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SUMMER
Newsletter #58 www.sawyersandfilers.org
President’s Message
NOTES ON THE ANNUAL MEETING
If you plan on attending the annual meeting
In September in Niagara Falls, keep in mind that our "hold" on rooms is only good through August 14, so be sure to register before then.
The Sheraton Four Points is giving us a really great rate-- about half their normal peak season rate--so don't delay, register today. Room rate is $74 (US) for single or double occupancy. Please note: We are at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel on Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, NY. There are several others with the same name, so be sure you have the right one.
The number for the Sheraton is:
716-285-2521, and be sure to mention that you are with LEOSFA. Their Web address is http://www.fourpoints.com
SOME HELPFUL INFORMATION
AIRPORT:
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS:
From North/Canada:
In Canada, follow Queen Elizabeth Way to highway 420 into Niagara Falls Ontario. Cross the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, New York. Turn right onto Rainbow Boulevard. The hotel is 1/2 mile on right.From South: From I-90, take 1-290 West to I-190 North. Take exit 21, (Robert Moses Parkway) then exit at City Traffic. Turn left at the first light (Buffalo Avenue). The hotel is 1/2 mile on right.
From East: From I-90 West, take I-290 West to I-190 North. Take exit 21(Robert Moses Parkway). Take the City Traffic exit. Turn left at the first light (Buffalo Avenue) and the hotel is 1/2 mile on right.
From West: From I-90 take I-190 North to Exit 21 (Robert Moses Parkway). Take the City Traffic exit and turn left at first light (Buffalo Avenue). The hotel is 1/2 mile on right.
Addendum to the speaker roster:
John Cutola, President of Hydraulic & Motor Controls will speak about sawmill setworks hydraulic Servo actuators, digital Temposonics transducers, Servo valves, controls, and applications. He is scheduled for 11:15 on September 14th,-Ken Kasprzyk
High Price Log Utilization Workshop
The weekend of June 9th we gathered for a High Price Log Utilization workshop hosted by Emporium Hardwoods.
Over thirty sawyers and mill owners
attended the workshop in Emporium, Pa.
Ken Kasprzyk from the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation and Bruce Moore from
Wagner Lumber directed the workshop.
Ken discussed procedures for developing log scales and determining the value of
high priced logs. Bruce explained how to
develop grade lumber from the high
priced logs. He also taught us how to
quarter-saw logs.
We scaled about a dozen logs as a group and then determined their value. We brought the logs into the mill and cut them into lumber. We then compared the value of the lumber to the value of the logs. The results were very informative.
As a group, we talked about which opening face to take at the Head saw. I was especially interested in this subject and want to learn more, particularly which face to take at the resaws. Perhaps this will lead to another workshop.
I believe the workshop was very instructive and I hope everyone involved benefited from it.
Thanks to Emporium Hardwoods for the use of their facilities, and special thanks to Ken and Bruce. Their excellent direction made it a success.
-Ben Stuart
SAWMILL GRAVY
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook sausage in a cast iron skillet. When done, remove sausage from pan and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Whisk flour into the fat and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in milk a little at a time. Return to medium-high heat and stir occasionally while the gravy comes to a simmer and thickens. (Be sure to scrape up any brown bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan, that's where the flavor is.) Check seasoning, add crumbled sausage and serve over toast or biscuits.
Yield: 2 1/2 cups gravy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
WOOD PRODUCTS TO BE LABELED FOR ARSENIC
On July 3rd2001, the EPA announced an expanded information program to warn consumers about the chromated copper arsenate (CCA) that goes into the making of pressure –treated lumber used for playgrounds, decks, railings, posts, fences, picnic tables, and docks. For more on this, check out:
www.epa.gov/pesticidesThe following is an excerpt from A Sawmiller’s Guide to Troubleshooting by Casey Creamer, published by The Northeastern Loggers’ Association, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Chapter 8
Saw Speeds
It's not difficult to be confused by the numbers stamped on used saws.
You would therefore be doing yourself a big favor by just forgetting what is stamped on the saw, because all that tells you is how the saw was ordered when it was new.
New saws can be ordered for the right speed or the wrong speed, so the stamped number tells you nothing about how fast it should run on your mill. Unfortunately, some salespeople are not willing to risk losing a sale by informing the customer that he plans to run his new saw at the wrong speed. This is not to say that the saw running at the wrong speed won't work at all. It just won't perform as efficiently as a saw that is
put up for a proper speed. If you are going to saw hardwoods in the Northeast or Lake States region during the winter and summer, I would recommend a rim speed of8,000 to 9,000 surface feet per minute (SFPM). For softwoods I would plan on 9,000 to 10,000 SFPM. If you are going to saw a fair amount of both, you will want to find a happy medium like 9,000 SFPM. RPM is a measure of how many times the saw rotates 360 degrees in a minute (revolutions per minute). SFPM is how far the rim of your saw travels in a minute. Sawmillers tend to talk in RPM while saw doctors automatically convert RPM to SFPM in their heads. Some of us carry around a handy little pocket chart giving the conversions shown in Appendix E.
