropped off wood samples for the laser guy I'm trying out. On the way back home I touched base with Bill to see if we were still on and we were, we put a finer point on it.
 Now when he said 'a load for Earl' I thought he meant a different Earl down the road from us. He actually meant another Earl that has property he is building on, on our road, but between Bill and I. That Earl is actually one of the finest Catskill Mountain Fiddlers we have in these mountains. He is a wealth of knowledge about the traditional music of the Catskills like no other. My SIL has played with him for decades off an on. Earl is a local treasure, but you would never know it, unless you just know that. Earl is also the Chief Engineer on the Catskill Mountain Railroad. Anyway, they drove by in Bill's log truck and I followed them to the pickup point about a dozen miles away. SO Bill loaded logs and Earl and I watched and talked logs and milling (Earl has one of the largest Hud-son hydraulic mills). He got this load of logs free and paid Bill to haul them back to his place. Pretty much all pine, we picked and chose from the miles looking for millable stuff. All the logs were kind of short, very few 12's, mostly 8's and some 6's, but wood is wood I guess.
 I was, of course, quite useless in this whole process, just along for the run and some conversation with Earl. I did meet the property owner and gave him my card. He seems to think guys like Bill, Earl, and I are 'pretty cool people'. I don't know what that means, but since the landowner on this way back off the road (about a mile off) property was sitting around his in ground pool with a bunch of kids and women enjoying cocktails when we pulled in, I am just guessing he doesn't do much of the work we do.  He wants Bill to come back and drop some trees. lots of dead standing pine.

 Anyway, I got home and see that my remote thermometer is losing the signals from the probes. Looks like it won't reach my desk reliably. SO I am trying it out in my bedroom which is the closest point in the house to the shop. But that's not really feasible, I don't spend much time there. Maybe I will just put it in the shop by the entry door. I'll figure something out. At least it saves me from running up and down stairs and all over just to figure out where things are at. It did get over 130° in the kiln today. I have more stuff to shove up there in the morning. I am not loading in the heat of the day anymore.
 So yeah, not the day I planned, but a day, none the less, things got done.
 Tomorrow is another one I guess.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today was a bit like yesterday, I thought I had a plan.
 My plan was to go finish the cant I left on the mill yesterday, re-saw one bad board, and change some 2x12 into 2x4's then clean up the slabs and junk.
 But first, I had left myself a mental note to put a new blade on and not will anything until I get the lubeMizer lubing again. So i cleaned the orifice and prefilters and got everything flowing fine, too fine in fact. I had water running down from the pump area. SO I pulled all the screws and got the danged cover off and saw that one of the check valves had split at the joint again. I had a spare from the last parts order, but it meant taking the whole pump unit down and half the hoses off/ It's a LOT of work for a basic repair. But wait, it gets better....
 I also 'noticed' the brake on the up/down motor was just hanging by it's wires out in free space as it were. The nuts on the adjusting/positioning shaft were just gone and the thing fell off. 350 hours in and still finding 'new mill issues'.
 It took me an hour to get the pump out, the valve changes, then back in. My hands are just not small enough. Next time I have to do that, I think I will replumb it a little so that the pump assembly does not have to be removed. That should be a 5 minute job. Next I took care of re-mounting the brake. I didn't want to run all the way up to the shop for a 3/8 nut and found one in the junk in the bottom of my tool box.  All fixed up, covers back on and I finally got to milling out that cant. Got everything cleaned up and home by 3. need some longer logs for the next part, 17-19 feet plus.
 I still managed to make my shirt pretty wet today even if I was goofing off.

