Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I only worked a half day today because I need to get home and ready the shop for teaching the teacher tomorrow. I felt bad not getting it done. I had overslept this morning and had to skip breakfast and only just got there at 7:45. My tailgunner was already there cleaning up and raking out sawdust. I like this kid. My brain wasn't working as well as I would like, I don't know why, I was just 'off'. But we gave it a good shot and were rolling along until those dang toe boards, which I thought I was finally getting used to checking 'all' the time, jumped up when I wasn't looking and I lost 3 out of 4 6x6's from one cant. We put those on the side and he may sell em anyway, but they didn't meet my grade.
 We got about 270 linear feet done (810 BF) which seems good for me in 5 hours. It was hot. I smashed a finger twice, once was my own dang fault and the other time I had help. ;D  Then I slipped in the mud and went down right in it and was covered. That's why they call them 'work pants'. I am going to have to hang them on the fence and hose em off. Full of mud and gravel still.  Didn't even wear them into the house.
 SO the tally at this point looks like just about 1,000 feet, which leaves 300 for him to finish up today and tomorrow. Very do-able for him. I am sure he will load bigger logs for himself and get 4 per log.
 Time to change gears.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Four per log scares me because that sounds like you are planning on splitting the pith. Is that the case? I did that for a customer with a campground who was using them for timber framing and told me he did not care how much they curved so I sawed him a demo and sure enough it just about crawled off the mill by itself but the customer saw it and said it was fine for his purposes so I sawed the rest like that for him. I prefer one or 5 or sometimes 3 if the log is too oval shaped. 

[Old Greenhorn]

One log I got 6 off of. The client is using these for bunking under some kind of heavy equipment or some other big delivery he is getting. Doesn't really care. one he unpcks and sets the equiment he will get rid of these timbers. I pointed that out and explained my attack on a log to the 'boss' but he said 'send it, it doesn't matter, they're just bunking'. "OK". Wane is pretty much the same thing. I do what the boss man tells me.
 The boss never did come back "in an hour" like he said and when he left at 10 and no milling got done after I left. I ran into him at a yard sale (3 hours later) when I went out to the store (got m'self a nice pair of STIHL suspenders!) and he is talking about me finishing up the order on Monday now. I am concerned about all this rain they say is coming. That mill area is going to be a mess, there are already 6" deep puddles in front of the deck and the mud is 4" deep where we are stacking product (up on slabs). If it were me, I would have hammered it out today, tonight, and tomorrow morning and be done. But I don't have the time right now.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I spent the day teaching the teacher yesterday. I think it went well. I'll be curious to see how his class goes. A little concerning that he never had hands on any of the inspection tools or surface plate. He wanted to borrow my stuff for his class, but I declined. ;D "In this world there are two things dear to life, a man's tools and a man's wife. You don't ask to borrow my tools, and I won't ask to borrow your wife." :D
It was an easy 400 bucks.
After he left I called the boss to see if he had worked at the mill which I strongly suggested given the rain coming in. He had, and was just finished with the order before the rain got heavy. He picked me up when he went by and I took a ride with him to deliver the balance down at the power plant. Impressive operation. It started raining hard on the way back and he asked the wife and I to join his family for dinner. So he dropped me off and I grabbed the wife and an empty growler and we went on down. We had great pork kabob dinner with corn and a lovely evening shooting the breeze and got home fairly late (with a full growler to go :D).
I slept in this morning after a long week. It rained steady all night and through the morning. We have around 4" total from the storm so far. Today is house cleaning day. My buddy is driving up from Kentucky for this weekend's music fest. He'll be staying with us for a few nights until we both move over to the site for the weekend. Wednesday we'll kick around a bit and check in at the site at some point. Thursday a little more work there, then Friday we move over for the duration. I should get the lawn mowed this week, assuming it dries up. We have the wedding the following weekend.
Back to cleaning.

[Tacotodd]

If it's house cleaning then it's usually LESS than fun. If you are cleaning your equipment, then you can see the positive outcome that it will have on your work, because you've been there before!   
Either way  smiley_big_grin3

[Old Greenhorn]

