There aren’t many manufac-turers of wood-shavingmills, but there is one withan outstanding machine

that caught my attention—SalscoInc., of Cheshire, Connecticut.

Wood shavings have a healthymarket acceptance with most live-stock farms, particularly with horseand poultry farms. In fact, most ofthe Salsco shaving mills are activelyin use in the South and mid-At-lantic, in horse country. But I man-aged to find a couple at work in theNortheast.

A New York OperationMike Smith, of Berlin, New York,owns and operates the larger of thetwo available Salsco models, and hashad it in operation for about oneyear. Mike operates a logging busi-

ness, but mixes in a firewood opera-tion with the use of a Multitek 2040firewood processor and a wood shav-ings operation. His shavings mill isoperated two or three days a week,making about two loads per day—with a load containing a compact 30cubic yards of shavings.

I found Mike busy in his logyard, feeding cull pine logs into theshaving mill. Most of the logs hadlaid around for a while and as a re-sult had tough strips of bark. Hesaid that the old bark tends to dullthe knives and he has consideredthe installation of a debarker. Atleast, that’s part of his business plan.Included also in the plan is the pur-chase of a rotochipper for the manu-facture of mulch, as well as the ad-dition of a knife grinder. The shav-ing mill knives are usually sharp-ened once a week.

Mike’s shaving mill is situated in

the open and the chips are blownout onto an unprotected pile. He ac-knowledged that his presentarrangement is not the best and thatthe construction of a shed is a top-priority item. Shavings obviouslyneed some protection from the rainand snow, as well as the wind, whichsometimes scatters shavings overthe neighbors’ landscape.

Smith praised the rugged con-struction of the Salsco mill, statingthat “it has done me well.” To feedthe mill, the wood material is placedinto a steel-reinforced box, 8 feet 6inches long. In operation, the boxpasses back and forth over a cuttingshaft equipped with hardened steelknives. There are either 10 or 15knives depending on the model, andthey are positioned to cut shavingsin either direction the box is moved.The box is moved by a chain andsprocket drive, and there are sensors

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

In past issues we have discussed the manufacture and marketing of sawdust and chips. But now let’s consider a higher-grade product

that can be made from cull material—wood shavings.

By Bill Gove

6 • Sawmill & Woodlot

Salsco Shaving Mills

Mike Smith stands next to his

Salsco shaving mill.

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

February 2006 • 7

at each end to automatically reversethe direction of movement.

The machine works best whenfull-length material (8 feet) is fed in-to the box, and I noticed that thequality of the shaving was better al-so. Noting that some of the logs hadbeen lying around the yard for sometime, I inquired about the differencewith green logs. Green material willchip better, I was informed, and themill can be operated a little fasterthan with dry material. On the otherhand, dry material handles a littlebetter, and the pine bark doesn’tplug the exhaust system, as it some-times does with green logs. Plus, it’sgreat to have a way to dispose ofthose old cull logs, which alwaysseem to accumulate in a log yard.

Green shavings will partially dryin a short time, but Mike mixesgreen and dry shavings in the pile.Shavings are normally cut about 1/32inch in thickness, but the thicknessis easily changed by adjusting theheight of the cutting shaft.

The market for Mike’s shavingsis with the horse and dairy farms inthe area, some of which specify athin shaving. Though he shavesmost any species of wood, most ofthe production seems to be pineand hemlock. Future plans may in-clude producing for the wholesalemarket, packaging the shavings in 41/2-cubic-foot burlap bags. Burlapis said to be a material which assistsin the drying process.

A Massachusetts OperationOver in central Massachusetts, OrinSisco, of East Brookfield, operates aone-man operation offering land-clearing, firewood, sawmilling, andwood shavings. His Salsco shavingmill, which he has had for 1 and a halfyears, is now operated about one dayper week, producing product for saleto local horse and dairy farms.

He considers white pine the bestproduct for his market. He seldomcuts hemlock or spruce, stating thatthose species are too abrasive on theknives. He will cut poplar, the shav-ings being a pleasant white in color,

but smelly. His market brings $13 to$15 per cubic yard, delivered.

Although his customers vary intheir preferences for shaving thick-ness, Orin tries to avoid makingthickness adjustments. He findsthat when he makes changes in theheight of the cutter shaft, it oftenrequires other adjustments. A thick-ness greater than 1/32 inch alsotends to produce more of the un-wanted sawdust; the same is truewhen shaving dry wood.

