Some of you may have noticed that although I have been responding to the odd post that I have not been milling anything for quite a while. I could reel out my long list of medical reasons but lets just sum it up by saying things got to the point where I could not stand for more than 5 minutes, or walk (more like hobble) for 20 yards before I needed to rest. I was sleeping only about 2-3 hours a night and the dozing/napping multiple times during the day and I could not carry anything more than a few pounds without fear of falling over. This all also meant I could also not work in my shop even when sitting down. I was doing some electronics projects in the house but not getting very far with them as I could not really concentrate. Our dogs were missing out on their daily walks and one of then kept bring me a ball and looking up at me as if to say "What's wrong"?
Just in the last week or so - through no specific medical intervention, my night time sleep has increased to 5-6 hours a night and I am now able to stand for about an hour and can walk/hobble for about 200 yards.
One of the first shop projects I needed to attend to was to organise a saw for my nephew. 40 years ago I borrowed a Mac 10-10 from his dad who passed away a few months after that and I have hung onto the Mac ever since. 10 years ago I blew up the 10-10 while milling some small logs and the bits and pieces of the saw are still under my house. Recently the nephew asked me to look at his small "cheap chinese" firewood saw that was not performing, and I said better still, I would look amongst my saw herd and see if I could set him up with a half decent little saw. The most likely candidate was a West German made Makita that was given to me ~10 years ago because the gas tank leaked. Well it turned out to be just a cracked fuel line plus the chain was rusted solid in a couple of places otherwise it's a good little saw. These were quickly fixed and I gave it a tune up and a sharpen and now my nephew has a decent little runner.
At the same time I decided I would do some more thinning out of my CS herd. I cleaned up a beat up PM480 Mac that was given to me abut 12 years ago because it was not delivering oil. When I first got it there were a few screws missing where someone had obviously taken it apart and half put it back together. The drive sprocket cover was missing so I fabbed one out of a bit of ally, the choke linkage was missing so I made one out a piece of wire, replaced the missing air filter with some spray booth polyester filter media from a large roll of the stuff I found by the side of the road, and of course fixed the oil pump. After the clean up I advertised it for free in the local on-line classifieds and got 23 phone calls within an hour of placing the ad. The old timer that I eventually gave it to knew something about older saws so I was happy about this.
Sorry this has not had much to do with milling but playing around with the little Makita and the old Mac has reminded me of how much fun messing with CS are so hopefully I will have enough energy to think about milling soon.
Just in the last week or so - through no specific medical intervention, my night time sleep has increased to 5-6 hours a night and I am now able to stand for about an hour and can walk/hobble for about 200 yards.
One of the first shop projects I needed to attend to was to organise a saw for my nephew. 40 years ago I borrowed a Mac 10-10 from his dad who passed away a few months after that and I have hung onto the Mac ever since. 10 years ago I blew up the 10-10 while milling some small logs and the bits and pieces of the saw are still under my house. Recently the nephew asked me to look at his small "cheap chinese" firewood saw that was not performing, and I said better still, I would look amongst my saw herd and see if I could set him up with a half decent little saw. The most likely candidate was a West German made Makita that was given to me ~10 years ago because the gas tank leaked. Well it turned out to be just a cracked fuel line plus the chain was rusted solid in a couple of places otherwise it's a good little saw. These were quickly fixed and I gave it a tune up and a sharpen and now my nephew has a decent little runner.
At the same time I decided I would do some more thinning out of my CS herd. I cleaned up a beat up PM480 Mac that was given to me abut 12 years ago because it was not delivering oil. When I first got it there were a few screws missing where someone had obviously taken it apart and half put it back together. The drive sprocket cover was missing so I fabbed one out of a bit of ally, the choke linkage was missing so I made one out a piece of wire, replaced the missing air filter with some spray booth polyester filter media from a large roll of the stuff I found by the side of the road, and of course fixed the oil pump. After the clean up I advertised it for free in the local on-line classifieds and got 23 phone calls within an hour of placing the ad. The old timer that I eventually gave it to knew something about older saws so I was happy about this.
Sorry this has not had much to do with milling but playing around with the little Makita and the old Mac has reminded me of how much fun messing with CS are so hopefully I will have enough energy to think about milling soon.
The person I know with access pointed out the target on the second ridge at 650 yards, to the left 20 yards the 850yard targets were shown. He has been paid for grading in the road and to leave his dozer for the owners use & his own. Wants to learn about milling. 
so glad that pain management shots help me stand & bend for a few hours. Otherwise this gold mine woodn't be within reach. Social insecurities will back track several weeks with first deposit so a better trailer may on the way also.
