Originally
built in 1969, the Sawmill saws between 24-25 million board feet per year.
This would be approximately 3,000,000 actual boards handled by our crew of 20
men. The logs are set on the deck and then pass through the
Debarker. This is a 35” ring debarker that has 5 arms with
carbide tool tips to peel the bark from the logs. It runs between 30-70
PSI, depending on the time of year. Approximately 1000 logs per day go through
the debarker
The Forano resaw system - 4 horizontal bandsaws - saw up to 5
boards per pass. This is a brand new system installed during the summer of
1995
The fileroom is both art and science. We sharpen our own
saws and knives. The bandsaws are 38 feet long and 12 inches wide.
We change these saws every 5 hours. The saw cost averages $800 each and each saw
should cut approximately one million board feet in its life. The
leveler is used to get the lumps and bumps out and basically flatten the saw
back out. Then the saw goes to the bench to be checked for tension,
and to the grinder to be sharpened. This process takes
approximately three hours
Two 6’ Bandmill Headrigs
have computerized scanners, carriages and hydraulic feeds which are controlled
by the sawyers. Saws are moving at 9,000 surface feet per minute or 102
mph. They each process approximately 400-600 logs per day
The edger-optimizer is designed to maximize yield and grade
from each board produced. The board is loaded by the operator, then it
advances to the next position by the eyes under the board. The board
travels to the second position where the first length measurement is taken. Then
the board advances again and is loaded onto a feed chain