Off and on for about 4 years, Harold has been building a sawmill! It's been a dream project for him for quite some time. With few funds to work with, Harold gleaned parts and motors and supplies from various pieces of "farm junk" and got a Kohler motor off of an old riding lawn mower. When funds were available he bought iron pieces, and the band saw blade. Lots of planning and welding and conversation with the neighbor guys, and today was the trial run! Harold says there is lots to do yet on this thing - he has to make a governor, a throttle, and some log chucks (no idea what that stuff is, it's all Greek to me) - and he has some other things to make and tweak on it. But he wanted to see if it would actually run AND actually cut wood!
We have a lifetime supply of wood to cut on our 100 acres, both dead trees and live. Plenty of wood to saw up into lumber! Today Harold brought in a big sawlog of ash wood to try out on the mill.
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| A piece of long dead ash tree. Until he can get a better way of handling logs, the old tractor and a chain worked for today. |
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| He lowered it close to the sawmill rails. |
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| The log is in place and ready to secure on the rails. |
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| Harold makes sure that everything is lined up right. I was in a panic that the band blade would fling off and de-capitate us! Harold told me not to worry. |
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| The very first cut, and the sawdust is flying! |
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| A closer view. Almost through the log's length and still going! |
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| Finished! A beautiful cut! The sawmill works! |
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| A close view of the beautiful grain on the ash piece. |
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| Look at how straight the cut is! Not a dip or a bend! |
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| A smiling and happy Harold proudly admires his first cut log with the sawmill that he built!! Way to go, Harold!! |
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| The band saw blade runs on tires that spin. |
You can see how much work Harold put into this sawmill and all the welding. Once he gets it all finished and running perfectly, we can make lumber! Then we can build that chicken house, and make our own hardwood flooring. I asked Harold how he plans to dry all the wood that he cuts. He says dead wood is already dry, and green wood will take about two years to dry with spacers in between the lumber boards, covered. Or, a person could take the lumber to a lumber yard to get kiln dried. Anyway, he can now show the neighbor guys that his idea does work - one neighbor was quite skeptical. When Harold sets his mind to something, he is pretty good at building things!
1 comment:
Congratulations on a job well done--so far. Maybe in your spare time, you could throw together one for me. :-) Hope you took lots of photos as it was coming together.
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