New Project Sawmill

As usual Alan, a masterpiece!  One of these days I am going to commission you to do something for me just so that I can have at least one building that looks like a professional built it...

Alan

Alan

I love seeing Sawmills on layouts and look forward to your completed build. During the 1940s when most of the community's young adult males were overseas fighting in WWII; I filled in one Summer "offbearing" slabs at the local sawmill for $.50 per hour. By the next year I had decided that was not a great career path.

When I dismantled a layout in '09 I found my "lost" Foxfire Frick Sawmill model and it motivated me to use a open corner access hole on my really small round-the-room layout for placing a small rural mill and lumber yard. The corner is a "reach" and is not ideal but land-poor modelers cannot be choosy. I velcroed components, including the rocky foothills, in place for removal and take out for work if necessary.

The site is still very raw and aside from building a Lumber Shed last year work has suffered. Recently picked up a Lumber/Hardware Store building for the scene and hope to resume work soon.

Very nice.  I had a friend in Pittsburgh years ago who had a big sawmill/lumberyard on on his layout.  He would leave a small dish of "fresh sawdust" on a shelf under the layout right near its location.  The smell made the whole model seem magically real.

Alan,

Thank you.

Dewey,

Your sawmill is looking good. Having first-hand experience will make your model come out great.

Lee,

I will send some sawdust with the model when I ship it. LOL

I will hve some more pictures to update in the next couple of days.

Alan Graziano

Hi Alan,

The master is at it again, it looks fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything you put your hands on is turned in a master piece

Alex

For those with poor access to real sawdust, Grab a bottle of JT's Megasteam Lumber Mill scent. It's a sawdust smell, I have a bottle for my layout.

My table saw has a bag on it to catch most of the sawdust. But the dry yellow pine I made my sawdust pile out of has more of a glue smell than pine. Got to go out to the Farm and cut some pine limbs, hopefully that still have some hardened, dry sap on them.

Or, one can just pour a little pine turpentine on their sawdust pile.

Here are a couple of more progress pictures. I am completing the boiler house. The next building I construct will house the saws and possibly an autoclave.

Alan Graziano

Here are some pictures of the final building of the complex. The raised foundation is where the saws will be located. The autoclave will be on the other side of the track leading into the building.

Alan Graziano

Alan this project is looking very nice!

Can't wait til the entire project completed! Great Job!

This is a very nice setup that you are building.

I really like your boiler house and storage tanks.

Completed the last building. I have to add saws and tables onto the concrete pad.

Alan Graziano

Alan VERY NICE!

The windows look like the windows in a 304 Korber house.   Check the Korber site.

Detail parts.

Window small

Window large

Dave/ Mike,

The windows are from Grandt Line. They are called engine house windows. they are bigger than the windows Grandt Line supplies for the Korber Powerhouse. Sometimes I made a powerhouse for Popsr for his mining company and I took four smaller windows and put them together to make one large one. Iy came out real nice.

Alan Graziano

Alan below are pictures of the small power house for the coal mibe that you used the 4 smaller windows to make a larger window. It looks GREAT!

Bill,

Thanks for posting that picture. That is exactly what I was talking about.

Alan

Alan you are welcome. That is really a neat building you kit bashed . I would hope Rich would do something similar as he restarts the Korber line. Great Job on it Alan. Bill

Dave,

You got it. I think they are the only windows they have that go with the round top.

Alan Graziano

Nice work guys!  I really like the model.

The windows on the Korber Kits are actually our own injection molded parts, and on the Roundhouse we added new laser cut windows to replace the vacuum formed windows.

The windows are available separatly for use in scratch built structures

Rich,

I always thought the windows came from Grandt Line in the Korber kits because I was able to buy the exact windows from them. I wish your kits were made of styrene instead of urethane because they would be a kit bashers dream. I would use them just like I use the DPM modular sections.

Scale Rail,

Thank you. I will have to look up a slash burner and see if I can incorporate it into the model. I do not have much knowledge when it comes to lumber.

Alan Graziano

Great job Alan!

Cesar

Dave Alan, Let me see if I can answer.

The roundhouse windows are a bit larger - (I will get the actual dimensions but I am away from that computer for a few days) - because they are an overlap design such that they are a bit larger than the window opening and attached to the inside wall flush to the windows opening rather than inside with window opening.  This approach allows for variability in the window opening and makes for a faster install.

I believe the windows atone time did come from Grandtline, they moved to  urethane at one point, and for a number of years have been a vacuum formed window that frankly didn't fit real well.

We have three injection molded windows, a 4 by 4 window, and two different industrial windows.

In addition to these injection molded windows there are a few other injection molded detail parts, a small smokestack, and some freight doors. There are also some roof top water tanks.

