1915 saw rig

JOB · Aug 31, 2014

I was at the antique power show in Le Center last
week and saw this saw. Here are a couple of
pictures of the saw rig built in 1915. The engine
was built in Wisconsin in 1915 and shipped to Le
Center and put on a trailer and belted to a saw. I
think the engine is eight horse power. The saw was
used up to the 1950 sawing wood. In 1915 the
charge was 50 cents an hour. Don't know if that
was for the saw or per man. This saw has a roller
table, may have been state of the art for 1915 ???
Or best he could do without going to a machine
shop, or black smith shop. Looks like someone lost
a hand at some time, pretty well preserved though.
This is what I can remember from reading off the description on the exhibit.

Bret4207 · Sep 1, 2014

there should be an automatic computer program that inserts the words "lost a hand/arm/leg/head" every time the words "buzz saw" are typed. Of course you can never find anyone that actually did lose a hand or arm or anything in a buzz saw that wasn't drunk or messing around, but why ruin a good story with facts........... :roll:

JOB · Sep 1, 2014

Bret 25 years ago or so we were going to saw wood
one day and one of the guys that was going to help
saw said he would bring the beer. I told him then
that if any beer was here the engine would not be
started.
About four years ago we were sawing wood. Three
guys were carrying wood to the saw. One guy
feeding the saw another throwing blocks. I had
just placed a large piece in front of the saw and
the guy pushing the piece into the saw placed one
of his hands on the other side of the blade, he
then had a hand on both sides of the blade. This
was a large piece maybe 8 or 10 inches across.
When I stopped him and showed him where his hands
were at and asked him what he was thinking he
replied. "I was going to help the person catching
and throwing blocks push it through the saw". He
then moved his hand so both hands were on the same
side of the saw. I feel that was a close call.

An older fellow 45 years ago said he was feeding
the saw and then remembered that he had not oiled
the babbit bearings. He asked another guy to feed
the saw while he went for an oil can. He said he
had not more than walked a few steps away and the
man cut one of his hands off.

Accidents do happen and I don't wish them on
anyone. I do not like to see anyone with missing
or mangled body parts.

60 acre hillside · Sep 1, 2014

Read Robert Frost: Out Out

sms · Sep 1, 2014

My dads sawmill had a cutoff saw with a rolling table 8-10 feet long marked for lengths of boards. Cutoffs slid down chute onto endless chain conveyor then up into dumptruck to be sold for firewood. We cut all the slabs and scraps from the edger also and were expected to do it quickly as we were tailing boards also. This saw was run through belts off the UD18 power unit that ran the whole mill. We would tip the slabs on edge then flop them into the saw to minimize movement of table and speed things up since power wasn"t a problem. My brothers and I couldn"t use the saw until we were 12 years old. Mill was set up in the late thirties. Noone lost any body parts in our mill.

Brendon Warren · Sep 1, 2014

My dad cut his thumb off on one as a teenager. We
never ran one at home. He wouldn't have one on the
place. One did come with the H he bought when I was
a kid. I can show you it and the tree growing around
it.

PJH · Sep 1, 2014

I had an old friend who stepped over an open PTO shaft running a cut-off saw. A bolt on the shaft caught his pants leg and it stripped him naked, except for the cuffs of his denim jumper and his socks below the tops of his boots. He thought it was gonna separate him from his "tools" - it tightened up on them, then slipped off. The church women were all in the house making plans for a Christmas hooraw at the church. Bob said he had no secrets that day.

Another guy I knew showed up to work at the local sawmill. He'd been drinking, he stumbled and fell, and the big blade cut the bill off of his cap. He never got a scratch, but they fired him. His drinking was a life-long problem.

NICE pictures - the hand causes some thought. Thanks!

RayP(MI) · Sep 1, 2014

My father-in-law had one short finger shortened thanks to a "buzz saw."

D beatty · Sep 1, 2014

A buzz saw is really no more dangerous than a chainsaw. Most injuries with both of them are due to people not paying attention or doing things with them that they shouldn't be doing.I have one mounted on a Farmall B that has been on it since the mid 50's and before that dad had it on a trailer powered with a VE4 Wisconsin engine.

Bret4207 · Sep 2, 2014

(quoted from post at 09:45:35 09/01/14) Bret 25 years ago or so we were going to saw wood
one day and one of the guys that was going to help
saw said he would bring the beer. I told him then
that if any beer was here the engine would not be
started.
About four years ago we were sawing wood. Three
guys were carrying wood to the saw. One guy
feeding the saw another throwing blocks. I had
just placed a large piece in front of the saw and
the guy pushing the piece into the saw placed one
of his hands on the other side of the blade, he
then had a hand on both sides of the blade. This
was a large piece maybe 8 or 10 inches across.
When I stopped him and showed him where his hands
were at and asked him what he was thinking he
replied. "I was going to help the person catching
and throwing blocks push it through the saw". He
then moved his hand so both hands were on the same
side of the saw. I feel that was a close call.

An older fellow 45 years ago said he was feeding
the saw and then remembered that he had not oiled
the babbit bearings. He asked another guy to feed
the saw while he went for an oil can. He said he
had not more than walked a few steps away and the
man cut one of his hands off.

Accidents do happen and I don't wish them on
anyone. I do not like to see anyone with missing
or mangled body parts.

Yup, and I know 35 or 40 people, myself included, that bear scars from chainsaws and skill saws but no one gets all nervous around them and starts talking about dying. That's my point. I know far more people that have cut off digits and whatnot with tablesaws than anything else, but they are supposed to be the safest saws to use.

My point is that there's a lot of "massaging" of the stories surrounding buzz saws. Add in the internet myth makers and you'd swear just looking at one will cause body parts to suddenly detach and blood to flow. Any fool can get hurt with any tool.

Bret4207 · Sep 2, 2014

(quoted from post at 21:48:07 09/01/14) A buzz saw is really no more dangerous than a chainsaw. Most injuries with both of them are due to people not paying attention or doing things with them that they shouldn't be doing.I have one mounted on a Farmall B that has been on it since the mid 50's and before that dad had it on a trailer powered with a VE4 Wisconsin engine.

In addition, I wonder how many of these people that do get injured with saws of various kinds have been drinking prior to the accident. I grew up in a mill town and it sure seemed like most of the horror stories involved booze or sheer stupidity. There was one kid went through the ball mill at a mine after he bypassed a whole mess of safety guards. That's not an industrial accident, that's SUICIDE!

1915 saw rig

JOB

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Bret4207

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JOB

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60 acre hillside

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sms

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Brendon Warren

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PJH

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RayP(MI)

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D beatty

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Bret4207

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Bret4207

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