Sawmill booth

[Bruno of NH]

I added a fold up desk to my sawmill booth it's ended up being my office and a place to eat lunch for me and 2 helpers . I can fold up the desk at lunch time so we can all sit in the heat during the winter months. I'm going to add more shelves and a tool box for the common tools we use for mill repair and maintenance. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jpassardi]

Lookin good - keeps things organized.

[Andries]

Thats a fine looking booth Bruno, a busy man's office and now complete with desk. 😊
I see foam insulation next to your desk and remembered/wondered if that's the booth heated with your compact diesel heater. 
Its been a while now, does that heating unit work out as well as you hoped for?

[CCCLLC]

I'm likin' that. Wifi is coming. 

[Bruno of NH]

The diesel heater works great. 
I cleaned it this fall.
Keep an extra fuel pump and glow plug on hand.
It heats great and cheap to run. Hit the remote on my way by when I head to get a coffee. Nice and warm when I get back.

[Bruno of NH]

I do have wifi lol

[CCCLLC]

Dang, that's a fine setup 

[Andries]

WiFi in the sawmill booth!
StarLink up topside, a new desk, heat and lights under the roof.
Nice, and a little 'earned comfort' never hurt a guy. 
Good on you!
I couldn't help but notice those beefy headers that are over the openings on both left and right side of your sawmill.
Is that your own design and how much of a span do they cover?
The whole building looks like it could take a 6 foot deep snow load. 👍

[Bruno of NH]

It is my own design 
They span 28' and are 28" deep
This week I'm going to tighten up the reverse king post cables.

[NaySawyer]

Bruno .. "reverse king post cables" .. missed that when l checked out the pics .. and is that steel strapping on the vertical webs connecting the top and bottom cords?  What size material are the trusses made of? .. did you ever do the math on what load they would carry?  Interesting.

[moodnacreek]

My diesel heater used to be a 318 Cat [D6 engine] Now that I am electric I'm cold. That diesel heater thing has my interest.

[Jeff]

Home sweet Home.  I spent a good share of my life in a sawbooth.

[Bruno of NH]

I get offended sometimes as some customers and visitors to the mill call me lazy because I have a booth.
I have my walking and standing health issues but still work most everyday. 
I have my operation set up so I run the mill just like one would at a large mill.
I guess that makes me lazy in some folks eyes.

[Ianab]

I guess that makes me lazy in some folks eyes.

Or working smarter not harder for us that know ;)  The folks making those comments never offer to offload for a day.... 

[Peter Drouin]

I can't say what I would say to them on here. Let it go, you are far from lazy.
I am proud to call you a friend.

[moodnacreek]

Since I got electric/hydraulic carriage and already had live log deck stop and load and turner some have said I don't work anymore, just push buttons.  More production on the log end means more work on the board end for me.

[thecfarm]

They're just mad because they don't have one.  ;D

[Ron Wenrich]

Home sweet Home.  I spent a good share of my life in a sawbooth.

Same here.

[barbender]

Bruno, if it was light hearted jest, I would just take it as such. If not, I'd tell them I was ambitious enough to accompany them to the front gate and tell them to not come back.

[Bruno of NH]

Bruno, if it was light hearted jest, I would just take it as such. If not, I'd tell them I was ambitious enough to accompany them to the front gate and tell them to not come back.

Surprisingly it was real 3 times . It shocked me as well.
I'm finding lately that folks will say anything now.
I was taught that be wise what you say to others. 

[SawyerTed]

Don't let those naysayers in your head rent free!

Who cares what they think?  Who are they anyway?  Mostly just nobody.  Tell them, "I've got it made."  

[barbender]

 Everyone has a different sense of humor...mine is maybe "overdeveloped" by others' standards. I very rarely mean to make someone upset, but I do unintentionally sometimes. That said, I'm sure if I stopped at Bruno's to check out the operation or buy a whack of lumber, I'd be ribbing him about "going soft" sitting in that booth😊 Absolutely no harm intended, just making light of him being in that comfortable saw booth because I'm jealous!

 Now if someone had the audacity to come on to my place and insult me intentionally, they'd get chased right out and told to not come back🤷

[Jeff]

Bruno, those little comments can dig. I will say that I know I am creative. It is my nature. I love to create things that are different or do things in a creative way.

The worst thing someone can say to someone like me, when I'm sharing something I've created is,
 "You must have to much time on your hands." 
I hate it, its wicked, but over time I have learned that the real defect lies within the person that feels the need to try and lesson your accomplishments within your own eyes with words because they can't accomplish what you do in deeds.

[Andries]

Bruno .. "reverse king post cables" .. is that steel strapping on the vertical webs .. did you ever do the math on what load they would carry?  Interesting.

NaySayer, that caught my attention too. if you check out those pictures, you can see a cable go from one end of the truss work to the other end but it also goes to the bottom of a short block (a 'down-under' king post?). 
Is that the cable you're talking about Bruno? How often does it need to be adjusted?

[Bruno of NH]

I haven't adjusted the king post cable since it was installed last January. I used green spruce lumber when I built them. They have settled some and are ready for a tightening. We are also going to add 1/2" cdx plywood to one side of each truss before winter sets in. It will be glued and nailed every 6" .

[Andries]

That sounds like a bunch of extra work, but those beams support the whole roof, so you do what you gotta do. 
Was the settling a nasty surprise, or is it expected and you set up the cable and king post to compensate? 

[Bruno of NH]

I had a feeling it they would settle because of the green lumber. I figured it would need to be tightened after a year or so . I'm not worried, I like to over build just for the piece of mind.

[Andries]

. .  I'm not worried, I like to over build just for the piece of mind.

