it seemed a little dramatic, and im sure it will get worse, but on the up side... it will help my family and friends see and understand what ive been trying to explain to them for all these years. its hard for them to visualize how the miner cuts then loads a car, the c ar dumps in the feeder and the feeder loads the belt. then the pinner bolts the top. for someone whos never been underground, those terms mean nothing. now they can put something to it.

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"cornbread and iced tea have took the place of pills and 90 proof."

i was shocked to see they were on a diesel gen. instead of line power???? maybe they didnt have enough funds to get line power run to the site.

and the miner man??? best miner man in the country??? 7 cuts a shift??? our worst miner operator can get 2 cuts an hour (with no breakdowns) as long as the pinners can keep up!

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"cornbread and iced tea have took the place of pills and 90 proof."

Could the point that they were making a coal cut, then a rock to get clearance be making the difference? And don't they make bolters that go lower than 42" clearance?

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

That shouldn't make a huge difference, as far as the bolter goes there are ones that go down smaller than 42" because Kimmels mine in Williamstown had one. That might be a case of working with what you have till you get going there. This a extreme example but It'll get my point across. Around here a lot of guys couldnt afford rails for the gangway when they started out so they used oak 2x4's which makes it very hard to push a buggy. Than if they got a little money they would use junk steel pipe for rails than they would get some junk rail from some place and be really hitech! And some of these guys made it pretty big. One of the bigger independant companies in Schuylkill County started out with a old flat head ford that sat on cribbing, They couldnt hoist to fast or else they would kick the cribbing out. These same guys ended up with a bunch of nice mines and a breaker over there carrers.

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"We don't look for any money all we look for is a little help and the only help we get is for the government to shut us down and if you go to the gas station and buy the gas you'll see why..........................you'll see why"

when i first started UG, we had a jeffery haulage section and cut the coal only... 36" and we had 2 single head fletchers, they cleared just fine after we relocated some hose blocks.

at my mine we have a total of around 43" coal and 30-40" rock between the middleman and a little drawrock top we are taking... and weve still cut over 260' on one shift (20' cuts).

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"cornbread and iced tea have took the place of pills and 90 proof."

The bolt machine they were using should have fit. It may be that the bolts they are using may need a little more height to work. Try bending a 5 foot bolt in a little more than 3 feet.IT SUCKS. The 21sc that they are using have the larger tires so, in truth they are probably cutting the top higher for them.

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_______________________________________ www.pickandshovel.org "For Miners By Miners"

Hadn't thought of bolt length. That would be a major issue in low coal. What about cable bolts and resin?

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

ive seen situations where the bolt men have to bend a bolt 3 times and use slow resin to get them in. i know its no fun, but thats part of being a bolt man.

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"cornbread and iced tea have took the place of pills and 90 proof."

Doug, cable bolts are not permanent roof control. There are considered supplement or temporary. Yeah, I've seen having to bend in several places, not fun to bolt with. I've even seen cutting bolts off to be shorter than what the head says but, I'm not telling.

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_______________________________________ www.pickandshovel.org "For Miners By Miners"

thats a "third shift bolt".

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"cornbread and iced tea have took the place of pills and 90 proof."

Having a bit of engineering understanding of the concept of bolting, the idea is just plain scary.

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

so, where was tonights episode???

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Come over to the Dark Side....... We have Cookies!

It was there for me. Come over I have it of DVR.

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

ok sounds good doug, ill swing by tonight....... yea, was it on at 10? there was a movie on fx until 10, then that jusified show was on????

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Come over to the Dark Side....... We have Cookies!

The Airport (DCY) is about 4 miles away, Call when your in the patternl I'll pick you up.

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!