Page 10 - Sanger Herald 8-9-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 2B • THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018
Millworkers continue tradition
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Jeff Storie carefully adjusted the custom- fabricated knives that would carve the length of wood into a custom piece of molding.
He said the heavy- duty high-speed steel blades, which attached to a rotating steel drum, had to be balanced perfectly to avoid vibrations that could damage the massive machine. And Storie, doors and molding specialist at RPM Planing Mill Inc., knew exactly how to make it work.
“That’s what we do,” said Mike Bushell, owner and chief executive of the 70-year-old company. “There’s nothing we can’t do out of wood.”
Bushell’s mill employs six people including himself. The shop, tucked away on about a dozen city lots near the railroad tracks in an old industrial section of Fresno, is a throwback to an era when lumber ruled the Central San Joaquin Valley and sawmills and various wood-working businesses provided a robust sector of the region’s economy.
Logs from the nearby Sierra have again become readily available. The flow is nowhere near that of the heyday when a massive flume fed mills in Sanger. But clearing out dead timber killed by bark beetles or drought has given the industry more source material than it can process.
“The trade is busy right now,” Bushell said. “Everybody is busy.”
And that’s a good thing. Bushell’s niche is custom millwork. He mentioned a couple of jobs he’s doing where the homeowners remodeled historic old homes and went all out ordering period-correct replacements for the doors, jambs, panels, crown molding and various trim. In one case, that meant a door about 40 inches wide and 2 inches thick. Solid wood.
Projects in the Sanger area include doors for Mike
To get an item into the calendar, email details to nemethfeatures@gmail. com or call Mike or Sharon at 559-875-2511.
The Apache Football Boosters plan to start the
A Word About Forgiveness — More Ways God Forgives — Part 9
We are in a series about forgiveness. So far, we have dealt with admitting your sin, accepting responsibility for your sins and asking for forgiveness.
You don’t beg, bargain, bribe. You just believe. Last time, we discovered that God forgives instantly and completely.
This week, we learn that Jesus took all the punishment for your sin. When you sin and you’ve
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Jeff Storie sets the blades on a massive machine that carves an exact replica of trim in a old Fresno home.
planed to perfection. Bushell identified each collection. “Walnut, maple, white oak, clear pine, blue pine, alder, red oak, cedar, African mahogany, all your Doug(las) firs. Flat grain,” he said.
Even teak.
Perhaps the most unusual is something Bushell called “sinker wood.” The slabs appeared straight from a sawmill blade, showing the outline of what was once a tree’s outer edge. They were dark, darker even than the walnut. “It has a mineral color you can’t get,” Bushell said.
The logs came out of Shaver Lake, where Bushell not long ago invested in a 40-acre stand of trees. The logs had sunk to the bottom of the lake, likely during the logging era a century ago, and had lain undisturbed and entombed ever since. They were only exposed when the reservoir was drained for maintenance. Bushell estimated there could be 1,000 logs still there, in suspended animation, preserved because of the water.
“It’s a real stable wood,” he said.
On the walk to the next building, where all the manufacturing, milling and fabrication is done, Bushell pointed out a trailer he’d pulled in earlier that day from his home in Sanger. The big logs would be cut up into lumber, which would subsequently be milled into finished goods for customers across the valley. He and coworkers had cut them the night before.
“Whatever anybody needs,” Bushell said.
Two of the logs were fresh-cut cedar, from a tree on Bushell’s Shaver property. Green moss clung to the bark. “We’re going to be taking it to a mill west of Fresno,” he said. “We’re going to cut it up for slabs. (The client) wants live edge, with bark on it.”
The cedar slabs, a couple feet wide, will be kiln dried and manufactured into into a product of the client’s choosing. The process has
a 1 mile run for middle schoolers and a half mile race for sixth grade and younger. Details, 559-367- 5585 or sangreapache1@ gmail.com.
