Did something dumb today.

[customsawyer]

If you're going to be dumb you gotta be tough. Don't ask how I know.

[Texas Ranger]

My old partner said we had to appease the machine gods with a blood sacrifice, a view I seem to hold since I seldom work a day without adding to my scar collection.  Or at least a band aide or three.  As I age, I find that I seem to attract sharp stuff.

[Nebraska]

Being the optimistic, overconfident adult A. D. D. type that I am, I imagined actually sawing this evening. (My med student daughter called me ADD  last night with the caveat that she was that way too) I got as far loading a log on the mill so there's that.
In getting started I needed to swap the loader bucket for the grapple, managed to pinch one of the hoses in the quick attach. Got lucky didn't ruin the hose just didn't see it aligning up, saw it right away as I picked it up and promptly set it back down. 
So next I drove up to the shop to grab two saw blades to take down with me. I can attest the Richard got them sharp. Instead of walking over and getting my gloves off of the tractor that was twenty feet away I walked straight to the blades hanging in my shop. Thought I just scratched my thumb well nope it was bleeding cut it just a little and went in to clean up and find a band aid. Of course no decent sized bandaids in the box. 

So I go back into town on a bandaid run and got behind a slow checkout at the dollar store.  That adventure killed most of the remaining daylight. So I just set the log on the mill and called it good til tomorrow. 
I wish this was the first time I had boo booed myself handling blades with no gloves but yeah somewhere back in this thread I'm pretty sure I fessed up to doing it. Slow learner I guess.  

[thecfarm]

I put 5 gallons of diesel into the tractor and off I go to do some digging, leveling and hauling dirt.
I worked on that for about a half hour.
I got off the tractor for some reason and noticed the rear tire looked wet. I thought I had a hyd leak at first. then I saw I forgot to put the fuel cap back on. My tank fill is right by the rear tire. It's about a 4 inch cap. Well, I knew that was gone. But was hoping it had fell off while going down my long driveway. No way it could be where I was. I might just as well haul off a bucket of dirt and go up the driveway to look for it. I had a pile of dirt, and I went over to it to get a load. And there was the cap!!! Right where I had just about started.  I suppose the jolted of the tractor it fell off where I started. 
Lucky this time. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today was one of those days when I might have better stayed in bed. I went down to do some milling, thinking with a full deck of logs I could make some progress, so I jumped right into it. I got rolling along pretty good then as I was finishing off a cant I realized I had not turned the blower on, which means I have a mess and a bunch of finagling to get the line cleared out. SO with the mill running I go over and flip it on, no soap. I can't hear it over the noise but I felt it, and it wasn't running. I figured maybe the breaker popped up on the hill, about a half mile drive around to reset it. So I shut the mill down and tried it again (with no muffs on) and realize it is buzzing, but not turning. OK, I have power, what's up now. SO I shut it off and try to remove the output pipe, it fights back... and wins. SO I take off the input side and dump out all the sawdust in the line. then I stick my hand in to try and turn the impeller, it turns tight, then slips loose and my forth finger gets slammed between a blade fin corner and some immoveable sheet metal projection....then jams in place. Now I am seeing stars and can't get my finger out. SO I grunt and pull and out it comes.... bleeding like a stuck pig. I tried again and found some wet sawdust had dried in the turbine and was restricting it's start up rotation. So I carefully rotated it a few times and it freed up. Hit the switch and off she went, I put the collection hose back on and now realized I had blood dripping on everything. So I went to the truck, got a bottle of water and washed off the blood, then got a bandaid out of the kit and wrapped it. It stopped the leak, but not the throbbing which lasted about 6 hours. Just put a clean bandaid on a few minutes ago and realize I have holes on both sides of the finger and it's still sore.
 So back to work. I finished off that cant, rolled up another log and made another cant. As I am flat sawing through the finished cant, I see the log start to lift off the bunks so I  think to flip it to finish it off but while I am thinking this I neglected to lift the head quite far enough before I jog back and BAMM! I blew the blade off. I thought I busted it, but I didn't. Still that blade was dull anyway, so it was lucky that Bill helped me get a fresh box of blades down about a week ago because it's precarious to get blades down from the loft 15' above the mill deck.
 So I go to pull the flat pack of blades out of the box and something doesn't look right. In fact, the box even looks smaller. I checked and these are 132" long blades. Well that won't work at all. Now I gotta shoehorn them back in the box get them back up into the loft and get another box down, by myself. I know this sounds like I am whining and making a big deal out of a simple chore, but let me 'splain. To access the 'attic' I have to climb a vertical ladder that is bolted to the rock wall on the side of the mill, that gets me to a rock shelf about 10' up, I also have to get the box of blades up there. Then you climb off the ladder and stand on a 2' wide bramble covered rock shelf to access the 5 steps up into the loft, which you need to crawl in, no headspace. So I check for the right blades 171" long and grab a box of turbo 7's. I CLEARLY mark the box of short blades so we don't do that again, and put those away. The correct box is a lot heavier than those little blades, so I work my way onto the ladder (which, by the way, is bolted close enough to the wall that there is little toe room to get a good grip on the rung) as I do so I drag the box behind me as I inch down. I got it to the tipping point about the time I got down to the first rung, then just flipped it off the edge and hoped for the best when the box hit my chest. OK, just gotta go through the wrestling routine to get the blades out of the box, hung on the wall pegs, clip the wire tie, and sneak a band out. I finally got the band on and running true and finished off the cant. I was done. I planned on more work, but I spent so much time just getting through these logs on stupid stuff that I quit for the day. All the climbing was a little tough on the legs and hemlock is not a light wood to stack.
 I vacuumed off the mill and shut it all down.
From the mill I went right to UPS to send out a shipment and that $54 charge for a 13 pound box was another slap in the face. I would have felt better if the clerk had a gun in my face as I paid. I hate passing that onto my clients. Geez. It just seemed like everything was tilted against me today. Between the jammed blower, the blown off blade, and the wrong blade size bungle I just didn't have a warm fuzzy feeling for this day.
 Tomorrow I have to sit around and wait for the burner service guy to do his annual service cleaning job. Maybe I won't screw that up?

