Neat. Also, so much time and energy lost with the blade having to reverse direction a couple of times a second. What a miracle band saw blades must've been.
Cool old machine..........lots of wasted energy they could use some decent size wood to fire it also.
Cool video. Its showing another step in the evolution of milling. I'd read that many times on the American frontier, it was done this way by hand but only one board at a time. One unlucky fellow would be in a large pit below with another on top of the log pulling a cross cut saw. Supposedly a team of mules or horses would move the log forward as needed. I can't imagine putting in a day like that.
Now I see........ they cut the wood and then throw it in the boiler so than can keep cutting. Cut 4 burn 3........net 1
I am one of the few left who can run that engine, I used to run, service, and maintain two steam engine air compressors in a paper mill. As well as the many many steam turbines that powered the mill. I am a licensed steam engineer in the state of Mass. Now I run only steam turbines to make electricity as there are no engines left to run, for all intents and purposes. It is fun and romantic in an old school way. We have two boilers 8 storys tall that make 1/3 of a million pounds of steam an hour at 600 psi and 750 deg steam temp, and produce enough power for 50,000 homes at the plant I work at now.
Well, in my case back then, it was 24 gallons of # 6 oil a minute. A very heavy oil that had to be heated to 185 deg to burn.
