Cutting those Circles
One of the toughest challenges I faced in restoring this mill was cutting
the semi-circles out of the large beams that form the enclosure for the
stones. I wrestled for a solution for a long time. The obvious tool to
use was the band saw. Now I personally do not own a band saw, especially
one that would cut thru 7 1/2 inch wide beams. The carpenter shop here at
work has a large bandsaw but it was against policy to let employees use the
tools in the shop. So, I searched for other alternatives. I questioned other
mill people on the Internet and got a number of good suggestions, but it seemed
the band saw idea was the way to go. I even spoke with a member of a local
wood working club to see if he had any ideas.
Finally, I spoke with the shop foreman at a local woodworking shop.
I explained to him what I was wanting to do and his response was
"I think I can do that on the table saw". That kind of threw me, but it turns
out that the diameter of the saw blade on the table saw was almost exactly the
diameter of the circle that I needed cut out of the beams. He explained to me
that he could clamp a jig to the saw and run the beams across the blade perpendicular
to it, cutting out a fraction of an inch with each pass. I told him I had a scrap
piece he could try it on. I brought it in the next morning and in just a few
minutes he had made a near perfect cut. So, the next morning, I brought in all
eight pieces and he cut the circles out of them while I watched. Took about 45 minutes.
I was relieved to have those cuts made knowing that I would now be
able to make considerable progress on the restoration.
Back to restortion page.