Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

You'll be good, just pick a Johnny cash song only 3 chords lol

Great advice, thanks! Now all I need to know is, what is a chord? ;D :D
 I am more of a single string payer (think 'hunt and peck' for the mandolin).

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today I knocked off one of those chores that has been hanging around for a while. Back in early October last year this dead ash came over and hung up good and tight on the crotch. I promised the neighbor I'd get it down and out.


 

It was just about a perfect 45° angle. I cut the stump at a compound angle to allow it to ride up and out, but also roll to the downhill side. That part worked perfect and I didn't pinch the bar at all. But when she slipped and rolled as planned she bit in pretty heavy and did not slide down on the hung end very much. As it was right off the driveway I got my truck to do the yank instead of abusing the mule. I hung a snatch block up at abut 7' on a close by tree to give some lift with the pull and because the butt had that nice angle on it, it popped out easy. It came down  quick at that point. ;D 
 I got 2 nice 12' saw logs out of it, assuming there is no cracking. one is 19" on the big end and the other is 16", the 3rd log is about 14" x 10' to the crotch. I got two of them up to the side of the driveway for easy skidding. The others I think I will yank from down below and bring around, it's easier access.


 

I also have the top branches for firewood and I'll clean them up in the next day or two. At least I got it down and up to the driveway edge with no drama or damage and it's on the ground and they can stop asking me about getting it down before the wedding. ;D
 I'm just trying to keep my mind busy before we leave. Tomorrow I have some pre-trip errands to take care of and  some other chores. It's another day, right?

[HemlockKing]

Keep on keepin on! suns out guns out! Glad to see the rain cleared lol 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I had planned an easy day getting my packing list together and making sure I didn't forget anything, it's been so long since we traveled anywhere in the last 2 years that I was worried I would forget something basic and stupid.
 But, there is the tree job across the road we are trying to get done before the wedding for safety and appearance reasons and it needed to be a bucket job. I had seen my buddy headed out yesterday with the bucket truck and texted him that if he had a short day I could help him knock this job out in an hour and he wouldn't need a ground guy (I work as cheap as it gets). Well he didn't get available until 7:30 last night and that wasn't really a good start time. Today he texted me and said if I was available he could be there around 3:30. SO there went my shower time but we went down and got it done. He had his ground guy and a chipper and with 3 of us it went quick. Hopefully now Bridezilla can cut me a little slack. ;D Earlier I had to teach my other buddy how to assemble his, um, apparatus for um, creating certain adult beverages. He's never done a run without me as the tech guy. So I lost a bunch of time out of my day, but no matter, I think we are in good shape, lets see what time we can get on the road tomorrow.
 When we were finishing up the tree work my buddy (the aborist) asked me if I would run his mill to fulfill a contract order for 2,100 linear feet of 6x6's. He just cant take the job and do it himself, so if I don't run the job, he will let it go to someone else. He doesn't have anyone else he trusts to run his mill, a 2 year old LT50. I'm a little intimidated by this machine, considering my manual mill experience. Yeah I know how to cut up a log and get decent wood, but running that machine is a different story, I don't want to mess up. I have until I get back from the pig roast to make a decision. I am thinking I will give it a shot, knowledge is power so I guess I should take the opportunity to get some new knowledge and experience. But I am still thinking on it and have set up a consult with somebody at the pig roast I know can set me straight and help me get my head in the game. If I do it, I have to jump right in because, of course, he has a deadline. :D ;D No pressure.
 But for now, the goal is just to get the Bride and me to the pig roast. Tomorrow is another day and it should be a good one. (Traffic aside)

[WV Sawmiller]

   Bridezilla -  :D :D :D

    Who is providing the logs? Are you just sawing or logging too? Who is doing the loading and off-bearing? What MHE is available and who is running it. What are you doing about the side lumber? What species wood is involved? I assume you will be running your buddy's LT50 if I read the text correctly. Are you just sawing at one central location or are you going to have to move the mill around to different log landings?

   I'm thinking if the logs average 10' each that is 210 logs if you were just boxing the heart on 10-12 inch diameter logs. For multiple 6X6's from a single log I'm thinking 5 per log but that would require something like nearly 30" SED logs. If you just sawed 30 of the smaller logs/day you'd finish in a week if someone else is providing loading and off-bearing which should be a piece of cake with an LT50. If you're doing the logging that could be quite a chore and I figure you can draw on your mushroom log experience for the amount of time and work involved. 

