Sawmill Ideas

Steve

The photo below shows the sawmill and lumber yard that I am working on to utilize a corner space. The sawmilll is a Frick Mill prototype model that I bought about 20 years ago from a custom maker in Delaware or Maryland--I forget. The Lumber Shed I built last Spring and a $35 Lumber Office is yet to be placed. Much to do yet to upgrade the scene including a variety of lumber, slabs,etc, and a bunch of folks at work.

The former Keystone Danby Sawmill, occasionally found on ebay, is attractive and not very large-sort of a two-man backwoods operation

Hey Dewey your mill is looking good, can't wait to see the finished product. That is the kind of mill I'm looking for.

Coloradohiraile; thanks for the references I'll be checking them out!

Rex desilets that's what I'm looking for a small backwoods type operation.  I don't do ebay much any more but I may have to take a look.

Any more pictures out there?

Uh-oh..it is the Keystone Danby sawmill I kitbashed and like, not Suncoast, and it does show up on eBay.  Keystone offered other kits pertinent to a sawmill operation, such as a loading area, and a logging camp. I will build the Suydam sawmill, too, as I figure a logging track into the woods should have at least two branches for even a small tie plant and mine timber operation.

I found the third one..it is a "John Rendall" JV Models box of scale lumber (period!)....

stick built with plans...no interior, either.  Get the Keystone Danby, as mine included interior sawmill machinery, although the JV is currently available.  The Danby will have to be tracked down.

A lot of different castings of steam boilers on skids or off, "tee-pee" sawdust

burners, and interior machinery, etc. are available from advertisers in the source I mentioned (which occasionally and past issues have had plans for sawmills).  Logging is of much interest to narrow gauge scale modelers, and a lot of stuff for it shows up in the "O scale, other" eBay category. 

BTS in W. Va. offers huge kits of all kinds of logging operations, but.....ain't cheap,

and do not have little footprints.  Oddly, I don't think there have been kits for any of the huge Cass, W.Va. logging operation (sadly, burned) where so many geared logging engines are operating tourist runs today.  Company town, company store, are there and worth a visit if handy to get to. (their wild red light district street across the tracks is gone, though, (vacant field now) and I have not seen good photos of it)

I just found this mill on ebay; its by Steam in the Bush.  Pictures look preaty good; has anyone seen one or know anything about it?

Yes..I've seen that on eBay or in NG&SLG.  It is an Australian prototype...and due to

apparently better weather...I added sliding doors to enclose my Danby as a

lot of U.S. mills operated in the cold and snow....is open.  (I have seen photos

of small mills operated in the southern U.S. with no roofs).  Building a roof over

it up on posts, or enclosing it, partially, or completely, should be no problem and

provide you with a rustic model of what I've read were small operations around this

country.  Some photos have shown  really jerry-rigged operations, powered off automotive engines or whatever.  (my grandfather cut stove wood with a 3 foot? saw blade driven off a  Ford Model T chassis drive shaft, probably as basic as you could get)

I recall several small mills in my area growing up; most had at least a shelter over the saw itself.  That would be an easy addition to this kit.  As a matter of fact there is a mill not far from me that has been kept up well.  I am trying to make arrangments to go there and take some pictures to use as a guide. Most small mills did not have the cone shaped sawdust burner (slash burners) but I do remember them from some larger mills in the area.  We still have a 3' cut off saw on the farm that our grandparents used to cut stove wood.  It was powered by an International Super A.

I have a boxed Keystone Danby sawmill kit that I'll never build. Let me know if you are interested.

Railroad-guy

I have sent you an email.

And so have I

I love my K-Line Sawmill....I ordered this just before they went out of biz.

Please forgive my camera work as this is just taken with my I-Phone

Hey Roger, that's just what I've got in mind.  Is the boiler shed part of the K-Line kit or did you add it?  It looks really good in the pictures and I like the way you used the saw dust for ground cover.  Thanks for posting!

ACL Fred,

The boiler shed part is part of the main shed that came with the accessory. I have always wondered how many of these sawmills were made by K-Line.

I have one, never used, if anyone is interested. Going cheap.

Vulcan, you have an e-mail.

Sounds good, but I have just struck a deal with Railroad-guy to buy his Danby kit.

