# Milling yard is moving!



## BobL (Sep 20, 2012)

The big news here is that the Tree Lopper (Jeff) I have been in cahoots with and milling in his yard for the last 5 years has to quit his yard by christmas and move further out of town.
Fortunately he wants to keep up the arrangement and hopefully the new location will only be a few miles further out.

Because of this we have been busy cleaning up and restacking/stickering many of the milled labs and banding them up with a steel bander.
I really wish I had the banding gear right back when all this stuff was being milled.

To handle the steel band I cobbled together a gizmo for feeding out the steel band based on a sack trolley.





The tool box holds the bander, crimper and other associated tools.

The other big news is that at the end of Feb next year I will take a redundancy package and quit my day job at the University . 
I hope to spend a lot more time in my home shop, and at the new tree loppers yard.


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## Jim Timber (Sep 20, 2012)

That banding cart looks very similar to the commercially available ones I've used at jobs in the past. I like the tool box on top instead of the open tray the ones I used had. Seems like you're always getting chewed on reaching around extraneous stuff for clamps.

Good luck with the move! I hate moving, and while I lust to relocate to my land up north, I'm not looking forward to the actual move itself.


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## OH_Varmntr (Sep 20, 2012)

Wait a minute, you're going to be spending _more_ time in your shop? I can't imagine what you'll dream up now! :msp_thumbup:

I always enjoyed your threads and creativity Bob. Looking forward to seeing some more of your work now that you'll have more time!


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## BobL (Sep 20, 2012)

OH_Varmntr said:


> Wait a minute, you're going to be spending _more_ time in your shop? I can't imagine what you'll dream up now! :msp_thumbup:


Well that's the plan but SWMBO has other ideas of me doing house repairs etc :msp_mad:



> I always enjoyed your threads and creativity Bob. Looking forward to seeing some more of your work now that you'll have more time!


Cheers


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## jimdad07 (Sep 20, 2012)

Congrats Bob, I am glad to see you are going to be able to enjoy that new shop even more soon!


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## PhilB (Sep 20, 2012)

Congrats Bob. I'm sure you'll have new projects and inovations to share with all of us.

Phil


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## BobL (Sep 22, 2012)

BobL said:


> The big news here is that the Tree Lopper (Jeff) I have been in cahoots with and milling in his yard for the last 5 years has to quit his yard by christmas and move further out of town.
> Fortunately he wants to keep up the arrangement and hopefully the new location will only be a few miles further out.



Things are moving faster than I first thought. Now we have to be out of the yard within 4 weeks - new yard 4 miles further out of town but is not as user friendly as old site. No time even to mill the backlog. 5 logs have been chipped and 3 of the better ones are being moved.


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## redoakneck (Sep 22, 2012)

Congrats on the retirement and new local. Sometimes moving is a good thing because you can re-organize stuff and you are forced to do it. I am getting ready to do some more milling now that our fall is here. 100'F and 99% humidity is tough on my weak azz, yer spring is starting now down under. 

Take care of the misses, I bet she puts up with a lot???:msp_biggrin:


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## john taliaferro (Sep 22, 2012)

Bob watch for the bands staining your nice slabs . If you wernt so far i would help you move the logs so as not to chipum thats a naughty word here .


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## BobL (Sep 22, 2012)

redoakneck said:


> Congrats on the retirement and new local. Sometimes moving is a good thing because you can re-organize stuff and you are forced to do it. I am getting ready to do some more milling now that our fall is here. 100'F and 99% humidity is tough on my weak azz, yer spring is starting now down under.


Yep spring has sprung. We've only had half our winter rain this year and it hardly rains at all in summer so it could be a very dry year.



> Take care of the misses, I bet she puts up with a lot???:msp_biggrin:


Misses, or Missus as we say here rides horses so I don't see much of her as she is at the riding school every spare half day she gets.My mates reckon that's why I got myself a nu dawg. 

The dawg has started coming with me to the milling yard.
She loves it there, lots of space and digging up and eating the lizards in the woodchip piles.
She even likes to ride the loader like I used to when I was a kid.


