Turning Logs into Lumber: Are You Curious About How An Amish Sawmill Works?

Getting Ready to Go to the Sawmill

The logs in my front yard looked huge! We recently harvested these trees from our property, and they gave me an appreciation for the tremendous mass of trees around us.  Looking at the woodlot from which they came, I can barely see any difference from how it looked before they were removed.  The log piles are comprised of approximately twenty-five black walnut, pine, cherry, maple, and ash trees.

The logs were stacked near the road, ready for the log truck to transport them to the sawmill. That loading process was impressive to watch. The operator's skill with the grapple made it seem like it was his own arm.  He appeared to load them with ease when in reality, the smallest pine log weighed approximately 200 pounds, and the largest sugar maple log weighed around 2,900 pounds!  

Who are the Amish?

The log truck had to drive only a few miles to reach the sawmill. This area is surrounded by beautiful, seemingly endless farmland, where the ‘house next door’ means a quarter mile away. Dairy farmers have labored here for the past two centuries. The land here is still relatively inexpensive unlike many parts of the U.S. where development has driven up land prices and squeezed farms out. This is one of the reasons why Amish communities have grown in upstate New York. 

The Workings of an Amish Saw Mill

An Amish businessman owns the sawmill. It is a small operation in a building next to his modest home. Neither is connected to the electric power grid. I respect this man's wishes that he not be the focus of attention in this article.

The logs were stacked in a pile at a large opening in the building.  The ground here is a couple of feet higher than the interior of the building.  To get a log onto the saw, two workers each use a hook with a long handle called a peavey. They hook the log and roll it into the building onto a set of rollers.  Many of these logs are over a thousand pounds and as I mentioned, the big maple is about 2,900  pounds.

This is where my logs are rolled onto the saw.

The saw is powered by a gasoline engine.

A gasoline-powered engine drives the bandsaw.  The blade is a large loop, or band, which is mounted on two wheels. It spins continuously as the log is pulled through it on a bed of steel rollers. The cut board is moved aside, and the operators again use peaveys to rotate the log ninety degrees.  It is locked into place, and the next cut is made.  This is repeated over and over.  All day long, they roll logs into the building, carry away and stack heavy, wet slabs, and rotate logs for the next cut.  Absolutely impressive! 

The sawmill only operates one or two days a week because the owner works next door on the family farm.

Sawblades

I had the boards cut to different thicknesses, from three-quarters of an inch to two inches. This helps when choosing boards for the specific job I will use them for.  The sawyers were meticulous with their work. The faces of the boards are nicely parallel to each other and are very flat without any wavering. The thickness of the boards is quite consistent, which will help when stacking them for drying.  The job came out as well as I had hoped for.

The next step will be to transport the lumber back to my place to begin the drying process.

I’m checking out some of the first slabs at the sawmill.

Ultimately, I will use the wood to make art and furniture. In previous blogs, you can learn why we did this and about the harvest itself.

Beautiful art for life well lived,

Moe