Positioning an Edger and Sawmill
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Situating your two-man sawmill setup for optimum efficiency. May 11, 2005
Question
I just got an edger and would like some help positioning it with the mill. I will have two guys - one on the mill and one sticking and edging, if this is possible. Is there a way to have the man edging not go to the outside of the edger and the boards fall and stack with the wain separate?
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
The edger is usually located to the side of the headrig and downstream a bit. There should be room for a lot of lumber to build up between the headrig and the edger... a surge pile. This way, if the edger is slow or headrig fast, you can still keep sawing.
From contributor B:
Timber Harvester is marketing an edger that lets the wane fall and stay at the end of the edger and returns the edged board to the operator for stacking. Last time I saw it in action (8 months ago) it needed some refinement, but they have sold several, so it must work fairly well. Their design is the only one I've seen that allows the edgerman to stay at one end of the machine, working alone.
From contributor F:
I run two Mobile Dimension Mills and have no worries as to where to place an edger. The edger is built in with the mill. Each time I produce a board, I am producing two edges and one side to my lumber.
From contributor R:
I've been wondering about Timber Harvester's edger. What happens with the edgings to keep them from just bunching up as they come out of the edger?
From contributor B:
The out board rides on a narrow bed while the edgings fall off to the side. After a while, there does get to be a pile there that you have to stop and deal with. I'm a big Timber Harvester fan but I wasn't sold on the thing in the last form I saw it in, which was the original prototype. I haven't seen the refined version.
