Mobile Sawmill at Balnagowan Glen, Aboyne
The image is courtesy of Amanda McKenzie, Kinellar and features her grandfather Albert Philpott.
This is an interesting image and any guidance and explanations of the internal set up would be very welcome.
It is assumed the steam engine is out of shot further to the right behind Albert Philpot. On the other hand the large pulley and belt drive seen in front of Albert could indicate that the main driving system is outside this building. The main drive belt would in that case be hidden by the timber walls.
It looks like the overhead sawdust and chip deflector is behind and above his head set there while he works on the blade. The internal drive and belt appears to lead down to the main saw shaft.
Were there left hand and right hand sawmills? This bench feeds the saw by running with the log on from left to right (shown by tooth angle). The logs from the forest appear to load from the camera position but there is no obvious point for taking of the sawn products and placing them outside. It is possible they were taken by hand off the bench on the far side and back a little to be placed through the rectangular openings.
Any information and suggestions would be very welcome.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Northeast Scotland , Sawmills, pulp mills, chipboard mills
2 Comments
However, the saw nearest the camera in the IoM had a 5' 'Yankee', replaceable tooth circular breakdown saw blade and the Scotch bench was right-handed. The sawn battens being taken from the 'Yankee' through a similar "hole in the wall" to the first of two Stenner bandsaws that were used for re-sawing the battens into finished products. The outer cants (cuts with bark on the outside and at least one straight side) not suitable for re-resawing were taken off the 'Yankee' table and thrown onto a heap outside the left gable end of the mill. I do not recall seeing a left-hand Scotch bench and would think it a bit "awkward" to operate as a right-handed person. But, as Jimmy Thain suggests, I am sure that they were made and used successfully on many sites. Comment left on 02 September 2021 at 23:01 by Bill Rayner
I think it was a double bench mill, at the left hand end I can see skids where they would have passed the partly sawn timber over.
If both blades were on the same shaft the benches would need to be right and left handed. Comment left on 02 September 2021 at 21:25 by jimmy Thain