minute
your friendly neighborhood stoner
I'm so glad you guys are safe, but so devastated to learn about your huge loss. Me and my sweetheart have been using your logs for ages and we are so sorry that this happened to you. I'll definitely shoot whatever I can spare to your Gofundme - I hope that it helps.
Thank you Underdogs!!!
Thank you Underdogs!!!
Hi everyone, thanks so much for all your support so far.. it's been incredible and it gives us hope that there's a (non-train) light at the end of the tunnel.
We still haven't been able to get into Paradise or onto the property to sift through the ashes. Local crews are still having to clear each and every property of human remains and any potential dangers (smoldering fire, chemicals, power lines, etc) before they'll let people back in. Hopefully soon but no idea when we'll be allowed.
We did get a few more pictures out of inspectors who have been in the area. While we've already know that it all burned for a while now each and every new picture is like a knife in the heart.
Here is a closeup of our main workshop where we did all our non-turning work like finishing and assembly, electronics work, our lumber re-sawing and our welding. Our office that contained our computers, our photography setup and nearly 10 years of design work samples and collections was also in the building.
Here's a picture of our primary turning shop. This is where we turned Underdogs from blocks of wood into beautiful Log Vapes. The remains of one of our large lathes is still standing in the ashes though everything that isn't cast iron has melted off.. such crazy heat. Burned houses as far as the eye can see in the background where we used to just see beautiful green forests.
Another view of the remains of the main turning shop.
@ACE OF VAPE - Thank you so much for the incredible offer. We will be in touch once we have gotten to the point of being able to make use of some wood. Again, thank you so much.
We still haven't been able to get into Paradise or onto the property to sift through the ashes. Local crews are still having to clear each and every property of human remains and any potential dangers (smoldering fire, chemicals, power lines, etc) before they'll let people back in. Hopefully soon but no idea when we'll be allowed.
We did get a few more pictures out of inspectors who have been in the area. While we've already know that it all burned for a while now each and every new picture is like a knife in the heart.
Here is a closeup of our main workshop where we did all our non-turning work like finishing and assembly, electronics work, our lumber re-sawing and our welding. Our office that contained our computers, our photography setup and nearly 10 years of design work samples and collections was also in the building.
Here's a picture of our primary turning shop. This is where we turned Underdogs from blocks of wood into beautiful Log Vapes. The remains of one of our large lathes is still standing in the ashes though everything that isn't cast iron has melted off.. such crazy heat. Burned houses as far as the eye can see in the background where we used to just see beautiful green forests.
Another view of the remains of the main turning shop.
@ACE OF VAPE - Thank you so much for the incredible offer. We will be in touch once we have gotten to the point of being able to make use of some wood. Again, thank you so much.
Gigsabits53
Well-Known Member
Those pictures are sickening. That fire was pure devastation.. 
Good morning everyone. Looks like we have a bunch of rain in the forecast today, a good and bad thing I suppose. Good because it will help firefighters out with this damn fire that's still burning. Fortunately it's burned well away from most of the affected towns now at least. It'll also help put out some lingering hot spots in Paradise so might help us get back in there quicker. On the bad side it'll make firefighters jobs harder with the thick mud it'll cause and the real risk of landslides from our naked hills. On the really bad side it's going to make life even more miserable for all those people camped out in tents (or worse) all over the county.
Amanda and myself are visiting the FEMA center today to see if they can help us with anything, possibly some funds in the form of a SBA Loan but I'm not holding my breath.. being that they're Feds they aren't real supportive of our type of business.
Then if we have time we're hoping to get into the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to try and convince them we shouldn't have to pay registration, tax and smog on our now turned to ashes vehicle. Also trying to convince the loan holder for our travel trailer that we shouldn't have to make the monthly payments while the insurance is getting sorted out.
While many of the trees survived with some scorching one in particular didn't. It was a tree that was beside the driveway that I always joked about someday cutting down and making vapes out of. Well it decided to fall during the fire and first smashed thru our travel trailer (top green circle over it's remains) before crushing the truck as well.
Well I tell you what, the first tool I re-buy once we get in to Paradise will be a chainsaw and that fucker is getting cut up. Be prepared for a series of 'Fuck You Tree UDs' sometime next year.
Thanks Aezhenn, yeah it's always weird to 'like' posts like these, no worries.