[Old Greenhorn]

Routine few lazy days, rain in the afternoons most days keeping things moist, but pretty nice days in general. I checked out a market in front of a brick and mortar shop in Woodstock, the location is pretty good. Made arrangements to do that this Saturday, the only one I have open for several weeks. The shop does consignments but take 40% so I will think on that some more. I'm having a hard time selling a $450. bench for $270.. But we'll see how that whole thing goes on Saturday.
 The front that came through and dumped a lot of rain in a short time yesterday blipped out our electric, but also took out the internet. Making the story shorter I spent 4 hours swapping cables, checking devices, changing parameters and one particularly long 40 minutes on the phone with a smart-ashed know it all techno kid at my ISP trying to get him to reset my connection from the server end which he repeatedly told me would not help, but magically fixed half my problem when I finally convinced him, in my best PO'd grumpy old man voice, to do. Jackass kid kept telling me what he thought : "I don't think that will change anything" and "I think it's probably your equipment, not ours". I told him I didn't care what he 'thought' I cared what he did to help me get this fixed, so do something from your end, not writing a service ticket is not doing something, do YOUR job. The other half of the issue is I think my router got fubared by the power blip. So I ordered a replacement WIFI router (2 actually) and have things working as is for now with some temp hookups. I HATE when those things happen, they kill so many hours.
 This weather has been SO nice, that I kind of goofed off again today, worked on a little free project in the shop, did some chores to get the trailer ready for Saturday, then mowed the lawn, which took 'a while'.
 Whether I like it or not, things will get real busy for the next 8 weeks or so: Family reunion, grey fox, pig roast, Boonville, Bill's annual party, and The hoot all coming in rapid order and most requiring travel, packing, and prep work. So I have to get my butt in gear and get rolling on all this prep work. I think I also have a show stuck in there someplace. Then 2 more major (for me) shows planned in the first half of September.
 And, of course, my son just called minutes ago asking for help, assistance, and advice on a 'simple' hazard tree removal job  at one of his clients.
 I still have milling work to catch up on too.
 No rest for the weary who are also lazy.

[Old Greenhorn]

I seem to be building up a string of those "I thought I knew what I was gonna do today" days lately. My plan today was to get to the the mil, cut some 1x10x20' until I ran out of sweat, then go look at a hazard tree job for my son, then get some shop work done. The weather has been holding well and only hit a high of 85 today. I got the first log done, but could not get the mill chain saw started for love or money. It's a 550 and been acting quirky lately (Paging Dr. @Spike60 , heads up), I tried the old husky 110v electric stowed there and that couldn't cut through a toilet paper roll and I was not gonna try to fix that either. So I decided to leave the slabs for tomorrow when I bring my own 350 down and zip them up. I took the dust collector hose off the chute on the head and started cleaning up the mill and around the blower and stuff and apparently sucked up a rock, which impacted the impeller and all heck broke loose, the thing was making all kinds of noise and dancing all around. So I shut it down, pulled off the inlet and could see the impeller was messed up. Disconnected the output side and threw the whole blower in the truck. Closed up the mill and left the whole mess, which I hate to do.
 I headed out, ran into Bill and told about all the joys of my day, so far.  Then I went and looked at the tree job. It was a clear and definite 'walk away' job. They 'just' wanted the broken branch cut from the tree and leave the main stem as is, but the broken branch, actually a split fork leader is half the tree and being hickory is split all to heck. Taking that off will open a wound that goes halfway through the trunk for about 5-6' of height. The tree is a goner. It's about 20"DBH and 75' tall with power drops to houses passing within 12' of the trunk. No way I am touching it. The whole tree needs to come down and it's a bucket truck job for a 75' truck or a crane job. I called my son and explained my judgement and reasoning and what I thought was the best course for the property owner. He has a bonded tree guy he will call for a quote to do it right.
 So back to the shop and disassemble the entire blower to get the impeller out, always fun. Fortunately I lucked out and the blades are formed Sheetmetal, not cast, and I could straighten them. I did it all by eye and feel and did not get out the indicators and balance ways. It's just a blower, direct drive. I stuck the impeller back in after chinking out all the caked up sawdust and junk that had built up. I tested it without the cover on and it vibrated a bit but nothing like before, just a little. It's very workable, so I put all the parts back on, threw it in the truck along with one of my saws and some large wrenches and headed back to the mill. I ran into Bill again and gave him an update. He said "well I'm glad you broke it and not me". I said "I didn't break it, it broke while I was using it, but at least when I have something break, I fix it."  ( I know this is Bill's sore spot, his guys will break something and not be able or interested in fixing it. Sometimes they don't even tell him it's broke and he spends his Sunday's trying to fix stuff for the following week.) So I don't do that. I fix it, if I need parts, I tell him and order them or give him the part numbers. He asked why I came back late today and I just said "I don't like it when stuff is broke, I don't sleep as well as I do when it's all ready to go the next day, so I wanted it finished off today.'  He just smiled and said he would be down later to give me a hand.
 I put the blower back inline, tested it and sucked all the dust off the mill and cleaned it. I gave it a blow job with the electric hand blower too, I haven't done that in a while to clean out the corners and blow out the radiator fins. I cleaned out the screen on the lube jug and re-filled that. I'm using 3 glugs of pine-sol in the jug this year and it seems to be helping. Then I cut up slabs and Bill showed up and stacked slabs in the rack as I cut. He also worked a bit on the 550 and got that running, but he had to work at it with young man's shoulders. We'll see if it starts for an old man tomorrow.   (But I will have my 350.) I won't work with a saw that won't start until my shoulder is aching. I adjusted the moveable blade guide roller system which was a little loose and the blade guide has been creeping in as I cut down the log, very annoying, actually REALLY annoying, so I had the wrenches this time and think I have that fixed. I might have to take a day soon and do a full blade alignment again. Pull all the covers, get out the BGAT and work through all the step form the beginning. But I have one more log to get through first and not much time in the next several weeks.
 Anyway, it's all good to go for tomorrow, so no worries. I was tired tonight and fell asleep in my chair before dinner..... hard. That's unusual, a catnap yeah, but a hard sleep for 45 minutes is not normal. Maybe because I was wide awake at 5am and at my desk which is a bit earlier than normal added to it, who knows? Who cares?  One more long log tomorrow should finish off the current order, I think.
 But tomorrow is another day, I'll worry about it then.

