@$^%$%^ Weather

[saddlesore]

Last evening it looked like we were getting some much needed rain for awhile. About 8 PM it started to snow,. 3" by 9 PM.
I got out and covered some plants,but I think it was too late.

Mules were cranky this AM as they had shed off their winter coat and were cold. Now they are out there braying because I couldn't turn them out on green grass and had to feed hay.

[Swede]

Well we have had no snow, but it is raining. It is supposed to get near 90 degrees later in the week, but we are getting another shot of rain today. Never mind the mules; I am getting cranky(er).

[Elkhntr08]

Seems like 3-4 days of rain then dry for 2-3. Just about the time I think about working the bottoms, it rain. Need to get this alfalfa out.

[Tigger]

we finally got some much needed rain. I want to get check our food plots to see if they are growing yet.

We had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend and took advantage of it to do some fishing and caught a ton of crappies, sunnies, perch and walleyes. Really nice size on the crappies and perch.

[Lefty]

We had snow Most of it melted when it hit the ground but stuck on vehicles and buildings
Most of 5000 and up it stuck around

The mountains looked so pretty

I was waiting for a snow to bear hunt
But that area didn’t get snow

End of the week we are suppose to pass 90, I’d rather have the snow

[Magic]

My Grandson and I sawed this "whack" of 1X8's Monday morning the 18th which was our last (half) day of sawing. Since then we have been getting an afternoon dousing of rain and it is predicted to continue through the weekend. Two weeks out of our sawing schedule has really put us behind.

[Swede]

You have a nice looking pile of lumber Magic. What are you building?

[Magic]

I have a portable sawmill and saw customer's logs into whatever is on their their cut list. This job is for a couple that are building a new home. These are 1X8's that will be milled into tongue & groove flooring. Here are a couple more pictures showing lumber tht is ready to be hauled to the kiln for drying and processing. The wide boards on the right will be his stair treads and risers and the thick boards on top will be the kitchen counter tops.

It is forecast to be fair weather next week so we should finish this job Tuesday and move on to another customer.

[Magic]

I realize that I am too flipping old to still be working, but I am too old and am still working.

[Swede]

Douglas-fir does not make good flooring. It will shrink no matter how dry you get it, and you will have big cracks between the boards. Anyway you have sawn some beautiful boards.

[Magic]

No Fir here, this is all Loblolly and Shortleaf Pine which are subspecies of the Southern Yellow Pines.

[Lefty]

All wood shrinks
I’ve seen beautiful softwood floors and when cured/ dried properly in many areas flooring decking works well

And the cascade range is a lousy place for wood

[Lefty]

Back to the weather;
Im looking at the south end of the Beaverhead range.
During the night I had to peel of clothes, unzip my bag, eventually sleeping on top of my bag
I started to worry, something was wrong!
It was 70 degrees at 6000feet in this part of Idaho,well maybe just this canyon
Never have. I experienced such warm overnight temps in Idaho

[Swede]

I forgot that Magic lives in the South and thought he might be working with Douglas-fir. I too have seen Doug-fir flooring and it works fine in some places like a warehouse and mountain cabins.
Crown Zellerbach tried to make home flooring out of east side Doug-fir and could not get it to work for them. The fir they were using was so dense grained and hard you could not drive a nail in it. It would not make decent studs, so they thought it should make flooring.
The F.S. had warehouse floors made of Doug-fir. They were beautiful buildings made by the CCC during the 1930s. They all had cracks between the boards, but it was fine in a warehouse.
Pine is soft, but it may work, if wear and tear are not serious issues.

[Magic]

I forgot that Magic lives in the South.

My apology for not having my profile more up to date. I fixed it.

[Swede]

Updating your profile just might help my memory, but I often just don't pay attention to those things. It was my fault as I know you have said where you live. I would like a cabin with a pine or fir floor where everything does not have to be sparkling clean all the time. For the amount of use it would get, I am better off with a good tent. I still like the lumber pile you made. It looks a lot more even in size and shape than a lot of home sawn lumber I have seen and even bought. I bought some that was 1 inch thick on one end of the board and 2 1/2 inches on the other. It was fine for a woodshed, but that was about all. That guy had a bigger mill than you do.

[Lefty]

Swede I walked past a old building today that has 125 year old fir floors,.. And there was a gap between boards,..But the guy that got me into archer does floors,,.he said no problem, fill the cracks and refinish

[Swede]

Interesting. The fir floors I have seen were never "finished". They were old growth and wore as well as any other wood from what I observed. They were done in the 1930s. I guess if a person is ok with planning a refinish of their floor soon after it is installed, it might be ok to go with fir. It obviously can't continue to shrink forever.