 Yeah, it was house cleaning but we were (over)due anyway. We got it done an hour or so before my friend Jerry arrived from KY. We had a great time catching up and visiting. It's been 2 longs years and we were working our first festival together for just as long. He does sound lighting, camera work or whatever and I sit around and take care of whatever boo-boos happen during the event. We both help with setup and teardown of whatever else happens Jerry plays good bass and a pretty good 12 string after hours.  
 Jerry moved over to the site full time on Thursday and I went over on Friday for the duration. Nice event, family centric with lots of little kids running around and some good music all weekend. Considering all the changes we had to make for COVID concerns, it came off pretty well. The crowd was slightly smaller, but not a lot. Instead of the two stages we normally use with full sound and lighting on both, we went to one and did a single mic setup. It was a little challenging for the performers to adjust their set lists but they all seemed to enjoy the opportunity for 'something different for a change'. I enjoyed watching how the artists dealt with it. It's not easy if you are not practiced.
 Anyway, it was an easy weekend with a lot of sweat as usual. We had no serious medical stuff to deal with and I only had 3 or 4 patients I did follow up work with to see how they were doing. All was well. Shut down was the usual mass of work bouncing from one thing to the next. I finally ran out of steam around 8pm and headed home. Jerry had left the site at 6am and I got a text that he arrived home just before I got home, so 14 hours on the road for him.
 It was kind of nice that I didn't have to empty the truck and get to work today because I am retired. 8)  SO I spent some time catching up with the wife then went to bed to try and get back some of the sleep I lost over the weekend. Today I lounged around and put the gear away, also nice.
 Now a change of pace and I begin getting the yard ready for the wedding next weekend. They hired a parking guy (whom I know) to work with me and I talked with him at the festival over the weekend about the arrangements. Tomorrow I will go out and put my survey marks down where I will mark the parking spots with surveyors paint, we will cut the lawn one more time, then lay down some lines. I can easily get 40 cars in here so they can each leave when they want. Then I have to go in over flow mode. Only needed that once. For this wedding I also need a bus parking spot for unloading and turn around. That's new, but I have a plan. ;D
 In between the prep work I have some log and milling business to follow up on. I got some calls during the festival I need to return. In the meantime, the work backs up. I am so far behind that I am starting to feel poorly about it. I am not sure how I can find time to make it right with a lot of folks. This balance thing is a continuous challenge. Keeping everyone happy is not easy to do.
 But tomorrow is another day.

[Old Greenhorn]

I seem to be back into lazy mode while I get back on a normal schedule after the festival. Forgot to mention in the previous post when I was over at the festival they pointed out some benches they had made from the lumber I milled for them 2 years ago.




(Ash, which they (shamelessly) augmented with box store doug fir for some reason.)
 

Tuesday I (we) did get the lawns re-cut and weed whacked a lot going back into the fringe a bit. I laid out dot marks to figure out my parking lines and get a rough number of spots I could easily put in. I came up with around 30 or so before I get into using he larger part of the lawn, so it should be easy. I spoke with the Bride/GC on this project to coordinate a little more. I also had to do some cleaning in the shop to make room to store their Porsche during the weekend (apparently there is some rule that it may not sit outside). Late in the day they sent their ATV up for storage because they needed the space for prep work in their garage (which holds 5 cars and is largely empty now). Not sure if they want the atv back for the wedding yet. I am beginning to feel like a service provider more than a helpful neighbor.
 Yesterday was the rain-out we expected (over 4"). I did some desk work then headed down to the mill around 11 because I knew the boys would be having a shop day. I wanted to get a handle on what is coming up and how much time it will take. I also wanted to follow up on that motor replacement I did on the mill. Turns out it is a mid-level revision that will likely never bee documented because they have several revisions after that. The main point I took from it was that I had done the wiring correctly. Still, I'll feel better when I run it for a few hours.
 I have 2 'orders' to mill. One is, I think, more 6x6's but longer at 16' and I still don't have a cut list. I believe it is more dunnage. The other is for his shop extension build, now approaching 3 (4?) years of piecework as time permitted. He is getting close to finish framing and decking the roof and wants it weathered in by the time the weather gets cold. Yesterday it was raining harder in that part of the shop than it was outside. ;D ;D He uses older equipment he is constantly rebuilding. Right now he has a dozer all apart in the main shop replacing the final drives. It takes up a lot of space. Gotta be able to use the big shop extension before the white 'stuff' comes. We need another 3,000 BF of 2x8, 12, and 14's in varying longer lengths. So there's a few days work there.
 Today is sunny and 57° so a good work day, I will pick up where I left off, get more of the parking line work out of the way and follow up on other stuff. Next week after the wedding is over I can put my head down and really focus on what I have to get done. The list is long and this cool weather today is putting me in more of a 'hurry mode'.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  Are the benches for the wedding? Is the 2X8 lumber for more benches? If they are for the wedding, what are they doing with them afterwards? 

   Maybe that is a new sideline - bench rental for special events. I've even thought about making a bunch for that. I have a bunch of 15' LE ash slabs just stacked up waiting for use. I could add extra legs every 4' or so in line to support the extra weight. I probably should not make them over 8-10 ft long so they would fit in the back of a pick up or midsize utility trailer

   I have a customer coming this afternoon wanting a custom built bench to put at the end of a bed. I told them to get the width they want and they can pick the slab and we can make it while they are here.

