Voice from the Woods: You need to keep you cool in a sawmill

HAVE you ever worked with someone who, whenever something goes slightly wrong, seems to lose it, has a hissy fit, throws their toys out of the cot and then stomps off in some child-like tantrum? I thought so!

Stomping off in a sawmill is especially childish and pointless, as mechanical objects have no feelings. While it might seem there are gremlins, any failings are usually due to mechanical failure or human error. I have little time for people like this and they’re usually the ones I want to thump rather than the guilty mechanical component. 

I was once working in Kielder Forest in Northumberland and watched with some amusement as a lorry driver attempted to park his wagon in a narrow clearing. After several futile attempts, he ended up parking in a forestry ditch just next to the road.

There then followed a lot of swearing, wheel-spinning and smoke, whereupon he finally jumped from the cab and, in a fit of pique, threw a mash hammer through the windscreen. Some time later, after he’d calmed down a bit, we extracted the wagon from the ditch with a winch. He was now faced with a 40-mile return journey in freezing conditions, but I had absolutely no sympathy. Personally speaking, this type of behaviour is not my style. In times of difficulty I tend to go quiet and try to work out how to solve the problem – with the least amount of fuss and expense.

This calm and calculating resolve which I feel I’ve displayed in the past has recently been severely tested. The chest infection which has dogged me for months is finally going, but

I’m not yet back up to full speed and still feel a little lethargic and lacking in enthusiasm.

A number of breakdowns have pushed my ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude to the limit.

Breakdowns, unless quickly remedied, cause staff to stand around, let customers down and ultimately cost me money; and while I expect some, I try to mitigate them as much as possible. 

I’ve tried hard to maintain and upgrade support items and the forklifts and generators are new, but the saws are all de-computerised for my purposes, are quite old and would be very difficult to replace. Cost is one thing, the length of time required to install a new saw is another, but the key issue would be trying to find something as strong and robust.

READ MORE: Voice: Clarkson’s Farm high jinks and 'elaborate fraud'

This has resulted in me spending a lot of time overhauling things in an effort to bring them up to scratch. Fortunately, although the main saw needs some money spent on it, the main components like the head rigs and the carriage just need a little TLC. There are, however, three other parts of the machine which need overhauling; the out-feed conveyor, the hydraulics on the loader and finally, and most pressing, the log nipper, which seems to carry one or two inherent problems.

The nipper works by stalling the motor and then braking, which isn’t the most ingenious engineering process as shock loads are being applied every time you feed a log into the mill and no machine likes being stressed in this manner. Consider something like a log splitter, which after only a couple of years will be covered in welds. The nipper has now been in my service for 10 years and had a life before that. I don’t mind in the slightest spending some money on it, but sometimes simply replacing a few worn parts won’t fix things and can even have the opposite effect. Running a new part next to a new part is fine, but a new part next to an old part is a no-no. If you’ve ever put a new gear in a gearbox then you’ll know exactly what I mean as it will destroy the old cogs. 

This exact scenario occurred when I got the electric motor rewired for the log nipper. If an electric motor is burnt out, then it is almost invariably down to external factors. Either its power supply is damaged or it’s been overloaded or jammed, but in the case of the nipper it had burnt out due to the brake. The brake had been binding, which I only discovered after the motor became damaged. When I sent the motor for repair I asked for the brake to be checked over and fixed. It clearly wasn’t as a few weeks later the motor simply burnt out again because the breakage had been fixed, but not the cause.

It’s for this reason I’ve been conducting a major overhaul so as not to waste time and money.

Matthew, from Matthew Storey Engineering, still working at 11pm to make me a heavy-duty puller and machine the shaft out of a bespoke sprocket which had been heat-shrunk on. My business couldn’t survive without people like him, but sadly he’s a dying breed. Five used to work in his machine shop before a visit from HSE. Now a sole trader. (Image: FJ)

The conveyor has been given a fairly major health check, with work carried out on the shaft and rollers together with new bearings, sprockets and a belt overhauled as a whole unit. I’m now doing the same on the nipper and, after wasting money on the motor, I’ve ordered a new gearbox, motor and brake. I’m also overhauling the bearings on a huge chain (about 60” long), which opens and shuts the carriage and these will be checked and replaced where necessary. In the process I have learned that by going directly to the manufacturer if you’re replacing parts en masse then it is a lot more economical. For instance, a new motor, brake and gearbox from Euro Drive in Wakefield was a few thousand when I expected it to be double that price. Hopefully, in a few weeks’ time, the great overhaul of 2023 will be complete, the main machines will be more up to date and I won’t have to worry so much.

Although spending up to £20k on an overhaul might seem a lot of money on an old machine, to me it’s money well spent if it’s done properly, as a replacement would be over a million pounds. It’s also increasingly difficult to find the people and suppliers with the necessary skills, knowhow and understanding. Thankfully, I have a couple of people on whom I can call whose skills and knowledge are vital.

It’s essential when conducting any engineering upgrade or adaptation to give it a lot of thought and to take your time if you want good results. I once had bearings fitted to a band saw and the mechanic who was doing the job ended up with the wheel out of line after attaching the bearings with a giant hammer. The saw, once operational, was cracking bands on piece, so I was forced to pull it apart again. This time I rebuilt it using components from an oven and a fridge to rebuild the bearings so they pushed together without force. Slow, but worth it! But such is modern life, where everyone appears to be in a rush and time is money and even Google doesn’t propose using fridge components on a saw.

I would still maintain that a good job is largely about patience and I’m sure you can picture the scenario. You have identified a problem and are standing patiently watching and listening and concentrating on whether things sound right or are tight enough and in the middle of this delicate analysis someone wanders up and barks: “What are we doing next?”

The old footplate from my Massey 65... (Image: FJ)

Don’t get me wrong, I understand it comes with the territory and while my motto of ‘rough but quick’ may apply on some occasions, there’s no substitute for taking time to stand and watch something work as it can save a mountain of heartache. It just seems lately that this patient, considered approach is always disturbed. It reminds me a little of small children on a car journey when you’ve embarked on a four-hour trip, demanding to know: “Are we there yet?”

Fortunately, I’ve just received a call from Euro Drive regarding the new motor and gearbox. They have informed me it will be built in three hours and sent out by courier, so I will receive it this evening. With any luck I should have all systems up and running within 24 hours. That’s pretty impressive service and goes to prove there are still plenty of good British companies out there.

Just lately, in whatever moments of free time I have, I’ve been fixing up an old Massey Ferguson 65 tractor. The idea is that my wife will use it for topping the fields. I’ve had the thing for about 20 years and used it for firewood processing, but it has no brakes or footplates and the wheels even have holes in them. I decided I’d give it a little TLC and on Saturday afternoons I’ve been trying to buy components for it from the internet.

... and the new! (Image: FJ)

Many companies appear to offer parts, but none seem to know the difference between a Massey Ferguson 35, 65, a Nuffield or a Fordson Major. Receiving the parts by courier is a little like Christmas as you’re unaware what will be in the box. It’s a bit of a lottery and has resulted in much banging, drilling and angle grinding. I don’t think Santa’s elves in distribution have a clue and I try to imagine them in the warehouse: “Fordson Major?

Sounds like someone from the army. Chuck that in the box!”