Yeah that was my big ass engineering workstation PC that had the design work for every iteration of UD that's ever existed. Along with all our vendor contacts, photos, videos and everything else that a person or business digitally collects over a decade. We had a backup disk at a friends place in town, I'm really hoping it survived but we still can't get in to find out. If not I guess I'll start from scratch there too.
Yeah devastation is a good word. It's crazy, it came thru like a blowtorch with the winds up to 50MPH, burning sideways thru houses and anything else. Interestingly enough a lot of the trees survived since the flames were going sideways and not upwards towards the limbs so much. I guess it was hot enough to burn down all the houses, cars, etc but so fast it didn't light up most of the tree trunks. So weird.
Amanda and myself are visiting the FEMA center today to see if they can help us with anything, possibly some funds in the form of a SBA Loan but I'm not holding my breath.. being that they're Feds they aren't real supportive of our type of business.
Then if we have time we're hoping to get into the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to try and convince them we shouldn't have to pay registration, tax and smog on our now turned to ashes vehicle. Also trying to convince the loan holder for our travel trailer that we shouldn't have to make the monthly payments while the insurance is getting sorted out.
While many of the trees survived with some scorching one in particular didn't. It was a tree that was beside the driveway that I always joked about someday cutting down and making vapes out of. Well it decided to fall during the fire and first smashed thru our travel trailer (top green circle over it's remains) before crushing the truck as well.
Well I tell you what, the first tool I re-buy once we get in to Paradise will be a chainsaw and that fucker is getting cut up. Be prepared for a series of 'Fuck You Tree UDs' sometime next year.
Thanks Aezhenn, yeah it's always weird to 'like' posts like these, no worries.
Absolutely Heartbreaking...
If you look at picture one, bottom right side, the tower from a computer is still visible.
Yeah that was my big ass engineering workstation PC that had the design work for every iteration of UD that's ever existed. Along with all our vendor contacts, photos, videos and everything else that a person or business digitally collects over a decade. We had a backup disk at a friends place in town, I'm really hoping it survived but we still can't get in to find out. If not I guess I'll start from scratch there too.
Those pictures are sickening. That fire was pure devastation..
Yeah devastation is a good word. It's crazy, it came thru like a blowtorch with the winds up to 50MPH, burning sideways thru houses and anything else. Interestingly enough a lot of the trees survived since the flames were going sideways and not upwards towards the limbs so much. I guess it was hot enough to burn down all the houses, cars, etc but so fast it didn't light up most of the tree trunks. So weird.
bizwaxzion
Enigmatic Cannabist
My heart aches when I read these words, but I'm encouraged by your spirits. Please put me at the top of the list for one of those FYT UD's!
I have started a contest to help raise funds for the Underdog recovery. Please take a look and enter the raffle if you can. Every little bit helps.
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/v...o-benefit-underdogs-recovery-post-fire.35029/
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/v...o-benefit-underdogs-recovery-post-fire.35029/
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I just want to say that the support and generosity from our community here has been absolutely amazing. I've always said we have the best customers, and now it can't be denied. I'm so thankful to have this business, where we can make works of art that also perform and help people. I'm thankful that we can work for ourselves where we can run things our way, and treat our customers the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
I'm thankful to have such wonderful customers with hearts of gold. I've never, in any other business I've worked in, had the amount of awesome comments like we get to see coming in on our orders. It's just a little thing, but I can't tell you how many "You Rock!" and "Thank You" comments we've seen over the years on orders, not to mention the Haikus and requests for drawings on packages. It really makes things fun, and reminds me that this is no ordinary business.
Just seeing the number of people who are rallying here to help get us back on our feet, is nothing short of amazing. Like one friend/customer said in a message, "Karma can be a wonderful boomerang." All of this love tells me that we must be doing something right.
I'm so thankful to be a part of this community, and I just know that we will come back from this. We will rebuild Underdog, and it's going to be even better than before.
https://www.gofundme.com/help-underdog-rebuild
I just want to say that the support and generosity from our community here has been absolutely amazing. I've always said we have the best customers, and now it can't be denied. I'm so thankful to have this business, where we can make works of art that also perform and help people. I'm thankful that we can work for ourselves where we can run things our way, and treat our customers the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
I'm thankful to have such wonderful customers with hearts of gold. I've never, in any other business I've worked in, had the amount of awesome comments like we get to see coming in on our orders. It's just a little thing, but I can't tell you how many "You Rock!" and "Thank You" comments we've seen over the years on orders, not to mention the Haikus and requests for drawings on packages. It really makes things fun, and reminds me that this is no ordinary business.
