Sawmill

[coggonhick]

Im restoring a sawmill for the local historical society and am planning on running it off of a belt pully connected to my 8N. Do you think the tractor has the muscle to power the sawmill??? All imput is welcome!!

 

[Paul in MN]

If it is a very small sawmill, then there is a "maybe" for the 8N.

Many of these old flatbelt mills are turning a 48" or 54" diameter blade. If you are cutting hardwood like oak, that takes a lot of HP, maybe up in the 80 to 100 HP area. Of course there are differences in wood (species, moisture, diameter) and differences in blades (like how agressive the teeth are and how sharp they are), and differences in the mill itself (one brand/design vs another). All the details add up to HP required.

An advantage to the bandsaw mills is they cut a much thinner kirf, and thus take considerably less HP.

I would not bet on the 8N for a circular saw mill. I think it will be very inadequate.

Paul in MN

 

[Paul in NH]

All that Paul said is quite true, but...
My grandfather ran a portable sawmill, powered first by a steam engine, and then by a gas one. I can't say I recall the engine size, but it did have a fly wheel on it that was impressive.
Again, memory is a bit hazy, but I do know that it took a while to engage the fly wheel and to get it up to speed. Plus, the engine was not especially big, compared to the mill part, ie blade and fly wheel. I watched the sawyers using the mill and never noticed them having any particular trouble going through anything.
Hope this is helpful.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

From limited but personal experience cutting pine slabs w/ a cut-off saw attached to an 8N w/ a belt pulley.......the short answer is no, it's not going to power a sawmill. No matter how sharp or big the blade is, you're only getting 23hp out of the tractor.
50 Tips

 

[BillM (OH)]

Likely depends on how fast/slow you can feed it, would have to know more about the mechanics of the particular mill. Guess you'll have to giv'er a try beforehand & have a buddy stand by with a big tractor, JIC. Our 8N was always used to run the blower & worked fine, but a sawmill generally needs more power.

 

[dont_know_a_thing]

I don"t know, But to add my two cents in I would look/research at what powered this saw mill originally and go from there. Was it powered by more HP then the 8N?

 

[dakota dave]

I don't see why not. My grandfather ran a 54" saw mill on a WC allis chalmers for many years. He cut very large logs with it. sometimes we had to finish the first cut with a chainsaw. you did know right away if the teeth were dull. If we hit a spiked tree we had to shut down and sharpen the teeth. as the WC couln't over power a dull saw. you will get a nicer cut with a sharp blade.

 

[Richard G.]

Pulled my 42 inch blade sawmill with my 8N one time. It will pull it on soft wood like poplar if the logs are small. Anything over 10 inches is going to be trouble.
Know of an old mill that was pulled by an old Fordson, but don"t know what they were sawing.
Richard

 

[Dunk]

I know I can put a rip blade on my chain saw, and rip lumber.

It is nowhere near 20 HP.

I think it depends on the sawmill.

 

[Dunk]

I have also wired up electric sawmills that used 3 phase motors, and took a lot of HP.

Probably covered up at least a couple of acres.

 

[old]

That is a yes, no or maybe thing. depends on what speed you try to feed it how big the blade and the logs are and what type of logs they are. You do not give enough info to be able to say for sure but to me I think it would be pushing it a bit. All the old sawmills I see are run off steam tractors and they have a lot of torque but low HP and the 8N has so so HP and low torque compared to a steam engine set up

 

[Jimmyjack]

All the mills I haul logs to are running 80 plus HP and an n wouldnt run much of a mill. It would have to be a jackknife operation I think.

 

[36 Coupe]

Small saw mills were run with Model A 4 cyl. 40 hp 200 cubic inch.You need a tractor of the same HP.The last rotary mill I worked on used a GMC diesel for power.Belsaw Co in San Jose CA should be contacted.They sold many small mills.