Core77

A look at wood, part 1: Saw mill madness

By Rain Noe - January 5, 2009

in Object Culture

At a park just a few blocks from Core's NYC offices, city workers have cut down a large tree and left it lying there in large chunks of trunk. As someone who has to save up to buy wood for DIY projects, it's killing me that I can't just rent a U-Haul, press some friends into service, and take the wood somewhere to get cut; I've no idea where the nearest saw mill is. If you've ever wondered how they turn trees into boards, check out this video of the Jackson Lumber Harvester 3 Saw Vertical Edger. Take a look at the size of the main blade, and check out the nifty side-saw action!

Here's an older saw mill, where the operator(s) have to ride on the sled, instead of being tucked away in a DJ-like booth.

Lastly, here's just about the greenest saw mill you'll ever see: A hydro-powered saw mill, one of only five left in Norway. First introduced around 1520 by German engineers, the saw uses a waterwheel to power both the blade and the log advancement.

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Chris Scheil

15 years ago

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Most urban trees are destined for the shredder rather than the sawmill, alas. The reason: usually a city tree large enough to harvest has about a hundred years worth of nails and other iron objects embedded in it. One decent sized nail can pretty much destroy a sawmill blade (and the ones used by modern mills can cost upwards of a 1000 dollars or more each). The relatively small quantity of urban wood (compared to that taken by forest logging), combined with the danger of embedded metal, and the extra cost of actually transporting the logs to mill (sawmills are a fairly low margin, high volume industry) make the idea a non-starter, unfortunately.
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lorbus

15 years ago

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Thanks for the awesome post.
I enjoyed every single second...

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