FINISHED ROUGH SAWN TIMBERS
AMY IN "THE PIT"
52 INCH BLADE AT WORK
TY AT HIS CUTTING POST
AMY AT THE CONTROLS
THE MILL
THE MILL
TY, AMY & ERICIn 1962, Mr. Grouz fulfilled a dream. He built a business in an unlikely spot.
Rocks were strewn everywhere. The valley floor for miles was littered with truck-size boulders. Standing tall lining the tops of precipitous cliffs, were thousands more stones watching over the narrow valley.
Not a tree was to be seen.
And yet, this is where Mr. Grouz built his sawmill.
One mile from the crossroads of US 287 and Poudre Canyon Road Mr. Grouz' sawmill stands today.
Lined with seemingly random piles of logs; of neatly stacked dimensional rough sawn lumber, securely bound into bundles; of random length rough-sawn lumber strapped into 4 by 4 foot by 16 foot bundles; of bundled lengths of trimmed bark-0n strips of wood; of containers filled with captured sawdust;...all waiting for buyer's to come take it away to fulfill another's dream.
90 % of every log is used and offered for sale.
Logs are purchased from truckers hauling raw logs from the high mountains near Walden, Colorado. Ponderosa Pine, Lodge Pole Pine and the occasional Fir are transformed from raw timber into dimensionally rough sawn lumber.
The remarkable thing about Mr. Grouz sawmill is that the entire mill is using technology and equipment from the turn-of-the-century (the 20th Century). Two exceptions stand out:
A modern Cummins Diesel Engine replaces the original motor providing power to drive the belt & cable systems...
Two modern center-pivot Diesel Fork-lifts move logs and lumber bundles throughout the yard.
Other than that, everything about Forks Lumber Company is strictly 1920's vintage.
There is NO RUNNING WATER.
There is NO ELECTRICITY.
Employees must bring their own drinking water.
There is a rented Honey Bucket out back for necessaries.
And the entire mill hums along happy as a clam at high tide, run by three people.
Amy Mowan, recently married Grand Daughter of Mr. Grouz, is owner and straw boss. Amy makes the decisions, runs all the equipment and works The Pit, catching and pre-sorting lumber as it is ejected from the 52 inch rotary belt-driven saw.
Tyler Hanson, co-owner, is the Saw Boss. Tyler selects logs which are loaded onto the mill feeder table with one of the fork lifts. Standing to the side of the log feeder table Ty, using a short-handled Peeve, rolls the next log onto the rail mounted log cutting cart. Using a Craftsman retracting rule hanging on a post at his left elbow, Ty checks the log position on the cart. Giving a pull on the ratcheted positioning slide, Ty adjusts the log position and securely Pins the log to the table.
Pulling back on his 8 foot wooden lever, Ty moves the cart mounted log into the spinning 52 inch circular blade which cuts a strip of wood from the 16-foot long log. Releasing the 8 foot lever, it is returned to "neutral" by a bungee cord tied to the framework of the circular saw blade. Another pull on the lever moves the log cart back to its starting position. Ty, using his Peeve, spins the log to a new position, takes measurements, ratchets in an adjustment, pins the log securely to the cart and makes another cut. Hr repeats this sequence until the entire log is cut into Ty's desired dimensions. Typical log produces 2 or 3 pieces of lumber 1 inch thick and two or three 4 x 4 or 4 x 6 or 6 x 6 inch beams.
After each log is cut, Ty makes notations on his Log Sheet noting what that log produced.
Amy, standing in The PIT, catches each piece of lumber, pre-sorts it and with a mighty shove, sends it down one of two roller tables to a waiting Eric.
Eric, Guy Friday, catches Amy's lumber, and neatly stacks it on a pallet of same dimension lumber. Trim cuts are thrown into bins according to optional uses of the cut.
When the pallets are filled, Eric carefully binds the stack, which is moved into storage by one of the forklifts.
The entire operation is without a word spoken.
The entire mill is powered by the Cummins Diesel output shaft belt pulley. The circular saw spins by a belt from the Diesel. The travelling log cart moves forward and back by belts from the Diesel. Except for the running Diesel and spinning blade cutting through the log, the mill is quiet. Even the Diesel and blade make little noise.
Large overhead pipes vacuum up sawdust from the cutting area, depositing it into sealed bins located outside the 100 foot long mill shed. Not a grain of dust escapes the suction pipes.
How do I know all this?
