Sawing Full Time

[WDH]

You never fail to surprise me, John Frank.  

[Deese]

It's been a busy year. I wonder how many miles I've walked inside this barn. It's time for a golf cart. My feet hurt. 

 

[Crossroads]

I like your setup and glad you're doing well. 

[WDH]

That boy is a go-getter.  

[Deese]

One of the reasons there have been so many successful immigrant entrepreneurs throughout our country's history is because of fear. They had nothing to fall back on. There is absolutely nothing more powerful than a man motivated by fear. Nothing. 

[Andries]

Agreed, Deese.
Fear does wonders to kickstart all of us into a 'fight or flight' high energy. 
However, that adrenalin is hot stuff and if it goes on for too long, people burn out.
The transition to the next long term motivator is key. They can be any of the following:
* Pride in workmanship or trade.
* Competition - beating out your competitor.
* Money. . . for your self and family. 
* Teamwork - building something larger than one man band.
* the list is endless.
.
My point is, start with the sprint, then shift gears to the marathon. 
.
And, btw, it looks like you could run a marathon in that lil' shed of yours. Nice!

[Resonator]

An old excavator operator told me years back: "It's a pace, not a race." Keep moving, but not so hard as to burn yourself out. And make sure to stop a moment and enjoy each day you have, what you have, and what is most important. 

[customsawyer]

I just call that "eating out of the bowl of have to soup."

[Deese]

The snakes are really moving here. I saw another large rat snake last night while moving logs with skidsteer and just now killed this cottonmouth with my shovel. Less than 10 steps away from the mill. They are just plain nasty and mean. 

 

[Nebraska]

Nice to see you posting here, enjoyed your thread ....Glad that snakes a good snake now.

[Southside]

My cows absolutely destroyed a copperhead last week. I was moving temporary paddock fence and there he was, hooved to pieces. Nobody seemed hurt. Funny how they know, never seen them harm a black snake. 

[Deese]

Scaled things back the past few months and now back at it full time. Unstacking, edging, and deadstacking. Mainly 16' lengths. Did those yesterday. Sawing 20' beams, 2x6's and 1x12's next week. Yeehaw. 


 

[Deese]

I couldn't produce lumber this nice before the edger. 


 

[Magicman]

Good for you my friend !!! 

[WDH]

Edgers are game changers. 

[flatrock58]

Looking good Deese!

[DWyatt]

I for one am glad to see you posting again. The step into full-time sawing and more importantly business ownership is ballsy. Since purchasing the engineering/surveying company that I now own, I am continuously learning and I hope the same for you. As I tell everyone that takes the step you did back in 2019, I hope you enjoy every day and make obscene amounts of money, because you deserve it.

[Deese]

Got some nice pine logs coming in. 2 more loads coming tomorrow. 

 

 

14--4x12x18's are up next. This log illustrates what CustomSawyer has taught me over the years. When centering the pith, don't focus solely on pith location at each end of the log. Instead, use the cathedral grain pattern as your guide. Here you can see I've contained the pith in the center beam for the first 15'-16', and then it rises sharply upward. I've started practicing by measuring the cathedral grain at several points along the length of the cant and writing it with a lumber crayon. 


 


 

The pith rises into the top beam in the last 4' of the beam. It isn't ideal, but is the best option in this scenario. You can also see how the log was positioned so that any stress would be relieved as bow, not crook. 

[Deese]

The top beam appears to show crook, but that's just where I slid it over so that the camera would show where the cuts were made corresponding with the cathedral grain. 

[Andries]

Nice work Deese, looks good.
I was jealous of the gigantic sawmill shed . . . until you posted the picture of the cottonmouth.   :D ;) :D

[customsawyer]

You're doing fine there whippersnapper.

[Deese]

Sawing some daggum hogs this morning. 
This one was 2 logs ago, squared out to be roughly 12x16x18 clear southern yellow pine. 


 
And should get 5 beams out of this one I just loaded. 


 

[Deese]

Hey Jeff, notice anything new? 
I appreciate the stickers 👍

[caveman]

Looking good, JFD.  Those look like nice (loblolly?) logs.  You seem to be working smarter by using your toe boards to raise them and hopefully handle with your skid steer.  That one butt log looked like it was lightning struck or got some other injury somewhere along the line.  You have a lot of folks pulling for you and who enjoy seeing you have success.

[Deese]

73--1x12x16' & 18's in ~4 hours. The Kubota did not like that lower bundle. Tight grain and very heavy lumber.