The Evolution of Modern
Band Saw Mills for
Sawing Logs
PRESENTED BY
THE PRESCOTT COMPANY
MENOMINEE, MICHIGAN
COPYRIGHTED
1910
D. CLINT PRESCOTT
Preface
The history herein given and the facts stated are taken fromauthentic records and also are the result of the personal experiencesand observations of the author. It is intended to show the effortsmade by the Saw Mill Machinery Builders of this country fromabout the year 1880 and thenceforward, to produce a Band SawMill that would render acceptable service to large saw mill operators.
No attempt is made to display all of the productions of laterdays, the main object being to show the transition logically fromearlier types to the splendid machines now built by THE PRESCOTTCOMPANY of Menominee, Mich., under whose auspicesthis work has been published and is now presented to the Saw Millworld.
By the author,
D. CLINT PRESCOTT.
5
The Evolution of Modern BandSaw Mills for Sawing Logs
It is not the purpose to begin this narrative with a history ofthe crude methods employed by our ancestors to obtain lumberfor building purposes; it is enough to know that they were able toobtain the necessary material with which to provide homes forthemselves, as well as establishments in which to carry on business,to say nothing of schools and houses of worship; and some lumberfor these purposes they certainly did have, and it was not cut byanything like a modern saw mill, either.
It is sufficient to state that we have advanced from the earlyHand Whip Saw to machines in order about as follows: The SashSaw, the Mulay Saw, the Round or Live Gang, the Slabbing Gangand its partner the Flat or Stock Gang; then the Circular or RotaryMill, and lastly the Band Saw Mill, and one generation of men,some of whom are now alive, has seen all of these machines at regularwork in saw mills sawing logs.
In passing it may be of interest to state that the old Sash Sawwas usually run by undershot water wheels, and a man would starta cut in the morning and then, go to plowing out in his field. Bynoon, that cut being finished, he would set over the log for anotherboard, go home to dinner, after which he would resume his plowing,and by evening the second cut would be completed; so that by closeattention to business a man could get two boards a day.
A sawyer on one of these mills once told the writer that he couldsit on a log that was being sawed and go to sleep. When the loghad moved up far enough the saw would scratch him when it camedown and he then had plenty of time when the saw went up to wake6up and get off the log before the saw came down again. But sincethen times have changed and we have progressed far away fromthe Stub Shot to the Circular Mill and to the Band Mill for sawinglogs, the Stock Gang being still in use in some instances for sawingcants prepared by both of them.
The use of the Band Mill in place of Circulars and Gangs becamevery desirable for two important reasons; one of them was that thesaw kerf of a band saw is so much less than that of a circular sawthat the saving in sawdust yielded a greater quantity of lumberfrom the logs, thus accomplishing a clear saving of valuable material.The other reason was that while Gangs made perfectly