Walking to and from Livermore through a rock-strewn valley, a sawmill where not a tree is standing for miles caught my attention. One might say it was a rose waiting to be sniffed.
Thanks to Amy for allowing me to watch and photograph the crew in action, and to write this blog entry.
Rocks were strewn everywhere. The valley floor for miles was littered with truck-size boulders. Standing tall lining the tops of precipitous cliffs, were thousands more stones watching over the narrow valley.
Not a tree was to be seen.
And yet, this is where Mr. Grouz built his sawmill.
One mile from the crossroads of US 287 and Poudre Canyon Road Mr. Grouz' sawmill stands today.
Lined with seemingly random piles of logs; of neatly stacked dimensional rough sawn lumber, securely bound into bundles; of random length rough-sawn lumber strapped into 4 by 4 foot by 16 foot bundles; of bundled lengths of trimmed bark-0n strips of wood; of containers filled with captured sawdust;...all waiting for buyer's to come take it away to fulfill another's dream.
90 % of every log is used and offered for sale.
Logs are purchased from truckers hauling raw logs from the high mountains near Walden, Colorado. Ponderosa Pine, Lodge Pole Pine and the occasional Fir are transformed from raw timber into dimensionally rough sawn lumber.
The remarkable thing about Mr. Grouz sawmill is that the entire mill is using technology and equipment from the turn-of-the-century (the 20th Century). Two exceptions stand out:
A modern Cummins Diesel Engine replaces the original motor providing power to drive the belt & cable systems...
Two modern center-pivot Diesel Fork-lifts move logs and lumber bundles throughout the yard.
Other than that, everything about Forks Lumber Company is strictly 1920's vintage.
There is NO RUNNING WATER.
There is NO ELECTRICITY.
Employees must bring their own drinking water.
There is a rented Honey Bucket out back for necessaries.
And the entire mill hums along happy as a clam at high tide, run by three people.
Amy Mowan, recently married Grand Daughter of Mr. Grouz, is owner and straw boss. Amy makes the decisions, runs all the equipment and works The Pit, catching and pre-sorting lumber as it is ejected from the 52 inch rotary belt-driven saw.
Tyler Hanson, co-owner, is the Saw Boss. Tyler selects logs which are loaded onto the mill feeder table with one of the fork lifts. Standing to the side of the log feeder table Ty, using a short-handled Peeve, rolls the next log onto the rail mounted log cutting cart. Using a Craftsman retracting rule hanging on a post at his left elbow, Ty checks the log position on the cart. Giving a pull on the ratcheted positioning slide, Ty adjusts the log position and securely Pins the log to the table.
Pulling back on his 8 foot wooden lever, Ty moves the cart mounted log into the spinning 52 inch circular blade which cuts a strip of wood from the 16-foot long log. Releasing the 8 foot lever, it is returned to "neutral" by a bungee cord tied to the framework of the circular saw blade. Another pull on the lever moves the log cart back to its starting position. Ty, using his Peeve, spins the log to a new position, takes measurements, ratchets in an adjustment, pins the log securely to the cart and makes another cut. Hr repeats this sequence until the entire log is cut into Ty's desired dimensions. Typical log produces 2 or 3 pieces of lumber 1 inch thick and two or three 4 x 4 or 4 x 6 or 6 x 6 inch beams.
After each log is cut, Ty makes notations on his Log Sheet noting what that log produced.
Amy, standing in The PIT, catches each piece of lumber, pre-sorts it and with a mighty shove, sends it down one of two roller tables to a waiting Eric.
Eric, Guy Friday, catches Amy's lumber, and neatly stacks it on a pallet of same dimension lumber. Trim cuts are thrown into bins according to optional uses of the cut.
When the pallets are filled, Eric carefully binds the stack, which is moved into storage by one of the forklifts.
The entire operation is without a word spoken.
The entire mill is powered by the Cummins Diesel output shaft belt pulley. The circular saw spins by a belt from the Diesel. The travelling log cart moves forward and back by belts from the Diesel. Except for the running Diesel and spinning blade cutting through the log, the mill is quiet. Even the Diesel and blade make little noise.
Large overhead pipes vacuum up sawdust from the cutting area, depositing it into sealed bins located outside the 100 foot long mill shed. Not a grain of dust escapes the suction pipes.
How do I know all this?
Walking to and from Livermore through a rock-strewn valley, a sawmill where not a tree is standing for miles caught my attention. One might say it was a rose waiting to be sniffed.
Thanks to Amy for allowing me to watch and photograph the crew in action, and to write this blog entry.
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