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A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill

Sturgeon's Mill
Sturgeon's Mill is a steam-powered sawmill in northern California. I had the privilege of seeing it running recently. The next demonstration dates are Sept 20 & 21 and Oct 18 & 19. If you have any cause to be near Sebastopol, California on those dates, I highly recommend a visit.


Sturgeon's Mill
The first thing they did was pull the logs in with a winch.

Sturgeon's Mill
They were then rolled onto a trolley cart and then wedged in place against a ratcheting brace.

Sturgeon's Mill
The whole cart is rolled in front of the massive saw blades to square it up. Once they were trimmed of their bark, they headed into another lovely set of blades to be cut into boards, but my camera batteries died before I could get any more pictures.

There is much more to see, like a vintage forklift, a log carrier, and lots and lots of awesome hand tools. The smell of the place was an absolutely wonderful mixture of oil and sawdust. Definitely worth a trip!

A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill | 4 comments | Create New Account
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A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill
From: Anonymous on Monday, August 04 2008 @ 07:42 AM PST
Man I am so jealous. I have been to that mill- but it was not a demo day. But just standing close to the blades you get a real sense of how easy it was to lose a finger or two!!! They are HUGE. Link Name
A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill
From: RichM on Tuesday, August 05 2008 @ 04:06 AM PST
Methinks an LED throwie, even with a very, very powerful rare earth magnet, would not last long on the side of one of those circular blades. But I doubt that these mill hands have tried the experiment.
A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill
From: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 01:01 PM PST
Looks like an interesting place to visit. A nice look into the past! Funny to see all the dangerous equipment with no safety mechanisms.