[Old Greenhorn]

No, unrelated events. Those benches are at the Ashokan center where we just had the festival this past weekend. It is their standard design they have been using for decades and they are all over the campus. The lumber I am milling is for regular construction use as noted. I am not making anything more for the wedding. The milling work is unrelated to the wedding and is a mile further down the road. You are getting my jobs confused and some days so do I. ;D 
 I like your rental bench idea but I lack any storage space for them. For you it could be a winner.

[Hilltop366]

but I lack any storage space for them

Naturally weathered benches! Of coarse the rental rate is a bit higher for those.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   That's part of the problem as I am also "storage space challenged". I'm still trying to figure how to get more vertical space and also a design for standing slabs up so they are more accessible and display better. I guess I could store about 24 in a 5'X 5' X 10' space by doubling and going 3 levels high or 32 if I went 4 levels.

[HemlockKing]

Shesh did you give up the milling/mushroom logging and get into the storage business ??? lol lol 

Just don't let em forget and really put em to work when you need help in return 

[HemlockKing]

Tom,

  That's part of the problem as I am also "storage space challenged". I'm still trying to figure how to get more vertical space and also a design for standing slabs up so they are more accessible and display better. I guess I could store about 24 in a 5'X 5' X 10' space by doubling and going 3 levels high or 32 if I went 4 levels.

Have you looked into those shelter logic garages for storing stuff? I just had to move my car into one, really weather tight, paid like 500$ CAD. Only thing I did was buy additional steel 3 ft rod to anchor it into the ground. Mine is 12x24

[WV Sawmiller]

  No but I periodically consider cutting some thin strips of wood and laminating them together to make a dome like a greenhouse.

EDIT/Add-on: Well my customers came as promised and miracles do occur. They fell in love with a simple, unfinished 4' long ash bench and bought it instead of me having to make one from scratch. Of course I already had all the tools laid out to make one and the bench was the one on the bottom. People never buy stuff off the top of the stack. : Anyway I was glad to sell the bench and especially to know it has a good home. ;D

[Old Greenhorn]

Shesh did you give up the milling/mushroom logging and get into the storage business ??? lol lol

Just don't let em forget and really put em to work when you need help in return  

No, this is just something I feel I need to do for neighbors. I can't put them to work on anything, I have tried several times. If I ask them just to come up for 5 minutes to give me simple lifting help it takes forever for them to show up and I usually just figure out another way. When they do show up I have to teach them the simplest things and worry about them getting hurt. I was running the splitter once and asked if he wanted to try it out for fun. He looked at it like it was going to eat him alive. The boy wears gloves when he goes into the woods (rarely) just in case he touches anything. Sorry, I just can't work with that but I did try at first. The one time I did get the father to help me place a beam 5 years ago, he said he couldn't walk right for a week. He is more than 15 years younger than me and they pay a personal trainer 2 - 3 times a week to 'keep them in shape'. I don't get it and I gave up trying. It's easier to do it myself, and quicker too.
 The new "Oh, by the way..." revelation last night is that I need to park the band's tour bus here. Normally no big deal but it's a 40' bus with 12'6" clearance. my phone wire running to the house is at 12' even, so I'll have to figure that out, then come up with a way to transport their equipment down to the stage which should be easy except that I am concerned about this poorly defined 'big Hammond Organ'. If it's what I think it is, I will need some help and of course they have set everything up around the stage blocking access to back my small trailer in.
 I'll be quite happy to go back down the road to the sawmill on monday. ;D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, since I ended my last post with a prediction, I am here to tell you it was accurate, I was very glad to be back at the mill this morning (normalcy). 8)
 The wedding went great, we had plenty of room for all the cars and the bus and the bus cleared the wires after I had raised them up the other day. The driver was sharp and had no issue pulling it down the driveway across the road and making a 5 point turn to flip it around and unload, they unloaded in in less that 15 minutes and he ran it back up and backed into his spot without a second glance. He was happy to have a nice, clean, easy, and secure place to put it. He reversed the process on Sunday to load out. Easy peasey.
 All the other little stuff went smooth, but kept me busy until the wedding itself started, then I could relax until around 11 when all the hired folks were packing up and heading out. I put up the preplanned lights on their long driveway then went back to the party until sometime the next morning.... ;D Sunday I laid low and cleaned up around our place a bit and put stuff away. The last cars left our lawn by 11am. I declined an offer to go mill logs Sunday. :D
 I got to the mill before 9 this morning and was surprised to find SOMEBODY had finished removing the rest of the sawdust around the mill. You could see the wall and the tire and everything.


 
I started working on the 35 2x8x17' joists he needs. Sometime during the morning these 2 guys showed up to help tailgun but they were of little help. They're kind of whimpy and have no thumbs. So I sent them packing and worked alone. I don't need any chickenshoot gals hanging around just making noise.


