sawmill knowledge

[tonydonovan]

good afternoon sawmill friends

i'm writing an article part of which compares a relatively modern 1980s sawmill 
with an amidon mill from the 1950s

the newer mill is supported by a siva tech operating system c. 1984
i need an explanation of what the sawyer is doing
to work this system

especially a description of the arms on either side of the console
what do the three black push buttons do on the hands of those arms

what are the sawyer's responsibilities/actions running this kind of operation?

thanks for your help

tony donovan
ivoryton, ct
 

[moodnacreek]

Well I wish I had one of those automatic sawmill carriages. It started in the '60s with simi automatic where the set shaft. tapers and dogs where remote control. Then the sets became push button. So now the sawyer has to sit so he can run everything using both feet, both hands and both thumbs. Besides the carriage he will do the live log deck, stop and load [the carriage with log] and the log turner. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Moody,

    So are you saying a sawyer needs to have a split personality to push all the buttons and move all the levers at the same time to run a mill? :D

    I'd still love to watch you or see a video of you in operation running a circle mill by yourself. I can only imagine you are a very busy man. Obviously you have a very regimented work process and probably have your equipment set up to move product down the line and out of the way during processing. Its mind boggling to me how you keep that many balls in the air at the same time. You have my utmost respect and admiration to be able to do so.

[Jeff]

YouTube

[moodnacreek]

Moody,

   So are you saying a sawyer needs to have a split personality to push all the buttons and move all the levers at the same time to run a mill? :D

   I'd still love to watch you or see a video of you in operation running a circle mill by yourself. I can only imagine you are a very busy man. Obviously you have a very regimented work process and probably have your equipment set up to move product down the line and out of the way during processing. Its mind boggling to me how you keep that many balls in the air at the same time. You have my utmost respect and admiration to be able to do so.

W.V. The most I have ever done by myself is 2000 bd. ft. The board end of the mill is automated but the log end is not except the log deck and turner. Spend alot of time sorting logs and stacking lumber but I am slowing down due to age. The hardest thing is to stop buying logs. I am trying to resell the better logs but the markets are messed up now. I would like to get someone to shoot a video but I want it done my way and I think cameras still need film !

[Southside]

the newer mill is supported by a siva tech operating system c. 1984

Honestly I am a bit surprised that the support still exists to operate that system.  

[Walnut Beast]

YouTube

Was that you Jeff

[Jeff]

That was me. That sawbooth was my home for 20 years, 5 years in another previously. I only have two short clips of me sawing over all those years.

YouTube

[Old Greenhorn]

The world was fuzzier and less focused in those days. ;D :D
 Judging by the haircut and the music, I would say that about the same moments this was shot I was standing at the controls of a huge NC Jig Borer or something like that about 1,500 miles to the east.

[Sixacresand]

Between having a sawmill and the Forestry Forum, a person can't help but gain some knowledge about milling.  I heard an old man who ran a machine his whole career at the mine tell a young engineer, "I knows what I knows.  I don't know much, but I knows what I knows".  I'm still learning but some times I get to tell and show "what I knows". 

[Ron Wenrich]

Tony 

I've sawn on several types of mills.  What we refer to as a hand mill is like one from the various manufacturers in the '50s.  They're still made today.  All the operations are down manually.  You feed the mill with a large wooden handle to advance the carriage through the saw.  Dogs, which hold the log in place, are placed and released by hand.  Turning the log is generally done by hand, but many mills had automatic log turners, even in that era.  The uprights, where the log rests against, are also advanced and retracted by a handle on the carriage.  This also has an indexed stop so that a log can be advanced a certain amount, which will yield a board after cutting.  Tapers are also set to center a log on the carriage.  This is used on tapered log, and these were set by hand.

On the automated version, the sawyer sits in a booth and rarely comes in contact with logs.  Controls are generally set by the sawyer using toggle switches, buttons and any number of gizmos they can come up with.  I had buttons that would turn off dogs that weren't needed during certain log lengths.  I could use a button to push a taper in or out.  I had another button that had the dogs to up or down, and another to put the dogs in or out.  Another button was used to push the uprights either front or back fast.  Another button was used to advance the uprights for a certain board thickness.  These buttons were normally situated on top of a joystick or two.  I had one joystick to advance the carriage through the saw, and another to control the log turner.  In addition, I had foot pedals to control the log deck and the stop and loader.

Where the SilvaTech came in was that it helped build a stack or find a location on the headblocks without using a gauge.  On a hand mill, there is usually a big gauge to tell you where you're at in the log.  Normal sawing is to start out by taking a slab off of a log.  You then pull the lever for a board and take that off the log.  You keep doing that until you want to turn the log.  Normal sawing would be to turn it by putting the sawn face down on the headblocks.  Some guys will turn 180° and put the saw face against the uprights.  I rarely did.

When you come to where you want to take the log to a finished size, you need to build what we call a stack.  For instance, if you want to end your cutting at 6" and wanted to cut boards at 1 1/8", you would set your gauge at 11½".  You would saw your slab, then 4 boards and end up with a 6" piece.


With the SilvaTech, you build your stack with your computer.  You start with your target size, input how many boards you want to cut, and at what thickness, and hit your set button.  That will bring your log up to wherever it needs to be as a starting point to start sawing that side and end at the target at the end of the process.  It was much easier on the sawyer.  I could cut various thicknesses on my stack without all the math gymnastics you had to do in your head with the hand mill.  I could also change the way the stack was built while sawing.  

I could change any of the variables on the SilvaTech, including board thickness, kerf (saw thickness), and target size.  

[Jeff]

Wow! You had it made! I was stuck doing mental gymnastics.

[moodnacreek]

The Newn England style hand set mills , like Amadon, Chase, Lane and others all would up using the Lane setworks. You twist the reach rod and drop the pawl into a certain notch to do a stack, cant size, last board or what ever without doing any math at all. This setworks and the sawyers favorite dog is what made Lane famous.

[trapper]

I sawed in a mill that was like the first one Ron described  but that knowledge helped a lot when I bought my bandmill 35 years later.  The scale on my lt30 takes out most of the math  that i used then like figuring where to start when i had 2 4/4 and 1  5/4 left plus 1/4 in kerf for each cut.  Had a live deck but turned logs and set the dogs by hand.
 one man on edger 2 handleing slabs and lumber one running debarker and moving lumber when the carts were full.  Average 10,000 board feet a day.