Another problem that Orin hasexperienced with dry wood is that itlacks the necessary weight to prop-erly press down against the cuttingshaft and instead might ride up over

the knives a little. His remedy forthat situation is to place some heav-ier green material on the top of theload in the box unit, which carriesthe wood back and forth. And also amix of dry and green wood worksbest for producing good-lookingshavings.

Logs up to 20 inches in diametercan be placed in the box. Lengthscannot be longer than 8 feet 6 inch-es, preferably slightly shorter. Orinwas shaving some pieces a couple offeet long, but I noticed that theydid not remain stationary in the boxand didn’t cut as well.

The only problem that Orin hasexperienced is a little metal break-

SPECSSalsco Shaving MillsModel 30 in. 20 in.Power 83-hp Cat diesel 43-hp Cat diesel

No. of Knives 15 10

Wood Box 8 ft. 6 in. long 8 ft. 6 in. long30 in. wide 20 in. wide30 in. high 30 in. high

Axles Dual Single

Box Drive Double chain and Single chain andsprocket sprocket

Frame 6 in. x 2 in. x 3/8 in. wall, rectangular steel tubing

Directional exhaust blowerStabilizer stands—4 on 30 in. model

Price $56,000 $39,000

Address of ManufacturerSalsco Inc. 105 School House Rd. Cheshire, CT 06410800/872-5726 • salscoinc@aol.com • www.salsco.com

Orin Sisco’s machine inside the sawmill building.

8 • Sawmill & Woodlot

age in the motor mountsand a couple of theguards. As standard main-tenance he keeps someextra chain links on handfor the drive chain on thewood box. Salsco recom-mends operating the ma-chine at about 2,500 rpm,but Orin chooses to in-crease the speed to 3,000rpm. It sure increased thenoise level.

A Virginia OperationMany of the Salsco shav-ing mills have been mar-keted in the southern partof the nation, indicative of theprevalence of the horse farm marketin that region. Park Hill Farms andLumber, in Charlottesville, Virginia,has operated a Salsco shaving millfor three years, operating one or twodays per week.

Co-owner Theresa Pace statedthat they have had no problemswhatever with the machine. Most of

the material that they feed into themachine is cull posts from a nearbypost mill and the posts are alreadydry before they receive them.

The posts are primarily pine,which are preferred for a number ofreasons, including the pleasant smellin the stables. Poplar has been used,but it tends to turn black whensoaked with urine. They find oak to

be too hard for good pro-duction. The poultryfarms also prefer pine fortheir shavings.

When I asked whythey began operation of ashaving mill, Theresastated, “The shavingsand residues from thesawmills contain toomuch sawdust and saw-dust makes the horsescough.”

RecommendationEstablishing markets forwood residues and cullmaterial is important in

this competitive world, both envi-ronmentally and financially. If youhave suitable markets, consider theapplication of a shaving mill. And asMike Smith proclaimed as I wasleaving, “The Salsco shaving mill isrugged and has done me well.” n

Bill Gove is a regular contributor toSawmill & Woodlot magazine.

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

Salsco’s 30-inch shaving mill.

20062006

GUIDEThe Official Source Book

and Industry Yellow Pages

for finding everything

you’ll need in the forest

products marketplace

• Product Directory

• Company Profiles

• Market Perspectives

• Helpful Tips

• Convenient Index

www.sawmillmag.comwww.sawmillmag.com

GUIDEbuyer’sbuyer’sThe Official Source Book

and Industry Yellow Pages

for finding everything

you’ll need in the forest

products marketplace

• Product Directory

• Company Profiles

• Market Perspectives

• Helpful Tips

• Convenient Index

If You’ve enjoyed reading the Salsco Mill Review, You’ll Want to Subscribe toSawmill & Woodlot magazine, “The Source” for:• Sawmill & Equipment

REVIEWS• Sawing & Drying Tips &

Techniques• Managing Your Woodlands• Increasing Profits in

Your Business• BONUS Tree Species Pullout • And MUCH MORE!

February 2006 www.sawmillmag.com $4.95

Reviews

The Advantages of CONDUCTING A SWOT

• Blue Ox Loader• Salsco Shaving Mills

Measuring Hardwood Lumber

Chains for

CHAINSAWSCHAINSAWS

Tree Species Pullout

Black Cherry

The Advantages of CONDUCTING A SWOT

Call Toll Free 888/762-8476 Or visit www.sawmillmag.com

Use Code # IRVSL6to take Advantage of this

Special Subscription Offer!

$19.95

ALL FOR ONLY