While many of the kits are urethane  the switch tower is injection molded styrene, as is a set of modular parts.  These modular items are not in production at this point, but we plan to bring them back next year, plus some more designed kits.

In the last year we also added some laser cut items including a wood roof top water tank.

In general we have had a number of people use the kits for kit bashing, they do make great unique models.

CESAR

I hope you will post more of your lazer cut work. Have you made some new items for your very nice layout?

Cesar,

Thank you.

Rich,

I have always used your product and have enjoyed working with it. I do not know what costs come in to play when going from urethane to styrene. 

Keep up the good work and I will use you as a source for the windows and maybe some of the modular parts.

alan,  are you going to have a working saw blade and people pushing the logs through?  I wondered about that.  the building is great!  if I only had the time!

Big things with Rough cut lumber mills, at least in western PA, that was a lot of hard wood was the following. Keep in mind that electric was readily available, no need for other power sources.  Basic shelter building only needed to be rain/snow proof.  

(1.)  Usually a large saw dust pile.

(2.)  A slab pile off the basic cut-offs of a log, to square it.

(3.)  On ocassion you would see a saw dust bin, Farmers would use the saw dust as a bedding for dairy cows.

(4.) A small chunk pile of end cut-offs.  Once the basic lumber was cut to width and thickness, the ends were squared and cut close to the 2ft increment lenghts desired.  These piles were popular to those who burn wood for home heating.

(5.) Lumber drying piles. Usually relative large stack of lumber that were spaced with scrap lumber to allow for aged air drying.  Probably the cheapest way to bring green lumber to a standard dried product.

A lot of rough cut saw mills would bring the product to this level.  

 Further machine/milling usually involved inside building areas a lot like what Alan is modeling. The cure/dried product would be plained and edged. If a particular molding was desired, such as a OG base, Window trim, window stool, or even a Tongue and Groove flooring, further milling would be done. A lot of Saw dust,  in this case much drier, a better product to use for cow bedding.  All the waste material could easily be used to fire a boiler, though by the mid 50's there wasn't a big need for on site steam power to run these mills.  Most waste was simply burned IMO.   More storage buildings at this point, for safe, dry indoor storage and sorting of finish product. 

Several years ago when I was finishing a kitchen for my parents, I travel to a unique Western PA mill that supplied beautiful red oak trim, the choice for the final trim out for the kitchen.   There was a pretty nice showroom on site.  I was surprise that Sasifras was a unique and sought after choice for floor.  Not much of a tree for those who have walked the wood lots of PA.  

AnyWho.  Just some worthless info to add to a very good thread. 

Best wishes on you project Alan. 

Mike  

Our North Corolina Mountain "portable" Sawmills are still pretty much as Mike CT describes although powered mostly by a diesel mounted on trailer chassis or a tractor PTO, mandrels and belt. The Mills in more permanent sheds at lumber yards of course generally have electric prime movers.

The basic mill handling/cutting components are not a lot different from my model of an old 1920s Frick Mill shown in the fuzzy photos below.

Alan is crafting a far more modern set up that no doubt will measure up to, or exceed, his typical industrial productions. 

Chris,

I am lucky if I can get a light to work let alone a saw . I am a static guy and I am happy that I can accomplish that. I need to bring in an expert to get to the next level. (lol)

Mike,

I  looked up the slash burner that Scale Rail mentioned and remembered that my customer said he wanted to have the dust collector piping come down to fill wagons for farm use, just as you mentioned. My customer has a farm. I would have liked to put the slash burner in. Maybe on the next model if anyone else ever asks. Thank you for all the detail info. 

Alan Graziano

Here is a couple of more pictures of the sawmill. I have completed the lights but have not completed the wiring. I have not glued the main building down yet to give me easier access to install the saw tables.

Alan Graziano

Alan....that is spectacular!!  You are the KING!!

Thanks,

Alan

Beautiful, Alan.

The convincing metallic finish on the tanks is superb.   Care to share your secret?

Alan the sawmill is looking GREAT!!

Alan/Bill,

Thank you for the compliments.

Pete,

There is not a lot to it. I used Rustoleum Painters Touch spray paint. I sprayed brown primer, orange and silver on top.

One thing is very important and that is how far away you are going to be from the model. Nothing has to be perfect if you are viewing from three feet or more away. I do not use an air brush because I do not like the clean-up compared to a spray can. I also have to sacrifice perfecion when weathering something with a spray can only.

For most of the things I do that has been okay by my customers.

Alan Graziano

The saw mill is complete. Now all it requires is some wood, sawdust , workers and rail cars.

Alan Graziano

VERY COOL!! I am partial to sawmills and logging. How about a small smoke unit underneath somewhere that would provide a wisp of smoke here and there out the powerhouse stacks- maybe off the steam engine and crew whistle on the roof?. -good job!!