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Duck and run! A circle sawyer initiation.

Started by Jeff, August 03, 2004, 07:35:58 PM

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Jeff

Ya know how the bandmill guys say ya ain't a sawyer till ya hit the mill?  Well Not sure thats the case with a circle mill.  :D  Our forest tech, and back-up sawyer was sawing for earl, the sawyer at our west mill today. Something went way wrong as you can see by the pictures. The board piler was even hit by shrapnel but luckily was not cut or injured. There is metal all over that building. Only 17 shoulders remain after cutting over two inches into the head block after first sawing through a dog.  This headblock did not even have the log on it! The log was on the first two and this was the last.  Jake came to me first after it happened still visibly shaken. He had no clue what happened. I went down and from looking at the lumber leading to the accident,  the the cant remaining on the bunks, and the damage, I think it was an equipment failure and not human error. It looks like the back dog inadvertently came to the out position while the others were in. He hit that back dog full force and this sucked what was left of the saw into the bunk. NASTY!! It could have been much worse though... He coulda been filling in for me! :D  He will be, starting tomorrow and through next week. Am I worried? Hell no. He will be so gun shy that he probably wont get much lumber cut.










Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Corley5

 :o  WOW!!!  That musta made one heckuva racket ;)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

WV_hillbilly

  Somebody was looking out for the people involved with that mess. I'm glad to hear that no one was hurt . The only thing that hurts is your  bosses wallet . A picture is worth alot to show the sheer power that the sawmill has . I second the thought about the racket it had to have made .  

 Is it a requirement that you keep clean drawers in your  truck when you go to work . Cause I'm pretty sure someone prrobably needed  clean ones after that wreck .  
Hillbilly

leweee

Those pictures are worth a thousand words!  :o :o :o Glad  no one was hurt. I guess use bandsaw millers can't get that much BANG for our buck. ::)
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Jeff

Those log bunks you are looking at are at least half in steel plate.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

iain

there you go
circles cut deeper and faster into steel than even monkey blades
i've only ever gotten a couple of mill per blade into the clamp :D
normally that little 3" add on when i forget its there (4times now) ::)

Ron Wenrich

I've had 2 of those this year.  The one wasn't too bad, but the other was major.

The first one happened when a limit switch failed.  Human error?  Partially.  I was watching someone else to make sure that a tie wasn't going to give them a problem.  I was coming back, but had inadvertently pushed my headblocks front instead of back.  I pulled the board splitter into the saw and sawed off a bottom dog.  

Damage - broken windshield, holes in the roof, and lost 1 shoulder.  Up and running in 1/2 hour.  Limit switches are still on, but have also put on mechanical stops.  Won't happen again.

The second one happened when a short piece of log taper ran behind the board splitter.  The off bearer kept on pulling and turned it sideways, pushing the saw into the carriage.  Lots of banging and clanging.

Damage - saw had 14 lost or damaged shoulders.  Now junk.  The nut on the mandrel was stripped.  We had to cut that off.  We had a spare mandrel, which had to be replaced.  Downtime was about a day.  Damage - several $1000.

Solution to this problem is to have the butt end toward the front of the mill instead of the rear.  

You need one of these every once in a while to keep you humble.   :D
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

woodhaven

Sure am sorry Jeff,
Looking at that blade makes me want to cry.
Richard

Norm

Holy cow! :o I jump a foot when I break a bandmill blade, I'd need a change of pants too if I'd been around when that happened. Is the blade ruined or can you salvage it?

Glad to hear nobody was hurt. :)

Jeff

No fixin this one. Shes just a big souvenir now.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Jeff

QuoteYou need one of these every once in a while to keep you humble

I'm going to disagree strongly with that one. :)  My last one was my first one 22-23 years ago and I hope it stays the last one.

I'M HUMBLE I AM IAM IAM !!!!
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Haytrader

That blade looks like it is destined to hang on a wall or a sign post after a plasma torch has cut a fancy picture in it.

Haytrader

twoodward15

How much does one of those circle blades cost?  
108 ARW   NKAWTG...N      Jersey Thunder

Gary_C

When I picked up my Woodmizer the tech who trained me told me that sooner or later everyone wil saw into the side supports even if only to nick them.

He told me of the time a local Indianapolis TV station sent a reporter and camera man to do a local business feature story on Woodmizer. Don L. who was one of the founders of the company was doing a sawing demo for the story and with the camera rolling and the reporter next to him he sawed into the side supports. It made such a noise the reporter dropped her microphone and both she and the camera man took off running for safety.  :o  :o

After they convinced the reporter and camera man  the sawmill had not exploded, they got them back to redo the story. Don told them that he always did think that those side supports were too long.   ::)  :-[

Gary
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

D._Frederick

Hey, I can't believe that those soft steel teeth you guy's use would cut into plate steel that well!!

woodhaven

I think most of us are running close to the same RPM on the blade. Mine is a little fast at 600 RPM. At that speed with a 52" blade the outer rim is turning around 9000 feet per minute. You figure if the blade could hit the ground at that speed it would go almost 2 miles in one minute. With a lot of power and that speed it don't need teeth to cut most anything. I know I have some nice cut marks in my dogs. They are half inch to.
Richard

Ron Wenrich

I'm running 690 RPM and a 54" saw.  We'll probably buy a new saw in the fall.  I'm just hoping the price of steel hasn't gone up too much.

We get shoulders welded back on the saws for $75.  Sometimes they're good, sometimes not.  
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

woodhaven

Glade to see that Ron. Cause everybody has told me I was running to fast at 600.
Richard

Jeff

Couple radial cracks on this one to go with the busticated shoulders. Shes toast.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Ed_K

 YOWWW  :o :o :o. Musta sounded like a machinegun goin off.
Ed K

Frickman

Wow Jeff, that was some wreck! I too am glad noone was hurt. I did much the same thing on my hand mill once. About ten years ago a cousin was helping me put a roof on a building and we ran short of lumber, so off to the mill we went. He had been around equipment a long time, but never a mill, so I was keeping a good eye on him. So good that I forget to shove the last dog back in when I turned a log. I sawed right through that dog with a half inch wide cut. Knocked all the teeth off and bent a few shoulders, but nothing the saw doc couldn't fix.

Ron, I've been there and done that with the taper cut shims laying between the splitter and the log and the splitter. I really have to be careful with new employees as sometimes they don't realize how much damage that saw can do.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

Jeff

QuoteHey, I can't believe that those soft steel teeth you guy's use would cut into plate steel that well!!

D._Frederick, yep, and we just use the standard blue tips. Nothing hard.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Furby

Ok everyone, step right up!
I've got odds going that after Jeff making that post about being humble, he should do a boo, boo his first day back after vacation. What do ya all say ???  ;D

WV_hillbilly

Hillbilly

Furby


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