For those that are interested this is a list of logging references that I got off of the Model Railroader forum I think.  Russ

Crane, overhead for handling logs, _Mod RRer_ Aug66 p.29

Fire hose shed for lumber mill, pix,plans _RMC_ Oct95 p.80

Kirby Lumber Co Silbee mills _Santa Fe Modeler_ 2Q87 p.8-11

log decks _NMRA Bull_ Aug83 p.26

Log dump, model animation _Mod RRer_ Nov93 p.92

Log loading boom w electronmagnet _Mod RRer_ Nov93 p.92

Log pile at PFI Mill, East Lewiston, Idaho  _ModRRer_ Feb98 p.78

log truck showing method of steel strapping, ad for Acme Steel
Business Week_ Sept 17, 1955 p.147

Logging camp, British Columbia, pix _Mod RRer_ Mar90 p.104

Logging camp structures, _Mod RRer_ July66 p.20

Lumber kiln, Charlie Wyman's sawmill, Massachusetts

plans, pix _Model RRer_ Mar78 p.62

Lumber mill. Manning,TX, Carter-Kelley Lumber Co.
Journal of Tx Shortline RRs_ MayJuneJuly98 (Paris issue) p.55

Lumber mill, Camden TX, W T Carter & Brother.

pix, _Journal of Texas Shortline Railroads_ NovDec96 p.54-58

Lumber mill. HO construction article, special  focus on log chute
RMC_ Jan65 p.22

Lumber mill, Southwest Forest Industries, west of Flagstaff AZ

story, mill aerial pix, _ModelRRer_ p.70, 73
Mill office (Portland OR prototype) pix, plan,.model
Mod RRer_ Mar75 p.42

N scale Sawmill N Walthers #933-3236 _ModRRer_ Oct98 p.43

N scale sawmill scene by  Randy Gustafson (18" x 36" layout)
MR_ Jul95 p.104

Pennsylvania sawmill, ground plot, bldg elevations & plan, flow chart.  _NMRA Bull_ June76 p.30

Planing mill, plans,model based on PA prototype _RMC_ Sep79 p.62

Planing mill, Carolina _Mod RRer_ Ju;82 p.66

Planing mill at Charlie Wyman's mill. proto pix, plans, model
Model RRer_ Sept76 p.46
Sawmill crane: clamshell crane at Riverbank Sand & Gravel could be used as basis for Big Piney crane          NMRA Bull Aug78 p.30

Sawmill- dry roll ramp into sawmill on Coon Creek mill HO  ModRRer March03 p.100

Sawmill drying kiln & lumber storage yard w tramway  N model pix in Republic Loco Works ad
N Scale NovDec02 p.8

Sawmill equipment, model animation _Mod RRer_ Nov93 p.94

Sawmill, layout size.  Cutaway diagram & theory, details.
Mod RRer_ June68 p.28

Sawmill machinery & sites, _Mod RRer_ July68 p.50

Sawmill machinery _NMRA Bull_ Jun76 p.60; Jul76 p.32
Sawmill, modern, Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, pix _Mod RRer_ Jan91 p.104

Sawmill, Northern Michigan, N scale model. _Mod RRer_ Mar90 p.114

Sawmill complex,   use of Walthers kits for NW Timber Co.
HO project layout, _ModRRer_ Jan98 p.86

sawmill, backwoods 3-man gasoline-powered, construction article

Model Railroader Oct 2005 p.58

Southern Pine Lumber Co sawmill, Diboll

Journal of TX Shortline RRs_ FebMarApr98 p.15-21, 30,31

Diboll track map 1910 p.41

steam donkey for logging KMP N scale kit, 1916 proto pix

N Scale magazine MarApr07 p.35

"Timber to Tidewater, From" how products handled on a lumber RR
Mod RRer_ Aug66 p.20
Tools for logging, _The Loggers_ (Time-Life Books) p.92

Geez I almost forgot about:

http://www.timbertimes.com/

Please add this to the list of logging references.  Russ

Steve, Dave Minarik and I have a Great friend Sam who has scatch built a sawmill on his layout that is outstanding,we'll see if he'll let Dave take some pictures and post them.  Chet

you guys might get some good ideas from here!! this is authentic late 1800's technology - enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ-5GCkV_TU&feature=related

Russ,

Thanks for that list of logging articles. I've saved it for future reference.

Jim

Here are some photos of my Danby sawmill from Keystone Loco Works.  Very enjoyable kit to build.  I've been meaning to finish this scene, put my guys back to work.  Have fun.

