Turbo Saw Mill - Making an oak gate post

A couple of days ago I joined my friend Rich to help out with his new Turbo Saw Mill, and make a video of it in operation. It's a serious piece of kit to be working with!

Here's the video, showing several of the stages in the production of a gate post measuring 8'x8"x8" from an oak log:

As you can see from this picture, it can actually handle much longer pieces of wood than this though - the back end is behind where Rod is stood in the picture below:

The saw is mounted on a carriage which rolls along this aluminium beam:

There's an electric version, but Rich has one powered by a chainsaw engine, so it can be used in the woods. It's a Husqvarna 3120xp, with this small modification to the throttle so it can be operated remotely:

Rather than driving a chain, the saw engine drives a belt, a bit like a car fanbelt:

In turn this drives the circular saw mounted at the other end of the axle:

The saw Rich has is about 20" across, allowing it to make cuts up to 8" deep. The teeth are tungsten carbide.

When in action, a water tank uses a gravity feed to cool the saw, which can run vertically or horizontally, with the weight of the saw blade and the chainsaw engine counter-balancing each other:

By being able to swing through 90 degrees (hence the other name, 'swing arm' saw mill), it means the mill can take chunks out of a log without having to cut all the way across:

This was only the second use of this saw mill - there should be lots more coming up, and I'll be posting some more videos...

Mike

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Steam powered saw mill at Bentley Wood Fair

Check out this steam traction engine powering a saw mill!

I saw it at the Bentley Wood Fair, which is always worth a visit. Didn't take any pictures this year, as I've been so many times now, but you can view some older ones here.

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Trying out the Logosol Big Mill / TimberJig chainsaw mill

Last weekend I was able to have a go with my friend Rich's Logosol Big Mill / TimberJig chainsaw mill:

The TimberJig can actually be used directly on a log, once you have a square corner to run it on, but we were using an aluminium bar that Logosol sell as part of the Big Mill Basic kit.

The basis of the TimberJig is an attachment for a chainsaw that lets it run along the aluminium bar or a square corner of wood:

Rich had built a log ladder, and on top of that had a couple of Logosol log-lock clamps. These can be set up with the jaws close together for a round log:

Or further apart if you're putting the flat face of a partly-milled log on them:

Once a log is lifted in..

... you just push the jaws firmly onto the log, and then lock the clamps in place.

The aluminium bar is fixed to a pair of adjustable brackets, which are used to change the height at which the chainsaw is cutting. They can be screwed to the end of the log itself if you're out in the woods, but Rich had mounted them onto the log ladder. He'd also added some spacers, made of sections of copper pipe:

These ensure the saw chain doesn't hit the log locks!

Rich thought I ought to have a 'trainee' badge as it was my fist go...

It's actually very easy to use, you just open the throttle and walk slowly along pushing the saw, making sure to keep it firmly placed on the aluminium bar.

Here's a couple of close-ups of the milling I took when Rich did some:

The only downside is that I gather you end up having to sharpen a lot of chains!

Mike

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Mobile sawmill in action

At the recent meeting of the Sussex and Surrey Coppice Group, we saw a demonstration of a mobile sawmill by William Wallace. You can read more about his business at wills-mill.co.uk

He uses a Wood-Mizer sawmill, towed by his Land Rover. The mill can lift logs up, move them around on the mill bed, and handle diameters up to 3 feet. Anyway, enough of the typing, the rest is pictures:
More pictures follow in the rest of the post...
Mike

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Sawmill in action

Tim kindly send us some pictures of when the sawmill was in action:
The timber has gone to a barn restoration project.

Mike

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