It's new and it's orange.

[Brucer]

Yep, I finally got off the pot and bought a mill -- LT40G28 

Now the business plan called for this to happen a couple of months from now, but thanks to the (briefly) high Canadian dollar, prices were way down until the end of January. So I coughed up a deposit and placed my order, figuring I could always cancel and get my money back if I had second thoughts. Yeah, right

I was a little worried about picking up my mill at this time of year. It's a 6 hour drive one way, there's three mountain passes to cross, and it's still winter here (the 4 seasons in Canada are Winter, More Winter, Still Winter, and Road Work). This year, though, we had a really mild January and February, so it looked like the trip would go well. Naturally last week we got a nasty reminder that it was Still Winter. I was looking at wet snow and slush in the passes, and me with a 2-wheel drive pickup that's kinda light in the back end.

Fortunately things dried out for my trip. I made the drive to Salmon Arm last Tuesday, got my training on Wednesday, and made it home the same evening. Good roads all the way and the mill handled beautifully. I went to park the mill beside my driveway and backed the truck (not the mill) into a snowbank. DanG! I haven't handled a trailer for 30 years. Trying to back one up in the dark wasn't the smartest thing I've done.

Thursday morning I got the mill safely parked with the tractor, dug out the truck, and went off to buy a tarp. Ran into Louis, my old boss, and he asked if I'd sawn any logs yet. "Naw," I said, "there's still a foot and a half of snow on my field and the logs are on the far side." He looked at me like I was nuts. But hey, I ran his saw most of last season so it's not like it's my first time (It's here, it's here, it's here)

Friday my friend Mark invited himself over to have a look. He's a carpenter-contractor and he's hired / worked for / worked with just about every contractor and builder in town. A good guy to know in this business. We set up the mill, started up the motor, ran the carriage up and down the rail, and pulled a few covers. Mark wondered when I was going to start sawing -- I pointed at the logs on the wrong side of the field and said I figured a couple of weeks at at least. After all, it's not like I was planning to start sawing this early (But it's here, it's here, it's here)

After Mark left I got out the tractor and started to carve a path through the frozen snow toward the log piles.

Saturday, between chores, I finished my path, threw a chain around the top log -- a smallish 12-footer -- and hooked it up to the grab hook on my loader. Then I gave it a good sharp upward yank to break it loose from the frozen snow. After I'd gently lowered my back wheels to the ground, I tried plan 'B'. After much pushing a shoving I finally had a couple of logs worked loose. But it was getting late and I needed to put the forks on the tractor to shift the logs to the mill.

Sunday morning I woke to a foot of fresh, heavy snow, and more coming. I put the snowplow back on the tractor and spent the morning plowing my driveway. By noon the snow had turned to rain and my daughter showed up for a visit. That was all the excuse I needed to go and sit by the fire.

Today it was sunny and clear. I went out and leveled the mill and got it ready to go. But I can't move the logs until I put the forks on the tractor, and right now I'm not inclined to take the snowplow off. That would be tempting the fates just a little too much.

So I'll patiently wait for things to dry out, and start thinking about all the chores I had originally planned to get done before the mill arrived. Maybe in a couple of weeks I can saw a log or two. I'm still a couple of months ahead of schedule, after all (But it's here, it's here, it's here)

[DanG]

Gosh, Golly, GeeWhizz, Brucer!  Congratulations!   I got my mill earlier than expected, too, and I didn't have any logs.  I cut down a tree in the yard just so I could show it off.

[Furby]

 
Cool!
I'm willing to bet ya make your way out to the log pile again before the end of the week.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  YUP, them logs (they are right over there) (right over there) (see 'em, right over there)    That machine is gonna drive ya nutz, Brucer.

  Congrats 

[Bibbyman]

Ahaa.  The excitement of your very first Wood-Mizer!   I remember it well.  It was this time of year in 94 when we brought our first mill home from Indy.  It’s spring here.  Grass green, trees budding out…  Sawed our first logs right away…

Anyway,  congratulations.  Hope the weather gets nice soon.

