New Wood-Mizer mill stolen Near NC-TN line

[Jasperfield]

When I drove to the lower end of the farm, this evenin', and saw the lock to the gate cut off I knew it was not good.

They got my brand new two-hour WOOD-MIZER LT40HDG28 out of the barn. Jacked it down onto the tires and left. SERIAL NO. 456 B424 189 NKK 5872.

This is the second time in three years I've been hit. The total is now over $55K.

[Dan_Shade]

wow, best of luck with recovery, and to the sheriff on finding a rope for the culprits

[ely]

i think you should invest in brass and lead, a new long range injection system will help things too.

[isawlogs]

 No words to express my feelings right now ... well there are some but I would be         

[rockman]

 There is a special place in a very hot place, for people who do stuff like that, I hope that you catch up with them before the police do.

 Kevin

[WDH]

Let us sit on the Jury.

[POSTONLT40HD]

I'll record the serial # and put an APB out for it through the S.C. Forestry. You never know!

Hope it shows.

[Magicman]

I am so sorry.  Words can not express the disgust that I feel.   

[Woodwalker]

Let us sit on the Jury.

I really don't see the need for one.

[zopi]

Owwtch. I feel for you.  Country needs more thieves shot.

I can see my mill from the bedroom window amd have taken to locking the hitch and chaining the frame to the mill shed's timbers.

[Jasperfield]

Thanks for the support, fellows. Getting through the frustration is going to be tough.

I'll contact WM tomorrow and alert them.

I suppose the mill is now in a trailer or headed to a container to be shipped. A fellow 10 miles down the road from me lost a Kubota tractor along with lots of tools just about 10 days ago.

Jasperfield

[Buck]

As far as I know each state has enforcement thru the forestry dept. I know our guys stay busy. Dave, do you know if they communicate like ncic? It would be cool if a bolo could go out to each state like normal police agencies.

[Chuck White]

I'm almost at a loss for words!

It's really hard to believe that anyone would steal something such as a sawmill! 

My feelings are somewhere between  and  on this one.

I really hope they find the culprits.  They should hang for this one!

[WH_Conley]

Be sure local law enforcement put it on NCIC and LINK.

[POSTONLT40HD]

Yes....it will be put in NCIC. Whoever has this saw, just a guess, will probably hide it hoping the heat will drop.
They could even have plans to part it out. So be watching E-BAY AND CRAIG'S LIST for a rise in parts.

[Kansas]

One thing you might do is notify the local salvage yards to watch for anything orange coming in. Its not outside of the realm of possibility. As awful as it sounds, they might well just cut it up and sell it for junk iron for quick cash for a meth or crack habit.

[Ivey]

Sorry to hear about this Jasperfield, I will keep eyes and ears open also!

[thecfarm]

I'm just about to head for the NC-TN eat a some grits and go.........I think I better stop right there. I'm so sad to hear of this. This and hurting kids are just about the only thing that really gets me going.

[Meadows Miller]

I feel your Pain Mate I had My bandmill stolen just on ten years ago between xmass and new years and aint heard nothing about it since there was only a handfull of the in Australia too Im still abit a bit ticked off with it 

[paul case]

I feel your pain.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,45272.msg651207.html#msg651207

I have had stuff dissapear too.
Good luck with recovery efforts. PC

[MartyParsons]

We will ask around this week at the show.
Marty

[The Canuck]

Very sorry to hear about this.

Kansas makes a good point about checking salvage yards etc. I have in-laws in east Tennessee and they often mention how pervasive meth labs and usage is in that area. Meth-heads or crack-heads will do about anything for a fix.

[customsawyer]

I did not need that for my blood pressure. I don't normally have high blood pressure but when I read things like this I get it rather quickly. I hope they find it and them rather shortly.

[Den Socling]

Now you have the Forestry Forum on the look out. I pity the jerk(s) who stole your saw if they offer a great deal to somebody from here.

