Sawmill Demo

Jim DeLaney

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Austintown, Ohio
Okay, Robert posted about the antique tool display, but I thought that maybe some of you haven't ever seen an antique sawmill in action, so here are a few pics of the one they had operating at the Canfield fair last week.

It's powered by a nineteenth century steam tractor, and the mill itself is circa early twentieth century. Note all the interesting ways one cold get injured or killed if they're not paying attention while this machine is operating. Definitely pre-OSHA!
 

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cool jim! i know where one of those old mills is laying in a field rusting away if anybody there is interested? headworks and 4 bucks, 2 insert tooth blades,and loose carriage works......it could be made to run with lots more spare time-n-money than i have:eek:
 
Those old circular mills are pretty cool! Twenty-five+ years ago my cousin-in-law and I milled the lumber for my wood shed / chicken shed (from huge poplar logs) on his 60" Belsaw rotary. Once he had it properly aligned and the carriage reversing friction drive wheels cleaned up and adjusted, it worked a treat. The only negatives that I can see with them are the power they take to drive, the width of the kerf (almost 1/2" on his 60") and the lack of safety on an insert tooth blade. We had a screen between the operator and the blade. Every once in a while you'd hear a little "ffft!" over the whistle of the blade and the exhaust of the Cockshutt 30, the screen in front of you would give a little shake and you'd know it was time to stop, find the tooth just below the screen and reinsert it :) - lots of fun though!!

cheers eh?
 
We have an old Lane from the 1901 era. A pretty good saw rig and can easily smoke our bandsaw mill hands down. On a good day we could knock out 5000 board feet on that old Lane driven by a 327 Chevy. On a good day our Thomas Bandsaw mill can kick out 1500 board feet.

The kerf is really a killer, for every 5 cuts you make, you lose one board. (¼) inch kerf on our 52 inch rotary blade. It too had inserts but ours seldom came out. What got me one day was a small knot. It had a dead limb sticking out by an inch or two. That got thrown back at me and hit me in the face and I think it hit so hard, it still stings to this day (complete exageration there, but it did hurt). Still, no guard.

I watch Alyson grow up and watch her mother dote all over her. In my youth we often had dad "babysit" us as my uncle sawed lumber. He woulfd watch us while he took wood off the "tail conveyor". I watched dad work enough, and did enough board stacking myself to know that there are two places to be on a sawmill. Running the headrig and taking off boards. The later is not where you want a career now I will tell you.

Here are some pictures of our old Lane Sawmill:
 
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