With the Danby posted on here...I didn't show mine as I figured there were a lot

out there as they are not uncommon on the net... ACL Fred will know what he is

getting. Mine is very similar to that above, except for open back wall, with it and other openings, except for log ramp, then enclosed by sliding doors.  My boiler room has an outside person entrance off log ramp added, also, and a stone foundation under the different boiler, as the original boiler was missing from my kit.  The logging sources cited on here can provide boilers as well as all the rest of items listed.  Lotsa ways this can be kitbashed to make unique....moving the boiler room around ....enclosing the log ramp with a sliding door, too,...making the platform and log track longer, to move the log ramp outdoors at the end to enclose the operation, or conversely, leave off most of the walls and make it open air, as the K-Line version.

Yeah well, it's still cool to see someone's work or show what you've built.  They make these newfangled things called digital cameras these days.  I'm not too handy with one, but like I've heard, a couple of pictures are worth a thousand words.  In fact, I think I just figured out how to take better close ups with this one, so I will share more.

Steve, I have the same mill that William has. I recommend it highly. They come up on E-bay often though there isn't one on now. How about a slash burner. Don

Like this  http://www.btsrr.com/bts7121.htm

I had to scramble to find the box for my Danby mill to get the brand right, and, I knew

my slash burner was a lot cheaper than one above, so found and dug out the box for the www.sidetracklaser.com  , as called by them, " O Wig-Wam Chip Burner". 

NG&SL Gazette has plans for another in the latest issue, too.  I am pleased with this

Sidetracklaser version slash burner, as with the Danby kit. This burner has a 5.5" x

5.5" footprint.

The one above seems very high priced for what it is. Thanks coloradohirail, I'll check them out. Don

Color, etc, etc, etc. Just ordered the slash burner. Been looking for one for a long time. Thanks Don

As it has been stated on this forum before just ask for information and you guys will deliver and deliver and deliver.  Thanks everyone for all the information; now it's back to working on the railroad!

Now, what I am still looking for, is the destination for all this cutting coming out of

these Danby and Suydam mills, and while the slash burner source, SideTrackLaser, shows a shingle mill as another kit, I remember people slapping Insull brick (like asphalt shingles but brick patterened) on the sides of houses on the wrong side of the tracks.....that's a thought, I should build a cabin with that siding) but I remember no wooden shingles.  What I want, and there was an HO model of one in the 1950's, is a creosote plant for ties and mine timbers.  I had no luck with an internet search...all were EPA scoured vacant lots.  Ever seen one?

See if this helps at all

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/se.../?q=creosote%20plant

railroad-guy:  Thanks!  Saved that to review...lot more than I found before. They still must be making telephone poles somewhere, as well as ties.

Hey color, here you go. March 1943. Albuquerque, New Mexico. "At the Santa Fe R.R. tie plant. The ties made of pine and fir, are seasoned for eight months. The steaming black ties have just come from the retort, where they have been impregnated with creosote for eight hours." Don

Thanks, also!..."scale rail"...progress at last..don't guess that is accessible for

better photos, given railroads' and industries' aversion to terrorist lawyers, and pilferers. If the railroads are doing that still, there must be others around the country?  The HO kit (am sure is rare but mouldering in somebody's basement) seemed to show dedicated flat cars loaded with timber, as this does, being run into a "retort" (not shown or in the background of this photo?), all in a compacted footprint, and THAT is a critter I want to model.  I want to see and possibly photograph  ancillary buildings, too, to make sure I have a complete plant.  All that lumber (ties) on flatcars in this photo indicates I have a credible idea, and one a logging

branch or railroad can be built around.

In our small rural farming community the main sawmill was sited permanently from the 1930s to the late 1950s. There was no burner, resulting in huge piles of sawdust that was periodically shoved downhill behind the mill. A Planer Mill with a shaving exhaust duct was finally installed during the late 1940s but prior to that the rough-sawn lumber was stacked and separated by strips to enable air drying before being shipped out via train or truck [horse and wagon to local users of rough-sawn] to be sized and dressed at another Mill. 

A smaller sawmill operation behind the local Flour and Feedmill was powered by a steam tractor [as was the Feedmill] during the 1930s. The same tractor was once used to run threshers on several nearby farms.

So far my Sawmill site planning only includes a rough-sawn Mill util I can find or fabricate a Planer to sit under a four-pole shed.

Seems many of us favor Sawmills.

Wasn;t there an article in Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazzete? It had plans and all I believe. The YSL On30 group had a sawmill that was built using those plans.

Wow, that looks great!! Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

Nice build Al, Great work!