Thread: Local council

Ok so here it is thanks for being patient

Got contacted by local council (middle of last year) to have a look at their green waste pile, give them an idea to see if there was anything useful I could salvage for them. I cast my eye of their pile of logs and told him emphatically "YES!"

A quick little side story, when I first began milling up in Gympie about a decade ago, I approached that local council about doing something similar, going through their greenwaste, cutting useful stuff out for them and having them sell it via their onsite shop. I put forward it would reduce the $75k chipping bill they had at the time and also return them a saleable product to gain money spent - also give me a job. The reply at the time was no, due to too much red tape and bureaucracy - so its taken 10 years to get this job and with another council

After a bunch of messing around becoming a vendor for council- getting stuff set up in their system, paperwork trails you wouldn't believe (daily safety analysis too) it came time to start milling last month.

Before starting I had to cordon off an area with barrier mesh and star pickets, so off I went bought 100m of barrier mesh, few bundles of star pickets and went to work marking out a 100m perimeter for myself...

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I was a bit dubious about this as I've never had to do something like this and have always figured people have common sense to see a machine operating and surely won't just walk into the sawdust stream or in front of the blade while working???? Well the site super knew better and it's amazing, even with the barrier up how many people have just friggin strolled on in!!! some with genuine inquiries, others with nothing more than idle curiosity...I've turned my back, moved some timber around and turned around to find people less than a step behind me!!!!! just insane!!!!

This is what my worksite started out as...

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A bit of milling ready to go...

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You might be able to see the 8x3 under the skids. quick explain: as I had a bunch of different sized logs to play with and am a firm believer in having your skids/supports right at the ends of the logs, I wanted the skids able to be easily adjusted. So I cut a flat face on the skids, flipped them 180 deg, then cut out the notches for the logs. The flat faces now sit on the 8x3's and can slide open to take longer logs or slide closer together to take shorter logs. All I did was load a days worth of similar sized logs and moved the skids as needed at the beginning of the day - worked out a treat.

One down side of working on a site of unknown fill is I keep getting flat tyres on Bob the cat (have had 7 blowouts so far!!) I go home at the end of the week, come back Monday and flat tyres. Have been lucky to plug a few just as they have happened, which has been good, but now I pack the geny and air compressor to take care of flats. First time out with the geny after being stored for a while, turns out it was a cosy spot for Mr and Mrs rat to nest...

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Lucky I saw some leaves poking out the case before starting it up and opened it to investigate!!!

Pics of milling/timber/slabbing to follow...

Nice set up Allan.

Know what you mean in regards to people walking up to you, have had them walk right up to the cab of excavators, bobcat and under loads slinging off the crane.

Your setup looks good. I concur about people putting themselves in danger. Just on Monday we were hoisting a 10 meter pontoon into the river. We had it 20 feet over the boat ramp when this moron decided that He wanted to put his jetski in the water. We chased him away.

My advise is never turn your back on the spectators.

Robert

Creeping Jesus, I was cutting this pine tree up one day and when I turned around with the saw in my hands there was a guy standing in my pocket. Nearly cut him in half. Lucky I had the chain stop on. I shut the sit down straight away and had a stern talk with him.

Yep, there's no doubt about the boundless and unfettered stupidity of the human species!

Originally Posted by specialist

My advise is never turn your back on the spectators.

Robert

Two days ago a big branch dropped of a council's nature strip tree blocking the road. I rang the council and within an hour a crew was there to clean up the mess. They looked at the rest of the tree and felt it was too lopsided and unsafe so they cut it down.

I enjoyed watching them do it but from the safety of my garage leaving the large driveway clear for the guys to work. So not everyone is silly to interfere.

I got the two burls that were on the tree that I've had my eyes on for years the rest was just firewood.

Peter.

They didnt make you put in a run off barrier?

Originally Posted by DJ's Timber

Nice set up Allan.

Know what you mean in regards to people walking up to you, have had them walk right up to the cab of excavators, bobcat and under loads slinging off the crane.

Having some dude walk up behind me while using Bob is my biggest fear - some ppl have no idea

Originally Posted by specialist

Your setup looks good. I concur about people putting themselves in danger. Just on Monday we were hoisting a 10 meter pontoon into the river. We had it 20 feet over the boat ramp when this moron decided that He wanted to put his jetski in the water. We chased him away.

My advise is never turn your back on the spectators.

Robert

I gave the shade cover/gazebo the flick, it was good to be out the sun, but with the way the wind howled through here I had to keep it low and then cant hook and bar kept fowling up on the roof frame

Originally Posted by Krunchie

Creeping Jesus, I was cutting this pine tree up one day and when I turned around with the saw in my hands there was a guy standing in my pocket. Nearly cut him in half. Lucky I had the chain stop on. I shut the sit down straight away and had a stern talk with him.

Yeah mate, turning around with saw winding down, if some dick has decided to walk up behind you is always a scare. I am hard on my daughter about not coming near me until the saw is on the ground AND my earmuffs plus safety glasses are off so she can see my eye's and I can hear her - scared outta my mind of turning around one day and having the chain gobble her up

Originally Posted by artme

Yep, there's no doubt about the boundless and unfettered stupidity of the human species!

It's a pity we have to dilute the gene pool by instituting all this crud to stop them killing their lineage off....

Originally Posted by Sturdee

I got the two burls that were on the tree that I've had my eyes on for years the rest was just firewood.

Peter.

Great work mate

Originally Posted by rustynail

They didnt make you put in a run off barrier?

something like silt fence? I was lucky I suppose, only had to put up the barrier mesh - having said this, with the wind I was talking about, the fence is just about stuffed now. They have talked about getting in those 6' high chain link panels that bolt together, so the place is a lot more secure

Hi Al

It really good to see you able to convert a waste product into something useable. Also welcome to the sometimes bizarre world of OH & S.

As you have seen, the general public can be very silly. I liked your gazebo style cover, but understand the frailty with the wind. We has one ruined by strong winds just before Xmas, but SWMBO wasn't using it for timber milling .

There are more robust versions around (gazebos not SWMBOs) basically with larger section posts, but of course they are more expensive too. I think the idea is worth pursuing as milling in hot weather can be untenable.

Regards
Paul