Being the craigslist addict I am, I somehow stumbled across an ad."Bandsaw/resaw/mill... with a 7" wide blade and feed rolls that tip to make clapboards..." There was even a photo, and well, that got my interest. It seemed a little small though...
So I drove over there to take a look at it, and Wayne leads me out back behind a semi trailer. Lo and behold, it was a massive Mershon 54" Resaw that had been used at a local mill to mill hull planking for boats among other things.
The price was clearly at scrap value if not less, so I could not ask for a lower price. After trying fruitlessly to trade a extra edger to the seller, I had to decide if it was something I should plunk down the cash for. Once I convinced my wife it was a good buy, I took the deal.
One morning on the way out to Rochester, NY for a reunion, we stopped by to take measurements, and I have to tell you, it gets bigger every time I see it. Here we are measuring it which came out to be around 12'2" tall.
And just for scale...
My trailer deck measured 19" to the top of the wooden bed, so I was a little concerned about being over the 13'6" highway limit that semi trailers are built to. The top wheel was able to be lowered if it had to come to that.
After a couple months, I finally got the opportunity to go out there and load the machine onto my trailer with some luck and a bit of experience at amateur rigging.
First, Wayne and I had to drag the saw someplace else where the trailer could back up to it at an angle for loading:
Then once i got the trailer backed into position and uncoupled, it was jacked way up high to get the trailer deck as low as it could go.
Did I mention this thing gets bigger every time I see it?
Setting up the 5-ton lug-all I borrowed from work. I love borrowing tools from work, and so does Jugadro.
By now my arm is about to fall off, but the machine is ON, with some help from chainsaw oil lubing its way up the tilted deck. Man, I need a massive electric winch on the trailer...
Checking things over before I hit the road, I saw the tires were a bit low. To my dismay, most if not all, gas station air pumps can't get the tires to 110 psi. So I stopped at the local Shaw's Truck Garage (grocery chain) and they kindly lent me an air hose to pump my tires up to the max!
Surprisingly it towed well on the highway, going 40, then 45, 50... and then i was comfortably cruising at 55 mph up 295 in Maine some 50 miles to its new home, arriving in one piece and without a visit from the men in patrol cars.
It will probably be a couple years before I have her running in full swing, but when I do, I will try to update this thread! Meanwhile I'm looking for whatever documentation i can find on this machine and plan to post on OWWM next!
DumDum