C O V E R
for cash and that had led to further
postponement.
He 'crossed the Rubicon' when a friend
felled an oak and used with surprising
ease an LT15 to cut it up, eventually for
firewood. That clinched it.
However, despite having made up his
mind to buy one he took a final look at
the mill being demonstrated at the big
Agritechnika fair in Hannover. Having
absorbed the mill's technical facets, he
bought it.
Not having envisaged a large amount
of sawing he declined the electric feed
function but opted for 'SW Setworks' and
has not regretted it.
"I'm probably amongst those who
don't often operate the machine", he
admits, "but what I can do with it was
difficult if not impossible before". For
example, cutting wedge shaped spruce
boards which he needs for eaves and
S T O R Y
trusses was almost out of the question.
Not any more. Those functions as well
as re-shaping antique cants to different
dimensions are now fairly easy. All he
needs to do in such cases is install an
old blade to anticipate nails or mortar in
them.
He began using Wood-Mizer's
DoubleHard blades for frozen wood but
nowadays he also uses the company's
recently launched Stellite-tipped
RazorTip blades and is enthusiastic
about them.
"In fact, working with the LT15 is fun
because one quickly sees the results of
one's efforts", he reveals, "and there's
always a nice smell around the
sawmill".
Two or three times a month he does
some 'unusual' custom sawing known
as 'glass-of-wine-jobs'. These aren't
particularly commercially rewarding
WOOD-MIZER TODAY SUMMER 2011
The Bertholds'
workshop,
powered by
'Greenpeace
electricity'!
5