Port Alberni Summer: 2012 !
The old McLean mill, the destination of the train ride, is all set up for the tourists waiting for the return ride.
The old mill. This is the first time for me to actually see it...
The fully operational mill (with old technology), still follows the standard saw mill proceedure.
First a log is attached to a large movable carriage...
Then the carriage is used by the head sawyer to pass the log through the main saws, where slabs are sliced off...
These slabs fall onto the deck and its moving chains, and the edger sawyer will run them through the edger to remove
the uneven sides of the new slab.
This is the edger table, where the waste wood is being removed by this guy, seen here about to drop this
bit of scrap into the waste trough where it is cut into smaller pieces and sent to the scrap heap. This is a job that I did for one summer in 1975. Very dangerous
but very interesting, as we were also the crew that helped change the saws when they needed sharpening.
The fresh cut lumber then comes out here on the green chain, to be sorted into piles of similar dimensions. The little
shed on the left is where the lumber graders stood, supervised by an inspector, which was dad's position for many years. Pulling lumber off the green chain was another
position that I filled up a different summer with...
The fun stuff! ...and child-proof!
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