If this Walnut job was a Fishing Trip......I lost my Bass!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Sometimes its hard to give someone a price on a job. A customer brought in a 12 foot, straight Walnut log, a smaller straight Walnut log and a crotch to be sawn.
He says the tree had been hit by lightning in the middle of a field. The logs look like a no brainer to me.
I said I would saw them 6/4 x wide per his order and 4 inch gun stock slabs from the crotch.

I figured 3 hours @ $50 per hour plus $10 for a little chainsawing for a total of $160.00. He said fine. Then I explained about the metal factor at $25 per blade.....Oh....no problem Dave....there are no nails in this tree, it came out of the middle of a field.  :

Short story Long.....6 hours later after hitting 9 nails, digging what I could out, sending pics to him and numerous text messages, try to balance a huge crotch on the mill to be sawn, waiting on him to call his wife to get her opinion on what she wanted done......I STILL AIN'T FINISHED!!! Waiting on the Guy and his wife to look at the 10 x 9 x 9 foot cant, full of nails, to see if they want me to continue sawing. I have already damaged 5 blades on this job and sat waiting on a response from him by text every time I hit a nail......that's not suppose to be in there because the tree came out of the middle of a field!!!!!

Started out as a beautiful Walnut Log, 12 foot long.



 

Then it hit the fan!



  

  

  

  

 

So I saw off 2-3 feet of the log where the nails were LOADED in the wood.


 

Now I figure I have at least a 9 foot cant to get some pretty lumber out of.....Oh no....it just ain't my day!
Right dead in the center of the cant more GOLD.  8)


 

So I just take the cant off and they will be here around 6pm to look at it.

The 2nd logs sawed really nice.....good looking boards.

So now, let's put the crotch on the mill and saw some gun stock material.
I try to load it on the bed and get it all hung up every which way but loose. Its only 30 inches long and by my estimate weighs 30,000 pounds!!!! :D You gotta understand, its 92 degrees out there but feels like 98 with NO breeze.
So I turn the back hoe around, get the crotch out from being wedged between the bed rails.


 
Now I take it around to the other door and use the backhoe like a crane. But I can only get the crotch barely on the mill.
Oh...no problem, I've seen other people on the forum solve this problem. So I put chains and straps around it and I'm a gonna drag it back to the clamp using the head of the mill.


  

 

Please DO NOT try this.  :D :D :D Breakers will start kicking off. 
So now I let everything cool down for a second and turn the breakers back on.

Plan B......get the jack, Jack!
Using my railroad jack as a come along, I get the crotch in position and saw it up. Beautiful wood.


 

Like I said before, Now I'm just waiting on the customer and his Boss wife to see if they want the naily cant sawn.

They are paying for 4 blades.....but that ain't nothing for the time I lost.

I thing we both lost out today. He lost a lot of good Walnut and I lost valuable time. Sometimes ya just cannot figures things.  say_what

[thecfarm]

Tires and beams is where the money is.  :D  Kick a man when he's down.  ;D
Ain't you learned by now the,"There's no way there is metal in that log" is right up there with a walnut log that is worth $1000 and I have some trees that are 3 feet in size.

[calw1izl]

I see you had a day in paradise  :  Things can only get better !

[fishpharmer]

Thanks for taking time to share that David.  This is a good lesson for those contemplating custom milling.   Some day's you catch the limit.

[mesquite buckeye]

I think one day like that and I would be in search of metal detector. :-\

[rmack]

Tires and beams is where the money is.  :D  Kick a man when he's down.  ;D
Ain't you learned by now the,"There's no way there is metal in that log" is right up there with a walnut log that is worth $1000 and I have some trees that are 3 feet in size.

I have logs that are 3 feet in diameter, but I will be milling them myself  ;D

Too bad about the nails, is there such a thing as carbide tipped blades in 1 1/4?