[OneWithWood]

Congrats, Bruce.  It is a fine feeling to see that mill and know it is yours

Maybe it would be easier to pull the mill through the snow and set it up by the logs.  I'm sure your tractor would pull it through the snow without any problems.  Set it up on some blocking and go to town on those logs 

[RacinRex]

Pictures... you know good and well that this is tell AND show

[tnlogger]

congrats bruce yup pitures will need to be forth comming 

[sandmar]

Congrats Bruce!
Don't worry ....you will have plenty of time later to saw into your dogs and roll logs off the back of the mill and become a full fledged saw owner like the rest of us  that G28 is a sweet machine!

Sandmar

[sigidi]

Good on Ya Brucer,

you will alwasy remember having ya mill at home and logs there but not sawing 'em

Well just think not long now mate, hang in there

[Gord From Emsdale ON]

Hi Bruce

Congratulations on you machine, We sure would like to see some pictures!

Happy Sawing!

[smwwoody]

good move ya cant beat that orange unless it is grey (lt 300).  Gee I never thought I'd be saying that.  
As for the dog sawing I have done it with the best of them. Today I even got my first one on Eddies 300  . I'm trying real hard not to put a log off the back because that can be a bad thing on an LT 300, they have that plastic CAT track that runs on the floor on the back side.  Not to mention Ed just got a box of replacement parts in today for the cat trac and has it fixed up as good as new.  well good luck with your new mill.

Woody

[Furby]

I'm trying real hard not to put a log off the back because that can be a bad thing on an LT 300, they have that plastic CAT track that runs on the floor on the back side.  Not to mention Ed just got a box of replacement parts in today for the cat trac and has it fixed up as good as new.

Well I'm guessing that means you should be due to drop one on it first thing in the morning, eh? 

[Percy]

Heya Brucer.
Like Bibby, I remember draggin home a new woodmizer(twice now) and when Im doin it, ya cuddnt cut the grin off my face with an axe.  Enjoy the feeling . Wait till you start cutting, you are gonna have  new aquaintances from awestruck little boys to awestruck coffin dodgers just wondering when they are gonna, why they never did, etc.  And then one day soon, youll make some money with it, (its a primal thing Im guessing) and life will be forever different....
Good luck with your new mill.
Percy

P.S.
Say hi to Marv,Calan, Gary and Jean for me. They look after me pretty well.

[FiremanEd]

I'm trying real hard not to put a log off the back because that can be a bad thing on an LT 300, they have that plastic CAT track that runs on the floor on the back side.  Not to mention Ed just got a box of replacement parts in today for the cat trac and has it fixed up as good as new.

Well I'm guessing that means you should be due to drop one on it first thing in the morning, eh? 

Furby!!!!!! Furby!!!!  Dang it!!! you done it!!!  Those cat track parts aint cheap!!!! Nor are they any fun to put in!!!!

I'm at the Firehouse tomorrow,,, I don't even want to know if it happens Woody!  But,, I'm the one who caused the purchase of those parts........   We won't even mention me flipping the entire mill over on it's side while getting in into place last August... That cost $450 to.   Modified to add, "and several years off my life expectancy", that was a BAD BAD day.

[FiremanEd]

Congrats on the new mill Brucer!!!  It sounds like you've run an orange machine before but either way I'm sure you'll love this one even more!! Congrats!!

[TN_man]

 
Congradulations! We will be awaiting some pics of it in action!

[isawlogs]

   Those first logs ....
  When I bought my mill , my grand father was still around . He and my dad where reall happy for me .  They knew that I wanted to saw on location with the mill , so ,   they decided to get a few logs out for me ....  I must say that at the time I was just getting back from a job injury that took me a long time to learn how to live and work with ...   So I had no way of going to cut down the trees ... they took it upon themselves to get me some trees ....  When I saw the pile ... the wack .... of logs ... it was 12 feet high and about 80 feet long of white pine . Dad said at the time ... * if you want to saw for others you need to know what the mill can and cannot do ... once you get through this pile you should know what to expect .... and if you are still not sure .... we will help you out more ...... No need to saye that once I got this pile sawed I had a good idea how to handle the mill ...

   I'm sure that you are looking at those logs and are just itching to get one on the mill and fire her up ...
 
 I'm sure that you will remember that first one for a long time ... I sure do ...

[Brucer]

Thanks, everyone, for all the good wishes and encouragement.

I don't think getting the mill to the logs is an option -- that "foot and a half" of snow is actually this years accumulation of 5', compacted, thawed, froze, rained on, and froze again. It's more like porous ice -- not strong enough to support a tractor, but strong enough to keep if from pushing it's way through.