[Nebraska]

I need to look at a different small saw how do you like that 350?  

[Old Greenhorn]

Oh Geez Pat, I love that thing. I had one I snatched from a dumpster and did almost no work on it to get it running and it was great. Somehow my son 'borrowed it' and I only now see it in the back of this truck. I am waiting to get that one back when it dies on him again. In the meantime an old scouting friend had another 'dead one' he sold me for 20 bucks. I put a P&C on it and it runs like a top. It's light, handy, and starts easy every time. I feel like its a free saw and for cutting slabs, smaller firewood and stuff like that, its the saw I grab first. It's my second saw when I am dropping mushroom log trees because I never o out with just one saw. Sometimes it's the main saw all day. Yes, I love that saw and would get another if I come across it. It is a 'borderline' pro saw, has an adjustable oiler and other features vary by some of the model changes like the decomp valve and primer button. But yeah, available as used and if you search enough or get lucky, they are cheap because they are not new and usually need just a little simple work. Parts are really easy to find. Just a nice small 50cc saw. For reference I also run a 450 and a 562, and rarely pull out the 372.

[thecfarm]

Just a nice small 50cc saw. For reference I also run a 450 and a 562, and rarely pull out the 372

I think I have the same small saw, as I call it. I have a 450 and a 372. Use the 372 very little now. In fact, the big saw is going to the saw Doc. I just used it to cut a 30 inch EWP. Did not run good at all. The small saw could of done it quicker.
That small saw is so much easier on shoulder.
Kinda like the big weed wacker I had years ago. 
Yes, it could do the job faster, but it would wear me out. And I was in my 20's then. I could use a small weed wacker for hours and have no problems. 

[aigheadish]

Pardon the ignorance... The 372 is a beefy saw right? I need to eventually look at something bigger than my husq 455 for alaskan milling. The 16" or so clearance on the 455 is not nearly enough for most of the stuff I have laying about. 

