[Rural Heritage TV] has video of a private tour of a working, two-story, steam-powered sawmill at Lake Itasca, Minnesota. This is believed to be one of the only working steam-powered band-sawmills in the country with a shotgun (or reciprocating) feed carriage. The carriage moves back and forth with a log while a monstrous 44-foot long bandsaw cuts pieces off on every stroke. There’s even a log turning mechanism, because if there’s one thing that never changes, it’s that time is money.
There is great footage of the whole thing in action, and also a serious tour of just how much work was needed to keep such a tool running. For example, in its heyday a machine like this would be swapping bands out for maintenance and sharpening every few hours.
Viewers unfamiliar with such machinery may notice the lack of rims or guard rails on the bandsaw and other belts and pulleys. How do bands stay centered on spinning wheels without falling off? The crowned pulley was the steam era’s solution, providing a means for belts to self-center without any need for rims or other additions.
This tour of the sawmill is a nifty peek at a technology that, at one point, ruled the roost. Watch it in action in the video, just under the page break. If that leaves you hungry to know more, there’s a second video that goes into added detail about saw sharpening and more.
One last tip: if you’re hungry to know more about the history of the steam engine, The Perfectionists is absolutely a book you should read because it goes into fascinating detail about that, and more.
Thanks to [Keith Olson] for bringing this to our attention!
Hey, it’s that blade sharpener thingy from Twin Peaks
If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, you can see a similar heritage sawmill in operation in person at the Powerland Heritige Park, just north of Salem.
The park is largely devoted to antique steam, and they have an annual event called “the Great Steam-up” that attracts hundreds of old steam engines, tractors and farm implements, in addition to their standing displays of old steam and combustion engines.
The sawmill originally worked in the cascade range before it was brought to the park by volunteers that fire it up for special events.
Absolutely terrifying to watch, like all the other equipment from that era, it is composed entirely of exposed moving parts and sharp blades. There is not a single thing anywhere in the entire machine that is OSHA approved in any way. So…definitely worth checking out if you’re int he area.
antiquepowerland.com
Re: OSHA approved
I don’t remember visiting a sawmill without seeing a statistically significant number of people with less than 10 digits on their hands.
Transhumanism can’t come soon enough. Lose a limb? Screw a new one on.
A local sawmill has a guy who has operated and maintained the same machine for 30 years. Every decade or so he forgets to turn off the air to the machine while maintaining it, trips a photoeye controlling an air cylinder and feedroll, and smashes another finger. He’s lost three so far.
My parents had their dining table made by a carpenter with 8 fingers. When asked, he responded that he had lost them playing with fireworks as a child and decided that carpentry was the trade for him: “can’t lose those anymore!”
When we lived in the northeast we went to the local historical mill often for fun. They did harvest festivals, sheep shearing and things. After a while became friendly with the workers and found out there is an awesome community of historical mill operators that have meetings and stuff to talk about and preserve this amazing heritage.
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Huge respect to their keeping this stuff alive.
Speaking of the Northeast, if you’re in Ulster County, NY during county fair season there’s a local group dedicated to keeping old-timey farm equipment running. They’ll have multiple machines going at once; tractors, bailers, log splitters, shingle splitters, various engines, etc. They’re a fun group to talk to about their passion projects.
I have! Old hit and miss engines are my fav.
There are awesome groups like that all over. In Texas some dude at the small county fair was running one hooked up to a corn cracker. He was sitting there happy as can be hand feeding handfuls of corn into it. At the time I couldn’t imagine how much corn (grits?) one guy could eat or why he seemed so happy.
The Central States Threshermen’s Reunion held each Labor Day in Pontiac, Ill. is the 2nd oldest steam show (since 1949). Draws huge crowds to see all the steam powered implements.
I WORKED IN THE WOODS LOGGING FOR
21-YEARS!! THEN I WENT INTO THE
AVISON LUMBER CO. SAWMILL,
MOLALLA, ORE. BOB AVISON OWNER
HE HAD 6-SAWMILL’S I OFFBEAR’ED
12-YEARS, 7′-8′-9′- FOOT BAND SAWS
IN THE DIFFERENT MILLS, THE BECAME
EDGERMEN!!!! LOVED IT, STILL HAVE ALL
MY FINGERS LUCKILY!! GREAT HARD WORK!! BUT MY 43-YEARS LOVED IT!!
I’AM 67-Y/OLD NOW RETIRED!! LOVE RICK