But now that DanG mentions it ... there's this standing dead Douglas Fir beside my driveway that was going to get cut down this summer, so maybe I'll advance the schedule.

RacinRex, of course there'll be pictures. That's one thing that makes this such a great forum (besides the people, of course). Gotta finish that roll of film first, though, and get prints made, and mail them to Jeff so he can somehow put them into the computer **     For now, think of a bright, shiny orange sawmill with white frosting on top.

Sandmar, NOT sawing the dogs is one of my goals. When I first started learning last year, Louis pointed to a saw cut about 1/8" below the top of his clamp and said, "I don't want you to do that, but I'll forgive you-- once." Then he pointed to a saw cut 3" below the top and said. "I fired the guy who did that." I managed not to hit metal (at least not mill metal), but there was one time in the first couple of weeks when I glanced down and realized I missed the top of the first dog by about 1/16" and didn't even notice I was close until I was a foot past it.

Hey, Percy, they sure are a great bunch in Salmon Arm. Max is the latest addition to the team there -- I don't think you'd have met him -- I don't know what "nationality" he is, but I think Great Dane figures in there somewhere 

Marcel, I sure agree with your dad. I got to practice on someone else's wood last year, using his saw and getting paid for it as well. But I know I'll want to do things differently, and these are my logs so I'll get to learn and experiment (and have fun!) without worrying all the time about making mistakes.

Bruce

**PS: just kidding, Boss, I've got a scanner, and there's an instruction book around here somewhere 

[Bibbyman]

One note on the pictures…

Even if you don’t have a digital camera or scanner,  you could get copies of your pictures in digital format from the processor.  Most everyplace that processes film offer the service of putting them to disk.   You’d need some kind of photo editing software to size them for the fourm.  Probably came with your scanner.

[Rockn H]

Congrats on the new mill.  I can't believe no one has asked if you have started to notice the nieghbors trees or going out of your way to go by the nearest log yards on your way home from the store.  A new mill can sure be contagious.

[Brucer]

I usually don't notice the neighbour's trees unless they're dead or dying. I'm mainly interested in sawing trees that had to be cut down, not trees that were cut down just to make lumber. Perhaps it's a reaction to the blatant clear-cutting that goes on around here. No matter what the regulations, the forest companies always find a "reason" why this or that cut-block needs to be clearcut.

On the other hand, I do notice those logging trucks going by a lot more, and I'm getting good at identifying the species and size as they zip by.

About a month ago Barb & I were watching "Gorky Park" on the video. There's a scene near the end of the movie that takes place in Sweden during the winter. The camera is tracking a car, and as it rounds a corner there's a huge pile of logs laying in the snow beside the road. I caught Barb watching me out of the corner of my eye, and said "What?". She laughed and said, "We're both looking at the pile of logs."   

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Bruce, ya didn't happen to see the "Swede" parked by them logs, EH
 He's prowling around over there somewhere, draggin his mill behind his Passat. 

[Minnesota_boy]

I drove through some of BC last summer and saw some of the clear cutrs, and at least part of the reason for them.  Whole mountain sides were covered in brow trees, killed by the pine beetle.  Not much you can do except clearcut to salvage the timber and hopefully destroy the reproduciton of the beetle.

[Brucer]

FDH, besides getting pretty good a sizing up logs on the fly, I've also developed an eye for protable sawmills. Didn't see one beside that log pile.

But now that you mention it, there was a KBG agent in that part of the movie who looked a heck of a lot like Swede. 

[ARKANSAWYER]

  NICE!    We need photos and when you saw into the mill and place the first battle scars.

[Swede]

Bruce, ya didn't happen to see the "Swede" parked by them logs, EH
He's prowling around over there somewhere, draggin his mill behind his Passat.     

     

  Had to buy snow chains but just used them once.  

A lot of pictures are still in my girlfriends cell phone, fallen forest, logpiles, Amerika-Sågen, "Swede". One day I´ll take the time to get the program and pictures into my computer.

Harold, would U please tell me, is green painting heavy as orange painting?
I know blue and red is not! 

Swede.

[Ernie]

Dying to see the pics.  Got into the dead tree yet

Ernie

[Brucer]

Arky, I'm not dumb enough to say it ain't gonna happen -- but I've got a little private lottery going to see how lmany hours I can put on before I saw the mill.