Thread: Steam Power

I've always wanted to own a steam powered timber mill

P.S. figures that a fellow fridgy and landy aficionado would also appreciate steam powered manufacturing :-)

Back in 1963 I visited a timber mill in Eastern Dorrigo that was powered by a steam engine.
The owner pointed out that if he converted to electricity, he would not only have to pay for the electricity, but he would also have the expense of getting rid of the sawdust and offcuts.

A sugar mill up on the Tweed was seam powered and was fueled by the waste crushed sugar cane stalks with a bit of diesel added to get the fire going.

Hello All,

There is still a steam powered saw mill operating in Queensland at Grandchester. It is a nice back roads drive from the Gold Coast to Toowoomba; or even via Brisbane and Beaudesert to Toowoomba.

Grandchester Sawmill - History

The should call it the Phoenix mill because it had a bad fire and they had to rebuild a lot of it.

I put myself through my first year at Queensland Agricultural College by working at the Killarney Abattoirs in the rending plant. The whole abattoirs was steam powered. The best steak and sausages I have ever had was cooked on the shovel the boiler attendant used to feed the boiler. The shovel was hygienically placed on the coals first to get nice an hot; a bit of cooking oil onto the shovel and a great dinner was had by all while we were working nights. Oh and no one else but the boiler attendant could use the shovel, because he was the only one with a steam ticket.

Being in the rendering plant our crew were always the last out the door.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Allways wondered why steam saw mills not very common, I done the tours of sugar mills and they often pointed to converting steam to electricity to make it usable--and then there the tails of sugar mills gone broke producing power.

pre WW2 steam mills had been common in this region.dad has 2 big dam in his house yard for the mill and dug outs in the river bank for the boiler fire box.

old boilers taken for scrap on dumped in the river around 1940's.

during war time rations charcoal producers was big business.so easy fuel supply and shortage of waist timber.

grandparents business produced lots of rail sleepers, tomato and oyster racks. they also produced ready to prefab house timber but I think this was 40-50's.

most of the mills had petrol engines post war, dad had caddy straight 8 on the bench and side valve truck engines on other equipment.post war ford V8 ex military are common. neighbours mill had tank engines.

late 60's they swapped to electric using 40HP motors.

my family had poultry and saw dust in hunter valley can be hard to get. local mills now burn scrap again because reduced demand for wood chips.

Originally Posted by blitz

I've always wanted to own a steam powered timber mill

P.S. figures that a fellow fridgy and landy aficionado would also appreciate steam powered manufacturing :-)

I have always liked things that are engineered and thought out be it steam or other forms of power, although steam power reminds us of times when you had to use all your senses to maintain the plant...... as my Grandfather use to say, "most things are right when they sound right".... I guess the sound of a steam driven plant is one of those sounds............. not sure where I am going with this comment but it "sounds right" to me

The main farm still has a wartime Lister JP4 as an irrigation pump on the dam,to supplement the windmill which supplies cattle trough water,4 cylinder diesel 40 HP at 1100/1200rpm uses about a gallon and bit an hour, fill the gravity feed tank, lift 4 de-compression levers, wind the flywheel over by hand crank 3ft flywheel, drop 1 lever and as it catches drop the other 3 one at a time,it is fitted with a governor,so it won't over-revv and it shuts down when it runs out of diesel,gives a nice low hum from 100yards away,used to start it about 5pm with 4 gallons and she would shut down about 9pm Aah! the subtle sounds of farming kinda like the chug of a Fergie TEA-20

I always remember my grandfather telling me to respect steam as it was "Live"

Boilers wear out and the cost of replacement boilers is the reason why we don't see steam saw mills.
Also allow for the fact a large boiler must be taken up to heat slowly, or it will bend or crack.....ie not idiot proof.
Boilers must be washed out regularly and have all the access plugs removed and pay someone to test it yearly etc...........costs money as does water treatment for the boiler.

the sugar mill you may be thinking of is Condong. I worked there a few years ago and helped construct the trial co-generation feeder plant. I don't know if things have changed but one mill was still steam powered along with a lot of steam powered pumps. The steam engine was just beautiful to watch and listen to. There was a 300hp , twin cylinder reciprocating engine sitting forlornly in the engine room waiting for someone to remove. I think if you wanted it, you could take it. I had thoughts of an ex fishing boat hull with the engine and a boiler sitting midships...one can dream....