Projects, Timber Framing, Vacation Cabin Rental, WP Migration

Edward and Ruth Zimmerman delivered our sawmill!

Posted on by Farmer
This past week Edward and Ruth Zimmerman delivered our sawmill. It was great to have the EZ-Boardwalk delivered to us by the inventor, designer and manufacture. Both Edward and Ruth provided our initial training so we think we got the best training possible. This mill is going to be a workhorse because it will be used for sawing all the timber for a pavilion over our outdoor pizza oven and the Farm Vacation Cabin Rental. Our plan is also to sell Timber Frame kits that can be delivered to a building site and assembled in just a couple days.
I enjoyed talking with Ruth Zimmerman, who does a lot of the customer support for their sawmill business, and particularly enjoyed hearing about her family. She has 9 children all who are entrepreneurs and self employed in family run businesses.  Either the children help with the family sawmill manufacturing business, work growing crops on the farm or in the family vegetable garden, owner of a food co-operative or involved in building and selling wood boilers. The Zimmerman family grows corn, wheat, soybeans and strawberries. Ruth mentioned that their retail farmer market sales have declined, mostly because of their market not being well managed and with the start-up of new markets nearby, which are some of the same things we are finding here in Western NC. She said they are growing less for these markets and are now mostly focusing on strawberries.
Edward Zimmerman and Carl setting up the mill and discussing the features of the sawmill. Edward designed the EZ Boardwalk mill and has a shop building these mills. It is mostly a manually operated mill, meaning that we will be required to manually adjust the saw and push the saw along for cutting each board, so hopefully not too many parts will break and we will get a lot of use out of this mill. Carl is not very interested in another “Fix It” project which is why Carl is especially excited about this mill
Edward Zimmerman and Carl setting up the mill and discussing the features of the sawmill. Edward designed the EZ Boardwalk mill and has a shop building these mills. It is mostly a manually operated mill, meaning that we will be required to manually adjust the saw and push the saw along for cutting each board, so hopefully not too many parts will break and we will get a lot of use out of this mill. Carl is not very interested in another “Fix It” project which is why Carl is especially excited about this mill
Ruth Zimmerman. She provides most of the Customer Support for the mill, organizing the sales and deliveries, and does the record keeping for the family business.
Ruth Zimmerman. She provides most of the Customer Support for the mill, organizing the sales and deliveries, and does the record keeping for the family business.
Ruth Zimmerman helping with the placement of the leveling feet.
Ruth Zimmerman helping with the placement of the leveling feet.
Edward Zimmerman leveling the sawmill.
Edward Zimmerman leveling the sawmill.
Loading a log onto the sawmill.
Loading a log onto the sawmill.
Securing the tree on sawmill with the clamps.
Securing the tree on sawmill with the clamps.
Edward Zimmerman making the first cut. Notice that he is manually pushing the sawmill blade along the log for the cut. I mentioned to Ruth that Lee Stover said this mill can wear a fellow out with all the walking but her comment was that since we are used to growing vegetables then we are used to walking! Edward said a sawmill is not for someone who is allergic to sawdust and hard work.
Edward Zimmerman making the first cut. Notice that he is manually pushing the sawmill blade along the log for the cut. I mentioned to Ruth that Lee Stover said this mill can wear a fellow out with all the walking but her comment was that since we are used to growing vegetables then we are used to walking! Edward said a sawmill is not for someone who is allergic to sawdust and hard work.
Carl making a cut.
Carl making a cut.
Carl making another cut
Carl making another cut
The cutting scale. One manually aligns the saw blade with the scale for making the various cuts. The scale takes into account the curvature and thickness of the blade.
The cutting scale. One manually aligns the saw blade with the scale for making the various cuts. The scale takes into account the curvature and thickness of the blade.
The sawmill blade and engine rides on a track so that it can move the length of the log.
The sawmill blade and engine rides on a track so that it can move the length of the log.
Farmer

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