The Forestry Forum

Hi all,

We are getting ready to brake ground for our new mill.  I hope to post pics of the build from start to finish.  our current operation has 2 Corley head rigs feeding 2 Ligna gang edgers.  We average 175mbf/week.  Our equipment has seen it better days.  We are going to go to the other end of the site to build the new operation while the old one is still running.

With the new one we are looking to at least double our production.  some of the equipment we all ready have is a Cooper overhead end dogging scragg and a MAC high speed thin kerf board edger.  I have quotes from most of the big guys on the other equipment.  we are leaning toward a Cleereman circle head rig.  Looking at a few different guided thin kerf 8"gangs.  I have a meeting set up with Cleerman in 2 weeks to talk about them about engineering the total project from debarker to green chain.

Woody

The new mill will also include a Pendu slab recovery system using slabs from the head saw the scragg and the Gang

When we updated to a new mill, we looked at several different types.  We went with a heavy carriage.  We also went with all hydraulic.  Helle has some nice features on their mills.  Montgomery Mills will make a carriage to your specs.  They're over the PA/MD line off I-83.  Cleerman seems to have a nice carriage.  I'm sure price is a factor.  It was for us and we went with Morbark of Canada.  They're now out of business. 

We set our mill up in the air about 4'.  Should have gone a little more to make cleaning and maintenance a little easier.  We had the typical joysticks.  After a few years, I started to develop carpal tunnel.  We made the switch over to a smaller joystick that had all the controls on the handle.  I could set tapers, make sets, control headblock direction, and control carriage direction without too much arm movement.  It did away with a lot of the repetitive motion problems I had before. 

Sounds like an interesting project.  I'll be looking for the pics. 

I am waiting on a Quote from Helle and I forgot about Montgomery  I will have to get them in the game monday.  We will be setting up 10' off the floor to allow for the slab recovery system underneath. 

They have a Cleereman all hyd carriage on a Corley husk. The mill has Silvatech setworks on it and I think it would saw 300-400 ties a day with the right logs and sawyer. Don't have a lot of trouble out of it either.

Met with the salesman from Corley today. Meet with Helle tomorrow

I don't know how far you are in the mill design and layout, but if you have time you need to look at a mill running in Easton MD.
Mill was built with a Five knee carriage for timbers up to 32' and has a Cooper end-dogging scragg mill. Runs two rosser head debarkers feeding onto a single in-feed conveyor to the mill.. Logs coming into the mill are directed right or left depending on the length and size...  Mill produces about 65Mbdft and above per day depending on the species being run and length.. Minimum manpower required inside the mill....