   Good luck but be warned - sawing with an LT50 has been found to be highly addictive. I sawed on one less than an hour one time and I still wake up in a cold sweat sometimes and I typically already saw on a hydraulic mill. Good luck.

[Old Greenhorn]

Your going to have to wait for answers on these Howard, its just a sawing job with a tail gunner and MTE, logs brought to me.
 I overslept and need to get on the road to the pig roast, if you wanna take a run up, we can talk about it at length. I gotta fly, see you on the other side.

[Nebraska]

Safe travels Tom and everyone else as well!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well the pig roast was a blast as I have well documented in other threads. We got home late Monday and I spent yesterday getting over that driver's hangover and unpacking. I was tickled that I could do that drive without pain after the 5 hour mark because I haven't been able to do that in more than 20 years. Usually the 5-6 hour mark my back starts screaming but this time, no issues at all. I thank my Chiro Doc for that, he has fixed me up well. Zero issues and I was sure that was not possible, but I was wrong.

 So today I followed up on that contract milling job. The order has been reduced to 1,700 linear feet of 6x6's. I went down and spent a couple of hours learning the mill (an LT50 Wide), controls, doo-dads and what-not. We milled up a 6x6 as we went through everything, hit a couple of nails, did a blade change, I played a lot with manipulating the log or cant with the hydraulics which are all new to me. I noticed a few things here and there that seemed out of whack and when I asked the answer was the same "I have the new parts, but just haven't had time to do it". Yeah, this is why I think he wants me down there. He knows that stuff will make me nuts and I will just fix it. ;D Everything is working fine, but some adjustments and replacements are needed (bent debarker blade, mis-alignment on the debarker a little bit and some other odds and ends and there is some kind of issue with the swing motor on the debarker that WM sent a replacement motor for with a brake). If I get through the job I will take a half day and fix all that stuff, it's really easy. We went through blade replacement (after we hit the 3rd nail) and I am comfortable with the manual operation in general. But, as a very wise man advised me just a few days ago, the Accuset2 is another thing. (MM was right ;D) That will take some time. We left it where I will go over in the morning alone and work through a few logs by myself, I figure that's a good way to figure out what I missed. Then we will hit it as a team (2 of us, maybe 3). I think I am getting an off-loader and I will have a log loader sporadically. Can't work over the weekend, they have their big annual party and we'll be there. Maybe a little on Sunday, weather permitting if I feel like it. We have about a week and a half to make the order and with a slow guy like me I am a little concerned about that. I know a good guy like MM could probably knock this out in a short day but there are so many ways to crash this rig, especially with that accuset that I am going to just have to take my time and make good wood, even if I have to do it all manual. One good thing is that he needs as many 4/4 jacket boards as I can make while bringing in the cant size and I don't really have to edge them unless I want to because he just got an edger. He needs tons of 4/4 for roof decking on his new shop extension. It's a big roof. :D

 So I guess I'll learn something about this lt50 and have access to it if I need to do some of my own logs and I might finally get some bobcat time moving logs, never done that. He also had a brand spanking new Kubota skid steer with only 100 hours on it or so. Seems a dealer dropped it off for him to try out. It has everything, hi-flow hydraulics, air conditioning, stereo, backup camera, and stuff I don't even understand. Screens and joysticks. :D
 Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Lets see what happens.

[Old Greenhorn]

Quick update: Remember the Mushroom log Schooner project? Well one of the articles I was interviewed for just hit the press. I thought it was nicely written.
Building an Alternative Supply Chain for Shiitake Mushroom Growers | Civil Eats
I am a little preplexed to hear that I have a 'gruff New York accent' but I guess that's better than running a 'board smoother'. :D
 Some of you folks know me now, be honest, do I have a 'gruff new york accent'? Really? No offense taken and I have been accused of a lot of tings, but 'gruff' is a new one for me. :D

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  Nice article. Sorry about your sore throat. :D

