Salsco shaving mills

[Dave Shepard]

Anyone have one, seen one, or know much about them? I have a few questions about them. What kind of material can you put in them? I am thinking it would be a good way to get rid of slabs and edgings. What are the size requirements of the material going in? Could you put whole logs in it? There is a huge bedding shortage around here, and it might be feasible to put a ton of low quality pine logs through one of these, but I don't know much about them. Thanks.


Dave

[stonebroke]

Saw one at woodsmens days, They can make a pile of shavings pretty quick. Also the shavings looked to be better quality than the feed store stuff from Canada.

Stonebroke

[Dave Shepard]

We spent over $600 this past month on baled shavings, and that was being ultra conservative with them, we really need to use 2-3 times that amount, per month. Not all of the baled stuff is shavings, some has sawdust mixed in, and is sold as "bedding" not shavings.

Is the moisture content a problem with processing green material? Can you put slabs through with the bark still on them? I am sure I'll have more questions. I tried to visit the Salsco site, but everything I clicked on tried to open up a 10 Megabyte PDF. >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( I DO NOT LIKE PDF's! AAARGH!


Dave

[ellmoe]

  Dave, I have one. I've only put about 40 hours on it so my experience is limited. In my case whole logs (small 2-10" x 8') is the best material. I run cheap pine logs and produce about 10 yds. per hour. I'm sure that I can increase that, but it's not really "set-up" yet. If you have all 8' slabs or an easy way to cut them, slabs can work. However, you will get more slivers and I don't believe they will feed as well as logs, weight is required to hold the material against the planer head. Ditto for edging. Our product is accepted well, just haven't had much time to get things really going. Sal  (of Sal's Company) was enjoyable to work with. He brought a machine by my place for a quick demo as it went to its new owner. Give him a call. He can send you a video and specs and maybe arrange a demo.

Mark

  Just read your new poat. Yes, debarked logs are Ok and the moisture in the shavings is minimal.

[Captain]

It seems to me that the best material is whole logs.  They don't feed edgings all that well.  The best setup would be to debark and stockpile the logs to dry for a year or so before processing.  Wet shavings mildew fast and are DANGEROUS when enclosed/packaged.

Mrs Captain just asked about one today.  She may chime in here soon.

Captain

[Dave Shepard]

Captain, are you thinking of one with an engine or pto? We have plenty of 100+hp pto options around here. ;)


Dave

[Captain]

Dave, probably one with an engine.  I don't like to run hours on a $17,000 tractor for PTO when I can run a smaller engine worth a few thousand to do it for me.  Now if I had sone OPTIONS like you have, that's a different story 

Captain

[Ron Wenrich]

We sell logs to a company that makes shavings.  They use primarily tulip poplar and red maple, but will take any aspen or pine that comes their way.  They are making shavings mainly for the poultry business.  To be competitive, you would have to be able to blow them into the houses.  And, they should be fairly dry.

I had one client that tried to shave slabs, but it doesn't work real well for the denser hardwoods like oak. Even poplar didn't shave all that well.  You might have too high of a bark content in your shavings.

This client would also dry his shavings.  He originally used a regular clothes dryer. Took them out when they started to smoke.  But, he did end up with a tumble drum that had mesh on the outside.  That allowed all the small stuff to filter out.  He used a salamander heater for the heat.  Only a few minutes were needed to dry it out.

Another guy used heat lights to dry out his shavings.  Worked real well, and he baled his.

Jackson Lumber Harvester also makes them.  They have some videos of their machines in operation that may be of interest.  http://www.jacksonlbrharvester.com/shavingmills.html

[Dave Shepard]

Captain, that is why I refuse to run a pto wood splitter on my $45k Kubota. Not when you can do it with a $900 13hp Honda. ;)

Ron, I as hoping drying wouldn't be too difficult. I was thinking the shavings would dry out pretty quick. I know the sawdust that gets blown in the trailer dries out just from the short time in the pipes. I see the trailer is back, empty. I will have to ask if there was any mold from the sawdust being blown in green off the mill for the last 12 months. I would be looking to do just pine, as there is plenty of it around here. I wonder if knotty red pine poles would go through, I have a ton of those that need to die, and the sooner the better. ;)

Thanks for the input.


