04-11-2012, 01:35 PM
Hi Gary, It can be scary but to be honest most accidents I have seen etc have been caused by small saws/cutting equipment, I always felt safer operating the large breakdown saws than using a small plate or crosscut saws.
I wrote that bit on wood tensions in haste.... the general term used is "reaction" wood ie: wood under compression (mainly softwood) and wood under tension (mainly hardwood) Compression wood grows on the downside of softwood trees and tension wood grows on the upside of hardwood trees (when leaning)
The side of the wood with a high lignin content in that context also shrinks noticably along it's length as it dries out which adds to the problem, unlike lengthways shrinkage in normal wood which is usually minimal.
The enclosed picture is of a saw I operated many years ago with a friend of mine, it was eventually taken out and left out in the open in bits for 15 years! The picture shows our recent re installation of the said saw to date.
The headrig shown is a Stenner VB42 the bandwheels being 42" diam. which are designed to take a 5" band blade, the bottom band wheel is down in a concrete sawdust pit (which I built) where the intake for the sawdust blower also resides, the feed tables are 30ft long being designed to take a 30ft log, the rollers run for just over 60ft to accomodate the tables, the saw runs off a 40 hp electric motor, the rack drive under the tables is driven by hydraulics via a small electric motor, the fence is driven by an electric motor also. The Stenner saws were and still are world renowned. They can be often seen at traction engine rallies in full swing, usually the earlier Stenner & Gunn rack bench plate saws.
Lawrence.
I wrote that bit on wood tensions in haste.... the general term used is "reaction" wood ie: wood under compression (mainly softwood) and wood under tension (mainly hardwood) Compression wood grows on the downside of softwood trees and tension wood grows on the upside of hardwood trees (when leaning)
The side of the wood with a high lignin content in that context also shrinks noticably along it's length as it dries out which adds to the problem, unlike lengthways shrinkage in normal wood which is usually minimal.
The enclosed picture is of a saw I operated many years ago with a friend of mine, it was eventually taken out and left out in the open in bits for 15 years! The picture shows our recent re installation of the said saw to date.
The headrig shown is a Stenner VB42 the bandwheels being 42" diam. which are designed to take a 5" band blade, the bottom band wheel is down in a concrete sawdust pit (which I built) where the intake for the sawdust blower also resides, the feed tables are 30ft long being designed to take a 30ft log, the rollers run for just over 60ft to accomodate the tables, the saw runs off a 40 hp electric motor, the rack drive under the tables is driven by hydraulics via a small electric motor, the fence is driven by an electric motor also. The Stenner saws were and still are world renowned. They can be often seen at traction engine rallies in full swing, usually the earlier Stenner & Gunn rack bench plate saws.
Lawrence.