   I'm excited to see your LT50 contract sawing come to pass. One feature I saw on the LT50/Accuset I could see being useful is the blade up. I envision if I were sawing I'd drop the blade to my first face to get my 6" cut (Maybe 10-11 inches or such), set the drop setting (say 1-1/8" for 1" side lumber) then hit blade up till I figured I had as small a board as I'd want to keep, saw then just hit blade down till I got to my original mark, rotate 180 degrees, start on my 6" mark then come up till I found my starting point, saw, drop, saw, drop, etc. till I hit the 6" mark, rotate 90 degrees and repeat the whole process. There may be an easier way but without knowing it I'd start there. Good luck. Keep us posted on the progress.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah um, no sore throat here, just somebodies perception. Maybe that's his perception of a slightly backwoods accent, I have no idea. But I did ask him about that comment a few minutes ago, lets see what he says. :D

 Yeah, that accuset thing, for the moment, appears to me to have been the work of the devil and a well meaning but un-named co-conspirator. ;D. It will do things you didn't anticipate fast enough, and it will do them quickly. Yeah, blade up is nice, but don't hit blade down until you clear the log or very bad things will happen. That's why the debarker blade was bent and the right blade guide and arm had been ripped off during the owners learning curve.
 So I am going to break this into two parts. Learn to operate the mill manually using all the hydraulics first and just the 4/4 presets on the accuset (every time you hit blade down, it goes 4/4 plus kerf). Getting used to the toe boards (and putting the dang things back down) working the clamp to flip the cant, separate the filtches, then collect them again for edging, dealing with the drag back, and all that stuff will be tough enough to get 'adequate' at. Then when I have that nailed, if I haven't finished the job, I will start looking into the accuset. 50 years of running all different kinds of computerized machines has taught me the best way is to get the basics nailed before you move on to the fancy stuff. Too many guys skip the fundamentals to rush into the bells and whistles stuff. I can't learn that way, its just me.
 I am almost sure I am going to have a boo-boo at some point and I am just trying to put it off for as long as possible. When I sat down with Lynn to talk this through on Saturday he offered me some thoughts here and there but mostly he said "you can handle this, you will do fine" but then he added "now that accuset2, well for that you are on your own". I didn't know what that meant at the time, but now I am getting an idea. :D
 Hey, it's a little adventure and tomorrow is another day, right?

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Its all like learning to drive a stick shift up hill and making a left turn at the same time. It seems overwhelming at first then it all becomes second nature and automatic.

[HemlockKing]

Take pride in your accent Tom! We got interesting sounding accents in NS too lol 

[Tacotodd]

Tom, you've got a lot less pronounced NewYork accent than my southern accent I'm sure. Go with it, I had absolutely NO problems with understanding anything that you said to me when I met you at the PR. Besides, if people don't like it, sucks to be them!!!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, but the thing is...I don't have an accent! DO I? Well maybe, I dunno. I just never thought I had one. Maybe I have to get used to that idea now?
 I mentioned that statement to the writer and he wrote back and apologized saying he intended it to be an endearing comment and would change it if I wanted. I told him to leave it as written, no harm done and a good chuckle. But really, the definition of 'Gruff"
Definition of gruff
 (Entry 1 of 2)
1: rough, brusque, or stern in manner, speech, or aspecta gruff reply

2: being deep and harsh : HOARSEa gruff voice
  It just surprised me is all. I thought I was rather jovial and friendly during the interview. I guess he was trying to paint a picture that I was some typical roughened up logger. I am neither roughened up, nor a real logger, but I guess it makes good press. Just like a board smoother. :D

[doc henderson]

for the record, everyone has an accent except for people from Kansas.  (middle of the country, all averaged out).  I had one for a while when I lived in NY.  coffee, and Albany, had different prolonged vowel sounds.  I think @Magicman  and dear Miss Pat, had a little accent, but not as bad.. I mean as good as yours.   :D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Its probably just a carryover from Great Grandpa Eric. :D

   I am sure glad I ain't never had no accent nor nothin.

Doc,

   Festus used to talk normal till he got to Dodge City. 'Nuff said!

[HemlockKing]

West Virginia? No way you don't have some kind accent lol my least favourite accents are the french mixed accents probably(sorry maritime acadians lol ) it sounds sort of like they're drunk and slurring words together 

[WV Sawmiller]

HK,

  Remember I was not raised in WV - I was nearly 40 y/o when we moved here and of course in N. Florida we had no accent.

  My most difficult accent to follow were the Scots and Welch and some of the Irish with that heavy brogue.

  In Norway I don't know if it was just the language or the accents of the people there so I understand Tom having some difficulties to overcome. :D Remember the Sykhus (Sick house) is the hospital, Radhus (red house) is the courthouse equivalent, and parkering is parking.  ???

