age of sawmillers

kelLOGg · January 12, 2008, 08:11:31 PM

I was inspired by our latest member to join us - Earl, at 75+ years. It's good to think I may have a decade or more to pursue aspects of this interesting craft.

I would like to see a frequency distribution of ages of us sawyers on the forum. If it is already available I have missed it, if not, is it something the webmaster could assemble from the age data already available?

Bob

LINK TO POLL

zopi · January 12, 2008, 08:29:30 PM

35 but feeling 50 tonight. <G> I guess you could call me a sawmiller...i've got a chainsaw mill... ;D

Furby · January 12, 2008, 08:41:44 PM

Not everyone here is a sawyer, how would you factor that into the figures?

DanG · January 12, 2008, 09:42:24 PM

Quote from: Furby on January 12, 2008, 08:41:44 PM
Not everyone here is a sawyer, how would you factor that into the figures?

Well...errr...maybe the non-sawmillers wouldn't need to answer?

I am 61, and I consider myself a sawmiller. I consider myself to be that because I have a sawmill, and I can make lumber with it. However, I'm not sure just how long I can saw. It is all in how well your body holds up. Some folks seem to be able to continue into their eighties, while others have to find something else to do while still in their fifties. I hope I can be one of the former category, but I have to be realistic and be ready to give it up when the time comes.

beenthere · January 12, 2008, 10:02:37 PM

I don't see that age (being numbers of years) is ~~all that~~ important. :

:

Enjoying what you do and how you do it, is ~~more~~ important. Great to keep on keepin on, when ya can.

zopi · January 12, 2008, 11:16:11 PM

Quote from: Furby on January 12, 2008, 08:41:44 PM
Not everyone here is a sawyer, how would you factor that into the figures?

hmmm...how many folks look at the terms "sawyer" and "sawmiller" as being akin to
"biker" and "motorcyclist?"

I consider myself a guy with a sawmill....but alot of folks i know consider me a biker..prolly 'cause I
ride 100+ miles a day... ;D gotta love it...

ok ok..thread drift...

Tom · January 12, 2008, 11:59:14 PM

Zopi,
Most Sawyers are free spirits and live in the Freedom part of the societies.

fat olde elf · January 13, 2008, 12:26:26 AM

My card says thin kerf sawyer.....I responded to Earl's first post with the term Chronologically Empowered......In my book that is anyone over 65.....At 70 I plan to keep on sawing as long as the body holds out.....I do not saw for a living...I got my mill AFTER I retired...........Say your prayers....

zopi · January 13, 2008, 12:26:40 AM

Tom, See, after reading your posts, website and tips and tricks advice...i'd consider you a sawyer...whereas a nOOb like me
who might be able to plain saw a little without making too many skis, is just a guy with a mill...

maybe a better analogy would be that of Lathe operator and Machinist....different animals...

ok..back on topic... did I mention i'm 35? :D

sawdust · January 13, 2008, 12:30:34 AM

I've done alot of piling and planing, but that spinnin tooth spitting disc just gives me the willies.
The planer has way more moving parts but I have no problem making it work.
Do i count? ;D

sawdust

ErikC · January 13, 2008, 01:03:32 AM

I'm 30, and started sawing when I was 22. I think that's a little younger than most of you. But after work I don't feel that young! Guess it'll only get worse. My dad worked in mills 22 years, maybe that influenced me a little. I work for myself though, on a lot smaller scale, and combine milling with other things so I'm not a full time sawyer.

Erik

woodhick · January 13, 2008, 06:10:36 AM

42 now, bought my own circle mill when I was 20. So I guess I am a true woodhick. :D

ljmathias · January 13, 2008, 07:16:57 AM

I don't think it's so much whether you make a living at sawing (although I have tremendous respect for those that do) but whether you're dedicating time and resources to do it and learn how to do it better. I'm 59 and saw for several reasons:

-not retired yet and want to learn how to do lots more things before I retire so I can stay active and productive (maybe even make an income) after I do

-learning timber framing and general contracting by a learn-by-doing (and lots of reading and forum reading) approach and sawing gives me timbers to play with using my own wood from my "tree farm"

-I'm in the midst of building a "big barn" and a timber frame workshop for finer wood working using my own wood (for the latter- for the former, I bought stuff so I could get it up fast and have a place to work on timber framing plus get my sawmill out of the weather)

-over the next two years, plan to build two or three houses for the kids so they can live low- or no-mortgage on the farm land, and I'll be sawing the wood for frames, siding inside and out, trim and cabinents, and whatever.

