Meadows at the Shootout?

[Corley5]

Here's the mill I'd like to see compete at the Sawmill Shootout. http://www.meadowsmills.com/mobile.htm  It'd be intersting to see what happened.  A Meadows Mobile with say a 100hp Cummins for power or a farm tractor in that hp range running the mill at 540rpm off the pto. 8) 8) 8)  Band mills lookout ;D

[Corley5]

This one would even be better http://www.meadowsmills.com/wheelm.htm
 ;D 8) 8) 8) 8)

[sprucebunny]

Those look great! Now...if they were only about twenty grand less... 8)

[Arthur]

$35 grand and still NO engine.  thats going to cut a lot of wood :D

would like to see it on the side of a mountain cutting a 1.5m diameter log 8)

[Buzz-sawyer]

I would like to see a swinger, in a flat spot cutting one foot a second

[UNCLEBUCK]

Thats a nice sawmill but I think I would be very happy with  a Corley sawmill . I heard that Corley was like the cadillac of sawmills at one time .  

[HORSELOGGER]

Heck, I'd just like to see a flat spot to set up on :D

[Corley5]

http://www.corleymfg.com/  Gonna be interesting to see what their new site has on it.  Corley's still in business but the last that I knew they weren't making smaller mills anymore.  The Meadows mills are pretty nice : 8) ;D  I talked to a JD power unit rep at the GL Logging Congress last year and an 85hp unit with a Rockford clutch out the door was $7,700.00.  For less than $45,000.00 you can be sawing ;) :  A top end Woodmizer with all the bells and whistles doesn't miss that mark by much.

[gmmills]

Corley5,

   Here in the flat lands of NE Ohio there are a number of the portable Meadows mills around. These mills are set up right in the woods and lumber is cut on site. The logs were skidded to the mill with a team of horses. The finished lumber was hauled out to a landing with a crawler loader with forks on front and winch on the back. I know these mills very well. I skidded lumber for a living for 15yrs. They can be pulled on the highway with a 3/4 ton puckup. Once at the site hooked them up to the crawler and pulled them into the woods via a precut haul road.
    The mills are very durable. Have pulled them through many deep mud holes and they still make good lumber.  ;D
      You think a 100 HP Cummins wood be nice. How about a 6-71 Detroit with 6ft straight pipe. 238 Hp of fuel guzzling  screaming beast. That's the power unit of choice around here.

[D._Frederick]

Corley,

My 2 cents worth, having sawed with a  circle mill and a band mill, I feel that it is too dangerous for one person to saw with a circle mill. With out an off-bear, there is a lot of danger a saw can catch things and throw it back at the sawyer plus the danger of walking by the saw to off bear by the sawyer. To have any output with a manual circle mill, generally requires 3 people. With my manual (sit on the ground band mill), I could saw a 100bdft per hour of dimensional lumber with minimum danger.

There is no question that a manual circle mill with a 6-71 for power will saw a log about 10 times faster than any narrow bandmill.

[UNCLEBUCK]

Those are definately nice sawmills , I like the cab on the second one. I thought alot about switching to hydraulic everything and connecting my old 671 to the old family sawmill but I figured just keep it basic and fun . It is tempting to make the switch to automation . I have found that being portable would really increase business ten-fold . My old family mill does have a axle on it but I had all I could do just to roll it into the sawshed. If I lived over in beautiful Michigan I would buy a mill that has all the automation allready on it . To retro-fit my old mill would be a task . I find that a boardman is hard to come by and I like to saw alone but it does take alot longer . But I do have a combine cab that would make a cool sawyers cab and a imagination thats been running on full throttle since I joined the forestry forum !   :P

[Corley5]

I've sawed alone with my Corley and I don't feel that it's that much more dangerous than having a person tailing but it is a LOT more work.  A Meadows with 6-71 at the Shootout would due just fine ;) ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8).  Wonder how a diesel powered bandmill would stack up against it ??? ;) ;D    

[Buzz-sawyer]

I saw alone with my manual mill ALL the time Its no more danderous than sawing with 2 others....the only danger is to my HUMP...cause I fracture it hustling back and forth..........
One trick I use alone is to leave a cut board attached by a tiny corner to the cant. so I can return it to me and essentially FLY through a LOT of lumber before needing to stop. ;)

[HORSELOGGER]