Just seeing the number of people who are rallying here to help get us back on our feet, is nothing short of amazing. Like one friend/customer said in a message, "Karma can be a wonderful boomerang." All of this love tells me that we must be doing something right.
I'm so thankful to be a part of this community, and I just know that we will come back from this. We will rebuild Underdog, and it's going to be even better than before.
https://www.gofundme.com/help-underdog-rebuild
Diggy Smalls
Notorious
My trusty underdog has found a home at my sister's house where it gets regular use now. A product that's simple and elegant.
I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for your family and livelihood.
I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for your family and livelihood.
Hello good people!
The UD stand is gone with a very generous offer from @Elenafair
It will bring 250$ to the UD gofundme project
Thanks a lot!
The UD stand is gone with a very generous offer from @Elenafair
It will bring 250$ to the UD gofundme project
Thanks a lot!
Hello good people!
The UD stand is gone with a very generous offer from @Elenafair
It will bring 250$ to the UD gofundme project
Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much @Aezhenn and @Elenafair !
Good afternoon everyone, hope you've all had a good holiday weekend.
The Camp Fire in Paradise is now 100% contained and search efforts for the remains of victims continue. The last count I saw said just about 14,000 homes burned (unbelievable!) and 85 discovered fatalities so far with 400-500 people still missing. It's so heartbreaking thinking about what some of those missing people may have gone through and what their families are still going through.
Still no idea on when they'll lift the evacuation orders and let us back in but we're waiting as patiently as we can. Imagining the families of those missing people grieving and wondering what happened to their families makes our problems seem not as significant.
We will update you all once we have more info and/or once we're allowed back in to see things for ourselves.
While we're still in limbo and will be until we can get back in we are making progress in moving forward. A very generous person has offered up some shop space in Oregon which is incredible, we'd planned on leaving Paradise but never imagined it would be this way. With all of your generous support and donations we're already making plans to replace a couple of our more important machines so we can get up and running as soon as we can secure that shop space. Other machinery and a vehicle we're still trying to get sorted but haven't made progress yet. Baby steps!
I'm working out some details in my head still but plans for rebooting Underdog are starting to come together. I'll update you all on that front as soon as I can, maybe this week if we're able to make more progress.
Thank you all so much for your ongoing love and support, we couldn't do this without you!
Thanks Diggy, we're giving it our best!
Thank you so much Aezhenn!
We've made pieces with inlay in the past and plan on doing some more once we're back up and running with a proper shop. Keep your eyes out and you just might see a Banksia pod piece like that.
The Camp Fire in Paradise is now 100% contained and search efforts for the remains of victims continue. The last count I saw said just about 14,000 homes burned (unbelievable!) and 85 discovered fatalities so far with 400-500 people still missing. It's so heartbreaking thinking about what some of those missing people may have gone through and what their families are still going through.
Still no idea on when they'll lift the evacuation orders and let us back in but we're waiting as patiently as we can. Imagining the families of those missing people grieving and wondering what happened to their families makes our problems seem not as significant.
We will update you all once we have more info and/or once we're allowed back in to see things for ourselves.
While we're still in limbo and will be until we can get back in we are making progress in moving forward. A very generous person has offered up some shop space in Oregon which is incredible, we'd planned on leaving Paradise but never imagined it would be this way. With all of your generous support and donations we're already making plans to replace a couple of our more important machines so we can get up and running as soon as we can secure that shop space. Other machinery and a vehicle we're still trying to get sorted but haven't made progress yet. Baby steps!
I'm working out some details in my head still but plans for rebooting Underdog are starting to come together. I'll update you all on that front as soon as I can, maybe this week if we're able to make more progress.
Thank you all so much for your ongoing love and support, we couldn't do this without you!
Thanks Diggy, we're giving it our best!
Hello good people!
The UD stand is gone with a very generous offer from @Elenafair
It will bring 250$ to the UD gofundme project
Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much Aezhenn!
That UD stand got me thinking...I wonder what an Underdog would look like inlaid with turquoise pieces or powder.
Can you imagine a Banksia Pod Underdog with all the holes filled with turquoise.
I'm sure it would be very labor intensive but absolutely GORGEOUS!
We've made pieces with inlay in the past and plan on doing some more once we're back up and running with a proper shop. Keep your eyes out and you just might see a Banksia pod piece like that.
