Steam Powered Saw Mill at the Florida Flywheelers 

My dad was a water boy for steam threshers on the farm. These machines held a special fascination for him and he always wanted to own one. After he retired, he bought a 5/8ths scale Case engine from an estate. We had great fun with it and ran a buzz saw and hammer mill with it. At the local fair, his engine supplied steam (350 degrees F) to a stainless steel kettle for cooking ham and beans dinners. I got to fire the engine a few years at these events. Here in the Midwest, steam threshing shows are very popular and educate the public how things were done a century ago. Once you get steam in your blood, it stays there for a lifetime. Dad and his engine have been gone for a long time but I still have wonderful memories of our "steam engine days." I have his engine's 3-chime whistle on my bookcase.

That drive pulley of the tractor is HUGE, steam engines have absolutely insane torque numbers.

I really enjoyed this Adam. Thank You. Technology has come a long way, but you can't beat the rithm and beat from those old engines. Be it steam or old Caterpillar diesels. I used to be in heavy haulage for most of my working live and big engines always get my juices flowing. But I'm a 58 old fart who loves stuff that's older than me. It's also very good to see You relax and enjoy yourself after all the busy times with the new shop. Good on Ya mate.

I like to see these old sawmills working. When I was in high school my dad and brother pulled an old American mill out of the weeds and got it working. Very similar setup but we hooked up a v8 gas engine to run it. I am envious of a setup where more than 2 people are available to run the mill though. When we ran it the sawyer would turn and dog the log and the other person would pull off the slabs and boards. It was hard work, not enough to make a living though. They are very wasteful of wood taking 1/4" of wood on each cut. This is the reason why a nominal 1" board is 3/4". Just bump the log over an inch for each cut. For every 3 cuts you lose a board to sawdust. The modern band saw mills are a lot less wasteful. We always thought it would be nice to burn the slabs to power a steam engine but never got to the point of setting one up. It would be interesting to show sharpening the saw and replacing the inserts. Another skill is hammering the blade to get it to run true. Hammering a blade is something I've seen done, but never did myself. It is a skill that is probably only known by a few. It would be good to document that in a video.

I thought after watching the adventures channel I would be disappointed in this video but nope. Almost everything was different footage and it was well worth the watch!

Love these fella's that keep this old school stuff going! Used to have a old farm show here in Aiken SC and I sure do miss it. Spent forty-two years in a machine shop and found out that my great and GG grandfather's were machinist. I really enjoy the video's of your shop. After watching the one on the new Matthews lathe I went to their site and with what I want to have here at the house. I can get a new lathe and knee mill for about $11G's. And those will do everthing I need for myself and a couple of ole friends that are still farming. Some of them still running their G grandfathers equipment and a few that are still drag racing. Always needing something repaired or modified. If it was a simple job I'd stay after hours and either repair or manufacture a new part for them just to help them out. The owner was a really good fella and didn't mind plus his brother had a sail boat that is now sporting custom one of a kind parts which he's really proud to show off. He always came to me "the old man" of the shop to do his brothers boat stuff.They were heart broken when I retired. I still go and help with some equipment repairs and especially when they get a job in for the 42" chuck lathe. Spent four years repairing papermill rolls. Lathe I ran there had a 72" chuck and would turn 110,000 lbs between centers and 220,000 lbs with a steadyrest. Thanks for all the hard work you put in behind these great vids! Man do I miss making chips!

I don't realize how much of this kind of stuff I like until you post it on your channel.. Thanks Adam.

If you guys like this video, check out the videos of the Case 150 road locomotive. Case only built about a handful and none of the originals exist. A guy named Cory Anderson got the plans out of the Case archives and built one for himself. Its a monster of a traction engine.

Different kind of chips and good camera work.

The sawdust pile, nothing better than watching the labors of it's development and smelling the aroma of fresh cut lumber.

Place must smell amazing

I love those old mufflers on the hit n miss engines.

Watch the saw mill at Hanford Mills NY, they have a collection of mill equipment. all operated by steam. or water wheel.

Great video! Good to see the older folks running the machines and keeping history alive!

250 rpm and 75 hp that thing is a beast; 2136 Nm of torque

Thanks for sharing this awesome video Adam. Always enjoy seeing the older machinery still at work and the MEN who grew up with them. Fred.

Cool machinery .... my grandad ran a steam shovel at the limestone quarry here back in the 30s.

You Americans have a lot of history to be proud of. What an interesting group of people. Takes a lot of dedication to keep such an amazing venture going. Nice to see some of these types of videos here at Abom79. Thanks Adam!

Those where the days, health and safety!!, what health and safety 😬, that big old blade wouldn’t take any prisoners, fantastic to watch, the ingenuity back in the day, levers cams etc

Its wonderful that these are still a tradition in a few places. I remember my uncle helping in a threshing demo here in central Pennsylvania. This brings back good memories

Steam power is awesome. Thanks for sharing

It would be nice to have an in depth tour and description of all the parts of the mill and why each part is there and how each part functions. Maybe even a little history on how and why the parts came about etc. So much history in those machines, I'm sure one of those guys would love to talk about them, ie. like why are the belts so long and twisted etc. I personally don't know and am a little curious. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya

Nice to see the way it was back in the day. You can't keep Adam away from chip creation.

