I often wondered how the Dutch made such fantastic ships hundreds of years ago now I understand I love just about anything wind powered. You could say it blows me away.
I know a guy in a state here in the U.S. who built a homemade saw mill out of an old trailer house frame and lawn tractor motor. As cool as what he built is it pales in comparison to this. Beautiful engineering!
Wow.. That architecture and design is so amazing. Think of the engineering that went into the design of that thing. Back in the days of no auto cad or computers.
Thanks for sharing,... I just sent this to my Dad :) He was born in Amsterdam in '42 & has always talked with pride of these saw mills that enabled the Dutch to build ships much faster than others :)
What a wonderful design. A windmill sawmill. Beautiful functional artistry. The engineering on this sawmill is more complex than a Swiss watch. Absolutely outstanding piece of machinery. Love it. Thanks for showing us this Cody.
Just to say I visited this place last week and was totally amazed! The windmill was pulled down in 1942 but rebuilt with those amazing plans in 2007. And the guide said at their peak there was nearly 200 of these sawmill windmills!
Indeed! Keeping out the North Sea. I mean, a more monumental task one could not conceive. However, the Dutch achieved that. On an engineering level, they are unmatched.
At the time that the mill we see here was developed, there was no technology to make a large circular saw blade, but a blacksmith could pound iron into a flat thin blade.
I for one really enjoyed how the old water and wind powered machinery worked. To me it is amazing with the engineering and knowledge that went into them.
That is an incredible sawmill. My Family has owned and operated different kinds of sawmills since the 70's. A 48" round blade, 60" round blade, and now a 167" band sawmill. I can tell you the technology hasn't really advanced that much. 100 years ago, there was a 90 gang sawmill here in our local township. That's 90 blades going up and down in unison, powered mostly by a watermill and at the end, diesel-electric. But they sawed their selves right out of a job, as their main function was sawing large logs, 3'-4' and larger. So now it's easier to transport the logs over the road to the mill, or take the mill to the wood, as a portable bandsaw mill does. But it's really cool to see our history in action,with the old windmill.
hossmcgillicutti: Its nice too see these types of buildings still in use. Preservation of our national heritage is important and these old era technologies should be preserved and cherished.
Holland, Michigan has a large Dutch community and is locally famous for wooden shoes, tulips, and windmills. This was a really interesting video, thanks.
Good show! Worked in an old mill as a youngster.. fond memories. Mostly.. But most of the machines seemed connected and tied to the point it seemed alive....
Thanks for posting this marvellous old tech, Wranglerstar. I've seen the buildings up close while I was visiting Holland as a child, but never got to see the inside works, which being a 10-year old boy in the 'mid-50's, I REALLY wanted to do. Most of the windmills were grist mills, though, not sawmills. Now I;m off to check out your video on how klompen (Dutch wooden shoes) are made. I've always wondered.
I sharpen the bandsaws for a sawmill. On one side of our mill is a gang saw, which is a big bank of circular saws. That is immediately what popped into my mind when I saw the blade set-up in this mill. Fascinating!
The engineering involved in the construction of this kind of mill, HUNDREDS of years ago, is astounding!! Rivals the finest steam locomotives of the 19th & 20th Centuries. Simply astonishing >WOW
The first sawmill of this kind was built in 1592. It kicked off the first industrial revolution and enabled the naval dominance of The Netherlands in the 17th century.
Outstanding video. Even the modern building of that sawmill by old time methods shows an attention to detail seldom seen in today's rush to get things done.
Fantastic video. Such an elegant way to mill timber. I thought the multiple blade set up was brilliant. And the timber joinery...and the steel work....don't even get me started! Simply astounding. Good to see there are still people around with these skills.Thanks for sharing Cody.
Oh i must have either been just in front or just behind you! I was there last year, such an awesome park with all those different mills. Just amazing how this particular one came to be too.
Very pleased to see that you were visiting Holland! Thanks for this amazing UA-cam doc. about the Wind Powered Sawmill. Now I know I want to visit it for sure. This mill is located 150 miles from my own 'homestead' but never visited before. God bless you and your nice family.
This was the invention that put Holland on the map in the middle ages. To be able to process trees into usable timber at speeds previously unheard of. Fantastic piece of engineering.
like old wooden ships...you always see them in movies but if you see them in reality and how they made in detail... thats complete amazing craftsmanship...
This is so cool. We have on here in Southern Ontario near Bayfield, but I believe it only has one set of gang blades, but it has been largely closed to the public for most of 20 years. I'd love to see it open again, because like this video, it is so impressive to experience. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for sharing this video! Absolutely amazing engineering! the longer I work with new machines the more respect I have for the sheer ingenuity of the old craftsmen. I have not met an engineer in my lifetime that could design anything so functional and beautiful at the same time. Wow, that is extremely inspiring.
Its so nice to see a video of someone documenting a thing that i grew up with. I live 10 mins away from the zaanse schans and i'm a volunteer at the oilmill "het pink".
