Stetson Ross Timber Sizer
We purchased the 1910 Stetson Ross 4A from a company in British Columbia in 2006. The day it arrived we were all very excited. One of my daughters had a different opinion. She said, “Awe, Dad, it’s a junk!” Of course it did need some work but it certainly was not a junk!
John Gordon spent hundreds of hours machining parts, freeing up bearings, and sandblasting the exterior to bring the sizer back to it’s original state. We also built three structures. One for the sizer, one for the sawdust/cyclone, and one for the generator that powers it. It came out fabulous. The 4A’s steady cutting heads create an amazingly accurate planed product.
The machine is heavier than newer models, weighing in at 24,000 pounds!!! This cuts down on both vibration and chatter, creating what we feel is a superior finish on the timbers. The bearings are all original babbot bearings. After learning to pour babbot and repouring several bearings, they have proven to work very well with the flat belt driven system. Being able to size timbers as large as 16″ x 20″ at any shippable length has proven to benefit our Timber Framing process.
The biggest factor of Groton Timberworks owning our own sizer is that it gives us control over one more step in the building process. Before owning the machine, we were unable to decide when our timbers would be sized and how accurately. We now make those decisions. The accuracy has improved as we have sized our own timbers, both dimensionally and how square the final product is. Being the only timber sizer in the area, we can provide this service to others as well. We also sell the shavings that it produces to local farmers and horse enthusiasts so there is no wood waste.
We offer Softwood and Hardwood timber sizing to the public.