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Gigsabits53
Well-Known Member
Really awesome news!! It's stunning how much was lost! Just unbelievable. It's going to be nice when you get up and running again. I will probably be looking to add another pup to my arsenal.
Good luck to you!!
Good luck to you!!
Hitomi
Well-Known Member
I am so sad to hear this news. I am relieved that you all are safe!! Thank you for the updates. I know you will get back to being stronger than ever! You and Amanda are really kind people, and I am glad that the UD community and so many other groups are helping out for all of tbe victims in Paradise and the whole of California. Strange times we are in, but this is when a community's resilience really shines. I will donate as much as possible. Best regards.
CurryLeafTreehugger
Well-Known Member
I was shocked to come here and find this. I am SO SORRY, but also glad you guys weren't there when it happened. Western OR is one of my favorite places in the US. I would have moved there during the real estate crash (which is what it took to make property there affordable for me, LOL!) but my son and DIL are dead set on moving back to the East Coast so ... I didn't do that when I could still afford it (and can't now).
Where in OR?
Hope you are doing as well as possible. Hang in there.
Where in OR?
Hope you are doing as well as possible. Hang in there.
Hi everyone, just popping in with a quick update.
Amanda and I drove up to Chico today which is the bigger town that borders Paradise and where all the relief efforts are being run and where most all the evacuees are. We've been lucky enough to be staying with family in Sacramento while many evacuees are camped out in tents in the cold 45° rain. It was raining so hard today that there were flash flood warnings put in place and some of the evacuated had to evacuate from the flood zones, these poor people just can't catch a break. It makes the difficulty of our 3hr round trip back and couch surfing seem inconsequential.
Today Amanda and I visited the relief center where FEMA and the other relief organizations are set up to help people. We struck out with FEMA because of the nature of our business (damn narrow minded Feds) and the fact that we were renting. Struck out with most of the local agencies who are mostly providing things like food, clothes, tents, sleeping bags, etc which we thankfully don't need. Most people are like us and need monetary support since it's our houses and livelihoods that burned but that's in short supply. We did luck out and the kind people at the California Fire Foundation gave us $250 and the super amazing people of Tzu Chi gave us $500.
In other news I saw this video today and wanted to share it to give you all and idea of what the conditions were like in Paradise that horrible morning, it was so dark that it seemed like night even though it was almost 9am. This video is from the body camera of a sheriff deputy who was trying to evacuate people when his car go so hot it died and he had to take off on foot.. he made it though (he said he didn't expect to which is why he turned on the camera) and got some people to safety. So, so scary!
Thank you Gigs, we're looking forward to getting up and running again!
Thanks Hitomi! We can use all the help we can get, we're raised about 15% of the nearly $50K we need to rebuild the shop. It seems overwhelming now but we'll get there!
Thanks CLT! We love Western OR too but it's out of our price range. The shop space we've been offered is in the Enterprise/Joseph area.. very pretty, lots of nature but very cold in the winter and very, very far off the beaten path. We're looking forward to it though and are so appreciative that it's been offered to us!
Amanda and I drove up to Chico today which is the bigger town that borders Paradise and where all the relief efforts are being run and where most all the evacuees are. We've been lucky enough to be staying with family in Sacramento while many evacuees are camped out in tents in the cold 45° rain. It was raining so hard today that there were flash flood warnings put in place and some of the evacuated had to evacuate from the flood zones, these poor people just can't catch a break. It makes the difficulty of our 3hr round trip back and couch surfing seem inconsequential.
Today Amanda and I visited the relief center where FEMA and the other relief organizations are set up to help people. We struck out with FEMA because of the nature of our business (damn narrow minded Feds) and the fact that we were renting. Struck out with most of the local agencies who are mostly providing things like food, clothes, tents, sleeping bags, etc which we thankfully don't need. Most people are like us and need monetary support since it's our houses and livelihoods that burned but that's in short supply. We did luck out and the kind people at the California Fire Foundation gave us $250 and the super amazing people of Tzu Chi gave us $500.
In other news I saw this video today and wanted to share it to give you all and idea of what the conditions were like in Paradise that horrible morning, it was so dark that it seemed like night even though it was almost 9am. This video is from the body camera of a sheriff deputy who was trying to evacuate people when his car go so hot it died and he had to take off on foot.. he made it though (he said he didn't expect to which is why he turned on the camera) and got some people to safety. So, so scary!