"Wateren" is laying fresh cut wood in the water, usually nine months to three years sometimes up to five years. This allows the minerals, nutrients and the starch present in the timber to dissolve in the water. It was thought previously that this wood was more durable, but it appears that watered wood only gets fewer cracks when drying and keeping the timbers straight after sawing. Thanks for give a big audience a chance to see our country! If you visit Rotterdam please let me know, I can give you a great tour ;)
@@theducklinghomesteadandgar6639 i know your comment is months old but i cant help myself im pretty sure that the durability the person above was referring to is the belief that soaking wood before sawing made it stronger i.e soft wood could be come as strong as hard wood hardwoods could become as strong as metal and so on
It also helps with the removing of the bark (prevents damage of the saws when stuff is in it) and it acts like a lubricant, so the saw can move through the wood easier.
Cody, you and Jack need to build a wind powered saw mill but on a smaller scale than the ones in Holland. They are magnificent, and beautiful. I saw them 20 yrs ago. when I visited on vacation.
So cool seeing somebody so amazed by our culture and history. Dutch people generally are very dismissive of our own culture so you hardly notice it as anything special. Love your videos about the Netherlands :)
Not far from my home in South Germany there is an old waterpowered sawmill, at a small creek, that has been run and operated by two sisters in their 70's (for the young sister) and 80's. We call this setup of sawblades "Gattersäge" what translates to gatesaw. Those old ladies once have been the subject of a TV documentary of professions and arts that are dying out slowly. The sawmill as it is shown in the documentary was a modern machine when it replaced the old one in 1931. Farmers from around their aerea like bringing their lumber to the sawmill because it is said that the old sisters are able to produced straight boards out of bowed lumber. Other sawmills often often seem to refuse milling lumber with a bow because it is time consuming. The old ladys don't mind, they say "you have to work with what you've got". The older sister is running the sawmill they heired from their father who rebuilt it, who has got it from his father, and I am thinking just one generation more. The older sister does all the work in the house, cooking, laundry, cleaning, you name it. Due to the daily work they both never met a man that was "worth a marriage", so they have no kids. They had two brothers who both died in World War II in Russia, the sisters decided to stay with their mother, because the dad died early. Every Sunday the two ladys walked a quite long way to the Church, their believe is strong. I don't know if the two sisters are still alive. Maybe I am able to find the documentary somewhere, I'd post a link here if I am lucky. Its a verry interesting documentary. P.S.: and I am lucky. Here it is. ua-cam.com/video/w0HlLbx0tPM/v-deo.html The older sister passed away in 2001, she was 85 years old. Her younger sister lived until 2015, and was 91 years when she passed. The last few years she lived in a hospiz due to a stroke. The sawmill now is a museum.
This was also my first view of your shows! You knocked it out of the park! I am retired and just getting into wood working and metal working! I will be watching you much more! I might even go see these old mills! I am going to see if we have these in the States still! Thanks for your great work!
I was aboard the full-rigged ship,"Stadt Amsterdam" just two years ago in London and was enormously impressed that the citizens of a Dutch city would pay for her as a testimony and memorial to Holland's great seafaring past.This is yet another example of the ingenuity of this small nation.As they say:"God made the world but the Dutch made Holland"!
@@Wottan007 sometimes its more efficient to be a small nation with larger population unlike my stupid country Canada with 36 million. We ship our old growth raw logs abroad to USA Korea Japan and China
@@andiman45 it's because they pay way more money than the local sawmills that have learned to set the price and screw all the logging contractors. My dad used to export pine logs for telephone poles and if a tree made the grade for a pole it was worth WAY more than shipping it to town
Damn! That was interesting! I, too, was impressed by the workmanship of the building. Thanks for posting. (There's a windmill used as a flour mill about a mile from my house - interesting to see another application of wind power).
My great grandfather kept his logs in a small river with constant flow of cold melt water for 2 years before he cut it, on our farm in Norway. This method was also used for the timber used in Viking longboats.
That is an awesome machine, I love fully mechanical stuff because it always works. A lot of automated equipment fails in complicated ways but that sawmill will keep running for decades.
This is really cool! I never thought that you could run a sawmill just with direct wind power! I only knew about early mills driven by water wheels. Very interesting. The engineering that went into building that mill is a work of art.
Their craftsmanship in milling lumber is tremendous; but isn't it ironic that they have so few forests for lumbering. (Or at least that is what I've been lead to believe...) I could watch this all day!
+RonRay Lots of timber up-river in Germany; they'd make huge timber rafts consisting of thousands of logs and transport them to the Netherlands for trade using the waterways. But, yes, having more forests themselves would've been better. Although, with nearby forests, I'm not sure they'd get as much wind as the trees would break the wind and absorb much of the power..? Either way, these sawmills are amazing. I wish I had the skills and time to build a functional small-scale one (1:8 or something).
+RonRay It may be the case that the reason they have so few forests is because they had so many saw mill :) The Dutch were a massive trade power, and they built ships more efficiently, lumber trade was actually what brought home the Bacon. Norway which was one of the poorest countries in Europe only real natural resource at that time was lumber, I'm sure that's where they got most of it from.
This was my first Wranglerstar video I ever watched...... so glad UA-cam put this on a "recommended for you" list!!!! Every morning God blesses me with a new day, I grab a fresh cup of coffee made by my wife and search in earnest for a new Wranglerstar video. What a great way to start my morning!!!
I could watch this for hours. I've been to Holland several times(Port of Rotterdam) and always passed on the Windmill tours. I assumed they were set up for tourists,and not actual reproductions of age old technology. Thais is fascinating. Such superb craftsmanship.Thank you so much for sharing,I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!! Now,,Throw in an old forge, and a hydro powered workshop,and I'm in my version of Heaven.