Dave

[Ron Wenrich]

Sure, you can use those knotty pine poles, but some of the knots won't give shavings, since you're going across the grain.

Shavings will dry out quickly.  I don't know if just running them through a blower is enough.  If you put them in any type of a container, they will have to be dried.  They'll mildew pretty quick, especially if they're on a pile. 

[stonebroke]

sawmill mag did a article on the salsco a while back you should look it up.

Stonebroke

[bandmiller2]

Dave,I'am no authority,are you going to just make your own bedding or are you  going into the shaving business.Pine slab would make dirty shavings to much bark fine for your own use but the horsey crowd would be uninspired.What if you put the slabs through a small tub grinder used that for bedding pile it for a wile and sell it for compost.Also sell landscape mulch.might be easier to pile slabs under cover dry slabs=dry shavings.Have a good new year Frank C.

[Tom]

I've watched that Salsco shaver at the Moultrie Ag show and the distance the blower sends the shavings, makes it pretty much self-cleaning.  You get piles of bark, piles of slivers, piles of dust and piles of shavings.  I was impressed.  You do need ample room to operate it though.  I think the room for the blower to blow shavings is as important as the room to run the machine.

[Dave Shepard]

Cars are recycled the same way. They are hammermilled, and then blown out over some distance. The metal goes farther than the cloth and stuffing from the seats, thereby separating it. A giant fanning mill, if you will.


Dave

[Ron Wenrich]

A good hog could make a wider variety of product.  You can make bedding, or mulch.  We have a company that takes chips and converts them into both landscape mulch, equine footing, and recreational mulch.  The recreational mulch is used on playgrounds.  They also sell material for animal bedding.

Hog material can come from a wide variety of sources, including slabs and low grade pulp. 

[doublecut]

I too have seen them at the Moultrie Ag show and i was impressed. We have been thinking of getting one for our slabs to produce chips for the pulp mills. I never had much time to go over and ask if they would work for this. the mills here are quite fussy in the dimension of chips that is sent in.
Captian
Did you say you are using one for slabs now ?
Doublecut

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I buy a little over 40 yards a month of shavings/sawdust. I buy it in bulk by the trailer load. It comes in green and wet. It's not a problem because I spread it out in a layer about 4 inches thick in a high traffic area ( the aisles between the stalls ) and it drys in no time. Of course in real cold weather, say in the teens, it freezes solid.  I have bought some poplar shavings from a guy that used a grain dryer to dry them but that really sucked up the propane, but he could dry around 15 yards at a time.

[stonebroke]

How long would it take to dry in a hay mow? We used to blow sawdust into the hay mow and I remember by the time we used it is was very dry and dusty. Course we got it in the summer.

Stonebroke

[Captain]

Hey Lindsay, no I'm not using one for slabs now.  I have talked to the folks at Salsco and they admit that edgings are problematic to feed, but heavier slabs mixed in with regualr sized stock on top to help with gravity can work.

Captian

[bandmiller2]

It must be a bear to keep the knives sharp doing slab, grit pebbles est.Dave to dry shavings I can picture a big drum with angled air jet at the bottom like a cyclone dry shavings out the top.It would probibly pay to pick up an old surface grinder to dress knives.They make purpose machines for blades but old machine shop equip. usally can be had for not much more than scrap value.Frank C.

[karl]

My wish list includees a Newman SS-30 -it takes from shop scrap to unlimited length, 120+ knives, Tons per hr 8), 300 hp - $100,000 plus feed conveyer, blower, etc......

Good thing dreams are cheap.

My son has been looking for a cheap old large jointer to set a carriage and box on to make a mini shavings mill like the salsco......

I'm thinking a grinder is the way to go for us- Dairy/beef farmers are more flexible about their bedding than the horse crowd(nothing is too good for a horse ;))
Even a grinder is out of our reach for a while- not enough funds, or (secure) market.

[farmerdoug]

A pallet company I deal with runs there junk pallets and scrap through a tub grinder with a metal removal magnet.  They sell alot of it to horse farms around here.  I guess the horse people cannot get cheap shavings here.

[Dave Shepard]

It might just be easier to go in the custom planing busines making T&G, v-groove, that sort of thing. Get a big Baxter Whitney and go to town. :D


Dave