Sawmill Proposal

Introduction

A sawmill enables custom lumber production on site using locally available timber. An easily replicable lumber mill creates real value for the producer at a low cost of entry, a necessity for self sustaining community decentralized economy.

Sawmill - highly versatile and valuable lumber if woodlot is available - or lumber may be bought from neighbors.

Decentralized sawmilling may obviate clear-cut lumber companies in a new economy. Many uses.

Background and previous work

2007 - http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?OpenSourceEcology/Sawmill

2008 - Swingblade_Sawmill

Ecological Review/Motivation/Applications

The ecological impacts of commercial logging are devastating. Much of that lumber consumed is harvested by means that are unsustainable clear cutting forests and devastate ecosystems. Timber is BIG business, the inertia the logging companies have continues the cycle of centralized production and unpractical philosophies of every growing industry. The sawmill we aim to develop has the capabilities to restore lumber as a local resource using local woodlot that is harvested in a responsible and sound way. Thinning of forest, fallen trees, cleared lots all afford the opportunity for usable lumber while the scraps and sawdust are used for fuel and/or mulch. This method lends itself to a closed circle product cycle that returns production to the masses.

Design

Preliminary 3d pictures of the sawmill are here.

The first 3d view shows the x axis track onto which we mount a carriage.

The carriage holds the entire cutting head apparatus: