Itasca Sawmill

In this episode, we get a private tour of the historic two-story Julius Neils Reddy Sawmill that has been restored and reconstructed at Lake Itasca, Minnesota. This is believed to be one of the only working band-sawmills in the country that has a shotgun feed carriage operated with a steam cylinder. The sawmill has a lot of history and we’re going to get that story in another episode as well as learn about some of the peripheral equipment the volunteers plan to add to the mill including a multi-blade edger running off the same power line as the band saw. We’ll also save for another episode our visit to the saw shop they use for maintaining and sharpening the band saw blade. But for now, we’re going to follow Bryan Mesich, president of the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers, as he shows us how the band saw, log turner and carriage feed operate. #sawmill #LakeItasca