There is an old boy set up in the timber about 3 miles from me with a mid 70s Jackson lumber harvester. He has a  3 strand live deck, off bearer belt that feeds to a small spiral roll case joined up to the off bearer belt. The cut lumber falls on the belt goes down to the spiral and drops to a pilling rack. After he saws a few logs, he stacks the pile of boards. He saws 99 percent of the time alone, and it is amazing how fast he can wizz through a log. The mill is running a two blade vertical edger, so all the lumber in the drop rack is edged. He sits behind a plexiglass shield right in front of the blade, and pulls levers to control every function of the set up. I cant imagine a safer set up to saw from. He is 65 years old and has more ambition than most teenagers. The guy he is sawing for is 85 years old and they are sawing some walnut now that was planted by him when he was a boy. I should go get a picture of these two, as it is pretty neat to see them still at it

[Corley5]

I'd love to see pics of that operation 8) 8)

[SwampDonkey]

Corley,

I like that meadows mill with the, 'air conditioned cab' ??? Ya need a hydrolic clam of some kind to load'er up and never leave the seat till suppa time. :D Maybe have the loader truck sit'n side by side with your buddy controlling it. Look at the sawdust fly now.


cheers

[D._Frederick]

Just got my issue of SAWMILL & WOODLOT, one of the writers was telling about safety, said that his father was killed when he was 5 years old by the saw catching a slap and throwing it back on a circle mill. The manual mills build with belt carriage feed had the sawyer standing within arms reach of the log being sawn. Anything the saw caught would be thrown up and over the blade and back toward the sawyer. I would not saw with this style of mill myself without an off-bearer to direct the slap onto the roll gage.

[UNCLEBUCK]

I am going to try Buzz"s trick once and see if it works for me .I also have been thinking about unhooking my hydraulic carriage and hooking back up the flat belts for the carriage travel that way I can just pull the big lever and when the blade r.p.m. drops the carriage speed will coincide with it .With a hydraulic carriage I have to listen too much to the tractor and slow down accordingly ,I feel like I am fishing around too much trying to keep the feed to match the tractor. I found rockford clutches all over ebay for my old motor . My sister takes the tractor too often from the mill and it would be very nice to just hit the switch to a stationary powerplant and also give me alot more room where I roll the logs in. What is this "shootout" ? It must be where everyone competes in the fastest sawing. That would be fun to watch .

[D._Frederick]

Uncle-,

The method of not sawing a flitch all the way off and bring it back to the log deck works quite well if you are edging on the mill. If you have logs medium size and larger where you get a half dozen flitch per log, it sure cuts down on the handling. The only problem is you either have to run the carriage thru the saw again to clean the log face up or use and axe. The fir that we sawed alway left kurf size thick chunk on the end of the log.

[D._Frederick]

Uncle,

Put a tachcometer (sp) on your mill to tell if your RPM is dropping to much instead of tying to hear the engine.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Uncle, I have a hydraulic carriage on my mill, I also have a small cylinder(12 inch throw 2 inches wide) attached to my control circuit so that when I reverse the carriage it pulls a cable that returns the diesel engine to an idle then when I am ready to cut again, and push the lever forward the cylinder pulls the throttle automatically , putting me at cutting speed....works sweet

[Greenskeeper]

Now your talking real milling,circle mills.Run it with steam,the older the better. If you can't make any money at this,at least have some fun.

[UNCLEBUCK]

Thanks D. and Buzz, I always get a sawing lesson from you guys . Sooner or later I will get it figured out good . I definately learned something again . I hope Corley maybe show more pics of his big mill too like close ups of the powerplant ,hint hint !  ;)

[mitch]

Sawing alone and offbearing safety:
Is a board splitter safer than a spreader wheel????? My old Vance mill has about a 10" diameter spreader wheel which seems awful small. All new mills have a tall board splitter just behind the saw. Does this keep a board from leaning over and rubbing  against the saw?

I don't like to self offbear... a neighbor had a slab thrown into his chest... took him a month to die!
Meadows Mills has a 100 year history of building fine sawmills and grist mills. They are very popular in this area (Piedmont) of North Carolina.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Het Mitch ..good to hear from ya!
It sounds like your neighbor was in front of the blade (sawyers position) in order to get hit with slab??
I dont like to off bear either............Its hard work!!
It is a good idea to have someone around just as a precaution........I ofen dont have that luxury...