Thursday, December 15, 2022

Big Logs. They'll like that at the mill.

 


12 comments:

  1. Very few mills left anymore that can handle logs that size.

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  2. I wonder if there are any mills left that can take that size log?

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  3. Well, the toothpick factory will be able to run another 20 years with that delivery.

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  4. When I was a kid (in 1974) I worked at a mill that had an 8' double cut band mill and even then we'd get logs that would have to be ripped. They'd get partially ripped and then the 988B loader would 'stick a fork in them' to break them in two. The Bohemia mill in Grass Valley would get a couple every week and the loaderman would make extra money by ripping them with a Stihl 090 chainsaw on Saturday. Which was good, as he had a lot of kids with mouths to feed.

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    1. I forgot to mention both those mills have been closed for around 25 years.
      And should also mention that I believe both SPI Lincoln and Quincy (CA) have large log mills. And they may be getting some big salvage logs these days that couldn't have been cut before they burned.

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  5. When men were men and hard work was honered.

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  6. The sawyer takes a look, ponders whether these should be flitch cut or quarter sawn. Massive logs, a lot of lumber.

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    1. I would guess that each of those logs on the first car has between seven and eight thousand board feet in them.

      I believe they're all Doug Fir, which translates into dimension lumber on the outside and primo timbers on the inside.

      It was amazing in the old days. Depending on species, they would take virgin timer like that and cut 'bolts' out of it, short rounds that would then be used to split roof shingles out of. What a waste. But they just didn't know any better. Nowadays, absolutely nothing is wasted.

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  7. In the late 70's I had a summer job at the Weyerhauser site in Longview Washington. It was amazing to realize that their largest saw was no longer able to handle the biggest logs that came in. As the average tree was smaller and smaller over the years, the mills abandoned their sawmills able to handle the really big logs.

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  8. I lived in a house that had wide quarter sawn Doug Fir for flooring. The boards were seventy years old by then and only needed a light screening.

    In my home remodeling businees, I came across many homes with quarter sawn D. Fir of 3" to 8" width and laid on a diagonal. These were meant as underlayment for the floor. Several owners decided to leave them uncovered so to become the floor. A light screening and oiling was all that was needed to make them very attractive.

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  9. My family ran mills in Clatskanie and Garberville. I pulled big dimension green chain out of Post Falls. My stepmother lost her first husband in a log pond when the floating timber closed over him. She became the longest lived woman on a widow's pension in the state. I wound up topping trees and left the woods to do danger trees in town. Live and plan to die in Cathlamet, 20 miles up from Longview. Nothing but timber from here to the coast on either side of the Columbia.

    My grandmother's husband was a Mick from over the Oregon side in Jewell.He got caught up by Uncle Sam to
    log and mill in France in the fight with the Kaiser. Lots duck of boards and temporary quarters to be built. Was on the troop ship Tuscania when it was torpedoed in the Irish Sea. Bunch of Oregon boys never made landfall or were buried in the old sod. He never made shore

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