I can’t believe it’s November already. The year has gone by so quickly, and it’s almost over. I caught my family hanging Christmas lights the other day. Seriously! I thought to myself, “What day is this? What month is this?” Someone out there knows just how many shopping days are left until Christmas, but I’ll leave that stat up to other people to fret over. I think some people wait until the last minute because they enjoy what I call Combat Shopping, which by the way, would be an excellent reality TV show. Combat Shopping, or throwing arms and elbows in every direction to knock others out of your way on your relentless pursuit of the latest, largest, most pixel-containing new television, is not my cup of tea. I prefer to turn my attention to taking time to enjoy family, and to set goals for the upcoming year instead.
Sawmills across the continent are doing the same thing – preparing for maintenance shutdowns over the holiday season, and preparing their budgets for 2017. Throughout 2016, I have seen a number of huge issues in the sawmill industry, just with sawguides alone. So here’s a list of what sawmills might want in their stockings this festive season.
1. Proper Sawguides
By “proper”, of course I mean sawguides that use an engineering hardcoat (grey colour). However, there’s no need to throw away your red, blue, yellow, green and black sawguides this time of year – they make perfect festive tree ornaments. Not only because of their dazzling array of colours and metallic sheen, but also due to their purely cosmetic nature. They’ll fit right in as decorations this Christmas. Your fellow sawfilers will gather round your sawmill tree, as festive as a Who in Whoville, and remark, “What a wonderful way to repurpose something that shouldn’t be in a sawmill anyway!”
2. A New Babbitt Mold
A new Babbitt mold will come in very handy if you have a poorly functioning Babbitt pad, causing your saws to heat up and fold over, like the waistband of your pants after Christmas dinner. More than just saw meltdown, other Babbitt issues include having a square Babbitt pad supporting a round saw, an incorrect Babbitt pocket (too deep or too shallow), and too much Babbitt touching your saws. A new Babbitt mold will fix all these problems and make your New Year merrier and brighter.
3. A New Babbitt Grinder
If Sawmill Santa is already getting you a new Babbitt mold, why stop there? A new Babbitt grinder will allow you to maintain better gap control, meaning you can precisely control the clearance between your Babbitt pad and saw blade. This reduces friction on saws, resulting in fewer fold overs (for your saws, not your pants). Your customers will be happy too, as they’ll receive the gift of quality lumber with less within board deviation. It’s a win-win.
4. An Accurate Sawguide Lubrication System
This is a gift that keeps on giving! Imagine how happy management will be when they get their New Years’ wish of a lower total cost of coolant? That cost savings is courtesy of Sawmill Santa’s precise sawguide coolant/lubrication system. Break out the leftover fruitcakes and champagne!
5. Ultra-Accurate Sawguides
Let’s not stop there. Imagine the bonus if Sawmill Santa upgraded the first item on your list and didn’t just give you hardcoated sawguides, but gave you extremely precise ones. The New Year will look brighter than ever with truly accurate sawguides, made by a company who doesn’t compromise accuracy to make money. Sawmill Santa knows that quality makes you and your sawmill happy, efficient and profitable, not just saving a few pennies on inferior sawguides in the short-term.
Would you be happy if Santa brought you the list above this Christmas? Even if you don’t believe in Sawmill Santa, you should consider using this as a shopping list for yourself as you put together your 2017 budget. Productivity, profits and job security are the result of properly implementing the items on this list, and isn’t that the gift all sawmills wish for?
Instead of being careful what you wish for, be careful to purchase and implement proper equipment in your mill. Your hard work and investment will pay off.
What’s on your sawmill wish list this season?
Author: Udo Jahn
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