56 in. circle-saw

[Dr. Jerry K.]

Jeff asked for a shot of the circle-saw mill in the woods behind the house.  Here it is:  An "American No. !" made around 1940.  It is a 56 inch, not a 4 ft. as I had thought.

John Ross is the owner & sawyer.  It was originally run by John's father with  a huge steam tractor, still operating & on the premises.  This photo was taken on 4/28/04.  This log weighed 2,700 lbs.

[etat]

Boy, I'd sure like to see that sawmill run, and the steam tractor too!!!!  Oh, nice log too!!!

[UNCLEBUCK]

wow ! Is it possible to flip that cant around with just a cant hook ? I put so much paint on my old mill that I had to sand off all the paint where the log touches the carriage and get it shiny and put a little oil on as I have found that a 18 inch squared up oak or ash is about all I can do . I thought the paint would wear off but one must have to saw a thousand logs to get metal to shine . That is a great picture ! I put a cheap overhead winch above the carriage and bent that right away . To dumb to rig up a hydraulic kicker yet I am I am .

[Dr. Jerry K.]

This is the old steam engine that ran the 56" circle-saw, probably about 60 years ago. Before that, it ran another mill close by, going back to WW I days. John Ross still runs it & saws logs at the Lake Co. Indiana Fair.

No, we don't try to flip these big boys with cant hooks.  (I thought about the "bear-hug" method as I am highly experienced in dancing rather large women in years gone by . . . . . . )

We wrapped a 1/2 in. cable around it from the underside; the cable has a hand-forged hook on the end.  With a 3/4 wrap, a good set on the hook, and the other end hooked to the Kioti-45 bucket, it turns very quickly and easily with a lift of the bucket.  Then with the tension still on the cable, we slide it right up tight.  Works great.

(Not sure if I got the picture code in . . . )

[Dr. Jerry K.]

Still can't get the code in for the photo,  but is is uploaded.  Maybe it is viewable in the slideshow.

[Tom]

[Ron Wenrich]

There is a way to turn logs without a winch.  I had a set of rollers that were mounted to my log deck.  They were on a hinge, so you could put them down when you rolled a log in.

When you had a flat side, you just rolled the log out.  The log would hit the rollers and slide right back onto the carriage.  As long as your headblocks are back far enough, the log would nearly be ready to saw.  Some big logs would have to be nudged over.  For some of the uglier logs, I would add a little diesel to the headblocks.

I turned logs every bit as big as that log by myself.  For huge logs, I'd need a little more weight on the cant hooks.

You probably can make some sort of rollers.  But, it has to be something solid.  Something like a bearing would work on smaller logs, but probably shatter on real heavy stuff.

[D._Frederick]

Out here in the NW, most of the manual mills used "1/2 moons" to turn logs.  They were two half circles of blade steel about 12 to 16 inch in diameter and had a length of pipe welded between the halves. They were mounted to the log deck and were rotated to the up position for turning a log. The sawn side of the log was rolled  on top of the 1/2 moons, which caused the log to be kicked back on the carriage.

That steam traction engine lookes to be in rough shape from sitting out in the weather, I hope know one is brave enough to fire it up. About three years ago, one exploded at a fair and killed a half dozen people. Out here, these old engines have to be certified by the state before a fire can be build in them.

[Sawyerfortyish]

I ran an American mill for 18 yrs but this picture has me confused :-/ Is this a left hand mill? The man is on the left the log and carrige on the right comming towards me. I see the splitter just going into the log on the right. If this were a right hand mill which is what most of us run the man should be on the right the log and carrige on left . Or was I out in the sun to long today ???
 Anyway the American sawmill co made sawmills in Hackettstown N.J. about 20 min from me. But closed up about 70 yrs ago and headed south.

[Ron Wenrich]

In some sections of the country, left handed mills are pretty common.  I believe Wisconsin is one of those spots.  I've run a left handed mill for a number of years.  There was one available when we went over to an automatic, and we put one in for an upgrade.  They saw no different.

I have a theory why there are so many of a certain hand of mill in an area.  Sawmills were something that farmers bought for their off season work.  They could use either their steam power or tractor.with a falt belt.

Since none of them were too good with mill knowledge, they would just ask for one like the farmer down the road, or what everyone else was buying.   :D   Right handed ones caught on for no particular reason.

What I find in the picture is that he doesn't appear to be using his dogs.  I've seen guys saw like that.  I never thought it was particularly safe.

[Dr. Jerry K.]

John uses the dogs just about all the time.  I guess he figured this log was too heavy to go anywhere; it weighed 2,700 lbs.  

There are times when he uses only one.  I think this is the only log I ever saw him cut without using any dogs.

We have two more logs almost this big to cut.  Then I have another load of firewood logs coming, and hopefully we will find a couple of good sawlogs in the bunch.

My brother told me this log would have brought $400 in his log yard in the Adirondacks.   I am selling the boards green & rough at $1.50 / board ft., and $400 is about what I will get for this log.   Maybe I am selling it too cheap, esp. for 5/4 clear Oak. (?)

[Norwiscutter]

You can only sell for what you can get for it. ;) That being said, depending on the quality, you might be a little low.  I guess in my mind I would rather sell for less and get it out of my yard, rather than wait for someone to meet my price.  I sell mostly to family and friends so if I am giving a them a bargin deal, I don't feel so bad.