Life goes on - Summer 2021

Really not much to them. Easy to build, just a bit time consuming. Never go wrong owning a sawmill.

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I bought a Harbor freight sawmill 10 years ago after selling one that I built. It was $1500 At that price I couldn’t build another one. I made some up grades to it works very well.

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I had checked those and they’re sadly unavailable. Not sure when they’ll be back in stock.

If I were going to build another one I’d spring for the store bought blade wheels instead of the motorcycle wheels and tires I have on mine. I’m pretty sure I could build another one for under a grand even using the preditor 420CC engine I have on mine.

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I use trailer wheels. Seemed to work ok. Another option is v-belt pulleys. I had a booklet. I think it was called “The Simple Saw”. Seems like Ray was the first name of the author.

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Ok, maybe Bill Rake.

Kind of like this page.

https://monarch14.blogspot.com/2018/07/bandsaw-lumber-mill-simple-saw-bill.html?m=1

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My mill is a Turner Mill it uses trailer wheels as well and works fine. You just need to keep the air pressure set right on the tires to keep blade tension.

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Well we’ve been have a very unusual High Pressure fist of air shoved up here on the PNW coastal.
Let me get the wife’s garden dried out and tilled for it’s fifth time. Still. Hard frost every night of the last 4-5 here on this valley floor cold pocket.
But the early severe heating and low humidity drying winds has now caused at least two very early woodland wildfires.
We’re into all outside burn-ban now about two months early. Five woodland crew, fire and one tanker truck went zoom-zooming responding past our place yesterday.

Another year due to; too wet; too old, slow and lazy I haven’t gotten the windfall limbs and wife’s trimming pile burnt off.
Now too big to legally burn off.

I am just going to have to get-with making up my planned James Hookway barrel charcoal maker. Make a pivoting stand and this system can be easy, empty.
Ha! Ha! Enclosed. Controlled. Legal.
I think. Maybe.

Then beating off my BBQing wife from stealing “my” engine supplemental charcoal!
Regards
Steve unruh

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We are back in hard lock down again. No vaccine to give out and numbers are climbing. I walk the dogs and watch neighbors sneak back and forth across the street hoping not to be seen and tattled on to the police…

Lawn could us a good rake, but I am not going to the store to buy one.

Bears are stealing garbage up the road and running off with the bags into the hill behind my house and my dogs sneak away the check out the spoils too. So far one has come home with a sick belly and bad breath while the other has started to show her age and has some hip/joint issues that keep her running to short sprints.

Not a good start to the summer. We better borrow beg and suck up for some Vaccine. Hindsight " it sure was stupid to sell out biggest vaccine factory to a private firm from France that never did anything with it ( Phooey free trade I say ). Maybe we can beg India for some again…

Not looking like a good summer at all.

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:thinking: yummy food or engine fuel… I think you win either way…

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Old saying around these parts; the nice thing about today is that tomorrow will be worse.

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Ha, normally I would say bad day, good day. But your saying is what is happening whit steelprices. How is that on the other side of that big pond? Prices doubled in less then half year. The same was going on with wood, but that doesn’t bother me. It is like a third world country over here, don’t ask what it cost, ask if and when it is available. And I buy full packets, last offer was 1000 kg/half pack…Anyone a crystal ball?

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Steel was way down in price because of excess scrapping. I think catalytic converters are up in price. I should schedule a day off so I can scrap my old exhaust from the Mazda. Had two Cats on it.

Fellows the last COVID year shows what would happen in any forced-sudden-change-world.
The same as what had happened in the past with invasions and war.

Things once common and expected become rare and hard to find, then expensive, then totally stocks used up no longer available.
Here in North America JoepK ?
Toilet paper and all paper-tissue products . . . psst! Now re-available. But Prices crept up.
I see truck pallets and truck pallets of bagged garden soil addments. But NONE offered for discount sale prices this year. Full bore pricing only. We will do without.

Fire arms ammunition had already been getting stripped out pre-Presidential election. That a repetitive pattern here now.
Then COVID. Now only those willing to pay 3X to 10X black market hi-jack prices get anything. Very obvious that scalpers had sucked up all stocks, and are sucking up the new production. Not just to personally hoard . . . but wait for desperation. Profiteers. I bring this up as this is historic classical. People will pay far more for perceived needs than for real necessity needs.

Adult bicycles by May/June of last year were completely stripped out. STILL hard to get.
Same with personals computers.
The problem seems to be the overseas productions. Very much COVID lock-in affected. COVID quarantined affected sidelining individual workers for 10-14 days. I’ve seen this here a lot commonly too.

I think we should be thankful that basics foods productions and distribution was given PASS support.
Did not do restaurateurs, and café folks any help though. Or, their supplier chains either.

What the very CHANGE-NOW carbons haters Ultra-Greens fail to realize is that this last year of Top-Down draconian dictates shows well the averse effects if they ever did get their full forced ALL change ways.
Many moves afoot now in individual States to strip Govenors of some of their emergency powers. ONLY allowed after Legislators approvals.
Weather changing for the better and will not be just the political extremists saying: NO-Enough. But the majority now. Not streets marching. Individual non-compliances.
S.U.

