Hope to get back to some milling soon

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BobL

No longer addicted to AS
AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
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Location
Perth, Australia
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.
 
Nice to see a post from you Bob, I had missed your posts...
Hope your health sorts out.
 
Thanks Fellas. Knee continues to go back and forth. Docs given me another cortisone injection into the knee and some effective pain killers that seem to work really well for abut 24 hours. The temptation is there to push ahead but I can't take many of these pills because they are bad for poorly performing kidneys and because I only have one kidney I can only take them sparingly. Still limited to about an hour of standing but can walk about 500 yards so that's a small improvement over the last couple of weeks. Have been dabbling a bit with saws but milling is still a bit further away than I first thought
 
Hi Bob, haven't been hanging around here much since I sold all my milling gear a year or so ago. Glad to hear you are getting back into some projects. Hope you continue to improve. Cheers, Dan.
 
Hi Dan, thanks for the wishes. I have thought about selling my milling gear but want to increase my number of species milled before I call it quits. I have an opportunity to mill some small Teak logs in the near future.

I assume you are still doing some woodworking?
 
It's been 3 steps fwd and 2 back with the knee. The doctor has given up on me and was about to refer me to get a knee replacement but I thought it was worth trying a few other things first. To cut a long story short am having physiotherapy and learning how to walk again. I can now walk about 2 miles and stand for about 2 hours before I need a rest. The Physio has set me a range of exercises including a target of 100 stairs/steps a day and I have been averaging about 60. The pain has definitely subsided in that I have only taken one painkiller in the last week. I still can't squat or carry anything more than about 20 lbs or kneel down without pain so there is still some way to go but I'm feeling positive about it.
 
Glad to hear you're doing better Bob. Bad knees can really be a struggle. Seems like once they're bad, they never get back to 100%. I blew mine out playing football when I was 12. Even after surgery I was never quite the same. I never had any major issues but it pretty much ended playing sports. Sure wish you the best!

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It's been 3 steps fwd and 2 back with the knee. The doctor has given up on me and was read to refer me to get a knee replacement but I thought it was worth trying a few other things first. To cut a long story short am having physiotherapy and learning how to walk again. I can now walk about 2 miles and stand for about 2 hours before I need a rest. The Physio has set me a range of exercises including a target of 100 stairs/steps a day and I have been averaging about 60. The pain has definitely subsided in that I have only taken one painkiller in the last week. I still can't squat or carry anything more than about 20 lbs or kneel down without pain so there is still some way to go but I'm feeling positive about it.
So very glad to hear of your progress. Before my knees were replaced cortisone just hid the pain IMHO. What was a bigger help was "chicken shots" not the meds name but Doc's get it. It replaced the lube between the bones which stopped the grinding pain for a time. Then waited for next scheduled shots.
Yesterday I was presented with a Miller's dream;IMG_20181012_113607.jpg A large property, being developed for a shooting range. After deer season is over will be able to go in and pull whatever I want up to the landing, mill and load. :yes: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.
Also standing oak trees 30-40"+ dbh can be dropped if I want them. I'm:happybanana: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.
BobL you're in my thoughts and hopes that you will be able to have what you wood like to achieve. You have helped so many of us to do better with milling and life.
Thanks
 
Hope the teak works out for you. That would be fabulous to mill.

I have cut back on shop time somewhat. Have a couple small projects on the go but nothing too ambitious. Still have lots of wood though!!

Glad to hear of the recent improvement on the knee, I'm sure the progress helps you maintain enthusiasm for the program. Sticking to a physio regimen can sometimes be tough to maintain but you are having the results so keep up the good work.

Cheers!
 
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