Board by sawmills? I'm sure knot!

[Last Chance]

 Whew, I thought for a time some of us were barking up the wrong tree talking about the way things cut in those days. Ahem, I just had to put my own notch on the long pile so others can buck it. (Trim it of limbs and such)

And here I sit chained to the computer entranced by the whine of the saw making short work of very large timber.

[leighant]

 Quote "I think the finer details would be scarce in N scale."

Republic Locomotive Works specializes in N scale logging, INCLUDING the finer details.  Want to buy an N scale buzzsaw blade.  I you are an N scale person, you could go to my Hervil Saw and Hardware Store in the fictitious town of Johnston, Texas (except that I have dismantled my East Texas layout.)

Seriously, I bought a little etched-metal strut of logging parts from Republic even though most of the hand-operated saw did not really fit my 1957 era.  Decided I could use them as relics on display outside the saw shop.  But you could use them to build a saw.

Someone mentioned in-plant electrical generating unit.  Here is one in a creosote treating plant in Conroe, Texas ca 1982.  Burned scrap and sawdust, made electricity and steam.  Plant now all gone bye-bye.

 

[selector]

Took me a while, but I finally twigged to the fact that you guys are sustaining a pun.

Hubris is strictly against forum policy.  Now, if each one of you backs off and leaves, you'll find you have been barking up the wrong post, and we can all get to the root of the matter.

[Beaver14]

I had to go a fir piece to get through all the posts on this, but responding to the OP, it might help to note that the prototype inspiration for the Walthers Mountain Pine Lumber Mill remains in operation today. I had the good fortune to get a tour through the Hull-Oakes mill in Alpine, Oregon, this past month. Though using "ancient" machinery (very much steam powered yet), Hull-Oakes satisfies an important niche in the timber products industry, capable of sawing long and large logs. There is a video on their "Steam Powered Sawmill", produced in the 1990's that shows the operation. From direct observation and discussion during our tour, the following items would be evident in the 1950's: 1. The basic Walthers mill kit including rough cut mill house (the large wood structure), the open air milling and sorting shed, the boiler house, and the tepee burner. 2. The fuel used for the boilers was scrap from the sawing and milling process, all turned to sawdust. The wood chipper from the Walthers outbuildings set probably is appropriate. 3. The tepee burner was used for bark (not an efficient fuel). Bark dust was not yet a commercial product in the 50's. Tepee burners were banned in Oregon in the 1960's, though they lingered elsewhere well after this. The unused burners still stand, rusting away. 4. Wood chips were only just becoming a commercial product in the mid-50's. As best I can reconstruct, one of the first big paper mills that received wood chips in high side gons (chip racks on GS gons) went into service in 1955-56 (Willamette Industries Kraft paper mill just north of Albany, Oregon). This mill appears to have been the inspiration for SP's initial chip rack installations, quickly followed by others. Should you chose to model the later 1950's, the chip loader was provided as part of the Walthers auxilliary structures and is now available separately, at least in HO (not sure about N). The chip car loader was the simple affair that basically had an overhead tube that dumped chips into the gondola. 5. The rest of the Walthers auxiliary structures (the de-barker and the truck chip bin and loader) were much later installations, ca. 1970's. 6. A log pond feeding the green chain (logs dragged up to the saw carriage) would be most appropriate. Hull-Oakes still uses a pond for ease of moving the logs. Most of the rest of the industry has moved on to cold decks (large log piles) and huge front end loaders to place the logs onto the green chain. Other mill kits appropriate to the 50's are available such as Sidetrack Laser's kits in HO and O. Bear in mind that a mill with rail service needs some substance--not the "backwoods" types that used to proliferate in the hobby in the 60's. I hope this helps! Beaver Bill

[West Coast S]

I'm not sure there was a specific style of 40-50's sawmill,  corrugated metal was a popular material here in California, construction material choice would be regional. It was not uncommon for medium to large operators to generate electricty and steam for in house use, include some type of power plant, it would require deliveries of coal or oil, means could be by rail or truck, some mills used scap lumber to power their plants and I know of one the shipped in boxcars of crushed walnut shell for fuel. Fire prevention was not ignored, a garage for a fire vehicle and hose/sand storage would not be unusual. Since the Presto Log has been around since the thrities, reuse that sawdust and generate some outbound carloads, wood shavings were once common as a packing material (remember when California fruit came indvidually wrapped in wax paper? Packers used wood chips in the crates to keep bruising to the minium) , yet another source of outbound loads.    

