Greetings from Florida!

[leweee]

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nice cup holder, Boss Great to see they got you to "stick" around the mill.

Have fun on your working vacation ....us northeners are enveious now that winter is back .....good timing Jeff

[Corley5]

We're outta here see ya guys in Fl

[Tom]

It's a hot time in the old town tonight.   Rained last night a bunch.  Lightning too.  Jeff slept through it all.

Today we did some more of the same things we did yesterday.  sawed some 14" boards, lots of vertical grain 1x4's and 1x6's and drank coffee.

Jeff doing something
He is still having trouble with the pine sap.   Things like gloves don't slide on or off very easy and it's hard to keep track of drink cans.   The worse thing is when the front of your trousers stick to your thighs.


We broke a brand new blade, right out of the box.  The weld gave way.  it was in 14" cant and just gave up the ghost.  Wade and I worked with it until we got it loose and put another new blade on.


Getting tools from the tool box, Jeff is still having a bad time with pine sap.  The one thing that WD-40 is good for is taking pine tar off.  I had some Rust Reaper in the truck and he had to find it to get the cap off of the WD-40.    Things just keep gettin stuck in the wrong places.


While Rick, Wade and I were working on the blade, Jeff was set to the log pile to select some good prospects for Rick to buck for the mill later.


Wade got tired of seeing Jeff working and went to the log pile too.  I lost a worker.  He took the picture of Jeff with the logs but then wanted one of him with the logs too.   So, here is Wade with the logs.


Here we are trying to get rid of the wane on an 18" board that ended up being 14".  The young fellow at the other end of the board is Jarret.   He is a cousin of the fellow that owns the logs and comes to help on the farm after his high-school classes.  Usually he shows up around 2:30 and is a great help.


Jeff was running around being the photographer and found this view of the mill that I've never seen before.  He was standing out in the swamp amongst the Rattle Snakes and hadn't even given it a thought.    We'll make a Swamper out of him yet.


He was sitting behind me for a long time.  This log was his stool and he was enjoying the fresh oranges that we brought along.  It so happens that I have a friend whose mother has a grove across town.  She made sure that I had a big box of fruit.   I hope we can visit her soon and let Jeff pick his own orange.   Here is the view I had of Jeff when I finished sawing the log.  Where did he go?   


OH!  There he is!   He had gone to the truck to get another orange, or a sandwich or something.  He has been having the hardest time keeping track of his Big Orange drink can too.  It seems that everything he touches gets stuck.


Our day is done.  We count noses before getting into the truck.  Don't want anybody to get left.  It's a little trick that Bus Driver Wildflower taught Jeff, so we adhered strictly to the suggestion.


Our trips never are non-stop.    We had to stop in Bryceville at Fouracre's General Store for Jeff to get a Coke (pop  )   


Then another side stop to get a picture of the Forestry Service's sign and a short visit to find that I needed to come back to see my Ranger friend.

This is great.  We've had a super good time and it isn't even the weekend yet. 

[sandmar]

Great pictures Guys! Looks like a fun day with nice logs.Jeff it does take awhile to get used to all the pine sap,but the lumber is worth it. We are cutting it green and nailing it up ASAP on our barn.Needless to say,some of the boards are BLEEDING

[sprucebunny]

Looks like Jeff is having fun I really like the pictures. Thanks, Tom and Jeff

Hope you will still have a couple of those big beautiful logs left when I get there

[Tom]

Jeff want's to know, "what do you need nails for?"  If you just stick them up there, they shouldn't come down......  even in a hurricane. 

[Brad_S.]

As I'm reading about Jeff dealing with pitch, I'm envisioning the "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation" scene of Clark reading a magazine in bed after setting up the Christmas tree.

[Don K]

Nice logs Tom, sure makes a fellas heart speed up a bit thinking about those big clear yella boards peeling off a cant   

[isassi]

Really enjoying the pictures and the thread. This is the kind of vacation I would love. 

[Coon]

Sounds like Jeff is having fun and enjoying some new experiences.  Sounds like the pine tar is getting the best of da Boss.