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## 820wards (Sep 23, 2012)

BobL said:


> Well that's the plan but SWMBO has other ideas of me doing house repairs etc :msp_mad:
> 
> 
> Cheers



Bob,

Good to hear your finally going to retire and get to work on projects of your liking. But make sure you work on that 'to do' list the Mrs. has been letting to slack off on. Oh... and make sure you have dinner ready when she gets home from work if she works, they like to have it on the table when they walk in the door. Congratulations Friend!

jerry-


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## BobL (Sep 24, 2012)

820wards said:


> Bob,
> 
> Good to hear your finally going to retire and get to work on projects of your liking. But make sure you work on that 'to do' list the Mrs. has been letting to slack off on. Oh... and make sure you have dinner ready when she gets home from work if she works, they like to have it on the table when they walk in the door. Congratulations Friend!
> 
> jerry-



Cheers Jerry, 

Yep know what you mean about having the dinner ready. I already cook two nights a week, once when she goes horseriding and once when she works late


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## 820wards (Sep 24, 2012)

BobL said:


> Cheers Jerry,
> 
> Yep know what you mean about having the dinner ready. I already cook two nights a week, once when she goes horseriding and once when she works late



Got the wife her coffee after our morning 5K walk and will be headed out to the shop to do some turning. I aggravated the pinched nerve in my back again so I've stayed away from any heavy lifting and milling. Hoping to get back milling maybe in Sept when it's cooler. Have fun with your move and watch out for that back, you only have one to work with.

jerry-


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## Daninvan (Oct 2, 2012)

Bob,

Congrats on the retirement! I am sure you will not be idle. Hope your health issues are under control. Looking forward to seeing more milling photos and mill ideas. Love the dog!

Too bad about the move though. That's a hassle, and a shame that some of the logs were lost. 

Take care,

Dan


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## BobL (Oct 6, 2012)

Well I finished all the banding today. 
25 packs, plus what's in the container, plus some extra bits and pieces which are going to users..
Several of the slabs were so badly warped we threw them out.
Termites are everywhere around the old yard but only one slab was attacked beyond further use which I threw out and one slab had some termite activity but its so small it can easily be cut out.

We also went and looked at the new yard - area outlined in red on the photo.
Not as much room as the old yard so we have to be a lot more organized than we have been
The pace used to be a "Hydroponic nursery", one advantage is it has some large trees so I should be able to mill in the shade for at least part of the day.
Here are a couple of Google Earth shots.
This one shows the location of the new yard - its about 1.5 miles in a straight line (3 mile drive) to the beach so sea breezes will be in early in the day.
The desert like area is an area of stable sand dune covering substantial limestone - it's a regional park.
The area itself is mixed residential, light industrial and market gardens - there is a small tavern/pub about 100 yards down the street.
There is some major boat building just north of that small holiday village on the beach but the beach is well maintained and ideal for a dip on a hot summers day (not many sharks in this area).
To the south there is a major Alumina processing plant plus a nickel and titanium oxide processing plant





There is a house on the block that's not part of the lease.
The rest of the block with the funny circular gardens is not part of the lease will be partially cleared for a truckers car park.




There's quite a bot of work to do e.g. the ground is not level and some sort of fence is going to be put up to divide up the block
I'm not that happy that there will be a people moving in and out but I have little say in the matter.
Might look at getting another container and a serious yard dog.

Moving starts mid next week. Unfortunately I won't be there when it happens.
Next milling picks will be in the new yard.


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## WidowMaker1 (Oct 6, 2012)

there goes the neighbourhood lol. fire up the 880 mate ...


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## DaltonPaull (Oct 8, 2012)

Cheers to a productive retirement Bob! I'm planing to be jealous of all the projects you post with some extra time on your hands.


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## BobL (Oct 8, 2012)

DaltonPaull said:


> Cheers to a productive retirement Bob! I'm planing to be jealous of all the projects you post with some extra time on your hands.



Thanks DP. 

The "lasts" of my day job at the university are rolling past increasingly quickly. 
This week is the last week of my last university teaching semester. 
Yesterday I gave my last lecture and later this week I give my last laboratory classes - then I have 5 months of administration duties to deal with.
To help me cope with the transition, most of December and all of January (our summer) I will take as accrued vacation time, hope to do a bit of camping and milling!
Then I go back to the day job for all of February before finishing up.


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## john taliaferro (Oct 12, 2012)

Youll miss the interaction with all the students and instructors , but you can always go to the pub 100 ' away or the beach 3 miles .


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## BobL (Oct 13, 2012)

Cheers JT.



john taliaferro said:


> Youll miss the interaction with all the students and instructors , but you can always go to the pub 100 ' away or the beach 3 miles .



Students maybe, although increasingly the students that should never have been allowed into the place seem to be taking over from the good guys. I will really miss the technical guys as they are much more practical but I can always drop in for a chat with them as they are only a few minutes away. I also have the option of going back and giving some classes part time - it will depend on a bunch of factors - but for 12 months I am going to stay away from the place.


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## BobL (Feb 7, 2013)

*retirement countdown.*

Today was somewhat momentous as I had a meeting with my line manger regarding my upcoming retirement - it's just 3 weeks away now.

He told me that he does not want me to do any more work! 
He just wants me to watch my replacements and help them if need advice etc and check that their work is OK. This leaves me twiddling my thumbs a bit but I think I can cope with this for 3 weeks. Of course I can always find stuff to do. I have started cleaning out my office and got rid of about 10 garbage bins of paper into the paper recycling dumpster.