I have an unusual lumber mill operation, it exist only to to supply shook and wood shavings, shook was a cheap grade of lumber that comprised packing crates used by the citrus packing industry, thus finished lumber is an inbound load in my scenerio, my mill building is quite large at 3 X 5 feet with two outbound tracks and one receiving track that penetrates the plant structure.    

Dave

 

 

 

[pcarrell]

You people are just acting knotty!  Why don't you all trim back the broken branches of this conversation, quit rustling in the wind, and get to the root of the mans question before this thing erodes completely away?  Geez, this whole thread is headed for the burn pile!  A regular compost pile, it is! 

[SaltRiverRy]

Can't you people leaf well enough alone. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we have now gotten the root of the statement and I wood not encourage anyone to branch out on the topic. Let's knot belabor this issue.

[chpthrls]

The pun is inedible...er, inevitable!         Gerry S.

[dknelson]

richhotrain

dknelson

Some of us pine for the days when there were fewer bad puns on this Forum

Dave Nelson

Dave,

Shame on you for labeling it a bad pun. You had to log on to tell him that?  He was merely branching out to add some levity to the forum. I am stumped as to why you wood do that.  Do you have a chip on your shoulder?  Leaf him alone.  Quit cutting down a fellow forumite. I hope the forum administrator axes this thread.

Rich

Beech Beech Beech.

Dave N.

 

[tbdanny]

Wood you please stop with the puns?  Some of these oaks are terrible!  We come to the forums forrest and relaxation, not to be felled by humour such as this.  I suggest you ply your jokes where others won't be lumbered by them.

And I should practice what I preach...

[dngrous]

 

[richhotrain]

dknelson

Some of us pine for the days when there were fewer bad puns on this Forum

Dave Nelson

Dave,

Shame on you for labeling it a bad pun. You had to log on to tell him that?  He was merely branching out to add some levity to the forum. I am stumped as to why you wood do that.  Do you have a chip on your shoulder?  Leaf him alone.  Quit cutting down a fellow forumite. I hope the forum administrator axes this thread.

Rich

[Pathfinder]

To the OP, look at this site, it is a restored 30's sawmill:  http://www.alberniheritage.com/mclean-mill/welcome-mclean-steam-sawmill

 

dknelson

....

For a modern sawmill operation you may want to keep this in mind -- there is now a thriving market for sawdust on the part of outfits that make pellets for wood fireplaces.  Some of these pellet making operations are themselves quite large.  The building shown on this website looks big enough for rail service to me: http://www.dansons.com/what-are-wood-pellets.htm

Dave Nelson

 

Most (but not all) pellet plants here in BC have rail access.  Some are on-site with the sawmill but lots are free standing, with the sawdust being trucked in.

 

[dknelson]

Some of us pine for the days when there were fewer bad puns on this Forum ....  Woodland Scenics makes a really neat white metal kit for a rural sawmill -- but it is HO (maybe it could stand in for really large N scale equipment in the interior of your sawmill?  Something to consider)

JV models makes a really neat sawmill in N.  The Walthers online catalog has a nice photo and this description: "Based on the historic Haliburton Sawmills. Comes with the mill building, log deck, machine shop, racks, benches, lumber and more."

For a modern sawmill operation you may want to keep this in mind -- there is now a thriving market for sawdust on the part of outfits that make pellets for wood fireplaces.  Some of these pellet making operations are themselves quite large.  The building shown on this website looks big enough for rail service to me: http://www.dansons.com/what-are-wood-pellets.htm

Dave Nelson

[BerkshireSteam]

I have to have a saw mill! It's that simple. The PBS/Create channel airs a nice show called the Woodwrights Shop, and the latest episode aired the host goes to a real working old time saw mill. It was built to populer 40's-50's style, uses machinery built in the 20's and 30's, and is still steam powered! They had a train sized horizontal boiler and a smaller sized verticle boiler for power the sawing, planning, and propfiling equipment, and another smaller boiler hooked up to a field generator ordeal for electric power. Needless to say now I want to model a saw mill! The episode is about to encore in 10 minutes by the by. So my question is what details and such can I use? I would use the Walthers N mountain lumber company so I think the finer details would be scarce in N scale. What other buildings could I add? It might just end up as a very small thing, more like an oversized diorama that I could set on the dinning table, set the train and cars needed on the tracks, plug in the power pack and have fun. So, how could I detail such a structure for a 50's operating scheme? How about for a more modern operating theme?