That steering mechanism on the tractor, with the chain, was cool!

what an awesome place. great to see the old school machinery still working. it warms my heart.

Fascinating device. I know that modern bandsaw mills are a lot more efficient, but it's great that there are still people keeping these antiques in good working order.

Cool saw mill. It's so cool on steam, you can hear the saw mill, the engine is so quiet... :-)

Love this! My favorite thing to do (when I have time) is to go to heritage festivals.

Love seeing the old sawmills! Thank you for recording this ole Frick in action!

If you want some fun, watch a crowd of people who are gifted the chance to see one of those Case 75 HP traction engines do a couple demonstration runs at a tractor pull! The local steam show and grounds owners sent a traction engine to a county fair antique tractor pull, along with a guy who had a blown, big-block, hotrod pulling tractor. When it was time for the demonstration runs, the big, hotrod tractor fired up on its trailer and backed down and drove over to the sled with all kinds of throttle-jacking and noise. What a spectacle!...all that power! The guy did a decent run, lifting the front end, and finally spinning out well past where the old Allis Chalmers, John Deere, and Farm-Alls had strained to a stop under the load. The crowd cheered the awesome display! THEN it was the steam guys' turn. the two guys were wearing engineers caps and striped overalls and put on quite a show of 'Keystone Cops'-like behavior...acting all inept and silly. Since they didn't have a proper hitch, they chained the sled to the traction engine in the best 'Freddy Fumbles' behavior. The crowd was getting a little impatient, wanting them to get off the track so the next event could start. So, they finally got hooked up and did their pull, the old steamer barking pretty good when it came to a stop right beside where the hotrod had spun out...Dead Heat! The crowd cheered in disbelief as the fireman climbed down to kick at the fresh dirt where the hotrod's wheels had dug holes that'd been refilled. The fireman then went around to the back to unhook the chain as the applause continued. A sharp yell was heard from the engineer, who was motioning madly for the fireman to ignore the chain and climb back aboard. All kinds of hollering and arm waving ensued as the crowd murmured in confusion. A buddy and I had brought our girls to the show and had them between us...Jake and I leaned back, looking around the girls and grinned at each other after his wife had said something about getting that old piece of junk off the track and getting on with the next event...we knew what was about to happen! The fireman finally climbed back up and the engineer blew the cylinder clear with fresh dry steam then engaged the clutch and advanced the throttle...starting the sled with the load all the way at the top of the ramp! You could hear a pin drop in the stands for a few seconds, then the hoots and hollers started as people realized they'd been taken for a ride by those two guys with the steamer!! That old girl had just been playing with the fancy pulling tractor! She had STARTED the load where the hotrod had been beaten by it...just to show that you should NEVER bet against steam!

I love them old steam engines!!!! Thanks Adam!!!

AWESOMER THAN AWESOME!!!!!

Thanks Adam, love them old machines. My Dad used to run a similar Mill back in the late 60's early 70's. I still remember him hand sharpening the blades with a file every evening and me playing in the piles of sawdust.

fantastic to see the old stuff running, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting an in-depth video of the sawyer operation. I put myself through college working in a lumber mill and the job I remember the most was pulling green-chain. Although I did love the steam while working in boiler room.

Excellent, it brings back memories of my youth, a credit to yours and mine heritage in the USA and UK. Thank you.

So mesmerizing to watch those old time sawmills running belt driven. Enjoyed the video.

Those cypress logs make some great looking lumber

the NC state fair has a steam engine saw mill, very impressive to watch

I Love these old Sawmills especially when they are powered with the Old Steam Engines

Fantastic setup.

A joy to watch

Very nice job Adam!

I haven’t finished the video yet but pretty old school. Dangerous as all get out. I like it.

I used to live about a mile from there. The guy that owned the house we were renting was a longstanding member, and took me out there a few times when I was only 18 years old. I thought it was pretty cool.

So much torque on those steam engines

Always great to see some old school equipment in action 👌

Thanks for taking the time to make and share this video with us Adam. I really enjoyed it!!

Antique milling machine like that are always fascinating to see in action. Everything run from one power source. All the belts chains pulleys in motion. It’s no wonder there were so many industrial accidents back in the day without guards covering the rotating parts. Compared to the automated machinery now days. They produced a lot with what they had back when

I wanted to get my LA city steam boiler license which had two parts a written and an oral. So I took a class my union had been given for years with this salt of the earth instructor. Had about two weeks left of the class, so the instructor explained that the oral part of the test was the hardest and one of the oral questions failed most people. So he gave us the question, WHAT STEPS DO YOU TAKE IF YOU SEE NO WATER IN THE SITE GLASS? One person said to open up the manual water bypass and add more water, another person said to shut off the fire, then another said open the mud valve on the site glass to see if water came out, the last person said I call my boss to the boiler and show him there's not water in the site glass. The instructor shouted, you all failed the oral test. So a person in the back of the room yelled out, what are the steps??? The instructor said, I'd take the back steps out of the building and get as faraway as possible, and he was right. If you add water the boiler it will blowup, if you shut of the fire there's enough heat the boiler it will blowup, by the time you check the bottom of the site glass the boiler will blowup, by the time the boss arrives the boiler blowups.