Really awesome news!! It's stunning how much was lost! Just unbelievable. It's going to be nice when you get up and running again. I will probably be looking to add another pup to my arsenal.
Good luck to you!!
Thank you Gigs, we're looking forward to getting up and running again!
Thanks Hitomi! We can use all the help we can get, we're raised about 15% of the nearly $50K we need to rebuild the shop. It seems overwhelming now but we'll get there!
Thanks CLT! We love Western OR too but it's out of our price range. The shop space we've been offered is in the Enterprise/Joseph area.. very pretty, lots of nature but very cold in the winter and very, very far off the beaten path. We're looking forward to it though and are so appreciative that it's been offered to us!
So heartbreaking and unfair...they love to tax you, but offer you nothing in return.
Much Love to both of you...
Hi all, thanks so much for the ongoing support and love everyone is sending our way. We appreciate it more than we can put in words. This is such a hard time, we're really struggling to cope and your help really is a lifeline that's keeping us going.
Our shipping office is going to be closed for a week or more as Kathy (our shipping/office ninja, family member) had sudden close death in the family and is traveling out of state to be with her family. We will update you on when shipping will resume once we have more details. Until then we wish her a safe trip and healing thoughts.
As for Amanda and I we're still in limbo, sitting here in Sacramento waiting to be allowed into Paradise. It's so frustrating that the fire has been out for 2 weeks and we're still not allowed in. Even more frustrating is they've opened town to pretty much everyone except our specific neighborhood which was apparently the hardest hit and continues to be the most dangerous because of trees, power lines, etc. I'd hoped we could salvage some stuff from the ashes, at least things like die pressing mold forms for shaping our parts or some custom lathe tooling but now it's been pouring rain on the ruins for 2 weeks so I don't know how that will pan out. Did I mention this is all very frustrating!?
Our neighborhood looks pretty bad these days that's for sure.
Our shipping office is going to be closed for a week or more as Kathy (our shipping/office ninja, family member) had sudden close death in the family and is traveling out of state to be with her family. We will update you on when shipping will resume once we have more details. Until then we wish her a safe trip and healing thoughts.
As for Amanda and I we're still in limbo, sitting here in Sacramento waiting to be allowed into Paradise. It's so frustrating that the fire has been out for 2 weeks and we're still not allowed in. Even more frustrating is they've opened town to pretty much everyone except our specific neighborhood which was apparently the hardest hit and continues to be the most dangerous because of trees, power lines, etc. I'd hoped we could salvage some stuff from the ashes, at least things like die pressing mold forms for shaping our parts or some custom lathe tooling but now it's been pouring rain on the ruins for 2 weeks so I don't know how that will pan out. Did I mention this is all very frustrating!?
Our neighborhood looks pretty bad these days that's for sure.
looney2nz
Research Geek, Mad Scientist
Hi all, thanks so much for the ongoing support and love everyone is sending our way. We appreciate it more than we can put in words. This is such a hard time, we're really struggling to cope and your help really is a lifeline that's keeping us going.
Our shipping office is going to be closed for a week or more as Kathy (our shipping/office ninja, family member) had sudden close death in the family and is traveling out of state to be with her family. We will update you on when shipping will resume once we have more details. Until then we wish her a safe trip and healing thoughts.
As for Amanda and I we're still in limbo, sitting here in Sacramento waiting to be allowed into Paradise. It's so frustrating that the fire has been out for 2 weeks and we're still not allowed in. Even more frustrating is they've opened town to pretty much everyone except our specific neighborhood which was apparently the hardest hit and continues to be the most dangerous because of trees, power lines, etc. I'd hoped we could salvage some stuff from the ashes, at least things like die pressing mold forms for shaping our parts or some custom lathe tooling but now it's been pouring rain on the ruins for 2 weeks so I don't know how that will pan out. Did I mention this is all very frustrating!?
Our neighborhood looks pretty bad these days that's for sure.
I wish to hell I was in a position to donate
Cancer patient on a tiny fixed income.
Can I post your website and GoFundMe info on my Facebook and IG pages for folks there?
Quite a few heads on my page
I wish to hell I was in a position to donate
Cancer patient on a tiny fixed income.
Can I post your website and GoFundMe info on my Facebook and IG pages for folks there?
Quite a few heads on my page
Yes please do repost, thank you so much!