[Axe Handle Hound]

You're a patient man Poston...I would have had a bonfire going by the 4 hour mark.   ;)

[Magicman]

David, the end of the first log on the sawmill told you that metal was inside before you ever put a blade into it.   :P

[Ron Wenrich]

I thought the same thing when I saw the log.

[SPIKER]

David, the end of the first log on the sawmill told you that metal was inside before you ever put a blade into it.   :P

Majic  You mean the blue stain on the log cut end is #1 indicator of metal inside the log correct?

Mark

[mesquite buckeye]

Maybe a long series of NO HUNTING/TRESPASSING signs posted over the years. We have a neighbor who likes to post his land on my side of line on walnut trees. I pull the nails as soon as I see them. When they are on his side, I leave them. ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

David, the end of the first log on the sawmill told you that metal was inside before you ever put a blade into it.   :P

I did see that Magic but the customer TOLD me there wasn't any metal in that log.  :D :D :D
(Can't help it Lynn.......you got me!  :D)

[drobertson]

This is a bonified scrap heap, the butt cut shows it, purple is bad, walnut and oak are the best for showing, many others heal over with no sign of iron,  been there and done it, in fact just finished a real nice cedar, " all by itself") in a field :D  one single deck screw,  all said, hills and valleys,  just gotta be on the look out, purple is bad >:(    david

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

The customers just left and will be back with their trailer on Saturday to pick their Lumber : up.
They paid me my $160 plus $100 for 4 blades and gave me another $100 for my time. I really thought that was pretty nice of them.
I found out this tree came off of the Wife's Grand-Fathers land. Their plans are to build a sliding kitchen barn door and to make gun stocks from the crotch.
Pictured is the heart part of the Walnut where I stopped. This will be used as a bench on their stone floor patio in front of their fire pit.


 

[red oaks lumber]

the blue end is a dead give away... no sawing, you had time to go fishing.
you can tell a sawyer from s.carolina, you just cant tell them much. :D david i have a heap of slightly metaled cants free for the taking. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Ahhhhh.......I'd saw Steve.  I ain't skerred.

[JohnM]

You gotta understand, its 92 degrees out there but feels like 98 with NO breeze.

You know what you oughta try?!!  One of those portable battery thingies and plug a fan into it.  Seems I've seen that someplace on the interwebs, don't recall where. ???  Looked slick though!  ;)

smiley_curtain_peek  smiley_horserider :D

That's a bummer all the way around though, they didn't get what they hoped for and you couldn't help them as much as you tried.  Very nice of them to compensate you for the time!

[Corley5]

Grandpa never sawed many walnut logs because he hit metal in everyone he did so he refused to saw them.  Black walnut isn't native up here but grows well in people's yards.  We've got a pair in the barnyard with a piece of chain hanging out of one.  There aren't as many links showing now as there used to be  ;) ;D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

You gotta understand, its 92 degrees out there but feels like 98 with NO breeze.

You know what you oughta try?!!  One of those portable battery thingies and plug a fan into it.  Seems I've seen that someplace on the interwebs, don't recall where. ???  Looked slick though!  ;)

:D :D :D Good One John!  :D :D :D I saw it somewhere too!  :D :D :D

[Peter Drouin]

I have a customer stand there and tell me [ no Nails] I go get the metal detector and sweep the log and it goes off. ;D 
Saves me a lot of 

[julio]

Dang David they are pretty hard on you tonight .

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Dang David they are pretty hard on you tonight .

smiley_deadheader alligator

[WDH]

I hate custom sawing  .  The last walnut that I custom sawed was full of nails and bullets.  I can imagine you there David, sweat running down your face, shirt and pants soaking wet down to your underwear and socks, and a recalcitrant walnut crotchety log.  No POWER BOX and FAN to help you.

That really sucks.  But, you got a $100 tip, so at least you can go out and eat Chinese.   

[Magicman]

 

 
Dodgy Loner's log.


 
Dodgy Loner chopping on Dodgy Loner's log.


 
Inside of Dodgy Loner's log.

[WDH]

 :D :D :D :D :D