[Nebraska]

 @aigheadish ....::The 372 is the the best saw ever!!!  Ok not to start a saw war and totally hijack Tom's thread  I would say it's a 72 cc saw that is at the bottom of what I would consider using to csm. (It's what I tried)
I need a Swiss Army knife chainsaw...  I want a smaller lighter general purpose saw that too is easier on the arms and shoulders. It will live down with the sawmill.. I wondered about a 345xp, I had a stihl 211 c for a while. It didn't hold up super well. 

[doc henderson]

a 261 is my mill saw, and back it up with a 046 mag.  Stihl.  I have to think about it if I need the 880.

[Old Greenhorn]

You can't hijack a thread that has no point.
What Nebraska said Austin. For CSM I would look for a 90cc.
 My 450 is a nice saw and I used to do everything with it, but that 350 is a bit lighter and I hung an 18" bar on it. The 450 has a 20, and the 562 has a (light) 24. Variety is the spice of life. That 372 gets heavier every year and the 562 has stepped up well into the bigger cutting jobs to a point that I have not felt the need to start the 372 in a long while.
 As for mill saws, those are only used for hacking up slabs and doing a little trim bucking and bibbying work, trimming flares around the mill, not for CSM'ing. 
 Most important to me is that whatever I use, it starts easy. If I have to fight to start it, it's done. Ain't got no time for that. 50cc saws are scarce around Bill's place. He really only goes down to the 562, then jumps to battery saws, but this 550 has been hanging around the mill and he has been letting it live there so I used it to save bringing another thing down all the time. The last few sessions it has been getting increasingly finicky to start, so I quit on it and went back to my old second hand 350 which is as dependable as a good old farm dog. I wouldn't mind stumbling into another one. It was a bit of a unique saw in the Husky line back in it's day.

[Larry]

I bought the 350 25 years ago for a backup or limbing saw. Plus I had a half off coupon. It came with a 18" bar from the dealer but I didn't think it would pull it effectively so traded for a 16". Still feel that way.

It doesn't bring a smile to my face when using like the Pro XP's do. On the bright side it is the most reliable saw I've ever had. The first and only breakdown was last year when the muffler bolts vibrated out. Fixed with loctite and lock washers. I do not regret my purchase one bit.

I grab the 350 a lot more often than than my new 572XP. I think my age effects that decision a lot......

[aigheadish]

I've heard elsewhere that the 372 was a good saw. Thanks guys! I don't know if my wallet is thick enough for a 72cc or a 90cc as Tom mentions (edit- I barfed in my mouth a bit at the price of a 372xp! My hobbies are rarely that expensive that quickly). D'oh, I thought the 372 was a Stihl saw, but research shows it is not!

Starting is what caused me to get the 455. I used my FIL's small Stihl to do some felling learning on and I'd get very frustrated trying to start it. After reading on here that there is somewhat of a code to starting them I may be inclined to try again, but I don't have it in me to wrestle too much with pull cord stuff that doesn't like to start. I haven't had any issue with my Stihl weedeater though so...

[Old Greenhorn]

That 372 is a man's saw and likely the best saw that husky ever produced. I heard Husky was discontinuing it now that they have the 572 out there, but even if they are not in production, they will remain popular for a very long time. But it does get heavy carrying it around all day. Fun to run and feel it grunt in, but I prefer a saw that's a bit lighter if it will do the job at hand. The 372's remain very much in demand as a used saw too. I just saw one change hands a few weeks ago.

[aigheadish]

That 372 is a man's saw

What are you saying, Tom?

I'm kidding. If I'da known what I was doing a couple years ago I probably would have defaulted to that one, especially after forgetting to add oil to the gas on the first 455 I bought... 