[redbeard]

Sorry to hear about this, I wrote the info down and I will keep eye out on mills for sale and parts in my area. I have seen ads on CL where folks have wrote a discription of stolen items with a little back story, and some have had results. Large items like that are either pro thieves or idiots. Hopefully its idiots and it will show up real soon. Iam in for helping you with reward money.

[logman]

Sorry to hear that, I live here in Western NC also.  I will keep my eyes out for it.

[POSTONLT40HD]

The real sad part other than Jasperfield's lose is these thieves may sell this mill to some poor innocent person who does not know this mill is stolen.
The innocent guy will buy the top of the line mill for pennies on the dollar and will find out it's stolen when he tries to order a box of blades.
The innocent sawyer will then loose his LT40 AND the money he paid the thieves.

Who ever stole this mill from Jasperfield knew he was getting this mill, knew where it was parked and knew Jasperfield's schedule.

Theses thieves are the scum of the earth and I hope they pull this mill in my yard and want to know if I'm interested in a almost new mill with only 2 hours on it. 

[MapleNut]

Sorry to hear this. I sure hope the lowlife is caught. 

[ronwood]

Any one that is selling a new mill for pennies on the dollar should send up all kinds of red flags to the purchaser.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Jasperfield

I am very sorry to hear about your missfortune. I hope they catch those guys and give them some serious time away from civilization

[Peter Drouin]

I hate thives, I hope you get it back in good order

[dukndog]

Sorry to hear a bout this Jasperfield. I've been looking for a mill, so will keep my eye open out west of you.

[Tom L]

sorry to hear about the mill, thieves stink

if you just got the mill, some one somewhere must know something, how many people knew it was there. and who has seen it. should narrow down who may have talked to someone and who took it. the list can not be that long. the cops should be all over this. hope you get it back!

[customdave]

Sorry to hear this Jasperfield this sort of thing gets me hoppin mad too, I have had stuff stolen too. I hope you have insurance for this in case it doesn"t show up! Keep yuor fingers crossed that they find it & not a scratch on it...


           Dave

[mometal77]

Jasper get in touch with everyone around you within 200 mile radius that sharpen saw blades something might pop up where the new owners come in to sharpen the blades and call up woodmizer they might have the folks ask for a video on the thing.  Is there any tire prints in the dirt? A lot can be said from this and a tape measure even what frame a vehicle rides on.
Look up craigslist Like others have said and ebay every week and see if they are trying to sell the thing. People lay low and put things in a barn till people forget but something like that people want to use.  I have heard locally people being stupid and advertise the stolen items and a sheriff shows up and arrest's the people. They get a slap on the wrist.  Also spring is coming and like here it might end up at a farm auction. They never look up serial numbers on farm equipment unless it comes with a title and is a vehicle. Look up harbor freight on a video monitoring system that holds 250 gigs of video and a thinkgeek.com was on the diy channel they sell this spynet laser childs toy. Anything can be built with a motion sensor.  A neighbor invested in geese after he had a few tools stolen.  He had over 15000 in tools stolen out of his truck he had a timberframe/house building business the tools ended up in a pawnshop in Portland, Oregon and they called him up said his name was on the tools if he wanted they back here they are.  He had to buy them back.  I hope it works out. Most thieves ship stolen products out of state if you are near the border to sell it so it might help to do some leg work.  Sorry it happened most of my stuff is hard to steal and I invested in a golden retriever on a 60 ft run.  I hope you find the culprit.

[Paper Maker]

Yes....it will be put in NCIC. Whoever has this saw, just a guess, will probably hide it hoping the heat will drop.
They could even have plans to part it out. So be watching E-BAY AND CRAIG'S LIST for a rise in


Parting it out was the first thing I thought of because you know a thief isn't going to work behind a sawmill. I do fill your pain though. I've been hit 3 times in my life. I've had tools stolen twice and a ATV off my porch. It just makes you sick. I'll keep my eyes open here in lower Alabama.