Hey Boss I got a little secret for you..........  Why don't you see if'n Tom will let you have some margarine and a fingernail scrub brush to use.  Put a liberal amount of margarine on the pine tar and use the scrub brush on it a while until it gets kinda soft and like it wants to peel off.  Then you just simply wash off with soap and water.  Has worked for me on fur pitch, spruce pitch, and pine pitch.  Even works on clothing except that you must wash them immediately after scrubbing the pitch...  If'n you don't wash right away you are left with oil stains on the clothing that won't come out.....  Don't ask me how I know this.........

Keep havein fun there Jeff and by the time you arrive home there should be a box of pics for you in the snail mail.
Brad.

[swampy]

Looks like you guys are having a blast. See, there is a reason why the folks that come to Fl. never go back home .  And all of you thought it was because of the warm weather that keeps everybody here. When you get off the main roads you will see people stuck fast to the trees on their property. Well Boss don't get toooo close to your work, you could be there for a while. If I was not so busy down here I would come up for a day or two, but to many projects going on right now. Will be meeting up with Greg (corley5) on the 12th up at camp in palatka area if you are still in town maybe we can hook up then. Ed

[Tom]

Well, Coon, we gave Jeff some margarine and a scrub brush and he almost didn't get to bed last night.  The margarine stick is still stuck to his shirt and we didn't get the brush loose from the back of his neck till this morning.

He's standing in the middle of the kitchen now.  We're afraid that he might touch the TV or one of the big chairs.  I'd have to leave him at home today if he did that. 

Gael needs us to get another Big Orange Drink, 'cause he's lost his again.

[highpockets]

You boys looked like you were having a good time.  Tom, I like that mill.  Thanks for sharing the experience with us. 

[Stump Jumper]

      
                                           

[Paul_H]

Tom,
 Do you have any pics and stories from today? Did Jeffro get the Margarine stick off of his shirt ?   

[Jeff]

Coming up...

[Jeff]

Today we kinda just vegetated and worked on getting some things done on www.tomssaw.com, namely, a contact page so ya'll feel free to tell Tom "Hey"   This afternoon we then decided to get some photos to show you folks the early growth stages of palustrus Stickumtous Stickorabus.  ( BIG STICKY variety of the Long Leaf Southern Yellow Pine.)

Lets start with the "Grass Stage", or what I like to refer to as "The Moe Years".

The grass stage of Long Leaf looks just like a mound of grass for 3 to 6 years or more give or take. During this period there is little or no development in the stem, but major development in root structure. Its this development of the roots that gives the tree such resistance to fire, thus leading to pure stands of Long Leaf since the other species in the area succomb to fires. SO! DONT MOE (Mow) YOUR TREES NYET NEYT NEYT!



Here is the Long Leave as it leaves the grass stage.
This one is about 2 foot tall. Called the bottlebrush, rocket or elongation stage. Here is an example of the early rocket stage.  Long Leaf is notoriously slow growing.  It is in this stage when the stem elongates fast enough that the tree may catch up with faster growing species like Slash Pine.  It's girth will always lag behind the other species and for this reason it produces some of the most dense and coveted lumber.



Another photo in a more advanced point in the Rocket stage nearing the sapling stage.  I think this looks a bit like "Cousin IT".



Here is a photo of some Longleaf that are around 50ft but relatively young trees. According to Wikopedia, Longleaf Pine takes 100 to 150 years to become full size and can live to 300 years old. Tom says that he finds that the longleaf tends to develop red heart at around 75 to 80 years, rotting away from within and by 100 to 125 most of them will suffer from it. Red Heart Rot is a fungus that causes the otherwise dense heart of the tree to become punky, soft, sappy and full of small channels.



I would like to take a minute now to thank Tom and his massive transit sytem for hauling my sorry rear end up and down da road to collect these photos. Aint everyone that needs a front end loader to get them around. 



There WILL be a pop quiz in your future!

[Frank_Pender]

Hey Jeff, is that like a orange drink can stuck on the end of a bleeeeeding decked log?

[Chet]

Where's da fish?  I thought youse guys where goin' fishin' today.  

[Paul_H]

It's good to see you're having some Blue sky in Florida,the first pics posted looked cold and dampish.

Looks like you're both having a good time