If you like doing things yourself, you can always use this simple formula:
Dia. x 3.14 x RPM
12 = SFPM
Saw doctors don't tension saws for RPM, we tension them for SFPM or rim speed. A good sawsmith also takes into account feed rates, density of species being sawn, ambient temperature, sharpness of saw and sawyer, and a whole long list of other variables that make each sawmill unique. It all sounds quite scientific, but knowing exactly how much tension or stretch to run in a given saw, unfortunately, sometimes more closely resembles a guessing game than the exact, scientific certainty most of us would like to see.
(To be continued)MEMBER’S EMAIL LIST
It was decided at the Director’s Meeting in June, that it would be handy to compile a list of LEOSFA member’s email addresses. This list would be only for LEOSFA communication purposes, and will not be sold or given out to anyone for advertising (Spam) purposes. At some point we may even be sending newsletters via email to those who request it.
If you want to be on the list, and you are a member in good standing, please send an email to
casey@sawyersandfilers.orgPlease put "LEOSFA LIST" in the subject line and just your name in the text area. I will automatically use the return address from the email that you send, unless you specify otherwise.
I am looking forward to more efficient communications.
-Casey Creamer
OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE
The Village's sawmill has been erected on the millpond site that David Wight (1761-1813) of Sturbridge prepared in the 1790s. His first mill burned in 1802 and was replaced with another; but, with the exception of the pond itself, all above-ground evidence of his operation had disappeared by the time the Village was being developed. The history of the site was documented in 1983 by museum archaeologists who thoroughly explored the temporarily drained millpond and its adjacent mill yard, learning about its evolution and unearthing artifacts relating to its use.
The Village's search for an early sawmill in working order was made difficult by the fact that the up-and-down saws commonly in use before 1840 had virtually all been replaced in the next decades by new, more efficient, circular saws. One of the longest surviving mills with an up-and-down saw mechanism was the Nichols-Colby Sawmill of Bow, New Hampshire. Still standing in 1937, it was drawn by the Historic American Building Survey just a year before it was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane. Based on this thorough documentation and the staff's extensive research into mill technology, the Village built a reconstructed working mill that produces sawn boards for use in the museum.
When the mill is operating, the gate valve in the dam is opened and water rushes through the wooded flume to power the turbine water wheels that drive the main sawframe, the carriage-return, and the woodworking machinery in the ell. Each time the sawframe is raised in its stroke, the log moves slightly forward with the carriage. The saw cuts only on the downstroke, assisted by gravity as the heavy frame drops. Its loud, thumping cadence can be heard all through the neighborhood.
Although the museum demonstrates sawmilling throughout the year, early 19th-century mills usually operated during late winter and early spring, when waterpower was most abundant and the demands of farming were less pressing. Sawmill account books suggest that, since transportation of logs and lumber was so difficult and costly, mills like this one concentrated almost entirely on custom production for local customers.
Excerpted from Old Sturbridge Village Visitor's Guide
Edited by Kent McCallum
© 1993,1996, Old Sturbridge Inc.
Used with permission
ANTIQUE TOOLS
A large number of web sites supply information on antique tool collecting, identification, and use. The following list is not intended to be all-inclusive, but simply to provide a starting point for your search.
ANTIQUE TOOL COLLECTING ORGANIZATIONS
Early American Industries Association (
http://www.eaiainfo.org)Mid-West Tool Collectors Association (
http://www.mwtca.org)INTERESTING SITES
The Electronic Neanderthal (
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html)Museum of Woodworking Tools (
http://www.antiquetools.com)Stanley Planes Reference / Patrick's Blood and Gore
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0.htmA Millers Falls Homepage http://www.public.coe.edu/~rroeder/mf.htm
Wooden Clamp Journal
http://members.aol.com/ClampGuy/wcj.htmSawsets and other Saw-related Tools
http://users.interconnect.net/nlindsey/Saw SetPage/SawSets.htmOldtools mailing list FAQ
http://www.mcs.net/~brendler/oldtools/OTFAQ.htmBeginning Tool Collecting
http://www.tooltimer.com/premier.htmDIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES June 19, 2001 9:30 am
Seneca Saw Works, Burdett NY
Attendees: Ken Kasprzyk, Bill Whyland, Casey Creamer, Rudy Zimmerman, Bruce Moore, Garth Nash, Tim Rauber, Pierre Cote, Ben Stewert.
- Reviewed High Priced Log Utilization Course
- Discussed problems with newsletter deadlines and material for newsletter
- Discussed Annual Meeting
- New Business
DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER
IS DECEMBER 1, 2001