[TimW]

Tom,
      Can you tell us to pop some popcorn before your next letter?  I gather you have been spending too much time with Howard.

I hope your finger is feeling better.   Also, I hope tomorrow is way better for you.

[Old Greenhorn]

Tim, I know you have been here quite a while, but if you have been reading any of my posts, especially on the thread I re-start every May, then you should know by now if you see my name at the top of a post, you have a decision to make before proceeding.

 My finger continues to function, so no worries there and tomorrow has to be a better and another day.

[aigheadish]

Yikes Tom, it sounds like a couple time you could have been in big trouble! Glad you are ok!

[SawyerTed]

Harry Callahan said in Magnum Force, "Man's got to know his limitations."  

https://youtu.be/uki4lrLzRaU

Remember that there is a Forestry Forum prohibition on us old guys ladder climbing!   

Things like taking a box of blades down a ladder from a loft can't be good for your back.   A $40 deer hanger hoist with triple block pulleys would make that job much safer.  Cheaper than the chiropractor or worse should you fall.   

Haven't met you yet but that's doesn't mean I don't care what happens to you - dumb thing or not.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, you're right of course. I don't normally go up in the loft at all and when I am low on blades I let Bill know and with two of us it takes just a minute for him to jump up and hand me down the box, which is what we did for the 'wrong size' box. But this time I had a half finished cant on the deck and no blades so I took my time and worked it out. No big deal but it wasn't a lot of fun either.
 We have too many other improvements needed at the mil to let this one occasional chore become a priority. If I ever have to do it again, I'll bring a rope or strap up and just lower the box down, then climb down. It would have been easier with a sloped ladder than stuck above the rock shelf but there is no room for that. That's why it is bolted into the rock face.
 Thanks for your concern.

[SawyerTed]

And the mill doesn't use more than one blade at a time, of course. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,
      Can you tell us to pop some popcorn before your next letter?  I gather you have been spending too much time with Howard.

I hope your finger is feeling better.   Also, I hope tomorrow is way better for you.

Tim,

  I always make sure to visit the toilet first just in case it is going to be a long epistle.

Harry Callahan said in Magnum Force, "Man's got to know his limitations." 

https://youtu.be/uki4lrLzRaU

Remember that there is a Forestry Forum prohibition on us old guys ladder climbing!   

Things like taking a box of blades down a ladder from a loft can't be good for your back.  A $40 deer hanger hoist with triple block pulleys would make that job much safer.  Cheaper than the chiropractor or worse should you fall. 

Haven't met you yet but that's doesn't mean I don't care what happens to you - dumb thing or not. 

Ted,

  I am sure Harry was not talking about anyone from WV as we know no limitations or people who chase fungus logs as a hobby/for beer money.

Tom,

  I am glad you survived even if you are currently among the walking wounded. I'm fixing to shove off for the PBS. I'm taking my wife so if either of us don't return you know where to tell the police to start their investigation.

  I hope and trust you have a better day today.

[Old Greenhorn]

I suppose that's true and a full box of blades last me a long time at the rate I mill.

Howard, have fun at the show, really sorry I can't make it for another year, priorities.

[Magicman]

you should know by now if you see my name at the top of a post, you have a decision to make before proceeding.

?? What are you saying Tom?? 

[TimW]

[TimW]

  What is PBS?

[beenthere]

Paul Bunyan Show I suspect

[doc henderson]

Some of Tom posts are long, and some sort of hydration and sustenance may be a good Idea.  I still remember Danny (WDH) suggested he try something he called "paragraphs".      May God rest his soul.  We all miss him.  

[TimW]

Paragraph........graphs for parents.

[TimW]

Paul Bunyan Show I suspect

Thanks BT!

[Old Greenhorn]

Lynn, I was just saying he is a big boy and should know by now what might be coming in one of my posts.
 Doc, I remember that fondly (now). Danny would chastise me, but the issue was I was putting paragraph breaks in and the forum software would remove the blank line when it posted. I finally started exaggerating and putting in two lines, that seemed to make Danny happy, as it showed up as two bank lines, but I could never get just one.
 
 There was one member who was very direct is saying my posts were too long to read and I am fine with somebody not reading them, but he doesn't need to complain about it, nobody is making him read it. It's still a free country. I haven't seen that member post in a long time now but some of his posts were getting epically long and no, I didn't read them through.

[TimW]

I'm just gonna stick to Howard's advice and all will be fine.

[Magicman]

Thankfully we are all free to rib a bit here on the FF and for the record, I knew exactly what you were saying Tom.  My comment was also a rib. 

[TimW]

Especially Howard.

[Old Greenhorn]

I know that my comment wasd too.