That's amazing! It would be cool to learn a bit more how it works, as in, how the wind power is transferred into sawing and feeding motions - the gears, their relative sizes affecting the power, etc. I'm no engineer so I don't know the right words for it all, but when I looked at the title of the video again at the end I found I was still wanting to know. I'm not even clear on how the feeding motion is linked to the sawing motion, despite re-watching part of the video, though I believe you that they are, and they certainly can be seen to move at the same rate.
Yes, the Dutch know! suddenly we could build ships faster as anyone else in the world. The Netherlands was during the golden age #1 economy in the world and the VOC , the company that did all the shipping, was (corrected for inflation) worth about 5 times Amazon.The VOC was the first public traded company in the world. Yes, we invented the stock market as well.
I noticed the negative comment about time wasted watching this video, Well bugger them with a cactus, I found this interesting. I never understand why people make comments like that, why not just click off? (Rhetorical question)
Nobody you’re right about some people, no one forced them to watch the video, I’ve worked in shake mills, large saw mills and planer mills. I found this video of this mill to be very unique. I love to see different types of technology and how people come up with alternate ideas
Nobody All done for attention. It’s sad to say but if someone’s miserable they want everyone to be miserable. If they think something is stupid, everyone must think it’s stupid. In my opinion this video is a amazing showcase of engineering and a sheer joy to watch.
I found this video to be a great use of my time. And I do not regret one second of learning something new to me. I had known about early water powered mills but, nothings powered ones. Great education and entertainment. I am gratefully for this video. Be safe all.
Cody, I feel like your time with the Dutch really impressed you in unexpected ways. This mill is so impressive! Your next project should be to build one on the homestead!
My step-grandfather (born 1896) had an old hand-cranked drill press with a similar ratcheting feed that fed off the hand crank. It makes sense- when both the feed and main tool are running from the same power source, the speed will always be in proportion.
That's beautiful. I love wood working. My dream would be build something like that. It's so cool to see people piecing wood together like that. The precision to build without using nails or screws is amazing to me.
Slow but lovely cut and clever using wind power no fuel costs and the smell must be awesome. What a beautiful place and lovely to see such beautiful workmanship
I like your video! It was filmed last monday, wasn't it? I just left haha! I work there as a volunteer once in a while, and I am a miller on some of the other mills in the area. You said that they were going to adjust the pitch of the blades, which isn't true, unfortunately. The blades kan be covered with sails, less wind means more sails, and more wind means you have to put less sails on the blades. The mill was turning with four full sails, and when they went up they took away some sails. I believe they took two halves off.
Need a video for that then. I’m sure they don’t just climb around on the blades while they’re turning. I saw a movie back in the 60’s showing something like that.
The blades are balanced and essentially reefed reducing the sail area. If in balanced then the blades wobble and are unbalanced Thus " 3 sheets to the wind"
What a great video ! Absolutely fascinating machinery. And the information about leaching out the wood sugars by leaving the logs in the water for an extended time - SO sensible. Thank you for this.
In France also there's a renaissance of wind and water mills. People get tired of the wind turbines that produce electricity so by logic they come to consider the ancient mill technology and re-discover it with awe. The direct use of the elements is much more efficient than the transformation of energy to electricity to power electric tools. Also the noise and stress level is so insignificant with wind power and the noise is actually pleasant and rhythmic.
amazing, I could stay in them mills all day. The smell must be wonderful in the saw mill. One question I think we all want to know, when is our you tube holiday going to end? Not to soon I hope lol
I'm not sure how I found this, as I've never shown interest in mills or lumber before, but I'm glad I did! Amazing engineering, ingenuity, craftsmanship, etc! Excellent video!
+Jean-Paul Veillon Thanks to the windmills the Dutch were able to produce war ships much faster then the English, French and Spaniards. The main reason they ruled the sea and conquered the world during the 17th century. (xcuse the typos)
This sawmill is just amazing ! First of all, it is very beautiful, the craftsmanship is outstanding, its very economical, no pollution, like a miracle for todays standarts. Now they are building these horrible windgenerators which spoil a whole region, while these old windmills are just beautifull to look at ! I can never get tired to wach all the moving parts, everything is so well made and beautiful at the same time. You Duch are real masters.
Ehm, where this was filmed, at the height of the windmill era there were some 600 on an area of about 80 square kilometres (~30 square miles in funny talk). Talk about horizon pollution.
Dear Sir, awesome video otherwise it's impossible to know and visit these places. How you have shown pointed the minute details. like nails, shoes made of wood the process of seasoning the logs and over all the functioning of this wind mill and the positive uses. These people are smarter than Japanese. Thank you very much.. Fr here on I will rate your videos...for this one 9/10😅
I sure would like to have a copy of those plans. Great video. I once watched on television a water-driven mill that was set-up for not only sawing wood, but also performed various actions including blacksmithing, and grinding grain. The men that designed these marvels were true mechanical engineers.
+Steve Fridell You'd have to search for the drawings by Anton Sipman, who was a person who did extensive research on windmills in the Low Countries and Germany. He wrote several books about windmill construction, not just drawings but also about which types of wood for which parts were used. (mind you, a windmill is a complicated machine built on the accumulated knowledge of a thousand years)
Steve Fridell Construction windmills is usually not the domain of the carpenter or shipwright, but of the specialised windmill constructor ("molenmaker"), there are only a handful of these companies in Holland left, and they seem to be doing projects all over the world nowadays, mostly all over Europe (including UK) and sometimes as far as Israel and Indonesia to build, rebuild or restore windmills. If you're interested in something small to start with, go check out "weidemolen" or "speelmolen" or even "tjasker". But if you live in a country with plenty of water falling down hills, I'd rather built a watermill.
The Pit Saw is where we get the phrases "Top dog" and "Underdog" from - the "dogs" were the wooden rollers across the width of the pit, which held up the log. The senior guy would be "Top dog" (above the dogs) and would have the nicer working conditions, the poor guy underneath would be showered with sawdust and bark, and probably standing in several inches of water in the pit beneath the log.
They still cut trees into boards in a similar way in Kenya but they make use of a bank or slope, not a pit. same saw blade however. They still make the blades in India!
+grapsorz If you have a stream with a good flow it would be allot more efficient than air. But, because the netherlands is such a flat land ( We have no mountains or hills ) Water just isn't an option as such.
Andrew Watts i know.. i think the windmills is awesome ;) you use them for everything in the old day's. sawmill, grinding grain, pumping water and so on. ;)
What a treat to see this. The smell of the sawn wood the joinery of the beams and rafters the nails etc. Why did we ever let these traits go? Life was not simpler back then, but it was a lot more honest.
Cool to see you visit my nation of origin. Because of windmill sawing the Dutch could build ships faster than any nation at that time. It gave us a great advantage over surrounding nations.
Well that is Nirvana for Cody. The wind powered saw invented in the Netherlands changed history. With regards to the old style above and below, the junior always went underneath, why, because it was the worst place to be, covered in sawdust all day.
We often went to such places in Holland when I was in school. Most of the windmills were used to pump water. Holland is a few meters below sea level. Greetings from the Dutch Caribbean.!
Wranglerstar your videos are just so calming to me I'm 15 years old and I have learned a new interest from you and learned so much over this past year thank you very much for sharing. These videos with all of us
I often wondered how the Dutch made such fantastic ships hundreds of years ago now I understand I love just about anything wind powered. You could say it blows me away.
I know a guy in a state here in the U.S. who built a homemade saw mill out of an old trailer house frame and lawn tractor motor. As cool as what he built is it pales in comparison to this. Beautiful engineering!
This is simply amazing. No batteries, no gas or diesel and multiple board cutting. Ingenious!
So many videos on UA-cam use words like amazing in the title, but this is truly AMAZING . Thanks.
That has got to be one of the most earth friendly methods of lumber production!. Thank you so much for posting this.
Nice to learn from an American about our wind powered sawmill. I worked in and with a traditional grain windmill.
I'm not there nor will I ever likely be... However, I can only imagine the wonderful scent that this place puts out. i wood go for that alone
Comgrats on the pun
I came here just to ensure that someone had made a proper pun.
I saw that
@@dmbadcat I dust came here to ensaw someone made a good pun.
I see what you did there
I’m a carpenter. I love this video!!!!😊
Wow.. That architecture and design is so amazing. Think of the engineering that went into the design of that thing. Back in the days of no auto cad or computers.
Thanks for sharing,... I just sent this to my Dad :)
He was born in Amsterdam in '42 & has always talked with pride of these saw mills that enabled the Dutch to build ships much faster than others :)
What a wonderful design. A windmill sawmill. Beautiful functional artistry. The engineering on this sawmill is more complex than a Swiss watch. Absolutely outstanding piece of machinery. Love it. Thanks for showing us this Cody.
We just got our sawmill here on the homestead. Can't wait to get it running! I'm so happy to be able to make our own lumber.
Just to say I visited this place last week and was totally amazed! The windmill was pulled down in 1942 but rebuilt with those amazing plans in 2007. And the guide said at their peak there was nearly 200 of these sawmill windmills!
The Dutch are world class innovators. Wind Masters, land reclaimers on a level matched by none. Incredible.
Awesome.
Thinking out of the box.
No solution you can think of is to ridiculous to be realized into a workable and practical application.
Indeed! Keeping out the North Sea. I mean, a more monumental task one could not conceive. However, the Dutch achieved that. On an engineering level, they are unmatched.
The Dutch fought the elements, and the Dutch won.
You know what they say: "In six days God created the world, on the seventh day the Dutch created Holland".
I was expecting a round blade, but was surprised and impressed to see those gang saws. I've never seen such a setup. Very interesting.
Early water powered mills had the same set up.
Thats What You can call perfect dutch tegnologi
At the time that the mill we see here was developed, there was no technology to make a large circular saw blade, but a blacksmith could pound iron into a flat thin blade.
@@pauleohl Ok, that makes sense.
I for one really enjoyed how the old water and wind powered machinery worked. To me it is amazing with the engineering and knowledge that went into them.
I am really enjoying these travel vlogs. Your excitement over the older technology warms my heart.
That last detail about soaking the logs for a year... Game changer. 🤯
That is an incredible sawmill. My Family has owned and operated different kinds of sawmills since the 70's. A 48" round blade, 60" round blade, and now a 167" band sawmill. I can tell you the technology hasn't really advanced that much. 100 years ago, there was a 90 gang sawmill here in our local township. That's 90 blades going up and down in unison, powered mostly by a watermill and at the end, diesel-electric. But they sawed their selves right out of a job, as their main function was sawing large logs, 3'-4' and larger. So now it's easier to transport the logs over the road to the mill, or take the mill to the wood, as a portable bandsaw mill does. But it's really cool to see our history in action,with the old windmill.
be nice, man.
hossmcgillicutti: Its nice too see these types of buildings still in use. Preservation of our national heritage is important and these old era technologies should be preserved and cherished.
You mean " i" not "we" Mankind has not chosen an official spokesman on the internet yet
Interesting thanks.
Sounds like the operation just got too big and couldn't be reduced to meet demand. What country, area?
Holland, Michigan has a large Dutch community and is locally famous for wooden shoes, tulips, and windmills. This was a really interesting video, thanks.
Amazing. Every mechanical engineering undergraduate should be required to tour this facility.
Good show! Worked in an old mill as a youngster.. fond memories. Mostly.. But most of the machines seemed connected and tied to the point it seemed alive....
Thats one of the coolest things ive ever seen. Always wondered how a windmill works. Thanks for taking us with you
man, this is genious. specially the feeding mechanism. it is so beautiful.
Thanks for posting this marvellous old tech, Wranglerstar.
I've seen the buildings up close while I was visiting Holland as a child, but never got to see the inside works, which being a 10-year old boy in the 'mid-50's, I REALLY wanted to do. Most of the windmills were grist mills, though, not sawmills. Now I;m off to check out your video on how klompen (Dutch wooden shoes) are made. I've always wondered.
What a great machine. Wouldn't it be great to have a few mills like that around your neighborhood. Thanks for the vid.
You were right, Cody, that tour was simply brilliant. I could spend days there just checking it all out.
I sharpen the bandsaws for a sawmill. On one side of our mill is a gang saw, which is a big bank of circular saws. That is immediately what popped into my mind when I saw the blade set-up in this mill. Fascinating!
The engineering involved in the construction of this kind of mill, HUNDREDS of years ago, is astounding!! Rivals the finest steam locomotives of the 19th & 20th Centuries. Simply astonishing >WOW
I know. How old it is blows me away.
The first sawmill of this kind was built in 1592.
It kicked off the first industrial revolution and enabled the naval dominance of The Netherlands in the 17th century.
Outstanding video. Even the modern building of that sawmill by old time methods shows an attention to detail seldom seen in today's rush to get things done.
Fantastic video. Such an elegant way to mill timber. I thought the multiple blade set up was brilliant. And the timber joinery...and the steel work....don't even get me started! Simply astounding. Good to see there are still people around with these skills.Thanks for sharing Cody.
Oh i must have either been just in front or just behind you! I was there last year, such an awesome park with all those different mills. Just amazing how this particular one came to be too.
These two videos have been the best of the Europe videos.
Very pleased to see that you were visiting Holland! Thanks for this amazing UA-cam doc. about the Wind Powered Sawmill. Now I know I want to visit it for sure. This mill is located 150 miles from my own 'homestead' but never visited before. God bless you and your nice family.
This was the invention that put Holland on the map in the middle ages. To be able to process trees into usable timber at speeds previously unheard of. Fantastic piece of engineering.
That and their lovely accents
like old wooden ships...you always see them in movies but if you see them in reality and how they made in detail... thats complete amazing craftsmanship...
This is so cool. We have on here in Southern Ontario near Bayfield, but I believe it only has one set of gang blades, but it has been largely closed to the public for most of 20 years. I'd love to see it open again, because like this video, it is so impressive to experience. Thanks for posting this!
love seeing stuff like this we went and saw a water powered sawmill and it was so amazing!
Thanks for sharing this video! Absolutely amazing engineering! the longer I work with new machines the more respect I have for the sheer ingenuity of the old craftsmen. I have not met an engineer in my lifetime that could design anything so functional and beautiful at the same time. Wow, that is extremely inspiring.
Its so nice to see a video of someone documenting a thing that i grew up with. I live 10 mins away from the zaanse schans and i'm a volunteer at the oilmill "het pink".
That was awesome - the workmanship was incredible
BillNicholsTV I really like this. Good ole times.
Wow. First the building itself is beautiful. Combine that with milling a log via wind power is just genius.
"Wateren" is laying fresh cut wood in the water, usually nine months to three years sometimes up to five years. This allows the minerals, nutrients and the starch present in the timber to dissolve in the water. It was thought previously that this wood was more durable, but it appears that watered wood only gets fewer cracks when drying and keeping the timbers straight after sawing.
Thanks for give a big audience a chance to see our country! If you visit Rotterdam please let me know, I can give you a great tour ;)
Norner Houtbewerking
Fewer cracks and remaining straight does make the wood more durable! LOL!
@@theducklinghomesteadandgar6639 i know your comment is months old but i cant help myself im pretty sure that the durability the person above was referring to is the belief that soaking wood before sawing made it stronger i.e soft wood could be come as strong as hard wood hardwoods could become as strong as metal and so on
It also helps with the removing of the bark (prevents damage of the saws when stuff is in it) and it acts like a lubricant, so the saw can move through the wood easier.
Cody, you and Jack need to build a wind powered saw mill but on a smaller scale than the ones in Holland. They are magnificent, and beautiful. I saw them 20 yrs ago. when I visited on vacation.
So cool seeing somebody so amazed by our culture and history. Dutch people generally are very dismissive of our own culture so you hardly notice it as anything special. Love your videos about the Netherlands :)
EnigmaNL You guys are great. As a Niedersachsener I always loved the tripes across the border.
I love it...minus the wood shoes of course😂
@@johnjacobjingle7177 why? they are great.
If there's anything I can't stand it's people who are intolerant of other people's cultures...and the Dutch!
Not far from my home in South Germany there is an old waterpowered sawmill, at a small creek, that has been run and operated by two sisters in their 70's (for the young sister) and 80's. We call this setup of sawblades "Gattersäge" what translates to gatesaw.
Those old ladies once have been the subject of a TV documentary of professions and arts that are dying out slowly.
The sawmill as it is shown in the documentary was a modern machine when it replaced the old one in 1931.
Farmers from around their aerea like bringing their lumber to the sawmill because it is said that the old sisters are able to produced straight boards out of bowed lumber. Other sawmills often often seem to refuse milling lumber with a bow because it is time consuming. The old ladys don't mind, they say "you have to work with what you've got".
The older sister is running the sawmill they heired from their father who rebuilt it, who has got it from his father, and I am thinking just one generation more. The older sister does all the work in the house, cooking, laundry, cleaning, you name it.
Due to the daily work they both never met a man that was "worth a marriage", so they have no kids. They had two brothers who both died in World War II in Russia, the sisters decided to stay with their mother, because the dad died early.
Every Sunday the two ladys walked a quite long way to the Church, their believe is strong.
I don't know if the two sisters are still alive. Maybe I am able to find the documentary somewhere, I'd post a link here if I am lucky. Its a verry interesting documentary.
P.S.: and I am lucky. Here it is.
ua-cam.com/video/w0HlLbx0tPM/v-deo.html
The older sister passed away in 2001, she was 85 years old. Her younger sister lived until 2015, and was 91 years when she passed. The last few years she lived in a hospiz due to a stroke.
The sawmill now is a museum.
This was also my first view of your shows! You knocked it out of the park! I am retired and just getting into wood working and metal working! I will be watching you much more! I might even go see these old mills! I am going to see if we have these in the States still! Thanks for your great work!
This must have been such an amazing thing to experience and thank you for sharing it all with us.
Absolutely stunning design and amazing craftsman ship. Don't see stuff like that anymore
I was aboard the full-rigged ship,"Stadt Amsterdam" just two years ago in London and was enormously impressed that the citizens of a Dutch city would pay for her as a testimony and memorial to Holland's great seafaring past.This is yet another example of the ingenuity of this small nation.As they say:"God made the world but the Dutch made Holland"!
+Squarerig Also don't forget: "As the finishing touch, God created the Dutch" ;)
This " small Nation" is a great country with a great People ! Respects from France to our Dutch neighbors !
@@Wottan007 sometimes its more efficient to be a small nation with larger population unlike my stupid country Canada with 36 million. We ship our old growth raw logs abroad to USA Korea Japan and China
Thanks, from the Netherlands!
@@andiman45 it's because they pay way more money than the local sawmills that have learned to set the price and screw all the logging contractors. My dad used to export pine logs for telephone poles and if a tree made the grade for a pole it was worth WAY more than shipping it to town
Fantastic clip friend. It's good to know that we can still build such awesome older tech.
Damn! That was interesting!
I, too, was impressed by the workmanship of the building.
Thanks for posting.
(There's a windmill used as a flour mill about a mile from my house - interesting to see another application of wind power).
My great grandfather kept his logs in a small river with constant flow of cold melt water for 2 years before he cut it, on our farm in Norway. This method was also used for the timber used in Viking longboats.
That is an awesome machine, I love fully mechanical stuff because it always works. A lot of automated equipment fails in complicated ways but that sawmill will keep running for decades.
surprisingly beautiful, technically fascinating, and historically rich - I didn't expect to be as interested as I was, thanks
This is really cool! I never thought that you could run a sawmill just with direct wind power! I only knew about early mills driven by water wheels. Very interesting. The engineering that went into building that mill is a work of art.
Their craftsmanship in milling lumber is tremendous; but isn't it ironic that they have so few forests for lumbering. (Or at least that is what I've been lead to believe...)
I could watch this all day!
+RonRay
Lots of timber up-river in Germany; they'd make huge timber rafts consisting of thousands of logs and transport them to the Netherlands for trade using the waterways.
But, yes, having more forests themselves would've been better. Although, with nearby forests, I'm not sure they'd get as much wind as the trees would break the wind and absorb much of the power..?
Either way, these sawmills are amazing. I wish I had the skills and time to build a functional small-scale one (1:8 or something).
+RonRay It may be the case that the reason they have so few forests is because they had so many saw mill :)
The Dutch were a massive trade power, and they built ships more efficiently, lumber trade was actually what brought home the Bacon.
Norway which was one of the poorest countries in Europe only real natural resource at that time was lumber, I'm sure that's where they got most of it from.