I'm with you there, that's how I roll too.
"If it's worth doing - it's worth over doing." 
Thanks for the details Bruno, and wishing you a good winter of milling from your comfy booth. 

[rusticretreater]

Just tell them to stand right there and breath in the sawdust.

[Old Greenhorn]

Bruno, when I first read your post about the snide comment it made me SO angry that I dared not reply with my thoughts. Really, I was pretty livid. BUT, the other folks calmed me down a bit and made me realize you have to consider the source and the nature. Only you can do that.
 I am with Jeff on this and it is well beyond insulting, it is judgmental from a person that has no basis to judge. If they had said that to me, my knee jerk response would be "and just how the #@!* would YOU know? How much time have you spent standing in front of a sawmill during Maine winters?!"
 Of course good natured ribbing from good friends is another matter and I have one or two that just can't let some things go, but I take it in and laugh. ;D

 A couple of years ago I was a guest 'student' at a weeklong music camp and one of the elective classes I took was in performance skills. I took the class because 'performance' comes into play a lot in teaching and other things and I was still teaching at the time. (It did help me be better, BTW.) Anyway, one session they had a group of touring performers as a 'panel' discussing dealing with fans and the public and how to take compliments. They got into talking about 'backhanded compliments' and had a long list of 'compliments' and comments that were downright insulting. It blew me away how rude some people can be, but most of those comments were meant sincerely and the point they tried to make was that no matter how insulting they were perceived to be, they weren't intended to be taken that way. The class opened my eyes to what I have said to artists over the years intending to be complimentary, but perhaps not.
 This whole thought, especially given this thread being on my mind, was very much in my mind Friday night. After the show I was talking with Sara Lee Guthrie and she had said she was a 'folk singer' during the show. I asked her about this and said "I don't want this to sound wrong, but to me, the songs you write and the way you craft your music strikes me as the older good country music of the 40's and 50's." I watched her face and waited to see if I said something dumb, she broke out a big grin (and she has a big grin!) and just said 'Why, THANK YOU! THAT is exactly what I am going for!' Still even as I was saying it, I felt my foot going further and further down my throat.

 My Pop always said 'Don't suffer the fools' and I believe it is correct. Never do mental battle with unarmed people. Next time those jerks order wood I think your waiting list should get longer, just for them.

[Southside]

People, present company excluded, have absolutely no idea what it takes to make a small business run, especially a production operation like your mill Bruno.  Easy for me to say, well not really but, just forget them.  Now if one of us was there and made such a comment and laughed it would be obvious it was a joke, but the average schmo - forget about him.  I hear the same sort of thing now and then because  today we own a decent chunk of land, "Oh must be nice to come from money" or some garbage like that.  When my wife and I bought our place there was a bulldozer parked by the house and we convinced the seller not to level it like he had all the other buildings on the farm.  No septic, no electric, well didn't function and there wasn't a blade of grass on the place.  We started with zero and worked 80+ hours a week for years, still do, no different than what you have done Bruno.  Do what you do, take care of yourself, and forget about the Debbie Downer wann-a-bees.    

[Sixacresand]

Yours is heated.  If I had it, the focus would be on air conditioning.  Good planning and setup, Bruno!

[Bruno of NH]

I'm adding more pictures of the diesel heater. These things work great very easy to work on and service.
I changed my dewalt battery charging station to wall hung.
Added a shelve and small drawered tool box over the doggy door . Looking to move more tools out here so I can make sure they get put back.
This year i added a water seperator to the heater. It was never a problem but i have seen others do it .

 

 

 

 

 

[moosehunter]

If you gotta be out there working, make it as comfortable as possible. Nice job!
mh

[Sod saw]

.


Bruno,   Your truss:    Glad to learn that you are intending to add 1/2 inch plywood to one side.

If you add one thickness layer of plywood, the truss will still be able to sag.  The seams between each joint where two sheets meet have been known to open up with time.

If you add a second layer of plywood and glue and screw that second sheet over top of the first sheet with the seams staggered so that the whole truss becomes one continues sheet of plywood for the whole length of the truss.

As Don would probably point out, be sure to use some sort of structural screws, not just handy "deck screws".

Your booth (office) is a great idea.  Having lived for a while in NH as well as VT I remember that your winters can be long and that booth probably increases your production efficiency.


.

[Bruno of NH]

I will most likely use nails on the plywood when putting it up. Nails are better in a situation like this . 

[Bruno of NH]

Added more insulation, aluminum sheeting and moving blanket around the command control unit.
I'm draft fee around the console now . Ready for the cold weather. 

 

[Magicman]

I love to read about your keep on keeping on attitude Sir.  8)

[CCCLLC]

You certainly  are a motivation to me to improve  and make better. Thanks for sharing. 

[longtime lurker]

Good businesses grow. And along with the growth comes change in how and what we need to do to get through the workload. I cannot run my business anymore from beside a saw... maybe in a few years or so I can afford an office admin who can do all the management stuff and a machinist to run the drymill and I can go back to being a sawyer myself. But for now I can't. That doesn't make me lazy that makes me successful, and that success came from working my tail off 80 hours a week. I'm still doing 80 hours a week, it's just right now a lot of it is spent on the phone.

Enjoy your booth you've earnt it. I'm just a little jealous because its obvious you've found a way to run your operation from the saw, and mine hasn't gone that way. I like sawing logs and I miss it, or at least I think I miss it. Maybe it was just simple and didn't have all the stressful learning curve stuff I'm having to deal with now... I did a full day on the saw a few months back and really enjoyed it until about half way through the day when I was thinking about all the things I should have been doing instead of indulging myself playing with my toys.

The same guys with their comments about you getting lazy will be keen enough to sit in the booth discussing their jobs with you come winter. Block them at the door :D