Fascinating and Terrifying with all of that wide open spinning, cutting stuff. That steam engine had the juice… there was no bogging on the log like the diesel had.

Thank you for sharing Adam. That was great.

Loved it. That is so cool. I went back in time. Thank you for the vid.

Big oil doesn't make a dime off steam power. That's why I think it's GREAT.!!!!!

That brought back memories of my grandfather’s saw mill in Kentucky, but it had a Reo gasoline engine , and when I was a kid 🧒 we carried out the slab’s and shoveled the sawdust away from the drag when the sawdust got high !! awesome 😎

Hard to explain this place , back woods of Florida, part show, part flea market, my favorite is the constitution equipment demos

I like the steering on the Case. When you turn the wheel the chain pushes on one side and pulls on the other.

Really enjoyed this. Thanks Abom79.

There is nothing like the sound of Live stream I used to love going on the trains in Brisbane Queensland Australia on the steam trains when I was a kid alert later on they were called BB18 1/4 Just love them

Mighty fine video🤩....Thanks Adam...🙏👀👍

There's a place like this near by that does a show once a year. Been to it once and it was very interesting.

hi there looks like Witte engine on the buzz saw . if you ever get up around Maryland let me know . i have a 2 frick mills love to show you around and give you a chance to pull the handle some . i have watched lots of your videos and don't think you would have any problem at all . i have a couple friends that would also love to meet up . One has a lot of old iron looking for a new home . good show john

I love listening to the steam engine bark.

Fantastic! Enjoyed watching. Thanks!,

I love steam flywheels my grandpa used to build them by hand when I was little.

Thoses machines from the past were and are still full of "life" comparing to our new stuff which are completly emtpy of any "soul".. Hope you get my point ;) Nice Video! Thanks Alot

Very cool, Thanks Abom.

That little plastic guard is killing me. 😂

Adam, hopefully you got to see a steam tractor being driven. That steering that impressed you takes a *lot* of work turning the steering wheel to get the front wheels to turn even a tiny amount. I was able to watch a steam tractor (a bit larger than the Case, I think) on loan to & restored by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Auburn being driven on campus one day (they had to put rubber tank tread pads on the steel tires to protect the roads) and the guys driving it were _really_ working hard. It was slow, but I bet if they had run into a fairly small tree or building, the tractor would have won! ;)

Very, very cool. Thanks for the great video.

Steam power rules.

Its pretty amazing all the iron and engineering that went into equipment to slowly spin something that we use an inexpensive electric motor for now.

Really cool, thanks for the treat

Love a surprise Abom upload 😀👍🏻

Another great video . thanks Adam

Years ago I saw a flywheel operation running a cider press. It was pretty cool to watch.

That is the real Armstrong power steering.

Super nice video, exciting. Always good content in your videos, I enjoy them a lot. It's so cool that there are some who keep the traditions alive, as well as engines and equipment functionally. We have something of the same in Denmark, it is called the Danish Motor and Machine Collection, which is a voluntary organization. They hold an annual reunion where people come from many places in Europe, I have been there a few times, awesome. 👌👍

Adam, if you cut any trees down on your property you should take it to this sawmill to have it cut.

You can hear it lugging when it's under load. Very cool.

Looks like the steam tractor was running "balls out"!

Really cool old machinery. I guess OSHA doesn't show up at this event.

OSHA needs to send some folks there, they'd have heart attacks and we would be rid of them. :)

That's one of the most American things ever! 🤠

That was great Adam brings back some memories and one of them was you didn't want to be close to those flat belts when one breaks or come off a pulley lol.

Interesting to think that until very recently this was the common way lumber was produced not necessarily with steam but portable saw mills were the norm.

Can't get away from the sirens !

Your videos make me want to be involved. I wish I could come visit to experience these wonderful activities, but living in Scotland I just don't know if that would ever be possible. Thank you for showing me this awesome setup.

This was rad

Máquinas fantásticas, amigo!!! Abraço a todos!!!

We have local logging contests here in Wisconsin in my hometown, which uses the old logging land assayers office as a public library (it's on the national historic registry). We are home to a working Phoenix Steam Hauler, one of less than a handful left in the world. See this annually. Look up Wabeno Wisconsin Steam Up Days.

Hey Adam really enjoyable I need to go there some day!

Enjoyed the video Thanks . Come out in November 9-10-11-12, 2022

Great Video

So cool to hear that engine load up when the saw starts cutting. No video would be complete without sirens! 🤣

The irregularity in the blade can be heard and seen in the cut.

👍 From Cadillac Michigan

Adam if you talk nice I'll see you run it next year. The man running that engine is out of Mich. and that's his Fla. engine. There is also a steam boat with us down there. We go to Fla. in the winter to play with the steam toys and the sawmill on the property where the engine lives.

12:30 Great shot through the screen and spinning pulley !!

This is so cool