riceman80 Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 2 hours ago, theJ said: @riceman80 - pretty cool plant. What kind of stuff does the plant make? Its a full stud mill. We have a 30" debarker and a 22" debarker that feed a traditional style mill as well as a automated chip and saw line. They cut raw logs into 9' boards. We also have a very high end planer system where the boards are finished and cut to precision length, then graded between economy, stud, and #2 qualities. And we also do bi-products like mulch (boiler fuel), sawdust, wood chips, etc... I'm at work currently but I can post some more pics when I get home later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titansNvolsR#1 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Always wanted to get into it, but don't have the space since I live abroad in school-paid-for housing. My grandfather has a shop behind his house with probably more than a quarter million dollars of tools, lumber, etc that he's accumulated over his lifetime. He makes some incredible stuff. Crazy personalized trash cans, spice racks, furniture, bed frames (correct wording?), entertainment console, his own wood floors, and so I could have something from him that he made that would fit in a bag, he made me a soap holder for the shower. He also teaches classes at a local farmers market for free on how to make wicker chairs. Might need to spend a summer with him soon to learn how to do all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 2 hours ago, titansNvolsR#1 said: Might need to spend a summer with him soon to learn how to do all this. Might take more than a summer! He's probably forgotten more about woodworking than i've ever known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 4 hours ago, riceman80 said: Its a full stud mill. We have a 30" debarker and a 22" debarker that feed a traditional style mill as well as a automated chip and saw line. They cut raw logs into 9' boards. We also have a very high end planer system where the boards are finished and cut to precision length, then graded between economy, stud, and #2 qualities. And we also do bi-products like mulch (boiler fuel), sawdust, wood chips, etc... I'm at work currently but I can post some more pics when I get home later... I've always wondered, is the grading done automatically by a vision system, or does a person do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceman80 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 5 hours ago, theJ said: I've always wondered, is the grading done automatically by a vision system, or does a person do it? Depends on the system you have. We have people who do manual grading but were upgrading to an automatic photo eye system in spring. It's hard to do it manually at that speed it runs(usually around 160 boards a minute). When we get the photo eye system in its supposed to do 240 a minute, which is insane. It puts out over 400,000 board feet a day as is, 600,000+ when it's finished being installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceman80 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Some more pics of my work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dome Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 @riceman80 That looks like home.... Pacific Northwest somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceman80 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 1 hour ago, domepatrol91 said: @riceman80 That looks like home.... Pacific Northwest somewhere? Yep. Western Montana, near the Idaho border. You from Montucky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dome Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 29 minutes ago, riceman80 said: Yep. Western Montana, near the Idaho border. You from Montucky? Nope. Grew up on the southern edge of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest though. The pics you posted look really similar to the area I grew up in. We've got mills all over the place, the whole region is a bunch of small towns dotted through a big chunk of forest and mountains. There was nothing but logging out there for years and years, in some of the towns that's still all they've got. It's starting to come back in the last couple of years too, I see a lot more log trucks coming down the hill past my work lately. This isn't a mill but a hotel built for the families of loggers, originally built in the 30s when the timber industry here was in full swing. Now it's a spa and hot springs resort where the wives of the loggers work The landscape and terrain looks pretty similar to what you posted, we're usually all foggy and overcast here too. The Broughton Mill Flume, that can still be seen from the highway (mostly in pieces) today. They actually sold tickets to ride down this thing in a canoe. No idea when they stopped allowing that. But yeah.. Your pictures just reminded me of home. Woods people are good people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceman80 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 @domepatrol91 That's how alot of this area is too. There's 2 small towns around here (maybe 1,000 people combined and the mill employs nearly 20% of us), another 500 person town 50 miles north that has a mill, and another 1,000 person town 100 miles from there that's main economy is a mill. Nice living out here and the being the view from the office every day. I've already started putting down roots here cuz I love it. And as you said, woods people are good people. So unlike a city. Everybody knows their neighbors, people wave and say hi to strangers. Perfect example, I got a flat in Missoula and walked 2 miles to a repair shop to get a new tire and walked back. At least 1,000 cars passed no one bothered to help. Mother in law called me last week broke down by town, I was there in 5 minutes and someone had already pulled off to help her out. Love small towns in the northwest. I would so ride that flume lol. That'd be awesome. Timber has made a comeback lately thankfully. They laid off half our mill a few years back cuz how bad it got, lots of mills were shutting down. We're back to full force now. Can't speak to Washington but Idaho and Montana timber industries are steadily back on the rise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted October 28, 2017 Author Share Posted October 28, 2017 @riceman80 What does that cambio do besides cause destruction? The teeth are pretty crazy looking. On 10/26/2017 at 4:34 AM, riceman80 said: Depends on the system you have. We have people who do manual grading but were upgrading to an automatic photo eye system in spring. It's hard to do it manually at that speed it runs(usually around 160 boards a minute). When we get the photo eye system in its supposed to do 240 a minute, which is insane. It puts out over 400,000 board feet a day as is, 600,000+ when it's finished being installed. I'm an engineer and have seen one of those systems in a mashed potato factory. It looks for eyes on the potato pieces just before making a jump on a really fast conveyor. If it spots one, it shoots the potato out of the air before it makes the jump. Photo eye systems are cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceman80 Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 6 minutes ago, theJ said: @riceman80 What does that cambio do besides cause destruction? The teeth are pretty crazy looking. I'm an engineer and have seen one of those systems in a mashed potato factory. It looks for eyes on the potato pieces just before making a jump on a really fast conveyor. If it spots one, it shoots the potato out of the air before it makes the jump. Photo eye systems are cool. The Cambio 30" is my favorite machine besides the headrig. Those spike rolls pull the log thru while the ring spins at 1,000 rpm, stripping the bark off the logs... Yeah our sysyem will be the same except itll be a series of eyes looking for knots, wane, shake, splits, etc. I cant wait to see the whole system at work. The mill i work at paid nearly $2 million for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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