The Sanger Woman’s Club plans its Annual Rummage Sale from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 11 and 12 at the club, 1602 Seventh St. There
to be quick, otherwise the logs will split as they cure in Fresno’s intense summer heat.
In the adjacent building, which looks to be a similar vintage as the main facility near the corner of Tyler Avenue and Abby Street in the southernmost section of the Tower District, foreman Erik Brengelman put together complex pieces of milled walnut that would become door jambs and trim on a stately home. A thick layer of sawdust covered his forearms, something he said came with the job. He didn’t pause in his labor but moved quickly from one step in the process to another like a seasoned craftsman.
The large building houses most of the company’s manufacturing equipment like the four-sided molding machine Storie worked on. Most of the equipment looks old and heavy-duty, like something out of a steam-punk film or Charlie Chaplin’s iconic “Modern Times.” It was built to last.
Bushell said he purchased most of the equipment used. He had newer equipment, too, like the big sander and various saws. Everything produced sawdust.
But even that is used. Bushell said he collects the material and sends it to nurseries for rootstock or to farms to be used as animal bedding.
Bushell started at RPM about 44 years ago when he was still in school. “I started in junior high and then (some years later) married the boss’s daughter,” he said. Her name is Jean.
The boss was Ray Bailey, who Bushell expressed deep respect for. Bailey died in 2009 when he was 80. “He worked up until two weeks before he died,” Bushell said. “If he was 100, I’d still be working for him.”
RPM was started in 1948 by Henry Rudvall, H.E. Pries and John Montesano, who used the first initial of their last names for the company. Bushell said he never met the original
will be clothing, household goods, books and treasures. Proceeds go to community service projects. Details, Doris 559-875-7563.
AMVETS chili dogs
will take a hiatus until Aug. 15 when they return from 5 to 8 p.m. Chili dogs will continue the third Wednesdays of the
God never wants you to be embarrassed. He forgives repeatedly. If you have to come to Christ 1,000 times a day and say, “Lord, I did it again,” he forgives repeatedly.
It is God’s nature to forgive. He never gets tired. He never gets irritated. He never says, “OK, that’s it! Nine hundred ninety-nine times! That’s all!”
God is not that way. He is eternally forgiving. He forgives repeatedly over and over and over. You know what Jesus is doing right now? Jesus is in heaven seated at the side of
founders, but he said he learned at the sides of those who had worked for them and absorbed everything he could. He said he just gravitated to working with wood ever since he was that young kid and made some pretty impressive projects even while still in school at Roosevelt High.
Bushell said he’s done a lot over the years and no matter what the job, he and his team can figure out a way to manufacture whatever the customer has envisioned. “There’s always a way to do it,” he said. “Sometimes it makes you scratch your head. But you just move on.”
He described one project in which the homeowner wanted a series of beams that met at a single point in the ceiling, radiating outward like buttresses on a massive wheel. The project included raised panels on the walls, radiuses above the doors and a bunch of other custom treatments. “It’s going to be nice,” he said.
Welker said Bushell has been purchasing quite a bit of ponderosa pine for log siding. The siding makes a house look authentically built of round logs but is actually a tongue-in-groove product.
The industry appears to be growing. “We’ve been real busy,” Welker said. “Word of mouth has spread about our business.”
And the wood is there for the taking. The logs themselves are generally free as tree service companies remove the dead and dying trees to lessen fire danger in the upper elevations. But the logs deteriorate quickly. Welker said the beetle-kill wood is OK for two to three years, generally, after the tree dies.
But the wood can “spoil.” That means bugs, rot or checking, which is also known as splitting, destroy the trees’ value. But Welker said better preserved material remains in the higher elevations.
“It’s hard for me to see a long way down the road,” Childers said.
month. The Fish fry will be the first Friday of every month. Details, George 559- 286-5667.
Mi Tierra Linda plans a block party to celebrate it's second anniversary from 3 to8p.m.Aug.11at930JSt. Live music, bounce house, raffle and more. Details, 559-399-8692.
the Father, forgiving you. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Christ is always interceding on our behalf.” He’s saying, “Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them.” Always interceding.