[Meadows Miller]

I also hope you where insured Mate ? then again most bloody insurance aint worth the bloody paper its wrote on these days thay always try to weasle their way outa it

[davidlarson]

Jasperfield --
     What a bummer!  I hope you, your friends, or the sheriff find these bad guys before anything happens to your WM mill.  I also have an (old) Wood-Mizer, and live in western North Carolina, in Mitchell County which has a common border with Tennessee.  If you are willing to say more exactly where you live in WNC I'd be interested to hear, although I will understand if you don't want to.  At least four other people that I know of in Mitchell County and the two adjacent counties  have LT-40s, and it's the nature of saw-milling that many other people know who and where these people and their mills are located.  Anyway, best of luck in retrieving your mill and finding out who the bad guys are.
David L.

[fat olde elf]

Sorry for your loss. I got hit about a year ago but only for about $1,000, Insurance covered about half. It's a heck of a feeling...I'll keep my eyes open in the Charlotte area.  I do sharpen for other folks.  Say your prayers...

[bugdust]

Jasperfield,
Sitting here wondering if you have heard anything from your stolen mill. I can't imagine how I would react if this happened to me. Good luck.

[customdave]

I was hoping we would have heard some good news from Jasperfield by now! must be hard sittin &waiting for this, hope the culprits get caught . Hang in there Jasperfield....


                      Dave

[Meadows Miller]

I dont know what people who steal suff get out off it honestly as they must lead pretty bloody hollow and useless lives 

I hope Jasper has some good news soon 

[Den Socling]

Talk about hollow and useless lives, one Christmas someone stopped on the road in front of our house. They cut down a pine tree in my yard. Can you imagine enjoying a Christmas with a stolen tree in your living room? This was petty - nothing like a mill but done by a jerk like the jerk who stole your mill.

[js2743]

Earlier tonight there was a post in sawmills and milling about a saw on craigslist in chattanooga, TN the post got moved or deleted might be worth checking on.

[Jeff]

I removed the post  because craigslist or ebay links are not allowed by the forum rules, it never occurred to me about the stolen mill at the time. When I went back to look at the link, it said it had been pulled which seems mighty strange.  I'll post it here again for the sake of this topic, and also who it was posted by.

This is a little too big for what I need to do right now and I am out of the county until June so I could not get it anyway.  It is WM LT-40 with full hydr.  I will let the Craigslist add speak for itself.  Seems like an awesome deal to me though.

http://chattanooga.craigslist.org/grd/2820833708.html

P.S. I am not selling this mill nor am I associated in any way with the guy who is.  I just saw it on craigslist and noticed before that you guys post these things on here for folks who are in the market.  Hope that's cool.

[westyswoods]

Although I live 1/3 mile off road, been seriously considering mounting a Stealth Cam in shop area where all my equipment is kept. Very seldom am I not home and the dogs are great but all it takes is once.

Sorry for you and hope the ... get all that is due.

Westy

[js2743]

yes really strange it is gone so soon,  i knew it hadnt clicked with you about this mill be stolen. but it being listed like it was and then its gone sets off an alarm for sure. plus its in the areas the saw was stolen from, hope it can get followed up on.

[Jeff]

Id suggest that Jasperfield send OcoeeG a private message to find our what he may remember about the ad. Not sure why Ocoeeg  would be finding an ad in Tennessee when his I.P. address resolves to Colombia in South America.

[doctorb]

His descritptor under his name says Chattanooga by June.

[LeeB]

The add was for a mill with I believe 2500 hours and a price tag of $14k. I didn't really think it was the same mill, but you never know.

[Raider Bill]

Id suggest that Jasperfield send OcoeeG a private message to find our what he may remember about the ad. Not sure why Ocoeeg  would be finding an ad in Tennessee when his I.P. address resolves to Colombia in South America.

Ocoee Tenn is just west of my Tenn place near Cleveland TN. and a hour from Chattanooga. I he may have been just browsing CL as he plans on building a Timberframe when he returns to the states.

[Chris Burchfield]

I've been checking Craigslist here since the post.  Saw Mill slab firewood and one old circular saw is all that's been listed.  I'll keep it up hopefully till the mills found.  Knock on wood!

