Sawmills?

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Hey, just a silly question.Has anybody ever welded in sawmills?It's something I'm working towards getting into.  I'm figuring that it's the next step up (personally, for where I'm trying to go!) from working in welding shops.  Right now, I'm working in a shop that builds sawmill equipment (of course, painted with the tackiest color schemes...bright blue!  Sun Yellow...Stoner green!  Safety orange...), but eventually I want to get into the other "spectrum" of things!If you have worked as a welder in a sawmill, what were your observations in doing so?  What sort of things were you doing?  Inquiring minds wanna know!
Reply:You will more than likely be doing lots and lots of welding on the debarking heads,the cone shaped spikes on the heads always wear out and need replacing and then next, will be the sawdust and trim end troughs most modern ones will have conveyor belt and they shake so therefore prevents jamming, but they take a beating.There isn't usually a shortage of welding in a sawmill environment.The chipper troughs never stay together as they shake themselves apart frequently.They will more than likely get you to rebuild the chipper knives and then get you to sharpen them.I worked for a company called North American Sawmills as a welder that made sawmills and sawmill related items. they also owned and operated their own mill, lots of work but found it fun.I hope that this will help you out.
Reply:A few people work at sawmills on here...including a work-a-holic called J...on here he is Jamlit. I like to call him the chat slacker...lol.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Well, if you're moving from a shop to a mill, be prepared to bring lots and lots of coveralls.  Get used to welding over paint and grease and using your creative thinking skills.  From working on hydraulic equipment to hardfacing peeler teeth and jaming your bucket and yourself into places you wouldn't think even rats would go.  When things are broken, it comes down to your ability to get them working as soon as possible and keep them working until the end of the shift....so you can come back in after hours and make a proper repair.  Its demanding work, especially in an older operation.  Sometimes you won't always be able to make things the way you want, to the quality you want, in order to get things up and running again.  You'll learn alot and the pace is usually fast but when things slow down for a day or so, learn to like the dirty jobs because there's usually more than welding to be done.  I leared alot at during my time at a mill but i'm now looking for another place where I can use all of my skills and keep things to my standards.  Its a great job and great experience.
Reply:Welding in a sawmill can help you become a better welder for all psition welding. But its easy to start slacking off and not do quality work when nobody checks it. The sawmill i work at does not keep a good stock of material and does not give much time to work on machines. The mill is down 3 to 5 hours a night and when you cannot find material to work with it puts the pressure on to get stuff fixed in the time you have. the problem for me is that it is union or else i would do alot more when the place is running. everyone else thinks you are tryin to take there job when you  pick up a shovel or when you unhook a cylinder before you do some welding or something. So thats partly why i am moving on at the end of the week, to a non union mill back at my home town. Ill be doing everything instead of just welding for a couple hours of the night. Another thing to get into is sawmill construction, and contracting, you can learn alot from being in a few differnt mills before settleing down in one place. but a few good parts about it is 1. usually good pay in sawmills, 2. All position stick welding and doing your own fabricating, 3.oh ya all position stick.Nothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.