He forgives you instantly, completely, and repeatedly. Next Week: Part 10 — More ways that God
forgives.
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force that meets the first and third Tuesdays every month. He can be reached at pastorsam51@gmail.com.
and Tanya Ubick’s Valley Oak Winery, custom made from an oak tree from Ubick’s childhood home. And RPM also built custom doors for the Marechal Vineyards on Zediker Avenue.
Kris Welker, owner of Welker’s Custom Cut Lumber with locations in Auberry and Fresno, described Bushell and RPM as “pretty old school. He has the skills to get it done.” Welker said any other operators to create the same product have to be “modern-day computer techs” to punch in the specs on some piece of machinery that does all the adjusting internally.
A favorite variety of today’s customer is blue pine, which some mistakenly believe is reclaimed wood. The pine develops the blue quality, which gives every board a unique pattern along the grain, because the tree has died, and there’s no shortage of it in the foothills.
Welker said on beetle- kill ponderosa pine the blue is “more stripy” and on the sugar pine the color is more solid. He said his small sawmill has been expanding, adding the Fresno location and beefing up equipment. He said he’ll cut any dimension and does
7th Annual Kick-Off Dinner
at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour Aug. 11 at the Case residence, 3700 S. Newmark Ave. There will be music, silent auction raffle and a photo booth honoring the 1998 championship team.
trusted Christ, God does not punish you. Never!
Does he correct you? Of course. Does he train and discipline you? Yes. But correction and discipline are forward-looking. Punishment is looking backward. It’s getting even. God does not get even with you when you sin because Jesus already paid for all your sins.
This is why the Bible says God never wants us to forget the cross. It’s the most amazing truth ever created. He already paid for all your sins. Because heaven is perfect and you’re not and there’s no
a lot of slabs, 1-by-12 inch barn siding and big beams. Likewise, Keegan Childers, owner with wife Sharlynn of San Joaquin Forest Products in Prather, works with Bushell and has been expanding his sawmill business, recently adding a kiln that he built. His operation supplies area lumberyards and he caters to clients with specific custom needs. Of Bushell, he said, “Mike’s definitely one in a million. You just get to talking to him and he knows how to do a little bit of everything. And if he doesn’t, he knows someone
who does.”
On this particular
afternoon, Bushell gave a little tour of his operation. The exterior looks much like it did decades earlier, corrugated metal siding over timber framing. The office takes up a little air- conditioned corner of the main building, and that’s where Bushell does his design work, bidding and other corporate-related duties along with office administrator Peggy Avedisian, who’s worked there since 2007.
In back under the same roof in perfectly piled stacks sat the lumber. Bushell estimated he had about $100,000 in inventory and countless board feet, some rough-cut and some
Details, Amanda Pittman 559-246-7559 or Jessica Jones 559-696-6280.
The Sanger Unified Watermelon Run, a free all-ages race, is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Aug. 11 at the Sanger High dirt track behind the school. There will be a 2 mile race for high school and older,
Sanger News & Community Calendar
PASTOR’S CORNER
way you can get into heaven on your own.
If God let you
in with all your
sins, heaven will
be ruined and spoiled. We have relationship with
God by what Jesus
Christ did on the cross. This is so important that Jesus gave us two reminders, two symbols.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He gave these two object lessons because we are never to forget that Jesus paid for all your sins.
There’s a third thing that Jesus does with our sins. He
forgives instantly, he forgives completely and God forgives repeatedly. Have you ever felt like this? “I’ve confessed this so many times I’m embarrassed to come back to God
again.”
Once I’ve committed a
sin a thousand times and I come back for the thousand and first time, I say, “Lord, here I am again,” I just imagine God going, “Come on Sam!’”
I actually feel a little embarrassed to admit to God that I’ve done it again.
Pastor Sam Estes