A SPECIALIZED SAWMILL

¹/₂”to 1′ in width. We had been
operating our mill at Harrison, Arkansas for several years, cutting
hardwood timber into various sizes and shapes; so we had part of
the machinery needed.

At that time the U.S. Army engineers were busy destroying fine
‘Bottom Land’ with dams. They were telling us great stories
about the stupendous amounts of power they were going to produce;
but, the real reason was to furnish jobs for half-educated
engineers. At this time only about 15% of the electric power used
in this country is generated by water power.

A view of the mill and yard. Carl Erwin is at the back of the
truck measuring the logs. Elmer Stuart, the truck driver, is at the
left. A load of logs like those, brought about $180.00 in 1942.
They would bring at least ten times that much now in the paper
money we are using. Two J. I. Case steam traction engines were
turning the saws.

However, this is getting off the  subject. On the Bottom
Land they were destroying in Arkansas, there was a lot of good
walnut timber, and the rifles for our men were to have  walnut
stocks. A rich doctor, who was quite a bird hunter, and had a fine
walnut stock on his shot gun, asked me: ‘Why do they have to
have walnut for an army rifle?’ I replied a bit sharply:
‘Because, we don’t have anything better.’ Actually this
is true. Walnut will hold its shape and size better than most any
other wood under all conditions of temperature and humidity. They
had also tested plastic stocks. These were ready to fall off the
gun after one trip to the firing range. They couldn’t stand the
heat and the heavy recoil. Also, nothing feels better than a piece
of wood; if you have to handle it, either hot or cold.

During the time that I was operating our mill at Harrison,
Dewey, the other member of the firm, was running our mill at
Cotter,  Arkansas, getting walnut timber from the River Bottom
Land that the U. S. engineers were making into a fishing lake.

Of late years, the people in charge in Washington have never
been known to save anything, if there was any way to waste it; and,
any time that the loggers failed to get the walnut off fast enough,
the engineers burned it. Good logs of other kinds went the same
way. All this, at the time our men were dying on the beaches of
Normandy and on the beach heads in the Pacific.

View from the other direction. Elmer Stuart is unloading another
log. The reason Carl has that pained look on his face is that he is
going to have to pay about $30.00 for the log.

Please excuse me for getting political! And, back to the
sawmill–I am better there. We had another ‘go’ at making
gun stocks for the Korean War. About that time, Dewey sold me his
interest in the sawmill, and put in a handle factory   in
Harrison. I continued making gun stocks for a new army rifle,
called the ‘M14,’ and also stocks for sporting rifles and
shotguns. There was a demand for fancy wood in the sporting guns;
and I made improvements in the mill for special work.

The mill had become much too big for the old J. I. Case traction
engines. A good boiler, 5′ in diameter, 23′ feet long had
been installed. A Skinner steam engine, with 14 x 15-inch cylinder
turned the wheels. This was a much more ‘sophisticated’
engine than those shown at the thresher reunions. The crank case
was enclosed with oil forced through holes in the crankshaft to oil
the principal bearings. The oil was carried back from the bottom of
the crankcase to a filter and back to the oil pump. The engine was,
what is  called, ‘Automatic.’ The governing mechanism
was in one of the flywheels. An automatic engine operates in a
radically different manner from a plain fly-ball governor and will
use 30% less steam.

Help was scarce. The young men were in the Army. The Regular
sawyer was off that day, and Carl had to run and take the lever to
run the mill. The boy on the carriage is Glenn Mc Murtry. Glen was
a little young for the service. Glenn comes to our steam engine
show, near Springfield, Missouri occasionally, and helps me run my
old Case engine. A close look will show a blue spot near the bottom
edge of the ‘Cant’ we were sawing. The saw had hit a wire
fence staple. I’m calling attention to this to make an excuse
for the rough saw marks.

Gun-stocks must be ‘clear as a hound’s tooth.’ Zack
Langford is using a forked device to mark the defects in a
‘Flitch.’ This is an old English word that is seldom heard
anymore, except in the lumber industry. It is a slice of wood with
rough edges. A log that is partly sawn is called a
‘Cant.’

A belt, 14′ wide, drove the head rig. Another 12′ wide
on the other flywheel, drove a General Electric 3 phase,
alternating current generator, sometimes called an alternator, that
generated 440 volts, 125 amps. This ran motors that were belted to
band saws, rip saws and a planer.

I never did get the mill completely motorized. There were two
saw dust blowers, three swing cut-off saws, and a wood conveyor
that were driven by belts. An 8′ belt on a 48′ diameter
wheel pulled the belted load. Steam engine ‘buffs’ would
sometimes come to see the mill. Their eyes would open wide to see
the old Skinner rolling along easily at 227 revolutions per minute,
under 34′ of belt. They were disappointed, though, because they
could not use the connecting rod.

George Washman is laving patterns and making our blanks for the
gun that we called the Garand. John C. Garand, a man who worked for
the Springfield Armory, invented it; but, the Army called it,
‘The M 1.’

Quite a few of our men became acquainted with it on the
battlefield. General George Patton called it: ‘The finest
battlefield instrument that was ever devised.’ General Douglas
MacArthur and General Dwight D. Eisenhower also praised it and
said: ‘It contributed greatly to victory in both Europe and
Asia.’

We made stocks for several different rifles. The first order we
had was for the British Mark IV Enfield. The stock for this rifle
was made in two pieces. Many of our men, who served in Europe, saw
them. At the beginning of the war, the Army found it was impossible
to get the ‘Garand’ or the ‘M 1’ into production
fast enough; so they had the Remington Company make two or three
million ‘Model 1903 Spring-fields.’ We also made some for
the Model 1917; but, we made more stocks for a new gun, called the
‘M 1 Carbine’, than any other.

Blanks for the Garand and the British Mark IV Enfield are ready
to be shipped to the Midwest Walnut Company. Dry-kiln Willow
Springs, Missouri for Drying. Note: that the ends
are coated with pitch to prevent cracks in drying. Great care is
necessary. The slightest crack will ruin them.

Folks used to call me ‘an old fogey’ for using an old
steam engine. My smokestack was 75′ high. It came down in 1966.
Just eleven years later, one of the largest wood-working plants in
town put in a modern steam boiler. The local newspaper carried a
picture of them, hoisting a 100′ stack, and made a big splurge
about them going to make power out of waste wood. They seemed to
think they had made a great discovery.

Another piece of steam equipment I had was a steam feed. (For
readers who may not be familiar with the language used by
wood-workers, ‘feed’ means the mechanism that propels the
carriage.) This machine was made by the Soule Company, Meridian,
Mississippi. It is called: ‘The Speed-D-Twin.’ It has two
5′ x 6′ cylinders. It will handle the carriage very fast
and is easily controlled.

I was proud of my mill and steam-electric power plant, but I was
lazy and getting old; logs were scarce, so I let it go.