Antique Frick Mill

Okrafarmer · February 07, 2012, 10:05:12 PM

Last fall my boss bought this antique Frick Mill from somebody about three miles or so down the road. The owner said it was a 1908, the other guy who milled with him said it was a 1903. My boss bought it and a running but structurally unsound Massey Ferguson industrial loader tractor for what seemed like a reasonable price. The engine runs, and it is an operational mill. However, we have not yet decided where to set it up, since we don't have a really good place. The spot we were planning to put it would require quite a bit of grading and gravel brought in to be useful and would be hard to get the trucks in and out of. Since, as always, we are on a tight budget, we are now in limbo as to where to set it up. These are pictures I took of it before we disassembled it to bring it back. The engine is (I think) a Chrysler or Dodge slant 6.

tyb525 · February 07, 2012, 10:15:02 PM

Wow, same engine as in my truck. I know they're bulletproof, but never heard of one being used to power a mill ;D Whenever the body falls apart, I know what I can use the engine for (...since they apparently never die when taken care of)

Okrafarmer · February 07, 2012, 10:21:05 PM

The engine runs fine, and sounds beautiful. (straight pipe). We have it covered up, don't worry.

sandhills · February 07, 2012, 10:44:35 PM

Well this is your lucky day!!! I have just the spot for it! Bring her on over, I'll have it ready ;D.

Okrafarmer · February 07, 2012, 10:49:55 PM

;D It doesn't lend itself real well to road trips! :D

Silver_Eagle · February 07, 2012, 11:06:46 PM

Okrafarmer,

I don't know your soil's in the area, but do you have iron ore gravel on the place or near you? If so, iron ore generally run's vein's where you can push enough gravel up with a dozer to cover a nice pad and truck turn around area if it is available. Just a thought to see if you can use what might be on the property. Since the 08 slow down, most rental fleet's will lease dozer's by the month, d-5 size around 3 grand for the month. Small job can be done then farm the machine out to a job where your rental can be covered doing another job to finish the month. Usually they will deliver for a fee also.

Just a thought that might help.

Okrafarmer · February 07, 2012, 11:32:41 PM

Thanks, Silver. We do have a bulldozer, but the soil on the property is almost exclusively red clay mud. We've had so much rain this winter, it's a quagmire. We'd have to haul some gravel in. The shape of the property also makes it so that it would be hard to get trucks in-- down a narrow driveway, across a creek (the current culvert and driveway would not take too many of those loads), and way to the back of the property, a good 300 yards from the road. The driveway is a narrow strip of land between two neighbors' lands. Bad situation all around.

Silver_Eagle · February 07, 2012, 11:53:01 PM

I hear ya, see the pic of my horse?

On that cap there is about 2 ft of clayish sand and under there it is solid iron ore for about 14 feet. I have two pad's built and our access road also. It is a little nasty after a hard ran but after about two hours sun it dries out fairly well. Iron ore here locally work's ok for a quick fix.

bandmiller2 · February 08, 2012, 07:46:59 AM

Okra,is there any provision for a governor on that engine? If your going to go commercial milling, site is very important.If your just dubbing around the site can be alot more forgiving.The mill can be setup on pileings over a low spot,its good to have space under the mill.Ideally the dead deck should be at a level to roll logs on easily,and at the same level as the carriage,thats the value of a sidehill. Frank C.

Okrafarmer · February 08, 2012, 08:45:12 AM

Yes, the site we are considering is on a slight hillside, and we would have a log deck uphill and sawdust removal downhill. I don't think the engine has a governor, though I'm not sure, it may. However it is set up, it didn't seem to be much of a problem for the people using it previously. They didn't demonstrate a log for us, but they did start it up and run it for us. The man who sold it to us said he would come help us set it up when we are ready and teach us about it.

KyTreeFarmer · February 08, 2012, 09:53:33 AM

Okra
Love seeing old circle mills rescued and put back to work. Keep us posted with more good pics! My Belsaw is powered by a Chevy 6 cyl. Needs a governor really bad. Hope your slant six has one.
KTF

eastberkshirecustoms · February 08, 2012, 12:04:17 PM

Hey KTF, does your Chevy 6 have the single barrel carb? If so, I might still have one of the old governors that were installed underneath it.

KyTreeFarmer · February 08, 2012, 07:41:42 PM

eastberkshirecustoms
Yes its single barrel, pm me if you find it. Thanks
KTF

bandmiller2 · February 08, 2012, 09:17:11 PM

Okra,I've never done it but heard an aftermarket cruse control unit will turn the trick for speed control.Outherwise you have to manually throttle the engine so you don't upset your hammered speed,and you have enough to contend with without playing governor. Keep us posted on your project. Frank C.

Okrafarmer · February 08, 2012, 10:51:41 PM

Will do. Now he's talking about selling it, though!

If he decides to, we'll put it on the for sale list and donate the percentage to FF. I hate to see it go, but it is a fact we don't have a very good place to set it up. Whenever I have a lot of logs to saw, I can usually get one of the professional mills nearby to do it for me cheaper than I could do it myself, either with this one if we set it up, or with the Turner Mill.

eastberkshirecustoms · February 08, 2012, 11:46:16 PM

Quote from: bandmiller2 on February 08, 2012, 09:17:11 PM
I've never done it but heard an aftermarket cruse control unit will turn the trick for speed control.

Hey Frank, I've used an electronic cruise control for a governor on a project with a motorcycle engine. Yeah they do work (and quite well), but it was kind of a pain to have to reset the governed speed every time it was shut down and restarted. There was just no memory. If it had a battery back up to maintain it, it would have been much more user friendly.

tyb525 · February 10, 2012, 03:32:07 PM

Like they say, location location location!

Where I live, currently on the family farm, It's a great location. Except getting to it from the main road means driving down a one-lane road, a sharp 90 deg turn (semi/log truck can't do it), then up a winding gravel lane. After that, it's all wide open.

That kind of ruins any dream of even semi-commercial milling :D Better stick with hobby milling, maybe I'll be able to afford some more suitable land later on. (and a bigger mill!)

Okrafarmer · February 11, 2012, 12:55:28 AM

I had these milled by one of the smaller production mills in our area. They can whack them out so much more efficiently and cheaper than I can. Only problem is I have to wait in line until they are ready to switch species... beggers can't be choosers. They milled this today for me, we sold about half of it and have the rest left to sell to whomever.

Okrafarmer · February 11, 2012, 12:56:20 AM

Oh and that would be eastern red cedar, in case you couldn't tell.

captain_crunch · February 11, 2012, 01:10:47 PM

Are there any old hay swathers around you? the green and orange Otatonas (cant remember how to say it let alone spell it) used a crysler slant 6 and they had a belt driven govoner on em