[Larry]

That 372 is a man's saw

I bought a 272XP about 30 years ago. When buying logs off a landing, I usually carried the saw with me in case I wanted to buck, trim, or shorten a log. The real loggers would look over at my new saw and comment "Nice little saw ya got their boy". At that time, at least in my neck of the woods, the Stihl 066 was king of the hill and that's what real men carried! I also had one of those monsters, but it became a closet queen as soon as the 272 arrived.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I knew when I typed it that comment would bring some 'thoughts out'.  There have been comments about posting being a bit down lately, so I thought I would do my part to create interest.
 Actually, the 394 is a bigger saw and better for CSM work, very similar to the 372 but with more grunt. The 3120 is also a great epic class saw, but pricey and hard to find. 
 The whole discussion had me on the used sale sites for a while this afternoon and the sellers around here are very proud of the heavily used saws. Even non-running saws they are asking well over 100 bucks for. No deals that I saw except a 394 that had been run over but was still operable for $400. Needed at least a pull start cover assembly. The average 350 was demanding $2-300. which I think is a little nuts. It's a good saw, but not that good for a 20 year old saw. OI even saw my 450 listed for more than I bought mine for new.
 At my age I am not a big saw guy anymore unless that is the only way to go.
--------------------
Anyway, I got the one log left at the mill done and all worked good, so it went fairly fast and I got the slabs cut and racked and all cleaned up in just over an hour and was on my way out with a soaking wet shirt.  I got home and did lunch and goofed off for a little bit then decided it was about time I got ready to do firewood, so I went out and reviewed the logistics when I heard a chipper running down the road. Knowing it had to be Bill and his guys on a job I hopped in the mule and drove over. I found Andy cleaning up all the branches for the winter tree work when he ran a trench to bury her power line. So I lent him a hand until that was done, and we spread some gravel. They finished up and Bill looped into my driveway to spread some 2" stone I got  week ago. Doing it by hand is a bear, it took 2 minutes with the bucket, and since that was where he often parks his bucket/skidder, he didn't mind. The stone was to fill in the ruts from his bucket/skidder anyway. Looks good now. He left and I re-arranged my trailer and splitter by the wood/log pile. All ready for me to start working but it was hot in the sun and that was enough.
 SO a slow/lazy day all around, pretty soon I have to get in gear and start prepping for all this stuff coming up.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[Peter Drouin]

I love my H 372s. One in each hand and go.

[newoodguy78]

Nebraska I just picked up a Husky 550xp as a replacement for a 346xp that blew up. Worth looking into if that size saw is what you're after. It cuts impressively fast,light and easy to handle.

Personally I'm a 372 guy as well. Bought that 550 to have a smaller saw my son could run ,He does very well but didn't feel at all comfortable handing him a 372.

[SwampDonkey]

I like the 555 XP for firewood, not enough for milling boards. I only use a 16" bar, most of my wood is that and smaller, so no issues. 

[Spike60]

Tom, I can take a look at that 550 if need be. Bill is coming up to grab his other 2 at some point, so send it up with him. 

Probably as good a place as any to pass this along. I've noticed that saws with purge primers, which is just about all of them now, are way more likely to have fine particles make their way to the carb screen and cause running issues. It has NOTHING to do with auto-tune, which gets blamed for everything under the sun. What's happening is that the primer draws fuel with much more force than the carb does while running, so the fines get drawn in with the fuel. Problem is compounded with owners who never rinse out their tanks now and then. Husky did come out with a finer fuel filter to address this, (the blue one). But the proactive approach is really to clean your tank occasionally. Makes fuel filters last longer as well. 

That in fact was exactly the problem with Bill's 572. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I don't know what it was with the 550 and Bill really hank to wangled with it quite a bit but finally got it started and it ran a little wonky, but then he got it up to WOT and ran it through 3 cookies cuts on an 18" log and it smoothed right out. The next day (yesterday) I had zero issues starting it, in fact it was pretty easy. I have noticed on that particular saw, when it's cold you have to let it idle and warm up for a bit otherwise it dogs and stalls when you goose it. If it warms up, then there is no issue. What ever it was, it seems to have cleared....... for now.
 Funny you mention those particles working through. Ever since I started using power equipment as a kid my Dad taught me to ALWAYS wipe and clean around fuel and oil caps before you remove them. If you don't, junk can fall in the tank doing bad stuff. So it always been a strong habit, but I notice that a lot of folks don't do that. I don't know why, it just makes good sense. I know you can't keep it all out, but I always try and have been either successful or lucky up until now.