Blade Folding

Easier said, than done

These are the blades that we use on our Timberking 1600, a pretty great sawmill that we are still learning all the tricks to:

 We got in some more Long Leaf pine posts that we re-milled into veneers to make our hollow reclaimed wood ceiling beams. Last Saturday, we had some bad luck with blades that we thought were still sharp, but were just gunked up with sawdust and pitch from the pine we are cutting. So last week I soaked one blade in mineral spirits each night, and cleaned it off in the morning. But we just couldn’t get a straight cut with these blades, so we sent them out for resharpening, which requires you to fold the blade up and secure it with a zip tie or wire for shipping. If you, like me, have never really messed with replaceable sawmill blades, then this will help you when you find yourself folding a 14 foot saw blade.

Today I learned that folding a blade, if you don’t know the right technique, can be pretty tricky. I tried to hold the blade down on the ground with my foot, and then sort of wrestle it into the tri-folded shape. This worked some of the time, but more often I ended up with a blade pretzel that would whip me across the arms. After snapping myself on the arm a couple of times, I watched the video on folding blades on the DVD that came with our Timberking sawmill. Like everything in a woodshop, blade folding is almost impossible if you don’t know the right technique. If you guess, you will probably guess wrong.

 

Trying to wrestle the blade into shape.

 

Here is how you fold a 14 foot sawmill blade (wear gloves!)

1. Hold blade out horizontally, with your palms facing outwards:
2.  Turn your wrists in:                          
3. And catch the end of the blade folding towards you and finish the fold:
4. Then secure the blades with a zip tie:  
5. And you are ready to store or ship your blades.

Future of Design

    Over at the Ourso Design Blog, The Olde Mills sister company, I talked about how the WikiHouse project is using computer guided mills (CNC mills and CNC routers) to cut plywood into pieces for houses you can design on your computer. They are essentially printing construction materials. The pieces are put together like a puzzle, no nails or screws required.

    This is similar, in a sense, to what we are doing at the Olde Mill to make our hollow reclaimed wood box beams. Anyone can make a box beam with three sides of wood and a staple gun, but you are going to have unsightly seams, even gaps, plus a line of screws going down the side of your beam. At the Olde Mill, we actually make a miter joint with an accompanying female joint to actually lock the sides of the beam together, in order to create a seamless hollow  beam that looks as real as a solid beam, without the weight, expense, and hassle when you install it.So like the WikiHouses, we don't use nails or screws on the outside of our beams. It's all engineering and assembly.

    As the company grows, we will be looking for ways to adapt and expedite our process, and a computer guided CNC mill is definitely on our wish-list. It will speed up our beam making process, but the possibilities don’t end there. At The Olde Mill, and at Ourso Designs, our sister company, we are excited to be on the cutting edge of innovation in the design and construction industries. And really, the fusion of exciting technology, time-honored woodworking techniques, and innovative applications of the two, are all exemplified by our hollow box beams. They are made of hundred year old long leaf pine, but have all the functionality of a new, engineered product; there really have not been ceiling beams like the ones we are making.