Toured an old sawmill today.

[Dave Shepard]

I got a chance to check out an older mill today, I don't have pics, as I didn't get the chance to ask permission. :( The mill was run by a local family that has migrated into the excavation business. However, the family has kept the mill and farmland, and intends to make a museum out of it. Everything is intact and operable. The mill is a Chase, a semi-auto my father said. It turns out my grandfather sold them the mill, he must have taken it in on trade. It is powered by an IH UD-16, six-cylinder diesel. It has a topsaw, and hydraulic carriage feed. There is at least 50 feet of track, I am guessing. It also has one of the scariest looking debarker contraptions I have ever seen hanging from the ceiling. In the next building is an IH UD-14A powering a line shaft. Off of the line shaft is a Chase shingle mill, a lathe making resaw, a single sided planer, and a four sided planer/moulder. The lineshaft runs up to the second floor to power various pieces of equipment.

There is a lot of Yankee ingenuity present in these mill buildings, there are several homemade tools that appear to work as well as commercial made ones. There is a saw made to end trim boards, much the way you would with a radial arm saw, but that is where the similarity ends. It has an electric motor belt driving a 12" sawblade. The motor and blade are mounted on an arm hanging from the ceiling and it pivots the blade over the table. As you pull the saw from the at rest position, it lifts a weight that pulls it back when you are done.

Also on the property is a small shack with a setup to make cinder blocks and a barn totally devoted to making apple cider. There are two presses in the basement, one that is hand operated with a table about eight feet square, and another that is hydraulically operated off of a line shaft. There are numerous elevators and auxillary equipment running running from the basement to the first and second floors. I am glad that it is being preserved.


Dave