How'd it go today?

[MasterBlaster]

We happened upon somebody's secret garden of marihuanna in the forest today.

That could get you killed in some places.

Those were some mighty lame looking plants.

 

[Burnham]

Good outcome, Mr. Mellow.

 

[stig]

That could get you killed in some places.

Those were some mighty lame looking plants.

Not around here, though.

Yup, miserable summer. Worst since 1976. Lots of rain, no sun.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Not good for weed production.

 

[stig]

Didn't do my garden much good, either.

Probably be real hard for those who get depressions from sunlight deprivation in winter.
Haven't had a chance to recharge their batteries this summer.
Most likely be a boom in suicides around x-mas time.

 

[Raj]

Tracked down a stator for my 25hp kohler, but no flywheel. I have to try to read my faded, paint oversprayed sticker, or no one can help.

 

[SeanKroll]

I have one groundman coming back from getting his ailing father settled with care. Worked several days for me. Seems solid, hard working, willing to learn, and safety-conscious. His fill-in for 4 days did similarly (but late two of the days). My former employee, the iron worker, is laid off, and ready to do more tree work. I think he's been raking it in, so not hurting for money, but likes to work and do tree work. All late 30's.

22 y.o. pipefitter wants some extra work here and there, even couple hours at the end of the day. A young back!

All three have families to go home to at the end of the day, something I like in employees. Not so cavalier.

When it rains, it pours.


Off to the races!

 

[SeanKroll]

Spoke too soon.

Guy (38yo) with sick dad has both older parents with fevers today.


Too bad to find a decent worker, who appears pretty upstanding and compatible, who wants to work ASAP, any time I need, but Family First.



But then, the 22yo plumber doesn't have plumbing work today, and just called me from the Labor Ready office. He was reaching out to his different options, and I am in need.

 

[Raj]

Ouch Sean. Up down up down up down.

Put back together the 25hp Befco chipper sans alternator, I'll just have to charge it at night. Needs some lovin' adjustments, work bench, cone holder, etc etc. But it will be a good fit for my custys.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UUIO0cfmqAI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Cobleskill]

They must buy that from Fuji Heavy Industries!

Had that happen one a 4 wheeler once.

.

My buddies 80s Harley had the same thing happen. It didn't crunch up the magnets, just wouldn't charge.

 

[FireFighterZero]

My 4 wheeler must have had it happen before. I could tell it had been replaced once.

Never did fix it....they wanted 1200 bucks for parts!


Went over today to dig in an overflow for a stock tank. About 500 feet.

Needed to get this job done so I could start on a longer project. 6500 feet.

Darned pilot controls wont work on the excavator. No to mention winter is on its way!

 

[Tree09]

Wow that's moving some dirt there Jim!

 

[cory]

You going to fix them hydraulics yourself, Jim? Hats off to ya if so.

 

[dstimber]

No tree stuff. But I did have to replace a VFD for one of our kilns, and had a bit of modifying to do in the control box as well.

The old drive had built in timers to keep the fan motors from overloading ( gives them time to come to a complete stop before starting in the other direction)
The new one didn't have that feature. So I had to put some 2 timers in to make it behave like it's suppose to.

 

[cory]

Cake.

For Einstein

 

[FireFighterZero]

Well, I think it's tree stuff.

I am glad you explained it. Trying to figure out why a kiln would need a VFD.

Never knew they had fans.

 

[dstimber]

Yea Jim I guess most the bigger ones do. The fans just speed up the drying process, dries the lumber to a more uniform moisture content. The vfd are mainly there to control the fan speed. Hickory, poplar, ash, and maple mostly. I think red and white oak are the only thing we run them at a constant speed on.

 

[FireFighterZero]

What fires the kiln?

 

[dstimber]

We run a hurst wood fired boiler. It uses the sawdust from in the mill. It heats a large water tank and makes steam that runs through a series of baffles in the kilns. The fans blow through the baffles to heat the kilns.

We run around 60psi of steam pressure. It's rated and permitted to 150psi, but or kilns are getting old and crap seems to blow apart around 100psi.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Cool! Thanks for the info.

 

[dstimber]

Welcome Jim.

 

[SeanKroll]

Ouch Sean. Up down up down up down.

Up down up down up down ... trying to regard it like saw chain. It goes dull. Always will go dull. There's lot of chain options on the market. I can file/ grind/ replace the chain/ use a different cutting tool/ hire an outside contractor to cut. Just have to try to figure out which, as the situation arises.



Winter probably means a lot more people looking for work.


My former employee is also now laid off from his iron working union gig and wants to do tree work until getting called up again. He offered me a radial arm saw and a table saw he no longer wants to store in storage. Still no word on the smaller capacity (19" I think) bandsaw mill. Said he was going to try to find the guy yesterday (possibly via the Union Hall???). 12 hour shifts. Being laid off, he has a bit of time to do stuff.


I think that having a diversity of PT workers, none of which I'm really relying upon, plus iron, might be a better option for labor.


The 22 year old plumber did good, safe work yesterday, coming back for more today.
Guy with sick parents (dad might be dying) will be back today. He's a good guy, I think, from the bit he's worked. Just has personal complications that are Not his fault (that's a change of pace from most laborers), and he's trying to do right by his family. .

 

[RegC]

Today I'm solo, out in Sooke. Start of quite a big job that we'll be back onto next week. These 2 red cedars are 90 and 100 ft at a guess, about 4 and a half feet dbh. The owner wants to clean up the brush himself, mill the logs. The pic doesnt nearly show how much of a mess I've left him. All of 2/3 at the bottom of the tree and a couple 40 ft tops to ice the cake. I'll leave the logs stood up....as there's every chance he's going to change his mind about cleanup. I've been here about an hour and a half. I should probably just take off. Easy day.

 

[pantheraba]

You wreaked major chaos and havoc for the fellow...in record time!

I bet he cries, "uncle", and you do the cleanup.

 

[cory]

Cool pic and post.

When you work alone on a job like that, are you ever worried about civilians entering the drop zone. You know wierder stuff has happened.