The following is an advertisement I found for Douglas-fir flooring. If I was going to try fir, this is what I would want. If there was more shrinkage, I would expect it to be minimal. I would keep it totally dry until it was installed. Like the advertisement says it is, I would want vertical grained old growth. That should help make it last by minimizing wear. If Magic's lumber was fir, it would not get use as flooring except in something like a storage building or workshop.
"American Reclaimed Floors now milling old growth vertical grain Douglas fir flooring- Historic 3 1/4" width, solid 3/4" thick,8' - 12' lengths, tongue and groove, back stress relief, kiln dried, unfinished wood flooring ready to install. Old Growth Vertical Grain Doug Fir makes beautiful wood flooring, stairs, beams, wall paneling, trim work, doors, and more. Each floor is custom milled and shipped direct to your door. Save money and add value to your home. Douglas Fir Flooring has been the choice for floors for centuries."

[wawhitey]

Big lightning storm here, lost power an hour ago while butchering. Kinda wish i had a generator right now.

[WapitiTalk1]

Big lightning storm here, lost power an hour ago while butchering. Kinda wish i had a generator right now.

Can’t believe you don’t have a generator mister; worth their weight in gold. Had some epic thunder over my way early this morn.

[wawhitey]

Every time i think about getting one, i think of the sweet guns i could buy with that money. Then i buy sweet guns.

[Magic]

I still like the lumber pile you made.

This Tropical Storm did not cause me any damage but it wrecked havoc with my sawing schedule. Here are a few interesting items that I sawed last Friday.

2"X20"X8' bookmatched Tulip Poplar and then two examples of bookmatched Cherry. I believe that there is a hunting season on that last guy.

[saddlesore]

Another 4"of sow last night.Al gone now,but new plants froze. Friday we were running a portable swamp cooler to cool off.Turned the fire places on this morning

[Lefty]

We had a light frost in some areas round here
I had a breeze all night that saved us

[Lefty]

I still like the lumber pile you made.

This Tropical Storm did not cause me any damage but it wrecked havoc with my sawing schedule. Here are a few interesting items that I sawed last Friday.

2"X20"X8' bookmatched Tulip Poplar and then two examples of bookmatched Cherry. I believe that there is a hunting season on that last guy.

What are the plans for the cherry?

[Magic]

I saw customer's logs to their specifications and I imagine that those bookmatched pieces will become cabinet door panels.

Today I sawed this ugly Red Oak log for a customer which was first bucked back to 10'. He wanted three 2"X26" live edge slabs plus the remainder in 1" lumber. The smaller one on the right was not sawn.

[Magic]

I will be sawing these three Oak logs Friday. There won't be much to the closest but the other two are nice.

[Swede]

Keep posting pictures Magic. You have some great pieces of lumber to check out.

[Lefty]

When I was a young guy I board sliced vernier and graded hardwood. Mostly Michigan and Indiana Cherry, Texas Pecan, Missouri red and white oak, ND red elm

My brother and I were on a job where a small black walnut needed to be removed. Had a local guy cut it. Was offered 7.50 a BF. I did eventually use it,.. but that market plummeted whee synthetic guns stocks showed up on the scene

[Lefty]

Keep posting pictures Magic. You have some great pieces of lumber to check out.

I hope he has pics of some young guys moving those logs around .

[Swede]

I hope he has pics of some young guys moving those logs around .

I suspect the tractor does that for him. Those boys look stout, but not up to handling those logs.

[Magic]

Ah those three will be a cake walk and I always take pictures. I will not know the cut list until I get to the job tomorrow morning.

[Magic]

We had a very successful day yesterday and sawed this whack of 4/4 & 9/4 lumber and slabs. For those counting that is 1651 board feet.

[Swede]

Why is there such a variation in thickness of the boards? Is that planned, accident or something with the saw?

[Magic]

Everything is sawn according to the customer's cut list. The variations are planned. The wide and mostly "live edge" boards are 9/4 (2 1/4"). There are some 2"X12" boards and most of the remainder is 4/4 (1 1/8"). The unstickered boards on the far left look thinner because of the camera and shadows, but they are all 4/4.

[Swede]

You certainly have a beautiful lumber pile. I wondered if the thickness variation might be just camera angle.

[Magic]

Thank you. Grandson Luke and I will start sawing a large Oak job tomorrow. I'll post a few pictures.

[Lefty]

Back to Saddlesores original post. East central and west central Montana and NW wyoming have a winter storm advisory for tomorrow evening.

[Magic]

My Grandson and I sawed Oak last week but rain has us shut down this week. We will go to the Cabin Friday & Saturday and try to get a bit of work done getting ready for the 4th.