Belt-driven sawmill draws crowds during show

PENFIELD, Ill. — The 1908 belt-driven sawmill will be cutting logs into planks each day July 13-16 during the Historic Farm Days.

“The main part of the sawmill is powered by a belt drive off either a steam engine or a gasoline-powered engine like it’s always been since 1908,” said Jon Fourez, who operates the sawmill along with others.

“What people really like is when the steam engine is on it because it puts out the coal smoke and you can hear it pull down,” said Fourez, who has been a member of the I & I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club since 1980.

“I had my Farmall M on it last year and when we put the steam engine on the crowd tripled,” he said. “We also have an edger there, so we can take the bark edge off the planks when needed.”

A variety of logs will be cut at the show, including walnut, maple and hickory.

“I have a group of men that help me who are arborists during the rest of the year,” Fourez said. “So, when they cut down trees, they bring the logs to the showgrounds.”

The sawmill came from a family in the Danville area who used it for a number of years.

“One of club members found out that it was sitting in the woods, so he organized the purchase of it,” Fourez said. “It was moved to the showgrounds, refurbished and mounted on concrete so that it was operational again.”

A lot of work was required to get the sawmill back in operation.

“I believe it has been running at the show since 1998,” Fourez said.

Prior to working with the sawmill, Fourez assisted with the stationary baler demonstrations.

“The sawmill really piqued my interest, and when my oldest brother told me help was needed with the sawmill, I got involved,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about it, so a couple of club members taught me.”

Several years ago, the club hired a professional sawyer from Indiana to help the club members.

“He came for two summers to give us tips on how to run it since we only run it for four days a year,” Fourez said.

“Now I’m teaching three younger men how to take over since I’m in my 60s and the other guy that helps is pushing 80,” he said. “It takes six people minimum to run the sawmill, because if you start multitasking, you end up moving too fast.”

Safety is the No. 1 priority, Fourez said, when working around the 54-inch blade with carbide tips.

“There’s a lot to do to set that blade up before you start,” he said.

“I think the young guys thought they had everything down pat on how to run it last year and one of them was pushing the blade too hard and it knocked the belt off,” he recalled. “But it was a good thing, because I could teach them what to do when that happened.”

The sawmill is scheduled to run each day from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 to 4 p.m.

“We try not to have it running during the parade because the steam engine likes to be in the parade, too,” Fourez said.

Prior to working with the sawmill during the show, Fourez did not have much interest in woodworking projects.

“Now I’m starting to get into woodworking and I’ve made some little things,” he said.

“My daughter’s wedding was last year so I made some cake plates for the wedding and I made a time capsule box where people put notes in it and they will open the box five years from the wedding,” Fourez said.

“I hadn’t made anything like that since industrial arts in high school,” he said. “A local woodworker tutored me, and my daughter asked me to do that the week of the wedding, so I was under the gun to get it done.”