No Shows to sawing appointments

[whitepe]

I know you guys have talked a lot about no shows
at milling appointments but I just had to share
what happened this last weekend.  Early this summer
a friend from work who works at another building about
15 miles from where I work told me that he had
an oak tree down in the gully behind his house and
wanted to get it sawed up. He wanted some advise
on whether or not it was worth sawing so  I told him that I would come by sometime when I got my own stockpile
of logs sawed.   Last Saturday I went over to his place
on the other side of the river to take a look and saw that
we had a partially uprooted oak that had leaves on it
all summer so it was still fresh and that we could probably
cut it up and pull it up with a 4WD.  So this Saturday
morning we did just that. I dropped by with my
cant hooks, chainsaw, trailer and steel cables and in
about 90 minutes we had them all up out of the gully
and loaded onto my trailer.  He wanted to see my
mill so we then drove back to my place and since
I had something else planned for Sat. afternoon
I said that we would saw them up Sun. afternoon at 1 PM
I already had one of my own logs on my mill so
Sat morning we finished sawing it up so we would be
ready for Sun.  Besides he was eager to see the mill run.

Anyway he didn't show up Sunday afternoon so I watched
the remainder of the football game and went out to
saw about 4:00 PM without him.  His tree made
four logs in the 8 to 10 foot range and I cut two of the four
cut up.   It sure slows down productivity when you
are cutting by yourself.  Two guys milling can do in an hour
what it takes one guy to do in 2.5 hours.

Anyway this guys on my &$%* list for not showing.
With the days getting shorter and me spending
3 evenings a week as my son's 8th grade asst basketball
coach my prime milling time is really getting kinda
scarce.  Maybe the folks at Woodmizer should come up
with some well placed lights so I could mill after dark.
My mill is setup in the shade along my driveway
about 200 yards from my house so I don't have any
electricity out there.

Whitepe

[Frank_Pender]

I sometimes charge a storage fee for those late bloomer. ;D

[Bibbyman]

I don't know what to do about people that don't keep appointments and don't call to let you know.  Constant problem I've learned to cope with.

Lights should be easy to hook up if you've got a 12v battery.  Looks like you'd have a lot of options.  The problem may be where to place them where you can see without them always blinding you.  Probably would take less than you'd think.  A little light to read the depth rule and some light to see where you're cutting and not hit the dogs or clamps.

[ohsoloco]

Bibbyman, some of us hit the dogs and clamps in full sunlight  :D

[Bibbyman]

Ain't that the truth!

[Tom]

It's that blinding solar flare that intermittantly befuddles me and results in dog polishing. :P

[Jeff]

If I hit a dog it probably would cost minimum of $2,000. Circle sawyers that hit dogs loose thier jobs.

[DanG]

Well, I dinged my first dog, the other day.  I had sawn most of a little pecan log, Sunday, doing a little demo for a friend who hadn't seen the mill work, yet.  I shut it down, and left part of the log unsawn. Monday, it was looking like rain, so I ran out to harvest the remaining few boards and get them under the shed. In my haste to show off the mill, I hadn't leveled up properly, and, again in haste, I didn't check to see that the last dog would clear the blade. It didn't!  The  bottom edger blade grazed it, throwing sparks out into the failing light. I was relieved to see that damage to the teeth was light, but I could see some rounding of the corners. Just for giggles, I threw another little pecker-pole on, and sawed it up the next day. I couldn't tell any difference in the cutting or the surface of the boards. I feel better, having struck my first metal, without a major catastrophe. I also feel stoopid for spoiling the beautiful, rusty patina of that dog! :-/

[Tom]

Well Jeff, I've fired me several times but had to rehire me cause I'm the best sawyer that mill has ever had and the boss knows it. :D

Makes you feel good to be punching your own clock, Huh DanG? ;D

[DanG]

It'd feel even better if I didn't have to punch somebody else's clock, first. Actually, I haven't made the first dime from the mill, yet. It's been a real rocky sort of year, and I feel good that I haven't fallen into disreputable condition, given the circumstances. I tend to beat myself up, over the lack of progress, but I've made strides against indebtedness, and I have a fine mill, free and clear. I've made some potentially valuable contacts, in both the source and marketing ends of the business, and I have developed a basic business plan. In short, I'm not unhappy with where I'm at.

Boy, do I have a buncha work ahead of me, though!

[Tom]

Just don't get so organized that you forget to have fun.

[FeltzE]

Quotes and justification   :D

"A Horizontal Portable Band Mill that hasn't been scarred by a blade hasn't been properly tested."

I once found a sawmill imbedded in my log and tried to cut it out only to find out I was wrong.

"WOW those blades are tough!"

"Now how did that dog gone clamp jump up into the blade?"

"The sparks from my sawmill at dusk are a derrivative of being asleep at the blade."

"Most blades WILL significantly cut into sawmill components if you aren't carefull"

"I ment to do that..."

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Darn, that was a new blade too..."

" I guess that wraps it up for the day"

"So ... I guess you can't say YOU havn't tried to cut the mill in half, any more... Dear"

Eric

[whitepe]

I spoke to my Sunday no-show on Tuesday and
as it turns out I worked him too hard last Saturday
He is 57 years old and a heavy smoker and he was
feeling kinda puny after the Saturday log retrieval milling that we that we did. I went ahead and finished his milling by myself
Tuesday and the last log of my own that I had laying around my place that wasn't sawn.  I'm taking my mill to Indiana
on Nov. 1st to saw at the Father-in-laws place so I'm done
milling in Illinois at least for this calendar year. The
father-in-law has several logs to cut up so what we don't
cut on Sat. Nov. 2nd he will get by himself.
I've already got three milling jobs lined up for next year
plus my neighbor said I could have several 40-50 foot
tall oak trees from his back yard that didn't survive
the construction/landscaping.   Believe me that's
plenty to keep an LT15 operator busy when you
saw evenings / weekends.  
Well the little lady is calling saying supper's ready
so as Bibbyman says you can call me anything you want
but don't call me late for supper.
 :D

[Noble_Ma]

I don't feel so bad.  I hit my dog about two weeks after I bought the mill.  Luckily, I have a friend who loves to weld.  I'm still getting crap from my brother-in-law and buddies who happened to be watching me.  I guess it happens to the best of us and the rookies too.    The only problem is I'm always looking around the log to see where the dogs are.