 

I started slow because longer logs require longer thought from me and as long as the mill was relatively clean I took the time to clean out the working parts especially the umbilical chain and track and a few other things before I started. (I found those manual stops once I cleaned the machine.) I will say those 2x8's that long are fairly heavy.
 I wound up with 19 of those 2x8's, so just over half what I need, before I ran out of logs on the deck. I am determined to keep it clean now and I found an electric handheld blower hidden in a crack in the rock wall, so I blew the whole mill off. Then I raked out all the new sawdust into a pile to be picked up with a bucket before he brings new logs. It looks even spiffier now than it did this morning.


 

I was on my way home by 2pm. Tomorrow is another day.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  Glad to see they tunneled in there and found the wheel still connected to the mill. I agree you need to keep it clean now. A good leaf blower should be a standard accessory on every sawmill.

   Glad the wedding went off without a hitch. Well, I guess without a hitch it would not be much of a wedding.

   I am sorry you ran out of logs before you finished the order. Maybe the owner will learn more about how many to leave for you in the future and you get more familiar with the mill and output increases. Some days are just faster than others anyway. Be careful hauling that heavy oak.

  Sorry about the help or lack thereof. I sawed Friday with a guy who provides the logs and helps me saw and he is the best help I have had. He had another good helper but he is now a no show. With the 2 of them I never had to touch a flitch or board or wait for a log on the arms. With just the owner helping I'd have to help him carry the big flitches and heavy (3X12's) boards but that did not take long or put a big strain on either of us. He provides the poplar logs and helps me saw them to customer's order then I buy them off him for half what I sell them for so we basically split the fee and it has been working great for both of us. The customer picks up their order there and he loads their trailer with is tractor.

  Stay safe, keep enjoying that LT50. Are you sure you can't work out a "rent to own" plan with him?

[Old Greenhorn]

Well he knows what I need for the order but he is searching and re-arranging his stacks for the right logs. This stuff is all pine. Usually he leaves me 6 or 8 on the deck which make for the majority of a day, but with all the cleanup time he spent on the mill over the weekend he could only pull me out (find) 3 logs @ 17'. Truthfully I was glad for just the 3. About the end there the sun was beating on my neck something fierce for a while and doing all the handling alone had me tired enough for the day. I left him a pile of sawdust to remove as well as a stack of slabs, then he'll bring more logs. Although the deck will handle 6-8 logs, those long 17 footers are a little unwieldy to work around and move alone. I only need 4 more to finish them, then I move to 2x12x10' 6" for another 90 pieces. Then we'll stuff the deck for those.
 Update, as I was typing this he called me, he had just stopped by the mill and may have been a little surprised that I finished up the logs and got good yield out of them, plus I cleaned everything up and tidy when I was done. As soon as he gets time to pull the dust he will give me another load of logs. He also mentioned he may have some older stuff he forgot about already milled up. So he needs to re-count. He needs to run those through the edger to bring them down to 8", so maybe we will be running that soon too. That's currently in another location just about 30' (vertically) above the mill site by the shop.
 No, I enjoy running that mill but wouldn't buy it. I am too old for expensive adventures and I don't see this point because I can already run any of my own wood or jobs through it whenever I want. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free (or very cheap)? ;D It works for both of us, he gets the work out and gets his equipment maintained properly and I get some cash, or logs, or both, however I want to work it.

[Old Greenhorn]

I have to say I am a little surprised nobody had anything to to say about the chickens that came to help. Who is it that has the chicken thing? I thought @Southside would had said something for sure at least.

[WV Sawmiller]

Maybe you need to post the fowl creatures on the food thread. :D Add grits and biscuits and gravy and even more will come. ;)

Honestly I saw the "no thumbs" comment but thought your were still just complaining about poor/lazy helpers. :

[Tacotodd]

Don't worry Tom, because all that chicken spit will take care of itself :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Honestly I saw the "no thumbs" comment but thought your were still just complaining about poor/lazy helpers. :

I am thinking you didn't have your glasses on when you looked at the photo below that comment. The chickens just showed up and started walking around, over, and under the mill when I was taking a sweat break.

[HemlockKing]

I have to say I am a little surprised nobody had anything to to say about the chickens that came to help. Who is it that has the chicken thing? I thought @Southside would had said something for sure at least.

They're hard to secure to the bed but can still be sawn lol 

[Old Greenhorn]

Nah, I don't want to saw those, the cleanup is worse than sawdust. ;D Besides, referring to my comment above about cows and milk it is the same with these chickens. Once a week or so I come home with a dozen or two eggs these guys produce. It's another excess commodity they produce and it's common when the boss checks on me late in the day as he is leaving he hollers out the truck window "Hey! Don't forget to stop at the house and pick up some eggs on your way out." They don't sell them, just raise for themselves and give away the extras, LOTS of extras.  After they had their annual party I was coming home with eggs and a growler of beer every night to help get the kegs finished off. Just doing my part to help clean up. I like to be a team player.

[Nebraska]

Yep, way to take one for the team!