I've been posting about my sawmill build off and on but didn't have a place devoted to it on my site so started to move the various documentation to it to one place on my site ( HERE ). Might want to bookmark that if it is of interest to you and I'll work on getting all the info and print file links into one place there. I'll continue on with what I've got done and up on here also starting with the following images/info on the interior detail I have almost finish for the south part of the sawmill building. Overview of the sawmill's interior parts for the south end of the building ................... . . . . . . . . . I want to make some small changes to some of the above and when I do I'll put the print files up on my thingiverse.com account. For all the info on the sawmill go ( HERE ). Sumner
While I don’t have any use for a sawmill on my layout I find your work very interesting and impressive.
That is really cool stuff Sumner! Am I the only one who thinks those roller tables might just have a lot of other industrial applications besides the sawmill?
Very impressive. As someone who worked a couple of sawmills... I am guessing your head rig is a double cut? I notice there are no support rollers exiting the head rig. Just a gap to the edger table? Or are there rolls I am not seeing as the cant exits, on the head rig? Both mills where I worked, everything first passed through the edger, and then went down to the trim saws. Beams were sent outside on separate rolls, before the trim saws. Some timbers were too long to sent sent down that table to the trim saws and went straight outside the same way as beams. The second trim to length was what we called a "re-saw". There are so many layout variations possible for sawmills. Memories of decades ago....
Thanks guys. Didn't know much about sawmills a couple months ago so still learning with a lot to learn. Hadn't thought about that but can see where they would have other applications. I'll try an put files up for some different length and width ones. Bet you do have a lot of memories. Not sure about all the nomenclature so bear with me. I've used the Hull-Oakes mill as a guide but .... .... of course had to take some liberties with compression to make the mill fit into a somewhat reasonable space (see above). The ...... https://youtu.be/idDUEYIyijQ ..... video above is pretty good about the overall flow through the mill and the following one .... .... were two of a number that I've watched trying to figure out the flow through their mill. They turn the log 3 times for cuts on four sides. Is that a double cut? I think I have it setup like what they do with the option of going through the edger or large beams bypassing it down to where it is cut to length and then outside. Some of the videos also show the beams being planned but I can't really find the workflow for that in the mill. I believe that it is done either after the large cutoff saw or they are taken to another station for that?? In their mill lumber goes through the trim saws and out to the green chain (I believe) there some one graded it and if it had to be 're-sawed' it was taken off the green chain and put on an adjacent chain that took it back in to be re-sawed and it was then kind of ejected back onto the green chain via a conveyor and moved back down the green chain to be sorted and stacked. I didn't have room to do that so in my case they are put on a pallet and taken back to the side of the mill and brought back into the mill at the same place dried lumber comes in to be planned. Then cut to the new length. So from what you are saying I need to name that station the 're-saw'. Is that right? Thanks for the help with this. Sumner
The band will have teeth on both edges. The carriage takes the log through one direction, one cant comes off. The sawyer then resets for the next cut and then the carriage goes back the opposite direction, cutting again. A single cut the carriage must retreat to it's original/starting position to make the next pass. Double cut allows more production. Depending upon the log, and how much of a butt it might have, the very first cut(s) off one side are simply to get a flat enough surface so when rolled to that side down, they can start squaring up to get the most board feet from it. (A skilled sawyer is very good at mentally doing this, and is much in demand. With computers these days, it is much easier.) If logs are sawed butt first and it has much of a butt, the off-bearer must wrestle with those pieces. If there is a live roll on the saw itself, and much of a gap to the edger rolls, sometimes that can be a pain in the feet. Many times I would come home to bloody toes, even with good quality steel toed shoes. The first cuts were literally thrust off by that live roll, (which is an aid to pushing the cant into the edger rolls), would almost throw those pieces down to my feet. An off bearer needs to not just be strong, but agile. Usually a fairly husky fellow. When I was doing such things, I was about 250 pounds. Long ago and far away.... Those first cuts you see coming off, "slabs", are where they got a lot of the "hog fuel" for their steam plants. Some might even be sold to locals for fire wood. We used buy a truck load every Fall. For a while, much of this just went to the mill burner. Later, these would all be chipped and sold. Shipped out in trucks and rail cars. Notice how he lays down the cants on their widest face? That is so the rounded edges are most visible, for the edgerman to set his cuts for most boards. Any which do not come out of the edger clean, are those which are pulled off the green chain for re-saw. Also notice this log is so long they have a second person using a pike to keep the cant in.
My college roommate's family owned and operated a small sawmill in rural AR. He gave me a tour of it, after hours. Interesting place. Lots of ingenuity goes into a good mill. They chipped all their waste cuts. That machine would eat anything it was fed, including an errant, large crescent wrench once. A little extra noise, but no bother. He used to joke that his family didn't have any enemies to speak of...
Thanks, that is all good info. I've seen videos of cutting in both directions but not for that mill. I've seen the blades being sharpened and the ones I've seen in the videos of Hull-Oakes show teeth on both sides of the blade but still only cutting in one direction. I figured when the teeth are sharpened so far in on one side they use the other side but maybe that is wrong? That off bearer job looks like one would really have to stay on their toes to avoid injury. When I build my first house in Sheridan, Wyoming ..... ..... all the lumber was rough cut from a small family mill that would only use family members so they didn't have to worry about getting sued if there was an accident. I want to think I paid 10 cents a board foot but it might of been 20 cents (1976). To cut down on burning the slabs they gave them away free at the time and people would get them for firewood. I used them for my exterior siding. The house was pole construction with stringers between the poles. I'd put the first layer of slabs on with the flat side facing out. Then cover that layer with the bark side out on the next layer of slabs. Kind of like board on board siding. To find ones for the outside layer that the bark was about the same width top to bottom and they were thick enough I'd maybe use one out of every 10 slabs I look at in the pile at the mill. Built the 800 sq. ft. house for $3700 total (concrete, lumber, roofing, electrical, plumbing and leach field and septic tank). The only thing I paid for labor was $35 to have a guy with a backhoe dig the hole for the septic tank and the leach field lines and $1200 to have a well put in. I slip-formed a concrete septic tank in place and mixed al the other concrete in a half bag mixer I bought. The last house, current house, I built I paid that much for building permits. Things have certainly changed.
Sumner- If you saw my toes, you'd know.... Offbearer may be the most physical job in a mill. Working the mill pond requires a lot of skill. (I never mastered it, got wet many times.) Green chain is an endurance type of effort. Sawyers top of the skill levels, followed by edgermen and trimmers. I never saw anyone who was not in good physical condition, in either mills or woods. Even the bulky dudes were fit, but not obese. If you look at government stats, always right at the very top of dangerous work, (usually number 1!!!), along with such as miners, power transmission linemen and cell tower workers, etc.
