07-21-2005The big beech log was reduced to planks in about half an hour.
The cutting took place during a demonstration presented by the Fulton County Antique Power Club Wednesday. The beech log was one of 10 to 15 rendered into boards this week.
The Fulton County club purchased the Altman-Taylor sawmill (carriage, blade and rail), circa 1900, in Ohio in January. It came with a 62-inch blade that has been replaced by a 57-inch blade.
The club, according to member Kermit Zent of Rochester, put together the wheeled frame with its handrail.
Zent, 72, hauled the sawmill from Rochester to Warsaw this week using his 1951 Moline GBT model tractor to haul the frame. The trip took 1-1/2 hours.
Zent farms in Fulton County and his interest in old farm equipment began as his tractors aged.
“I still have my first tractor,” he said. “My wife bought it used in 1952. It was a 1950 John Deere ‘A’ that still works.”
In addition to the Moline, Zent is restoring a 1949 LA Case.
The sawmill’s hammered blade has an arbor speed of 480 – 475 or 500 rpm. The carriage handles a 10- to 12-foot-long log up to 24-inches in diameter.
The sawmill motor is belt-driven with power provided by a Case steam engine.
The demonstration is set up just inside the fair’s west entrance.
Dan Peters is president of the power club, which meets once a month in the Fulton County museum. The club members come from all walks of life. Of the sawmill crew, Randy Overmeyer has a tree service company; Skeeter Daugherty is the Rochester assistant police chief; and Brian Ringle is a semi-truck driver.
The club members don’t keep any kind of regular sawmill schedule. They will cut a log to order ... when they get around to it.
Sawing continues tonight around 5 p.m. “or maybe 4 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. or so,” Zent said. “Whenever I can get the guys here.”