This was my first Wranglerstar video I ever watched...... so glad UA-cam put this on a "recommended for you" list!!!! Every morning God blesses me with a new day, I grab a fresh cup of coffee made by my wife and search in earnest for a new Wranglerstar video. What a great way to start my morning!!!
Thank you Ken.
I could watch this for hours. I've been to Holland several times(Port of Rotterdam) and always passed on the Windmill tours. I assumed they were set up for tourists,and not actual reproductions of age old technology. Thais is fascinating. Such superb craftsmanship.Thank you so much for sharing,I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!! Now,,Throw in an old forge, and a hydro powered workshop,and I'm in my version of Heaven.
That's amazing! It would be cool to learn a bit more how it works, as in, how the wind power is transferred into sawing and feeding motions - the gears, their relative sizes affecting the power, etc. I'm no engineer so I don't know the right words for it all, but when I looked at the title of the video again at the end I found I was still wanting to know. I'm not even clear on how the feeding motion is linked to the sawing motion, despite re-watching part of the video, though I believe you that they are, and they certainly can be seen to move at the same rate.
This is amazing. Can you imagine how much of a productivity boost this must have been compared to doing this by hand?
Yes, the Dutch know! suddenly we could build ships faster as anyone else in the world. The Netherlands was during the golden age #1 economy in the world and the VOC , the company that did all the shipping, was (corrected for inflation) worth about 5 times Amazon.The VOC was the first public traded company in the world. Yes, we invented the stock market as well.
I noticed the negative comment about time wasted watching this video, Well bugger them with a cactus, I found this interesting. I never understand why people make comments like that, why not just click off? (Rhetorical question)
Nobody you’re right about some people, no one forced them to watch the video, I’ve worked in shake mills, large saw mills and planer mills. I found this video of this mill to be very unique. I love to see different types of technology and how people come up with alternate ideas
If this video was truly a waste of time then that comment was more of their precious time wasted. . . All by their own choice mind you.
Nobody All done for attention. It’s sad to say but if someone’s miserable they want everyone to be miserable. If they think something is stupid, everyone must think it’s stupid. In my opinion this video is a amazing showcase of engineering and a sheer joy to watch.
I found this video to be a great use of my time. And I do not regret one second of learning something new to me. I had known about early water powered mills but, nothings powered ones. Great education and entertainment.
I am gratefully for this video.
Be safe all.
@@DobleWhiteAndStabley Very good point there.
Cody, I feel like your time with the Dutch really impressed you in unexpected ways. This mill is so impressive! Your next project should be to build one on the homestead!
+DeePsix Jack would have to finish it. Lol
Wow, amazing! Really cool that you documented this! Thanks for sharing!
This is great to learn about how they did it Long while back
Scrap wood City qqqqqq
My step-grandfather (born 1896) had an old hand-cranked drill press with a similar ratcheting feed that fed off the hand crank. It makes sense- when both the feed and main tool are running from the same power source, the speed will always be in proportion.
So Cody when are you going to build your windmill?
I saw a water powered sawmill as a child, it was awesome!!
That's beautiful. I love wood working. My dream would be build something like that. It's so cool to see people piecing wood together like that. The precision to build without using nails or screws is amazing to me.
This is art, this is why I love working with wood.
Slow but lovely cut and clever using wind power no fuel costs and the smell must be awesome. What a beautiful place and lovely to see such beautiful workmanship
Wow thats insane. Didnt even know something like this existed
That is SO cool! People are so amazing! The beautiful wood jointery and craftsmanship is beautiful! Great vid!
I like your video! It was filmed last monday, wasn't it? I just left haha! I work there as a volunteer once in a while, and I am a miller on some of the other mills in the area.
You said that they were going to adjust the pitch of the blades, which isn't true, unfortunately. The blades kan be covered with sails, less wind means more sails, and more wind means you have to put less sails on the blades. The mill was turning with four full sails, and when they went up they took away some sails. I believe they took two halves off.
Rick Bakker up
Need a video for that then. I’m sure they don’t just climb around on the blades while they’re turning. I saw a movie back in the 60’s showing something like that.
The blades are balanced and essentially reefed reducing the sail area. If in balanced then the blades wobble and are unbalanced Thus " 3 sheets to the wind"
Lem Briggs, the mill is stopped when the sailcloths are taken in or let out, with each sail being tended one at a time.
@@crazyleyland5106 good deal, that cleared it for me.
What a great video ! Absolutely fascinating machinery. And the information about leaching out the wood sugars by leaving the logs in the water for an extended time - SO sensible.
Thank you for this.
This makes me a proud Dutchman
me too, Ik ook.
In France also there's a renaissance of wind and water mills. People get tired of the wind turbines that produce electricity so by logic they come to consider the ancient mill technology and re-discover it with awe. The direct use of the elements is much more efficient than the transformation of energy to electricity to power electric tools. Also the noise and stress level is so insignificant with wind power and the noise is actually pleasant and rhythmic.
amazing, I could stay in them mills all day. The smell must be wonderful in the saw mill. One question I think we all want to know, when is our you tube holiday going to end? Not to soon I hope lol
The cutting is so elegant just like the sails/blades of the windmill .
This warms my Dutch heart :)
Me 2
Mijn ook
the sound at 7-50 is absolutely amazing, fantastic video, thank you so much.