[Jasperfield]

I want to genuinely thank all of you who have offered support, help, and good advice following the theft of my mill. Your all's support has been a blessing and the single ray of optimism surrounding this tremendous loss.

Here, in these mountains we've sustained heavy losses, due to theft, for decades. Back in 1984 my brother was shot in the head by a thief who stole our farm tractor, resulting in his total loss of vision. Below me, and on the same highway for about 15 miles, my neighbors and I have lost almost $500,000 worth of equipment & tools within the preceding six months. Over the past three years I've lost $55,000 worth of equipment.

I haven't heard, seen, or found out anything since the sawmill was taken. I decided a few weeks ago to liquidate almost all of my equipment in order to retain its value before it is all inevitably stolen. And in doing so Jeff has agreed to help me list & post photo's here on the forum. I've already sold some things, but still have some we'll post.

Thank you, again.

Jasperfield

[terry f]

      Meth.......Hate to see them win, but you have to do what you feel is right. Sorry to hear this story.

[WDH]

Jasperfield,

It is sad when you have to bring your tractor inside the house at night to sleep with to keep some loser from stealing it  .

[Okrafarmer]

I will be on lookout here, too. Semi-intelligent thieves haul stuff like this to another state to sell it. Really intelligent ones ship it to third world countries.

[WDH]

Most of the scrap dealers must be thieves, too.  It seems like there is a system.

[Okrafarmer]

Reminds me of the auctioneers that go around and bunch stuff into lots that nobody really wants to buy and then they have their own people bid on the awkward lots and win them really cheap, to be able to go sell the stuff at the next auction. 

Like an auction I went to, dispersing storage unit contents of people who didn't pay their storage bills  in the hot summer sun. The auctioneer wandered us through the worst stuff first, having people winning bids on odd boxes of worn out shoes and stuff for $1 apiece and so on until everyone was dying of thirst and sunstroke, then went on to the better stuff-- opens a new compartment, and says there is a jewelry box full of jewelry inside this dresser-- so we will sell the dresser, jewelry box, and all its contents together as one lot.  You got to be kidding. Anybody interested in the jewelry box now would have to dispose of the dresser. What if they didn't come equipped to haul furniture, and only were interested in little things like jewelry boxes? Anyone who might have been interested in the dresser now had to compete for price with anyone who might want the jewelry box, so now furniture people are just going to let that dresser go because they don't know how to price it. Predictable result? One of the auctioneer's lackeys wins the high bid, around $50, I think. Then (100 degrees in the shade, but there is no shade), they move to the last huge storage compartment, open it up, and it is slap-packed full of decent-looking furniture and you can't even see what all is in there because it is blocking the view of whatever is in back. They pause, the auctioneer says, "folks, tell you what. It's a hot day. How about if we bid on everything in this unit as one lot." A few sharp releases of breath, but nobody says anything. Most of the people there probably just came looking to buy a few things, certainly not haul off a whole house-load of furniture. Predictable result: one of the auctioneer's lackeys won the bid for around $450. 

Yes, many times, many of these people are just scoundrels, thieves, and cut-throats. Scrap metal buyers, used car salesmen, tractor throwers, gun-swappers-- some people are on the up-and-up, and some are not. I'm telling you, it's just getting worse and worse. This upcoming Great Depression 2 won't be as civil as the first one, because the people of the United States  have lost much of the moral fabric they had 80 years ago.    Now we're just over-run with people who have no compunctions whatever about doing whatever just because they want to. May we never run out of government hand-outs for these losers, because I sure would hate to see what would happen if all of a sudden these varmints were to have to truly fend for themselves     

[Cedarman]

Twice now my son Aaron has tracked down thieves and got his stuff back.  First time they stole a Cat skid steer on grouser tracks.  Even after a rain, he was able to track the path the skid steer made on a paved road to the thieves house.  The deputy was driving while Aaron hung out the window looking for that little tell tale mark that could barely be seen. 
The guy went to jail I think.
Second time happened a couple weeks ago.  He put a grinder screen at a friends place who had a sawmill and other stuff and it was convenient to store it there.  The place was sold and Aaron went to pick it up.  The new owner knew the screen was Aaron's and that he was picking it up when he got the other stuff.  Screen gone.  So Aaron let the new owner know he was looking for it.  New owner says that some Mexicans who were dropping roofing shingles off probably took it for scrap.  Aaron took pictures of another screen he had ($1500.00 screen) and showed it to a scrap dealer.  No luck.  Then he got a call from the older fellow Aaron got to know and who had helped finish a sawing job on the sawmill we purchased that was on this site.  He said the new owner was the one who took it to another scrap yard.  Aaron went to the other scrap yard with the picture and sure enough there was the screen.  He got it back.  New owner had sold the screen for scrap.  $45.00  The scrap dealer wanted to know if Aaron was going to press charges.  No.  It was up to the scrap dealer to get his money back.  I have left out a lot of details to get this short enough.
So far so good.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

I grew up in Queens Ny and there was a nice little pizza shop two doors down from where we lived. The owner was a great guy who had a soft spot in his heart for local kids that wanted to earn an honest dollar or work in exchange for a few slices of his tasty pizza.

One day while sweeping up around the shop, he came to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said "Freddy, you are good boy and do good job. You go home now and come back tomorrow and I pay you and give you some pizza."

As I was leaving, I could here an employee named John, being escorted against his will to the back office area. Two days later I saw him walking the street with both hands heavily bandaged. Apparently he had a slip and fall accident at work and when he tried to break his fall, his hands unfortunately  landed right in the path of a meat tenderizing mallet. Very tragic work related incident, but I am sure it was quite some time before his hands fit into the cash drawer of another merchant's register to make an unauthorized withdrawal.

[Jim_Rogers]

Years ago, a woman customer of mine told a story of her two twin boys who had bought a bakery in Southern NH.
They kept the lady who previously worked there, could have been the past owner's wife, on to help in the transition, as she knew all the regular customers.

As the days when by they didn't seem to be making any money. And didn't understand why. This woman was at the cash register all day long, greeting and talking to all her old regular customers.

The mother of the twins was there, one day, and was watching her. She thought she had seen her slip a bill up her sleeve of her "bakery" coat, but couldn't prove it.

The mother walked over and grabbed her by the arm saying "oh, how are you doing dear?"

When she did this she heard a paper crunch as the money up her sleeve was crumpled. The woman clerk heard it too.

That was the last day that lady worked for them.

[Cedarman]

Jasperfield's mill is out there somewhere.  Keeping vigilant and ears to the sawdust, should turn up something sooner or later.  More than one person knows.

[Mooseherder]

I agree, the mill will turn up some day.

[Meadows Miller]

Im hoping it will sooner rather than later and in the same bloody condition it it got taken in 

[Peter Drouin]

Just remember the thives some times will google earth and can see in your back yard, and see whats to steel, a man in the next town over lost a lot of iron way back in the woods. the stuff was there so long the thives had to cut down 16"  DBH trees to get it out. google earth can be a bad thing to and honest man. I hope you get your mill back

[Brad_bb]

What about investment in some alarms, security systems?  With the value of things being stolen, isn't worth the piece of mind?  I've probably spent $4K over the last 10 years for the system, and $45 a month on monitoring, but I sleep a bit better for it.  Insurance too is cheap compared to losing a piece of equipment.  I mean all these stolen stories...how many have security that has saved their stuff? Or how many had a good system and got their stuff stolen anyway? We don't hear those stories much.

[Peter Drouin]

Brad--bb   I have replacement  insurance 

[redbeard]

Auctioneer people and local auction hunters are good contacts to look for stolen items. I have checked CL in my area and told the circle of my auction hunter buddies too keep eye and ears open.

[pyrocasto]

I'll continue to keep an eye out in the hendersonville-asheville area. Hopefully they get busted. Thieves are lowlife scum.