Seven Sawmills plus several others ... Vol. 1 • 80 mins

£18.25

SEE ALSO:

Seven Sawmills plus several others ... Vol. 2

Seven Sawmills plus several others ... Vol. 3

Seven Sawmills BARGAIN Bundle!

Travelling around New Zealand over 15 years, Tom Williamson found himself ‘collecting’ footage from different sawmill locations. In seven cases, he also conducted interviews with the fascinating people who ran the mills, in some cases built them themselves, in others taught themselves the techniques of milling, and in yet others, taught themselves the business of running a business ...

Introducing and linking these films are sequences showing other historic mills, and archive film dating back, in some cases, to the nineteen-twenties. These are full of surprise and delight and are of great interest in their own right.

Collectively, the the three DVDs in this series offer a necessarily selective view of the history of sawmilling in New Zealand - an industry that has been an important contributor to the nations’ economy for two hundred years. They also show how New Zealand is now striving to give its unique species of trees a sustainable future.

In this first volume from an enthralling series you see:

Chaytor’s Mill is based on a two-blade vertical frame saw.  Originally driven by steam but now powered by electricity, the mill is really two mills - in the season, the mill also processed flax for making rope and twine.  The machinery for both is all still there.  When filmed the son of one of the men who built the original mill was restoring it to working order ...

Milne’s Mill: Stan Milne started his mill as a hobby but things quickly got out of hand when local farmers asked him to provide timber for fencing and farm buildings. He still has the traction engine that first powered the mill, but later it was driven by a magnificent Marshall portable. Other machinery around the mill came from a variety of interesting sources ...  

Collins’s Mill: The Collins brothers also started their mill in response to demand from local farmers. Today, it is one of the last sawmills in New Zealand driven by steam - a deliberate choice, made for economic reasons, and one made to take into account the special qualities of the available trees.