Re: What is it? Set 358

[DanG]

I think the small youtube movies are great. They sure didn't help me figure out the steam driven cutter, but I can't imagine understanding anything about it without the movie to see it run.

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

"George W Frost" fired this volley in news:TDAto.13$ [e-mail]:

> But, realistically folks, the guy holding the wood log, is holding it > the wrong way, it should be held end up so the blade splits down the > grain of the wood > It is a shingle cutter >

Might be, but if it is, it's for cutting siding shingles, and not roofing shingles. The stroke is too short. It wouldn't handle a butt longer than about 8".

LLoyd

[RicodJour]

13$ [e-mail]:

No way, no how is that for cutting shingles. Shingles/shakes were rived with a froe, originally, and not shaved off of a log's side. Even if the log were held vertically, that thing would cut the log so that the grain would guarantee the shingle would curl. That machine has no depth control so the 'shingles' wouldn't be even remotely uniform. In addition, who would ever have a machine where you'd have to lift logs up to chest height to cut them and do it for hours on end? It's more likely an amputee maker than a shingle cutting machine.

R

[Rob H.]

A couple of people have suggested that the machine is a fodder cutter, for cutting up corn stalks, etc. But that part on the top that he pulls down to use as a pusher would seem to work better with wood than with corn stalks.

Rob

[Mouse]

cole slaw?

Doesn't seem useful for much besides making kindling.

[Steve W.]

The shingle cutter I run works just like the one in the video. It has all the parts though, this one is missing the stop and bed guide (they are both easy to remove/lose.... They make siding shingles not roof shingles.

[whit3rd]

2060: looks like a hardware store display rack for handsaws 2061: Could be a coathanging hook, in a form suitable for quickly affixing to your log cabin wall... 2062: a grip gizmo for opening jars and bottles 2063: perhaps a horticultural hole-maker? To plant a seedling into...

[--riverman]

Why do we assume its for use with wood? Maybe something for shaving ice blocks, or hacking up meat (wild guess) or something? I think this going to require some out of the box thinking.

--riverman

[Rob H.]

Good answer

Correct!

Three for three

Possibly, still not sure about this one.

Rob

[Gerald Miller]

Turnip chopper? Gerry :-)} London, Canada

[George W Frost]

Any chance that it was designed to run logs along to trim one side before being shaped with a gutter adze to make a log structure?

--riverman

If you look at the video, you will see that he pushes the log into the cutter and the log slips, because it is round To cut something you need it to be flat on the table side He is pushing the log into the cutter the wrong way.

I change my mind and say it is a chaff cutter

[Rob H.]

Sounds good to me, what is the typical size for a siding shingle and a roofing shingle?

[dpb]

Rob H. wrote: ...

I don't know nuthin' about siding; roofing shingles are

24" --> "Royal" 18" --> "Perfection" 16" -- "Five-x" 5 butts thickeness-->2" minimum

There are grades within the classifications #1, 2, 3 that specify clear area from butt, minimum widths/lengths, parallel to within, etc., etc., etc., ...

Generally #1 are allowed to be 1" under nominal and have longer setback allowances. Steeper-pitch roofs allow shorter lengths to be used.

--

[RicodJour]

Without the parts you mention, the machine isn't a shingle cutter, it's a fair attraction for people waiting to see a guy get his hand cut off. ;)

Is it possible that your shingle cutter was repurposed? If it looks like the one that Rob posted, I'd think that wasn't much of a stretch. Post a picture, or better yet a video, of the shingle cutter you use in operation. Thanks.

This is a typical shingle mill.

?s=3D2ff4a214e86717cad701b763c1=38608b&attachmentid=3D23550&d=3D1190333512another type - a wobble mill timey drawing you're setting up to cut shingles, or anything of any value for that matter, minimizing waste is paramount, as is accuracy and repeatability. How does the machine you use allow the shingles to be cut on a taper?

Having that thing run by a tractor might be misleading. It obviously operates much faster in the video than is safe or accurate. If it were operating off of say an overhead shaft at a lower speed, that would address some of the issues. How is yours powered?

As to Rob's question about shingle sizes:

note that shingles are always sold as tapered resawn shingles. I have never seen a 'shaved' shingle. That is why I'm guessing the machine was either not a shingle cutter or was repurposed.

R

[J Burns]

It seemed to work fine when he used two hands with a round side against the table. The flat side was on the table when the blade picked up the billet on its upstroke. It looks like too much friction between the side of the blade and the face of the billet. Maybe the blade was rusty and maybe he pushed too hard.

If he had continued using both hands, he could have had a billet with four flattened faces, good for stacking and drying. I think an assistant would have been on a truck on the operator's right.

I'm not sure what you mean. Patent 609114, "Machine for Preparing Wood for Fuel," shows a similar reciprocating blade taking slices from the side of a billet. The billet is in a hopper, which makes it gravity fed and keeps fingers away.

The mystery machine looks more dangerous and more laborious. The advantage I see is that the operator could produce squared billets. In that case, the pusher would not normally have been used, just as I don't normally use a pusher stick with my chipper. (I wonder why the pusher handle on the mystery machine is bright red. Something new?)

The hydraulic splitter would have superseded this machine.

I'd hate to cut up a pile of straw by having somebody give me a handful at a time to hold on a little table near a big blade. Wouldn't a chaff cutter have a feed chute and a way to collect the chopped material?

[Kerry Montgomery]

Blood?

[Steve W.]

Yep just like most other old equipment...

links removed

However those are all newer machines than the pictured one. The one Rob posted is basically a mechanical version of a fro. The shakes it makes get split down the grain line.

The ones you linked to cut the shingles.

a splitting type machine. Want a SLOWER one - using the same principal just slower.

Tapered shingles are a relatively "new" version. They came about because they allowed the use of lower quality lumber. The stuff with knots or crooked grain. That wood didn't work well with splitting type machines but works fine with a saw. It also allowed the shakes to be cut longer because it didn't depend on grain line to work.

Original power was a large water wheel and it was belted WAY down. In use it makes one full stroke in 8 seconds. 4 down and 4 up. Currently it is powered by a small Fairbanks-Morse engine.

I wish I had a video. Will have to wait till next years show...

[J Burns]

[George W Frost]

go through surgery like that you sure have to hand it to him

[RicodJour]

Good post - informative. Thanks.

Your point about tapering coming about because it allowed the use of lower quality wood confuses the issue a bit. Tapering is always a good idea, regardless of the quality of wood. Tapered shingles and shakes lay flatter, which is not only desirable in a roof or siding, it's pretty much a necessity. If they don't lay flat, they blow off in the wind. I don't know that I've ever seen any structure with non- tapered shingles/shakes, although I don't doubt that it's been done. The centuries old Norse stave churches used tapered shingles.

only real benefits of sawn shingles are less waste, greater uniformity (which translates to speed in laying) and a more refined appearance. Lower quality wood shingles, those with knots that would interfere with splitting, must be resawn, but they're never used on a roof, only as a siding undercourse...or, in my case, shims!

I still want to see the video of your machine in operation. I'm patient and can wait. Thanks.

R