I saw as part of an overall effort to first be more independent of the "big box stores" and second to make exactly the lumber and timbers that I need- vertical integration would be the industrial concept that applies here. My kids are getting more interested and want (some of them) to participate in a timber frame workshop I'm trying to set up here for us and anymore close enough to benefit.

Other people saw for reasons as varied as they are, and saw for as long as they can without hurting themselves physically or economically. Age isn't really the key factor here- it's desire to learn, stay active and be productive. I heard a quote once I really like- "The best kept secret in America is that productive hard work is fun!" The key part of this is the word "productive;" as long as you can be productive, sawing is fun no matter how young or old you are.

Good luck on getting your answers and making sense out of them.

Lj

bandmiller2 · January 13, 2008, 07:37:58 AM

Grim reaper hangs out around hospitals and nursing homes,he has a hard time finding you in the woods.*DanG the torpedoes full speed ahead.Frank C.

rewimmer · January 13, 2008, 07:57:04 AM

I am 65 and will keep working until they close the lid. I will never surrender (combat veteran) to a recliner, news paper, pipe, and slippers. We semi older folks need to keep a "Can Do Attitude" and stop having pitty parties for ourselves. So I make sawdust to satisfy my excentric ego. I was 64 when the pic at left was taken and still running the 20 lb. Stihl, have a TK B20 mill and saw almost every day.
ljmathias really said it all in his great response.
Lets not forget that none of us could do what we love without the help from above.
Robert in Virginia

Cedarman · January 13, 2008, 08:09:21 AM

Still logging and running the saw mill. Don't saw too much, let the hired help do that. But run the loaders, sort, move lumber. Can cut down, trim and drag out 25 to 30 cedars per day using the Farmi winch.

Will run the mill a little this afternoon. Still love it.
60 last Oct. I plan to hike the AT in a few years if younger son will take over for 6 months.

ellmoe · January 13, 2008, 08:15:14 AM

I'm 51 (that can't be true

). Started supervising the first sawmill I had ever seen at age 25 as an adjunct to my "real responsibilities". Sawed my first board myself at about 33. I've been doing it ever since.

Woodwalker · January 13, 2008, 09:16:00 AM

Just cause I have a mill I don't consider myself a sawyer; figure I still have a whole lot of learning to do before I lay claim to that handle. At 53 I do to hope to figure out a few more tricks of the trade.
One thing I can vouch for, Getting old ain't for wussies.

hazard · January 13, 2008, 10:27:45 AM

I started sawing board with my chainsaw mill at 26. I have been at it for 11 yrs. It was alot easier at 26.

Chris

Coon · January 13, 2008, 11:20:48 AM

I don't consider myself a sawyer for the reason that I don't do enough of it and don't have my own equipment. Come spring time I will be a sawyer though as I have close to 60,000 bdft worth of spruce in the round that needs to be squared up into lumber and useable timbers. A friend has a Woodmizer LT40 Super (That I used to own :'() available for rent. I talked to him the other day and he is willing to take sawlogs on trade for the rental. I can also purchase the mill back for the sum of a few thousand bdft of lumber as the owner has a half built house he needs to finish but no lumber.

Tom · January 13, 2008, 11:23:54 AM

I'd seriously be considering "earning" it back, if it were me. Sell it/make money, buy it back using time and materials as cash. Sounds like a pretty good "loan" to me. :D

thecfarm · January 13, 2008, 02:58:39 PM

Probaly some of you saw more in a month than I have in the last 5 years with my sawmill.Call me what you want,I'm 46 years old.

Part_Timer · January 13, 2008, 03:08:28 PM

I make boards part time with the son. I'm 37 and he's 15. We've been at it somewhere around 5 years now.

kelLOGg · January 13, 2008, 04:29:16 PM

WOW! Lots of neat responses. I suppose what I really meant when I said "sawyer" I meant that if you read this forum (i.e., have a login ID) and have posted your age then a compliation of that data for that population would be interesting.

For myself I got a mill as a serious hobby that will pay for itself :D (hopefully) in my retirement. I enjoy mostly salvaging trees that will otherwise be wasted and sawing for woodworkers who like knowing the history of their wood. Not a high volume endeavor but very satisfying. Also inherited a farm 1 hour away which can use sawmilling.
Bob