Portable Saw Mill

[Philip]

  Buzzzzzzzz

Nice work Larry!

[Larry C]

Jerry and Philip thank you both so much; I can almost see the finish line.

[friscomike]

Howdy Larry,

The scene looks fantastic.  The sawdust adds character to the diorama. Nice work overall.

Have fun,
mike

[Rick]

Larry, looks like there's plenty of logs to keep the mill busy.
Good looking scene.

[Larry C]

Mike and Rick thank you guys.

[Larry C]

With the exception of adding a few LP's to the scene I'm calling this one finished. Here's some photos of all the details starting at the front left and going around the diorama; enjoy:









Most of the details are from my parts bin and the drag saw as well as the rusted tub arrived today from Sierra West (third photo). The last photo is an overall view of the front.

[Larry C]

Continuing on:

[Larry C]

Lastly the back of the diorama:



There you have it, a Portable Saw Mill diorama. Thanks to all of you who have been following along on this adventure and for all your great comments and suggestions. Next up? Not sure yet but I'm sure something will pop up.

[Bernd]

Nice diorama. Love all the detail.

I have to question the safety of that saw. Is there a prototype of this type of saw?

Bernd

[Larry C]

Bernd thank you. Actually this is the type of saw used in backwoods mills from what I've read; thankfully this was before OSHA's time.
Also take a look at my explanation in post #89 concerning a similar saw configuration.

[friscomike]

Howdy Larry,

The sawmill looks amazing.  I can almost smell the tannin from the wood.  Nice work with the details, fit and finish.  You might want to include an LP with a hand or arm cut off to support the saw type. 

Have fun,
mike

[Larry C]

Mike thank you so much. The details help to tell a story; I'll have to give the LP a think.

[Rick]

Larry, congratulations on finishing.
All those details look great and it sure is a busy mill (in a good way).
I have no idea how a mill like thinks looks in real life, but I'm curious of one thing.
What are the rollers on the back end of the saw.
I would think they'd be on the front to make it easier to push past the blade.

[Jerry]

Larry nice detailing!!
But like the other guys I wonder about the safety with that blade.

Jerry

[Larry C]

Rick thank you. The "dead rollers" were behind the saw to so as the logs were cut they would simply travel down the rollers and roll off and onto the ground; probably to make the saw a one man operation while others cut up the longer logs.

Jerry thanks; much appreciated.

One of the guys asked previously if this saw was prototypical. This morning, the 12th, something occurred to me that I haven't thought about in years. My Grandpa had a saw setup similar to the one I built; he called it a "buzz saw". Now I was only 8 or 9 at the time but that blade looked huge; probably 3 ft. across or better. The pulley on the side had a wide thick leather belt that went to an old Oliver farm tractor and was attached to an accessory pulley. The tractor would be pulled ahead slightly to place tension on the belt then the brake would be set and a lever pulled to make the pulley operate. He had a winch, what he called a 'come-along' attached to the rafters in the shed to hoist the cutup logs up onto the saw. He would then feed the logs into the saw and 'block' the logs into chunks then after the first hard frost he would split the chunks and stack the wood in the woodshed behind the kitchen. So yes the saw I made doesn't get any more prototypical than that. He would however keep the blade sharp and let the saw do the work to avoid any 'kick-backs'; I never recall him ever having an accident with his setup.