[Tacotodd]

Tom, im bad about not detecting minor  'merican accents. It's the influence of other languages that make it hard for ME to understand. Like my sociology prof said (WVSawmiller) plain midwestern vanilla is easy to understand (and kinda boring) but I had ZERO problems understanding you. I thought that you were great to talk to. No accent detected really. It's usually mine that people have a problem with. But it's like I said when I posted to you earlier, it their problem, not mine. I try to speak clearly, but I grew up around a very hard of hearing father, so I don't mind repeating myself. And folks, remember to just slow down and take the time necessary to speak clearly, there is no need for increasing the volume (mostly 🤦🏻)! I dealt with so many customers in my day in the automotive parts world that I just take it in stride and never notice much of it anyway. Keep on keeping on!!!

[terrifictimbersllc]

  Its probably just a carryover from Great Grandpa Eric. :D

  I am sure glad I ain't never had no accent nor nothin.

Doc,

  Festus used to talk normal till he got to Dodge City. 'Nuff said!

Now lissen here Matthew Howard...

[Tacotodd]

Hehehe

[aigheadish]

That article was cool OGH! I read the "gruff" as the article writer calling you a "real man!" 

I like the idea of that organization tracking the logs and mushroom growth all over the city to see how it goes. I'm not a great data analyst but it'd be neat to see all the comparative growing methods and their results. 

I'll also contend, though I've never been in the log seller or mushroom growing market, that even 5 buck logs aren't your selling point. The article claimed 12-20 bucks a pound for those mushrooms, but with the story that goes with them they should be selling to high-end grocers for more. 6 bucks, for all the work you did, still seems cheap. I'd be curious if you could talk some of those city slicker, weekend warriors that you've mentioned invading your neighborhood into interning with you, in trade for some knowledge of how to safely navigate the woods and felling trees. It seems like, as time goes on, we'll have more and more people moving to mini-farms that could really use a lot of that kind of info and while maybe the number of participants wouldn't be super high, with your credentials, I'd bet you can find a few skinny hipsters who want to bulk up, naturally. If you can't beat them join 'em (or get them to join you, and teach them properly how to do things!)

[Old Greenhorn]

That article was cool OGH! I read the "gruff" as the article writer calling you a "real man!"

Oh good lord, I am glad he didn't use that term. I know real men, and I ain't what I would consider one of them. I just keep trying. Yeah, he mighta coulda thunk on that one a bit more, but whatever. At least he didn't mis-quote me. I used to get mis-quoted all the time when I spoke at public hearings and such, so I took to printing out my remarks and bringing copies to hand to the press. Problem solved AND they wound up printing a lot more of my message as a result.
 But, I still maintain that I have no accent. ;D On the subject of difficult accents to understand, for me, it would be the deep Scottish accent and also the heavy downeast (Mainer) accent. That's a lot of work for me. :D 
-----
Today I went back down to my friends mill after waiting out some morning sprinkles and got 3 hours of quiet time alone to work things out in my head at a slow pace so maybe I can 'get it'. There were 3 logs queued up and I had a rocky start. Seems I did not have a sure enough hand on that forward feed and it stopped 18" short of the end. Turned out I just had to up the feedrate pot a little, but I didn't figure that out and wasted time backing out, checking everything for obstructions, and generally second guessing myself to death. I tried moving the log closer up to the head which was stupid, then had to mess around with rotating it to realign to the original cut and go a little lower. When I figured out that the feedrate pot was touchy, that problem went away. Then I could not get the debarker running and finally gave up trying. No, I did not check the breaker, I forgot that detail. Dang it.
 Anyway I worked through that log and took a bunch of 4/4 off it and the final 6x6 was really nice with a centered pith. I spent a lot of time working out the controls in my head trying to get to where I don't need to look at which joystick is which. I am getting there but it's slow. I quickly gave up on the drag back, opting to pull the boards by hand. I had some issues with the accuset presets but that was all operator error and I think I have it figured out now. I am deathly afraid of crashing this mill and breaking something, so I would prefer to do some stuff the slow way until I can get my questions answered. I need to discover what I don't know, then get those questions answered and move forward. Now that I am working with hydraulic toe boards I need to remember to keep the dang things DOWN when not in use, that caught my once, but I* only had to take a LOOOONG wedge out about 0- 3/8 thick. Still they seem to creep up on their own sometimes. ;D ;D
 SO I did 3 logs in about 3 hours. The goal was to learn, not to produce. I think I made some headway and I have a tiny glimmer of minor confidence in the basics. I will add more as I go.
 There are some things I would change about the setup, but that can come down the road a bit. The slabs are in a bad spot and I need some better bunks for flat stacking. But it's a little tight in there. Sawdust is an issue also and we have to get some of that taken out. Here's the general setup I am working with:


 
You can see on the right side of the mill the sawdust hits to rock face wall and has no place to go. It's probably 5' tall and sloped into the side of the mill.  It is a nice setup up overall with a roof covering, but the sun is on my back after about noon. You can also see logs piles everywhere.


 
So I finished up my practice logs by noon or a little later and the heat index was pretty high. As I was leaving, 'the boss' was coming in to check on me, so I had to back up 300' so we could pass each other. He saw I got those logs done and asked "so what are you doing now?" I didn't think, and I said, 'well until I have more logs, I guess nothing'. He says he is on his way out to woodland valley to do a 'quick' emergency septic repair, did I want to come and give him a hand. Without thinking I said, "sure, why not?" (I did something dumb today) SO I dropped my truck at my house and he picked me up when he went by. He had some pipe and the mini-mini-excavator on the trailer. We stopped to get a sandwich and some fittings along the 1/2 hour drive. I found out this plumber was called in to clear the line and he hit a hard block. Something wrong with the pipe, maybe a collapse. We get there, no homeowner and no plumber. Pretty sure we had the right house when we found the open septic tank. But we had to figure it out. Well whoever put in that tank liked to use 45's... a lot. The house was built on dry laid stone, about 12" off the ground and we can barely figure out where the pipe comes out (the vent, it turned out, as 10' from where the pipe exited the 'foundation') so we did some exploratory holes and finally got the line and traced it to the wall then uncovered and found that where the original clay pipe was joined to the newer PVC pipe, it has settled in and pulled apart (no fill under the pipe, leaving a gap). It was a cluster of joints and fernco fittings and short pieces of every thing. So we ripped it all out, checked the pitch because it looked funky, but turned out to be good. We redid it all with proper fittings and joints and added a cleanout. We flushed it and checked the flow, all good. So we covered it up, put all the garden hoses back in order we had to remove (wow, lots of hose to water their lawn!)  which was complicated with some kind of automated timer thingy. Loaded up the tools and got back on the road. 3 hours baking in the sun on a 96° day. Not what I had planned for today. :D


 
 I was supposed to help my buddy go pickup his 3 half kegs of beer for his big party this weekend, but after he dropped me off and got home he had another client call and he is off to look at their 'emergency' before he heads to the beer dock and other errands. I told him I would tap the kegs for him tomorrow night after he gets all the lines sanitized and the kegs have calmed down. ;D Hey that's what friends do right? They help each other out and he needs to know I am here for him. :D (Gruff though I might be.)
 I still have no idea how I went from being a contract sawyer to septic guy in the space of a few hours.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   I was waiting for the punchline where at the end of the drain repair/renovation you were going to tell us it was the wrong house. : Kind of like digging out the wrong car after a bad snowstorm. :D Anyway i am glad you guys got it all fixed.

   Sounds like you made a good start on the sawmilling and learning about the new machine. You may bend it a little but it will be hard to break. I don't know what you will come up with on the set up mods. Maybe you can borrow Brandi's huge fan and stay cool and blow that excess sawdust out at the the same time. ;D I can't comment on the dragback as I have never used one. Did you use the toeboards and push them off the end? I did that last week cutting big posts and beams and when we were doing the cabin job. I wish I'd insisted on doing more. I lifted the cabin logs as high as possible on the toeboards and the customer slid the forks under, lifted and removed them but she missed and stretched my chain a time or two which I am sure is contributing to my current power feed problem. Anyway, like your job, I was learning a new technique and next time will be different.

Todd,

   Your comments reminded me of all the times I saw American's speaking to other nationalities who did not speak English. When they realized this they would speak louder and slower. Unfortunately that still did not teach the listener English and they still could not understand. :D You can speak Japanese or Urdu to me as loud and as slowly as you like and I an still not going to understand either. :D But it is funny to sit back and watch.