Old Sawmill ID Help NC

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 09:59:23 AM

Hello everyone. I have perused this forum for quite some time hoping to get some information regarding my grandfathers old sawmill. My brother, uncle, and I have decided to finally rebuild this thing. We discussed bandsaw mills but really want this old thing to run. My grandfather passed when I was younger and my remaining uncles do not really know much about it as they were only allowed to help off load it. I'll post some pictures of it in the hope someone can help ID the mill. Several of the parts have a S in front of the number, like S103. This mill is in seriously bad condition, but we are committed to rebuilding it. We are located just south of Wilkesboro NC, but do not believe it is a meadows; but could be wrong.

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:05:13 AM

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/76147/IMG_4184.JPG

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:19:44 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:22:10 AM

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=357296

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:31:52 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:32:22 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:32:48 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:33:16 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:35:29 AM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:36:42 AM

SawyerTed · January 05, 2025, 10:40:18 AM

I'm very little help on old circle mills. There are others who do know about circle sawmills. They will be along to help if they can.

What I can say is welcome to the Forestry Forum! We look forward to seeing your progress!

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:48:24 AM

SawyerTed, thank you for the welcome. This will definitely be a journey.

SawyerTed · January 05, 2025, 10:59:54 AM

BTW, we are "neighbors", I live just north of Winston Salem in Stokes County.

Ron Wenrich · January 05, 2025, 02:25:59 PM

It looks like you have a good, solid husk made of steel. I'm thinking that puts it past WWII and probably 1950s-60s. Am I seeing track in the background? It looks to be on steel. If it is, that's a plus. If not, you're going to have to build them.

The carriage looks like it was on wood, and it all rotted away. That might be a project. But, make sure all the parts are there. The dogs are often the first thing to be sold off.

There were a few mill producers in NC, both in Winston-Salem. One was the Salem Iron Works. That apparently went out of business in the mid to late '50s.

The other one was J A Vance, and they were in business until 1965 or so. You could still buy parts up until the early '80s. They made planers, sawmills and other woodworking equipment. You might want to look at Youtube videos to see if the Vance sawmills there match what you have.

My thinking is that people usually bought mills from a mfg in the area. My area had a ton of Fricks.

beenthere · January 05, 2025, 04:09:15 PM

Also welcome you to the Forestry Forum. As stated well by Ron Wenrich, the husk looks solid on steel.
Look forward to seeing you work on rebuilding the old mill.
Good on getting the photo's in your posts.

I have enjoyed following a fellow in western Wyoming this past year on his video's of restoring a Corley sawmill he "rescued" out of a junk pile. Used his band sawmill to saw out the needed materials for his wood husk frame and for the carriage and his track. You may or may not find his rebuild interesting but he is sawing logs and making lumber for his own use. He too was a helping hand for his father's sawmill back in the day, but didn't get to run the mill, just off bear. Also didn't get to restore his fathers mill. But that amount of knowledge is helpful to the desire in sticking to the rebuild process, I'm sure.

https://www.youtube.com/@tractorrescueranch3682/videos

scsmith42 · January 05, 2025, 06:34:14 PM

A lot of the old circle mills in NC were either Meadows or Frick. Hopefully someone will come along with more info.

SawyerTed · January 05, 2025, 06:49:14 PM

I just recalled that there's a circle saw doctor in Fleetwood NC. He services circle saw blades, sharpening and hammering etc.

He has a little mill he and his son rebuilt. Lots of experience with sawmills large and small

If you can find him, he may be able to help you

Meadows is still in operation as well.

beenthere · January 05, 2025, 09:08:31 PM

I'm just now watching a video of that Saw Doc in Fleetwood, NC. About an hour and 15 minutes from Hickory, NC
Andruw's Lumber and was looking at some similarity of the husk main bearing thinking it may be similar to the images already posted. But haven't drawn any conclusions, but figured the OP might contact this saw doc with some pics to see if they can make a connection to get his mill id'd.

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:18:52 PM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:19:17 PM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:19:43 PM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:20:20 PM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:20:44 PM

Rtyler1979 · January 05, 2025, 10:35:56 PM

Thank you all for info and the warm welcome. I will try to contact the Saw Doctor in Fleetwood sometime this week to see if we could connect. I had to travel to Virginia for work (loving this snow) so it might be later in the week. The carriage was wood. I wanted to rebuilt it from steel, but my brother @Tractortyler01 has talked me into going wood for now; to get things running. We were going to cut some locust and contact a local mill he uses for lumber to get them to cut to a finished 4x4 to rebuild the carriage. We pulled some babbits off the wheels, to look at getting pillow blocks to replace them. The track is on steel tubing and has a few welds popped loose which we will address when we get to setting it up. The husk is still solid and the pulleys and blade turn freely. There are some wear spots and some small places in need of repair. I just posted a picture of what appears to be the letter "B" on one of the set works. Frick?