I sawed in Keystone Heights today

[Tom]

Keystone Heights is the opposite of where I live. I am in a hardwood swamp with water oaks and clay.  Keystone is in rolling sand hills with numerous lakes and blackjack oaks.  It is about 70 miles from the house and is just south of Goldhead State park.  Look that up in google if you want some interesting reading.

Here are a couple of pictures of Mark breaking his son in on the sawmilling and barn building industry. :D

[DanG]

Wow! That kid looks like he's getting his jollies working that loader.  That clutch pedal is giving him about all he wants. :D  I remember when I was that age(barely) I really got off on operating machines. I still do. ;)  Ol' Mark is smart to let him take an active role, instead of makin' him just be a gopher.
I had a similar experience with a couple of kids this weekend. See the "Outta tha blue" thread for details.

[VA-Sawyer]

Careful with those pictures Tom, with today's standards that might be considered "child abuse" by some people.   ;D
When I think back to all the ways I was 'abused' by my dad and grandpa, it puts a smile on my face. I learned so much from those times. Kids today just don't know what they are missing.
Rick
VA-Sawyer

[Fla._Deadheader]

My little boy started driving a 42 HP Tractor, in the hills of Arkansas, at age     7  Guess he will turn out Ok for an abused kid, EH : ??? ;D ;) ;) ;)

[KDEC19]

I abuse my seven year old with a john deere 310 se,  650 g dozer, ford tn 75 tractor and various other pieces of stuff.  My father abused me the same way and just want my son to get the same treatment.  He would rather be working with me than any other thing i can think of.  Maybe the KTM65 dirtbike wins!!!

[Wes]

 I abuse my boys every chance I get,and if Im not someone else is,They have become good workers and would rather work with someone for free than hang out with frends most of the time. ages, 15,14,12.

[ScottAR]

The major abuse started when I was nine.  We got the JD 1050.  Drove it the day it was delivered.   8)   I ain't been right since   :D ;D :D

[Norm]

Sounds like he's starting his son off right. It's no fun as a kid to be treated like one by adults. Show em respect and they'll show it back.

My dad would have us boys run the machinery around the farm. He worked at the livestock barn and we would take hay out to the yards in an old monstor dumptruck. No brakes to speak of but if you got up over 10mph you were really cruising.  8) 8)

[VA-Sawyer]

A question... Did you all require the kids to 'earn' the chance at driving the equipment in some way?  I always had to 'work' my way into a drivers seat. Had to ask a lot of questions and pay attention to the answers. Did a lot of thinking on my own... operated it in my mind when someone else was actually running it. That way I could see if I was planning the right moves, by what the real driver actually did, compared to my plans. Dad seemed to know when I was ready for the real seat by the thoughtfulness ( intelligence? )of my questions.

Seems to me as if most people today just want to start at the top and not bother with learning what they need to get there.

Example:
The fellow that works for me as an offbearer is a hard worker when I'm sawing. I had him run the saw a little on his first day to learn what all is involved. It helped him understand what he could do when offbearing to be the most help. When offbearing, he is usally on the ball doing what he should be doing without me having to tell him.
I also told him on that first day that I wanted him to learn how to run the saw . My vision for the future is him running one saw and me a second one. He said he would like that. The problem is that he just seems to stand around when we are working on the mill. I want him to learn about sawing, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in how it all works. He doesn't appear to spend any time studying the subject of sawing or being a sawyer. Due to his apparent lack of motivation, I haven't had him do any sawing since that first day.  
Am I being too hard on him?
Should I just let him run the saw even though he doesn't yet seem to know what being a sawyer is all about?
I want to give this young man an opportunity (sp)  here, but I feel he should be applying himself harder at learning the subject.
Am I expecting too much?

Rick
VA-Sawyer

[EZ]

When I was 10, I was working for this farmer that did'nt have any hay wagons. We hauled all the hay and straw and grain with a 2 1/2 ton truck. He had a rent field down the road about 5 mile or so. One day he ask me if I new how to drive that truck, I said sure. He wanted to bale the hay and for me to pick it up and haul it back to the barn. The first trip out, when I was pulling out of the driveway, my mom was hanging up cloths, outside. When she saw me she was shocked , I just waved to her and drove on down the highway. After I got the first load back to the barn, she came up to the barn and said, are you aloud to drive that big truck on the road. I said, o-ya, mom, its considered a piece of farm machine, you know like a tractor. She said well ok, just be careful. :
EZ

[Tom]

Rick
Whether he saws or not is up to you and should realize that.  Ask him a question now and again to see if he has an answer.  "What kind of wood is that?"  "I wonder how you should sharpen a cant hook?" or something like that.  Don't answer him and see if he says "I dunno" an doesn't look it up.  Questions don't even have to be about sawing.  Pick a word out of the dictionary and ask him what it means as if you would like to know but don't.  See if he looks it up for you.

What is a pith?  
What is a cambium?
What is a medullary?
What is tension wood?
What is a wolf tree?
How's that log loader lift that log?
I wonder why they use oil in the hydraulics?
 Keep asking untill he goes to the books.

If he starts learning anything then it won't be long before he starts showing off what he know to you.

If he doesn't join in then he isn't interested and will probably end up being a "monkey see, monkey do" employee at best.

[VA-Sawyer]

Good Suggestion Tom. I'm going to try it.
 Most people I've had work for me over the years have been the 'monkey see, monkey do' type. All they seem to do is frustrate me. They can make the same mistake 10 times, and still be clueless.
Maybe I need to call my pop up and thank him again for all I learned from him... not because he showed me how to do everything, but because he made me find out for myself. Even when it meant letting me break something, so I would learn from my mistakes as well. I'm begining to believe the problem for most people is a fear of making mistakes.  Then if they do happen to make an 'opps' they get so upset at themselves that they don't learn the lesson they should from it. They just become more convinced NOT to try at all.

Rick
VA-Sawyer

[Tom]

Sounds like you had a smart "Pop", Rick.  Did you ever tell him so? :D

It's hard to find self starters.  I think it is partly a failure of the way a person is brought up.  Most kids who embarrassed when they fail or aren't challenged at all, become followers at best.  Not that there is anything wrong with being a follower.  One must be a good follower before he can be a leader.

I always felt good when I would see the light come on in the eyes of my high school aged off-loader when he realized that he wasn't working by the hour but by the board he pulled from the mill.