Can you put up a picture of your sawmill? My grandfather had a mill with a huge circular saw run by a steam engine fueled by bark and scraps. As kids we had tremendous fun diving out onto the sawdust pile. Those things look tricky to operate though. I guess modern ones are better.
If you like, give a little discussion of how the pole is advanced into and through the blade, and how it is controlled.
Ha
Here's a link to a video of the sawmill that I have, you'll probably be disappointed as this is a small bandsaw mill rather than the big, circular blade mills you're talking about! They still make a lot of sawdust though but less with a bandmill because of the thinner blade.
Wood-Mizer Portable Sawmills - LT15 Manual In Action
What the video doesn't show is the work involved with moving logs between cuts- I have tractor to get the log on the bed of the mill, then it's force and leverage to roll the log as you make each cut. Then there's the work involved with stacking and sorting the green, fresh sawn lumber so it can dry before use- usually takes about a year to dry enough to use for furniture and needs to be kept dry with good air circulation. Amazing how heavy a piece of freshly cut oak can be when it's full of water.
If you didn't watch the video, basic idea is that the log is loaded on to the bed of the mill and then the bandsaw & blade itself is mounted on a moving head. The head can be shifted up and down and is positioned where you want the cut, then using a rope/cranking system, the head is moved through the log to make the cut, reposition the log or the mill head, and go again.
I have various stacks around at given points in the drying cycle. I also built a small solar kiln a few years back that I can dry a load of lumber in about 30 days when it's hot- this works well and the temperature gets nearly to 140 degrees in that kiln, has a couple of solar powered attic fans mounted inside to circulate air through the log stack.
Here's a shot of my mill:
Here's a log after 3 cuts where I'm ready to start cutting off usable lumber. The slabs and scrap I cut are perfect for firewood, I leave it near the mill and my neighbors come and take it home- I don't have a wood burning fireplace but use some in an outdoor firepit. Nice thing about the slabs is they don't have to be split, just cut to length.
Here's a shot of the solar kiln, nothing fancy, just an insulated box with plastic panels on top facing south but it works! It's on large timbers so I can move it with the tractor to get the best sun position, I do get some interesting questions from people passing by as to what this black box is for! Wood is stacked on a pallet and loaded from the rear with a tractor.
Finally, just to show that I don't just saw logs, but use them, here is a picture of a barn we built for equipment at the framing stage, all the wood used was cut from trees either from my yard or from neighbors- there were still quite a few usable trees laying in large piles near by from when houses were built over the last 5 years- logs that were cleared for the houses and their septic fields so this was a great source of free logs! We ended up buying some green poplar for the siding but otherwise, all oak beams in the barn, some beautiful wood that I hated to used for framing but I have more.
Last picture is a wine cabinet that I made for our dining room with some wood from the yard, it was a lot of fun to make and functional.
Thanks for looking if you got this far! If any woodworker in Northern Virginia needs some oak, let me know.
![:-\](https://www.early-retirement.org/sk/forums/images/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