Those handmade nails are amazing!
I'm not sure how I found this, as I've never shown interest in mills or lumber before, but I'm glad I did! Amazing engineering, ingenuity, craftsmanship, etc! Excellent video!
What a time saver over doing it by hand. this thing must have been the Apple Corp of the old world.
...? Beatles fan?
+Jean-Paul Veillon Thanks to the windmills the Dutch were able to produce war ships much faster then the English, French and Spaniards. The main reason they ruled the sea and conquered the world during the 17th century. (xcuse the typos)
This sawmill is just amazing ! First of all, it is very beautiful, the craftsmanship is outstanding, its very economical, no pollution, like a miracle for todays
standarts.
Now they are building these horrible windgenerators which spoil a whole region, while these old windmills are just beautifull to look at ! I can never get
tired to wach all the moving parts, everything is so well made and beautiful at the same time. You Duch are real masters.
Ehm, where this was filmed, at the height of the windmill era there were some 600 on an area of about 80 square kilometres (~30 square miles in funny talk).
Talk about horizon pollution.
Dear Sir, awesome video otherwise it's impossible to know and visit these places. How you have shown pointed the minute details. like nails, shoes made of wood the process of seasoning the logs and over all the functioning of this wind mill and the positive uses. These people are smarter than Japanese.
Thank you very much.. Fr here on I will rate your videos...for this one 9/10😅
I sure would like to have a copy of those plans. Great video. I once watched on television a water-driven mill that was set-up for not only sawing wood, but also performed various actions including blacksmithing, and grinding grain. The men that designed these marvels were true mechanical engineers.
+Steve Fridell You'd have to search for the drawings by Anton Sipman, who was a person who did extensive research on windmills in the Low Countries and Germany. He wrote several books about windmill construction, not just drawings but also about which types of wood for which parts were used. (mind you, a windmill is a complicated machine built on the accumulated knowledge of a thousand years)
Thanks for the info! Yes, I wouldn't begin to attempt building one of those without plans.
Steve Fridell Construction windmills is usually not the domain of the carpenter or shipwright, but of the specialised windmill constructor ("molenmaker"), there are only a handful of these companies in Holland left, and they seem to be doing projects all over the world nowadays, mostly all over Europe (including UK) and sometimes as far as Israel and Indonesia to build, rebuild or restore windmills. If you're interested in something small to start with, go check out "weidemolen" or "speelmolen" or even "tjasker".
But if you live in a country with plenty of water falling down hills, I'd rather built a watermill.
The Pit Saw is where we get the phrases "Top dog" and "Underdog" from - the "dogs" were the wooden rollers across the width of the pit, which held up the log. The senior guy would be "Top dog" (above the dogs) and would have the nicer working conditions, the poor guy underneath would be showered with sawdust and bark, and probably standing in several inches of water in the pit beneath the log.
They still cut trees into boards in a similar way in Kenya but they make use of a bank or slope, not a pit. same saw blade however. They still make the blades in India!
Mark Sinden 9
I love this stuff! We have a steam powered cider mill not too far away that is a joy to behold.
Absolutely incredible
Fantastic and amazing. I cannot understand how this could get a "Thumb down" either. Thanks for sharing this!
we have the same type of saw's in norway. (oppgangs sag) the difference is that we use water and not wind to drive the saw.
pfffff. .. Laaame xD
+grapsorz If you have a stream with a good flow it would be allot more efficient than air. But, because the netherlands is such a flat land ( We have no mountains or hills ) Water just isn't an option as such.
Andrew Watts i know.. i think the windmills is awesome ;) you use them for everything in the old day's. sawmill, grinding grain, pumping water and so on. ;)
+grapsorz
Do you know of any water-powered ones (in Norway) that are open to visitors like the one featured here?
+grapsorz can you make a video like this one? Would love to see it :). Thanks.
I doubt there's anything this vintage in design still in regular operation here in Australia. Thanks for sharing truly amazing!
Are you the guy who forged the axeroon?
+Eke van leeuwen That's a negative.
+Aaron Burnett excuse me!
+Eke van leeuwen You're excused ;)
Thanks a lot for making this video.
What a treat to see this. The smell of the sawn wood the joinery of the beams and rafters the nails etc. Why did we ever let these traits go? Life was not simpler back then, but it was a lot more honest.
screw the haters, I'm voting this up. this is interesting.
Cool to see you visit my nation of origin. Because of windmill sawing the Dutch could build ships faster than any nation at that time. It gave us a great advantage over surrounding nations.
Well that is Nirvana for Cody.
The wind powered saw invented in the Netherlands changed history.
With regards to the old style above and below, the junior always went underneath, why, because it was the worst place to be, covered in sawdust all day.
+Harvey Smith probably why the guy on the bottom was wearing a big hat lol
Thank you so much for sharing that. Those are the type of gems you can't see unless you get to travel
woooooooow amazing..
We often went to such places in Holland when I was in school. Most of the windmills were used to pump water. Holland is a few meters below sea level.
Greetings from the Dutch Caribbean.!
I feel I should help pay for your trip because I have learned and enjoyed this so much.
Wranglerstar your videos are just so calming to me I'm 15 years old and I have learned a new interest from you and learned so much over this past year thank you very much for sharing. These videos with all of us