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Ok. The same overthere then. Money is splassing everywhere. Houseprices exploded. Total crazyness. All because of lockdown and no one can spent money on holidays. I hold my breath. Hope it is not like roaring twenties

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There is a fundamental difference between the 20s the great depression and the 40s to 60s recovery compared to today. The boom and bust where both about a decade long. Today we are looking at one year not a decade of pent up demand. The housing bubble has more to do with big money wanting out of the stock market in the USA there are cash offers comming from big investments companies over asking price turning homes into rental properties.
But outside of that the shortage and demand spike are short term I think because it is only a single year of demand not the decade long disturbance and war that people are looking back on and comparing this to.
But here in the USA there is a very big class divide in the response to the pandemic. Some people where able to work at home or keep their jobs through it all. They are doing ok and driving demand. Others lost their jobs and are half a year or more behind on rent or mortgage payments. How this works out will largely depend on what happens to those people. In 2008 the crash put 6 million Americans in that boat losing their homes in 2009. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the numbers today. So my take is hold on and hope there is help for those who need it the most so we dont fall into a depression. This could be a one year blip or it could be more depending on what happens next.
As for me I just keep remembering what my grandfather always said that the depression didn’t change much on the farm. He worked hard for what little he had before during and after. So long as the crops don’t fail you get by. Seems to be true today as it was then. Not getting rich on an old farm but you can be sure good food will be on the table at meal time which is something to be grateful for.

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I am not disagreeing with you DanA.
It is just looking back too far like the WWI and post 1920’s much gets lost, forgotten.
Such as the Netherlands and Denmark were both neutral so place well to rebound in the 1920’s. And quick rebounding too often means oscillation bouncing. Versus war exhausted Germany, France, Belgium and Great Britain. Slower grinding upwards. Or death spiraling downwards.
Here USA post 1918; it was the upward ripple effect of millions $'s to be made in commercial Radio, Moving Pictures, automobiles and burgeoning national newspaper chains and other areas. All of these giving seemed, “can’t lose”, Stocks Investments opportunities.
Then throw a big rock in that money stream flow with the national prohibitions on the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol!!
Following on the recovery and “I want to forget” (and now be optimistic) 1918 pandemic year.

Or we can be too historically close to see all of the likely affective factors.
Your example of the 2008 melt down. Did not happen overnight. Built up over the course of the previous 6 years, easy to look-back and see. . . now.
Spurred hot economy to beat the terrorist’s.
My auto repair income fell every year throughout that time. Got to where no one would pay more than $500 for ANY needed repair. They could just buy into a new vehicle. Low, low interest. Longer then, 5 & 7 year auto loans with that same $500. spent out of pocket.
I had two close relatives working suckered in their 20’s into Adjustable Rate 1st home buying. We older; warned them: Wait. Save for a true down payment to be able to conventionally finance like we had to back in the 12-18% late 1970’s, early 1980’s interest days.
Then; Pop goes the bubble. They lost.

You are right. The home owners losing this time it is mostly by no fault of there own. Dictated NO-Work, no-income for over six months kicks-ass unless you are a full owned property owner.
Financially hanging onto to small business hoping for reopening has even drained fully owned home owners down to personal bankruptcy.

Again any big impeding rock thrown into the flowing financial streams like JosepK said well: “splashes everywhere”.

I have no Chrystal balls.
I do not believe in them.
I put my trusts into personal reserves.
Start with one Month.
Build to three months.
Then build up to one year.

And truly you’d only be historically safe with 3-7 years carry-through reserves.
Nope even we ain’t got that. Still, No panic for us. We know that annually yearly activity will extent out reserves. And new annual thoughtful re-directed activities has the flexibility for unsettled times.
The key is to not slosh back and forth overreacting wasting personal time, energy and resources.
Steve unruh

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Steve you are correct about the 2008 bubble building for years before hand. I was watching the housing sector then and the problem was that the cost of a new house went up faster than you could save for the downpayment. My best friend bought his first home right near the top and lost it about a year later after the crash. My only point was that 6 million Americans than lost their homes and that is a tinny percentage of who is behind now. I heard a while back that it is on the order of 1 in 3 Americans behind on rent or mortgage payments. I could be wrong but it is way more than 6 million Americans and we all lived through 2009. I see us at a cross roads. One path looks good one doesn’t.
On the bright side I did see GM is starting a new battery factory in Tennessee that should be in full production in 2023 employing 1500 people IIRC. I see renewable energy and EV as an opportunity for any country willing to make the investment there are jobs to be had and energy resources to become local assets. It is where I see growth in our global economy that can accured without inflation and bubbles like we see in housing.

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Yeah, I suspect that supply and demand are going to be keeping prices high for building materials for quite a while. The cost of lumber is just insane right now, I paid 44 dollars for a single sheet of 3/8" CDX! and an 8 foot 2x4 was like almost 7 bucks! All the mills basically fell behind last spring, and now there is so much demand that they cannot catch up. And as long as they can make 4 times more and nobody else is going to undercut their prices, they will keep charging that price.

I am watching the market with a degree of wariness, but I am not quite convinced yet that it is all going to come crashing down. It is going to be interesting to see what economists say 20 years from now when they look back at all this. It will be interesting to see what pumping trillions of dollars into the economy will end up buying us. I am cautiously optimistic that things are going to take off once we get to herd immunity, but I do suspect it might be a bumpy ride for a while there.

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I have been so blessed by God the Father and his Son Jesus. In the past I have been impressed by those who could say, “If it gets any better, I couldn’t stand it.” Now I think I can use that line myself and really mean it.

I don’t mean to dilute what I just wrote, but to give you some perspective, it might help for you to know that I Just got home from a colonoscopy a couple of hours ago and enjoyed a plate from Smithfield BBQ—my first meal in nearly a day and a half. God is very good.

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