Even stranger was a discussion about what sort of retirement party I would like - he wants to have two parties, which is fine with me.


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## 820wards (Feb 8, 2013)

BobL said:


> Today was somewhat momentous as I had a meeting with my line manger regarding my upcoming retirement - it's just 3 weeks away now.
> 
> He told me that he does not want me to do any more work!
> He just wants me to watch my replacements and help them if need advice etc and check that their work is OK. This leaves me twiddling my thumbs a bit but I think I can cope with this for 3 weeks. Of course I can always find stuff to do. I have started cleaning out my office and got rid of about 10 garbage bins of paper into the paper recycling dumpster.
> ...



Bob,

Good to hear you are almost retired. When I retired I had my party at the local gun range I belong to. Everyone got to shoot some traps and one woman enjoyed it so much she went out and bought a new 12ga. and became a member of the club. Another person said that my party was the only retirement party that included guns.

Enjoy your party's Bob and get plenty of pictures with your co-workers to remember the day.

jerry-


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## BobL (Feb 8, 2013)

820wards said:


> Bob,
> Good to hear you are almost retired. When I retired I had my party at the local gun range I belong to. Everyone got to shoot some traps and one woman enjoyed it so much she went out and bought a new 12ga. and became a member of the club. Another person said that my party was the only retirement party that included guns.
> Enjoy your party's Bob and get plenty of pictures with your co-workers to remember the day.
> jerry-



Cheers Jerry - I don't really feel a need to celebrate anything other than perhaps, somewhat cynically, escaping the place with my sanity and health partially intact. I'm going along with the parties because I know the average person attending will want to say goodbye and I do want to take the opportunity to publicly thank a few workmates. I would be happier to just get some take out vietnamese or local fish and chips and sit by the river with a couple of beers. Instead pretty much no matter what I ask for the firm will host some sort of 'corporate event', that will include administrators in suits and hangers on that don't really know me and some that I don't like, some making speeches full of empty generic cliches. I will definitely NOT be wearing anything other than jeans and a shirt, or maybe even short pants because (apart from when I had something formal to attend) I wore short pants to work from September to May for the last 23 years. Fortunately in some ways, another older and more senior Prof is also retiring and we are having a joint function - thankfully he will take the limelight.


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## BobL (Feb 27, 2013)

It's my last day at work today. 
The "official" retirement party is tomorrow but the Dept staff held an informal lunch for me last Tuesday.

There is also a tradition of giving silly gifts (Usually a piece of junk from the basement) to retiring staff and having done it to others I had to suffer, but it was not too painful.

The gifts were;
- a "4 kb (yes that is 4 kilobytes) magnetic core memory from the first (1966) Departmental computer, will updated USB connectivity! Thousands of little ferrite cores threaded with fine wires. 
- the keys to the Department Mechanical workshop on a giant key fob (I have a habit of leaving the shop open) made out of a 1970s GM chrome hubcap and some chain.
This means I get indefinite access to the mechanical workshop which is great because although I have a fairly good home shop there are many things metalwise I cannot do in my shop.

The other guy in the photo is Glen, the lab manager who I worked with for 25 years - top bloke.


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## GeeVee (Feb 27, 2013)

820wards said:


> Bob,
> 
> Good to hear you are almost retired. When I retired I had my party at the local gun range I belong to. Everyone got to shoot some traps and one woman enjoyed it so much she went out and bought a new 12ga. and became a member of the club. Another person said that my party was the only retirement party that included guns.
> 
> ...




They wanted to be armed, in case you went postal. A party at a gun range wasn't suspicious that way....


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## GeeVee (Feb 27, 2013)

BobL said:


> It's my last day at work today.
> The "official" retirement party is tomorrow but the Dept staff held an informal lunch for me last Tuesday.
> 
> There is also a tradition of giving silly gifts (Usually a piece of junk from the basement) to retiring staff and having done it to others I had to suffer, but it was not too painful.
> ...



Enjoy Bob, really.


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## 820wards (Feb 27, 2013)

BobL said:


> It's my last day at work today.



Looks like they are all pretty darn good friends. Hope you enjoy the final party.

Good Luck!

jerry-


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## Daninvan (Feb 27, 2013)

Congratulations Bob! I am also looking forward to seeing more postings of your milling and your shop. And hopefully in your retirement you will be doing some travel, perhaps even out this way!

Cheers,

Dan


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## BobL (Feb 28, 2013)

Daninvan said:


> Congratulations Bob! I am also looking forward to seeing more postings of your milling and your shop. And hopefully in your retirement you will be doing some travel, perhaps even out this way!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dan



Could be :msp_biggrin:


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