If you where starting over...

[bmurphy96]

Tomorrow I am purchasing a working frick sawmill. I have seen the mill and it is still in operation. Other than that (and a REALLY good price) I don't know much at all. I have up to six months to move the mill. I will be spending a few Saturdays working with the owner learning some of the ends and outs. He has been running a mill for 50 years so he certainly knows his way around it.

Now my long term plan is that I will be moving the mill from FL up to my farm in east TN. I hope to do so in mid-may although it may be a bit later in the summer. My first job is to set up a pole barn for it. Which leads to my first of many questions for the forum....

What kind of layout would you do for a pole barn used primarily for your sawmill? I am thinking that length is going to be more important than width -- maybe 20 feet wide by as long as I can afford? The track on this mill is 75 feet long. According to the owner he use to cut keels for wooden boats in the past. So the barn can't really be too long. I suspect  i will end up with some of this track exposed (it currently is about half in and half out of his barn).

I am sure a tractor or forklift of some kind will be used to pick up larger timbers so spacing of posts on the barn are going to be reasonably important. I am not that familiar with pole barns -- is it reasonable to put the post 20 feet apart or prohibitively expensive? Is that wide enough?

What are the 30 things I'm not thinking about?

thanks!!!

Keith

[Kbeitz]

I live right next to a big Frick. They could also cut lumber 50 ft long.
They put a sliding door on the long side so the log could travel out the side of the building.
They also made a drag chain that went under the mill next to the blade to remove the sawdust.
I would design the building so you could add to it as needed.
I would be glad to answer any questions you might have.



 

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Keith.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, bmurphy96.   8)

[Bert]

Leaving part of the track uncovered is not the end of the world. Part of mine was uncovered for about 6 or 8 years until I got around to adding an extension. I always parked the carriage under roof to keep the weather off of it. Shoveling snow off the track was what really made me decide to enclose the whole deal. Also, don't think "all" of you posts in the building would need to span 20'. Leave  20' openings for logs in and lumber out and make the rest 10' or whatever is more reasonable. The only thing I would change is making my mill higher off the ground. I get ground water in my sawdust blower when its really wet out. Looks like a waterfall out the pipe when she starts up. Sometimes the blower fins freeze in winter. What are you using for power?

[bmurphy96]

Thanks everyone!

It's a cummins motor of some kind. It looks like it came out of 18-wheeler. It was bought six years ago and rebuilt at that time.

It has a drag chain for the sawdust.

Thanks for the tips on the building. I will look at one twenty foot or longer section and then shorter sections. Higher off the ground is a good idea.

Keith

[Percy]

I haven't run a circle mill but with my band mill, I've found that 360 access to the building with support equipment is nice. I had a setup with a big drop off at one end and it was a pain taking the long way around witn the loader for slab removal, lumber removal, cleanup yaddayadda. Something to think about.

[Ron Wenrich]

Is this a full time endeavor or are you looking at it as part-time or hobby work?  When you build a building, look at each access area as a bay.  Figure out where your lumber is going, how it will be stacked, and how you will get access to it.  For example, if you're doing long timbers, how do you get them out of the mill?  You should have access at each end where you can get a loader into it.  Bays for shorter lumber should allow a couple of feet longer than the lumber you are stacking.  A lot of mills let the end exposed and run the carriage outside to load logs, etc. 

Things change when you use any type of automation, such as a green chain.  You end up changing the direction of product flow.  As long as you have accommodations well in advance, there isn't much of a problem. 

For a hand mill, you should actually have 3 levels.  The sawyer platform should be higher then the mill floor.  This is for working comfort.  For the sawyer, you'll want the headblocks a little above knee to mid thigh height.  You will need that to comfortably set dogs, tapers and to turn logs.  The mill height is more about waist height.  The other level is to have your sawdust removal, whether chain or blower, below the bottom of the saw.  Think about the clearance needed, and it should be about a foot.  A lot depends on how you run your chain.  Some bring it in under the saw, some bring it in over the saw.  Going out is always under the saw.  If the guy has been using it for 50 years, take some measurements and pictures of everything you can.

When we built our mill, we used steel I beams for the long expanses.  Easier to set and more compact.  For the shorter runs, we used 2x12 on both sides of the post.

[Bert]

Another consideration is the distance from the sidewall on the far side of the mill. I never considered this until I got into some big logs and headblocks hit the outside wall of the building. When you run the headblocks all the way out, they stick a couple feet past the track. Made the same foolish mistake with the pantograph on an automatic mill. I have some well placed notches in my beams now. ;D

[Jjoness4]

Keith
Welcome to the FF.  Best wishes on the sawmill move.  What part of East Tennessee are you in.  I am near Blountville. 
jjoness4

[valley ranch]

murphy96, That's a pretty big move, transporting the saw that distance. Good for you taking it on.

Let us watch as you do the move.

Welcome Murphy, I just got here my self, glad you came by.

Richard

RE: Cummings Engine. Is that engine a horizontal 6 by any chance? I worked on Cummings once upon a time, they're decent engines. I guess if were out of a 16 wheeler it would be upright.

[bmurphy96]

Jjoness4 my farm is in Tazewell so it's pretty much due west of you about an hour and a half or so.

My plan is for this to be more than a hobby. I will be cutting the posts/beams and lumber for my house and various buildings on the farm. I could end up doing part-time work for the local area - not sure.

I have a friend with a 38' gooseneck so I think we can get it all there in one trip. I do need to have a place to put though so I'm going to begin that in May.

I'll certainly be taking pictures and even some video over the next couple of weeks.  Thanks for the input! I'll be out at the mill Saturday -- I'll get some pictures and post them.