kmmcrafts Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 First photo is one of the many scrap bins.. he lets me pick stuff out of these.. but I rarely do because of the wood typically green.. needing planed etc.. and my time of running dumpster diving ( so to speak ) LOL and you only get whatever type wood he may be cutting that day.. I find I'm better ahead to just buy lumber all ready to go.. anyway this scrap ends up in a chipper to make wood chips for the local landscaping places. Next photo is of a cant - slat machine.. and the following photo is of a pallet of cants and then a pallet of slats.. you put the cant in one end and they come out the other as slats.. I think there are around 5 bandsaws in this machine that you can change their location so if you wanted you could adjust it for making 2x4's instead of slats.. Next is a sawdust pile from the mill itself.. that pile is only from this morning.. Next is the log deck and the de-barker.. but the photo doesn't really show much here.. I took some video of the outfit and the actual mill sawing logs etc.. but I need to get my son to help me edit the clips and help me upload these.. if anyone has any interest.. Next photo is just logs.. he says those will be completely gone by days end.. I intended to get more photos and video.. like to have gotten a picture of one of the bandsaw blades.. they are about 10 inch wide blades and maybe 1/8" thick maybe bigger.. been a while since I've seen one.. even though I walked right by them today Anyway, I got video of the sawmill itself sawing a log.. the chipper and the de-barker machine.. if anyone would have an interest in seeing any of it I'll see if my son can help me get a video up.. also my uncle ( lives next door to me ) has a mill that was built back in the 1800's.. of coarse it's been updated to a modern 6 cylinder truck motor to power it.. I could walk over there and get a few pictures too if interested? crupiea, Lucky2, Scrolling Steve and 5 others 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappile Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 I always enjoy pictures and info like this. Thank you. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockytime Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 Been to a couple of sawmills years ago. Fascinating. A couple were in Oregon and one on Vancouver Island. Also saw one at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. Too old to travel anymore but have great memories. Love old stuff. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsN Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 I would love to see a video if you have time to create one! I was just teaching on this topic today! My kids love to watch the machines do their work. OCtoolguy and amazingkevin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 It looks like your brother has quite the operation Kevin. I was raised on a small sawmill and when I left home I got hired on as a sawyer on an automated circular saw sawmill for a while before I went into the electrical trade. Thanks for showing us. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted October 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 57 minutes ago, stoney said: It looks like your brother has quite the operation Kevin. I was raised on a small sawmill and when I left home I got hired on as a sawyer on an automated circular saw sawmill for a while before I went into the electrical trade. Thanks for showing us. Was those mills here in west Michigan? My brothers was a circle saw up until 2008.. then he built the bandsaw and made it even more automated.. has a scanner that scans the log to show where to make the cuts for the most lumber I believe now.. He started out working as a kid in a mill...ended up marrying the mill owners daughter. then in I believe 1974 - 75 ish he started this mill up.. started out running it off an old John Deere tractor with a belt to the PTO.. LOL.. Came a long way since then... I remember working for him and trying to turn those logs with a cant hook.. was so exited back in the early 80's when he made that automated.. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimmerstutzen Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 I just got home an hour ago, from picking up cut offs at my local saw mill. 3x3 and 3x5 pieces of Oak and Poplar some a foot long. What is too checked or cracked to turn, goes in the pile for the smoker grill or for the firewood pile at my local Lions Club's park. Tomorrow, he is cutting a pile of Eastern red cedar. OCtoolguy and kmmcrafts 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandaideman Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 Thanks for sharing. Growing up there was a man who did a little of everything farming, and ran a saw mill. This was before OSHA he had a big belt hooked on to the old John Deere well you guessed it his left arm got caught he was alone and lost the left arm above the elbow. did not slow him down and went back to farming and sawing and spearing Carp for fertilizer on the fields smelled but sure made the crops grow. He lived over a 100 as did his sisters who stayed with him. Sorry just old thoughts and reminiscing OCtoolguy and kmmcrafts 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 9 hours ago, kmmcrafts said: First photo is one of the many scrap bins.. he lets me pick stuff out of these.. but I rarely do because of the wood typically green.. needing planed etc.. and my time of running dumpster diving ( so to speak ) LOL and you only get whatever type wood he may be cutting that day.. I find I'm better ahead to just buy lumber all ready to go.. anyway this scrap ends up in a chipper to make wood chips for the local landscaping places. Next photo is of a cant - slat machine.. and the following photo is of a pallet of cants and then a pallet of slats.. you put the cant in one end and they come out the other as slats.. I think there are around 5 bandsaws in this machine that you can change their location so if you wanted you could adjust it for making 2x4's instead of slats.. Next is a sawdust pile from the mill itself.. that pile is only