Monday, December 7, 2009

!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIMBER !!!!!!!!!






















They say that "necessity is the Mother of invention."Having lived in Thailand the LOS for 5 years I can vouch for that truth. The Thai people are so clever and their minds are really sharp , if they need a tool to complete or make a job easier and there is not one available ,or they are in some place where they can't find or cannot afford to buy the tool, will ,simply make it out of stuff they have around the house( in their "I may need this one day pile ") and their neighbors junk pile , you know the kind I'm talking about "one mans garabage , but anothers treasure, my Dad had one of these piles (much to my Mothers disapproval ) as the back yard always look like a junk yard, and my Brother is famous for his pile of so called treasure , ha ha they never throw anything away ,they have a saying "I may need this someday."And many times they were right , but most of the time the pile just got bigger. Do you know someone like this or are you one of those folks too.When my Dad died it took us kids forever to get rid of that pile of treasure , we could'nt even give it away.Well enough of the rambling .This post is about just that kind of situation and the need for a tool to get the job done on site.
My neighbor up the road is a timber and saw mill man by trade , but instead of having a huge saw mill set up on a piece of ground, like we are familiar with seeing , he brings the saw mill with him , with a traveling sawmill he built for himself, I was amazed at how this tool does a job with one man (and you would be too ) that would normally take a crew of men , and he can do it just as fast .I was amazed and you will be too , I will let the pictures speak for thenselves. The pictures are not in any kind of order , just a bunch of snapshots, when I thought to take one. I spent hours watching him . Hope you enjoy them , OH Ya have you ever seen anything like this ???
Malcolm

10 comments:

Martyn said...

"Necessity is the Mother of invention." and "junk pile" brings me nicely onto the subject of Wilai's mother.

Our village house looks quite nice from the front and I'm really proud of Wi and the garden she has put together, however the back of the house was a different matter.

Against the house back wall mama had gathered a pile of junk that was sore to the eyes to say the least. Old saucepans, roof tiles, battered bamboo matting, empty paint drums and who knows what. it looked a right mess.

This was last year and I spoke to Wilai about it, basically saying to tell mama to get shot of the lot. The young one agreed and promised to speak to her mother and on my next visit it would have been removed.

On my next trip I was delighted to see that mama had removed every last rotting and mouldy item only to discover it was now all stacked by the side of one of the car port's wall. Amazing.

The chap in your photos is amazing as well because to saw the tree trunk with such precision takes one hell of a lot of skill.

Next time it's party time at your house get him to come over and slice up the bread. I bet he'd make a damn good job of it. Best wishes.

Mike said...

Malcolm I watched some guys doing a similar job on some coconut trees a while back.

Talk about Texas chain saw massacre!

Seriously though they are very precise, cutting the trees into planks for the job in hand.

Anonymous said...

skilled craftsmen the Thais are.

Martin MY said...

Junk is so useful, there is always someting that will be used eventually. How manyh time hav you kept something for years, thrown it ways and the very next day you need it? It happens all the time.
Take care you guys.

Anonymous said...

Excellent photos Malcolm. I am amazed at your self sufficient saw mill man. It's one thing to cut a tree down but to shape it into lumber with such straight lines with a chainsaw is damn near impossible.

Talen said...

Somehow I posted as anon....oops

StefanMuc said...

That is beautiful wood, I love the texture on those boards.

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

Hello , thanks for the read and all the comments , the one thing I would like to call your attention to is that , thats no conventional chain saw that is a big high powered electric right angle drill with a chain saw bar welded on and a chain saw bar too making it a super fast saw to be able to cut them so straight and fast I was amazed also at how fast he could saw a board . take a closer look . Malcolm

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Tipper said...

You never know when you might need some of that junk : ) I bet the photos and skill would have impressed my Papaw-who was a long time pulp wood cutter.