38 - Ring Boxes, страница 25

LUMBERYARD

be brought right to the logs.

^ 8ANDSAW MILL

To locate one of these mills, we called Wood-Mizer, a company that manufactures portable bandsaw mills. They offered to bring out one of their mills to show us how it works.

Editor's Note: To find the operator of a bandsaw mill in your area, you can call Wood-Mizer at 800-553-0182.

PORTABLE. A few weeks later, we got a glimpse of how portable these sawmills really are. The mill was mounted on a trailer that was pulled up right in front of Ted's house, see Step 1 on page 24.

SETUP. After jockeying the logs into position (Step 2), it was just a matter of setting up the sawmill. Within fifteen minutes, the trailer had been unhitched, and the mill was leveled and ready to go, see Step 3.

LOADING LOGS. We started by

• loading the logs onto the bed of the sawmill. This wasn't as difficult as it sounds. Especially since this mill had a number of

hydraulic controls that made it easy to handle the heavy logs, see Steps 4 through 6.

INSPECTION. Before making the first cut, we gave the log a thorough inspection. Finding a nail or chunk of wire embedded in the log now would prevent dulling (or breaking) a saw blade later.

SQUARING UP THE LOGS. Now we were ready to start making some sawdust. The initial cuts simply squared up the log, see Steps 7 and 8.

MOVABLE SAW HEAD. They also gave us a chance to see how the head of the saw traveled back and forth along the length of the log. (This is the opposite of most circular sawmills I'd seen where the log is carried through the blade.)

CUSTOM CUTTING. In addition to moving back and forth, the head of the saw also adjusts up and down. This way, the sawyer can cut boards to whatever thickness you want. (Ted had his logs cut into 2"-thick boards).

DUST. As the blade slices through the log, dust pours out a chute on the side of the mill, see

Step 9. And a trickle of water keeps the blade running cool, see Step 10.

With all this dust, it may appear that a lot of Ted's lumber w^Tas ending up on the ground as waste. But that's not the case.

THIN KERF. Unlike a circular saw blade, the bandsaw blade cuts an extremely thin kerf, see Step 11. So there's really less waste.

As a result, Ted got more lumber than he would have if the logs had been cut by a circular sawmill. In fact, he ended up with about 700 board feet altogether.

COST. How much did it cost? Although Ted didn't have to pay for the actual sawing, most sawyers charge about thirty cents per board foot of lumber.

So it would have cost him $210 to have the logs cut into lumber. When you add in the $65 he paid for the tree service, that comes to $275. That figures out to be about foity cents per board foot. Not bad for a "windfall."

Of course, he wasn't done yet. The lumber still needed to be dried, refer to page 26.

7 During the initial cut, the blade removes the top Q As the blade slices through the log (left), the portion of the log (left). Then the log is rotated O feed rate is controlled by the sawyer (center). A gauge to square up the remaining sides (right). (right) helps determine the thickness of the board.

nA sharp blade and a mill that's properly aligned will produce quality boards like this.

9 Dust pours out a chute on the side of the mill as the head of the saw travels along a steel rail.

To prevent pitch from gumming up the blade, a water-drip system keeps it running cool.

raoo-w^s'

No. 38

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