from this morning.. Next is the log deck and the de-barker.. but the photo doesn't really show much here.. I took some video of the outfit and the actual mill sawing logs etc.. but I need to get my son to help me edit the clips and help me upload these.. if anyone has any interest.. Next photo is just logs.. he says those will be completely gone by days end.. I intended to get more photos and video.. like to have gotten a picture of one of the bandsaw blades.. they are about 10 inch wide blades and maybe 1/8" thick maybe bigger.. been a while since I've seen one.. even though I walked right by them today Anyway, I got video of the sawmill itself sawing a log.. the chipper and the de-barker machine.. if anyone would have an interest in seeing any of it I'll see if my son can help me get a video up.. also my uncle ( lives next door to me ) has a mill that was built back in the 1800's.. of coarse it's been updated to a modern 6 cylinder truck motor to power it.. I could walk over there and get a few pictures too if interested? Thanks for the pictures ! OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawson56 Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 It's been quite a few years since I've been to a sawmill.hank you for the trip down memory lane.Fantastic pics OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 14 hours ago, kmmcrafts said: Was those mills here in west Michigan? My brothers was a circle saw up until 2008.. then he built the bandsaw and made it even more automated.. has a scanner that scans the log to show where to make the cuts for the most lumber I believe now.. He started out working as a kid in a mill...ended up marrying the mill owners daughter. then in I believe 1974 - 75 ish he started this mill up.. started out running it off an old John Deere tractor with a belt to the PTO.. LOL.. Came a long way since then... I remember working for him and trying to turn those logs with a cant hook.. was so exited back in the early 80's when he made that automated.. Yes Kevin the mills were here in Muskegon. My dad's mill was a Bellsaw brand mill with a 52" inserted tooth circular blade. I started working on the mill at a very young age. In fact back then it was powered by a 1948 Buick straight eight engine. In 1958 we got it hooked up to 480 volt 3 phase power. In 1965 I started as a sawyer at Wenting Manufacturing on a state of the art circular blade semi automated mill where I sat in a glass booth and pushed buttons and pulled levers to do all the operations I did on my dad's mill manually. It was quite a step up but the basic principals were the same and absolutely no comparison on the amount of production. OCtoolguy and kmmcrafts 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonylumps Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 I guess he does not worry about sawdust.That is some wood eater OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 On 10/3/2017 at 10:59 AM, kmmcrafts said: First photo is one of the many scrap bins.. he lets me pick stuff out of these.. but I rarely do because of the wood typically green.. needing planed etc.. and my time of running dumpster diving ( so to speak ) LOL and you only get whatever type wood he may be cutting that day.. I find I'm better ahead to just buy lumber all ready to go.. anyway this scrap ends up in a chipper to make wood chips for the local landscaping places. Next photo is of a cant - slat machine.. and the following photo is of a pallet of cants and then a pallet of slats.. you put the cant in one end and they come out the other as slats.. I think there are around 5 bandsaws in this machine that you can change their location so if you wanted you could adjust it for making 2x4's instead of slats.. Next is a sawdust pile from the mill itself.. that pile is only from this morning.. Next is the log deck and the de-barker.. but the photo doesn't really show much here.. I took some video of the outfit and the actual mill sawing logs etc.. but I need to get my son to help me edit the clips and help me upload these.. if anyone has any interest.. Next photo is just logs.. he says those will be completely gone by days end.. I intended to get more photos and video.. like to have gotten a picture of one of the bandsaw blades.. they are about 10 inch wide blades and maybe 1/8" thick maybe bigger.. been a while since I've seen one.. even though I walked right by them today Anyway, I got video of the sawmill itself sawing a log.. the chipper and the de-barker machine.. if anyone would have an interest in seeing any of it I'll see if my son can help me get a video up.. also my uncle ( lives next door to me ) has a mill that was built back in the 1800's.. of coarse it's been updated to a modern 6 cylinder truck motor to power it.. I could walk over there and get a few pictures too if interested? I love this stuff and spend way too much time on youtube watching it. So, I for one , would love seeing any videos you have. It's fascinating to me. Thanks for these pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 For anybody who lives anywhere near Southern California, twice a year down in Vista, there is an open house at the Antique Farm Equipment club and they put on quite a show. The last time I was down there, they had an old steam tractor (1915 ish) hooked up with a twisted belt to a saw mill and they were milling logs into planks with it. Very fascinating to watch. There is a tractor parade everyday and lot's of stationary engines running. If you ever get the chance, it's well worth the drive down there. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodmaster1 Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 At my woodworking club we have sawmill days twice a year. We get donated logs mill them and put them in a solar kiln. We sell the wood to members at a good price and use the proceeds to help with the clubs expenses. kmmcrafts and OCtoolguy 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrolling Steve Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 Thanks for sharing ! OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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