Working at outdoor jobs with the hands will always produce some of the most hazardous conditions there is. Working on the sawmill has mangled and taken many lives . It is perhaps the most dangerous job, if extreme care isn't taken during all phases of operation. There are many open and moving parts for the clothing and body parts to get caught in. The big saw turns at 500 RPM's and has from 48 to 72 teeth, depending on the size saw used. There is no way to put a guard over it for protection so, everything is out in the open where a person can very easily become cut to pieces, if not very careful. The operator, or sawyer, must keep his mind on his duties constantly. It would be very easy to forget, for a minute, and accidently get a limb into it. The carrage, which moves back and forth constantly, carrying the logs for slabbing and lumber, could snag a piece of clothing and drag one into the saw.

The logs come onto the skids, where they stand in line to be loaded onto the carrage when the previous log has all been processed. This requires labors, the sawyer and perhaps another on the other end of the log, if to big for the sawyed to move by himself. It usually requires the use of a tool called a "kant-hook". Don't have any idea why it is called that, but sometimes the infernal thing doesn't hold in the log and slips causing mashed fingers, bruised knuckels and busted nose or lips. The log itself can slip on the deck (skids) and smash fingers or hands and feet between two logs.

The danger of something catching in the saw and be thrown in any direction is a constant danger, There have been many people hit by a 2x4, board or slab, because it caught in the saw and was thrown at lighten speed into a body part.

My father-in-law, Rankin (Pete) Mellott, was a sawyer almost all his life. Once, when I was dating his daughter, later became my wife, he came home with his jaws wired shut and had to drink all his food through a straw, inserted through an opening made by knocking out a front tooth. A 2x4 fell back into the saw before the off-bare could catch hold of it. The saw grabbed it and sent it through the air like an arrow, striking him in the jaw, breaking it in three places. He told of one other time when he was doing something around the mandrel, when the set ring got caught in his overalls, took him around the shaft several times, finally tearing off all his clothes and letting him go. His life was spared but not his dignity. He suffered many cuts and bruises and some broken ribs before the machine was all done with him.

The off-bearer has to respect his every move also. Getting the sawed material from the saw is very dangerous. Cooperation between the off-bearer and the sawer is very important so that each knows at all times what the next move of each is to be. The sawyer has to watch that the off-bearer is in place as the board or slab is coming off. The off-bearer has to time his moves so they correspond with what the sawyer is doing. In many situation he has to carry the slabs over the carriage tracks, to deposite on the slab pile, and therefore has to be in time as the carrage comes and goes. The slab must be carried at the precise time, so the saw carrage is not delayed and production cut, and the lumber stacking done at other times. To do this requires practice so that saftey can be afforded at all times.

Most older circle blade saws were run with a flat belt connected to a steam engine, such as you see in the picture of my sawmil, at the Cove Mills Reunion. The belt is all out in the open and therefore has to be respected. Even when stationary diesel engines were connected, with a series of V-belts, they too have to be carefully avoided and watched. It would very easy for ones clothing or limbs to become caught in them.