Luc Batard Trip Pictures Page 2

Luc Batard Trip Pictures, Page 2

Philippe Siat measures beams in the yard at Hull-Oakes Lumber as Brigitte Batard and Christian Cheveaux admire this old growth Douglas fir.

The French visitors had never seen saws as big as the steam powered 9 ft (2.7 meter) band saw head filer Tomy Coggswell (center in ball cap) maintains at Hull-Oakes. For more information on this 60-year-old mill, see http://www.armstrongblue.com/Articles/hull_oakes.htm. There was considerable discussion on the merits of Tomy’s 2�" (70 mm) tooth space x 1" (25 mm) deep gullets for sawing old growth Douglas fir.

Vincent Colineau shows the size of a solid wood beam from Hull-Oakes. Vincent took some good-natured teasing from his French companions because he works for a laminated beam plant. These solid wood beams are his "competition".

There are no restaurants near Hull Oakes at the base of the coast mountains of Oregon. So we packed a picnic lunch of fried chicken and dined in the park near the mill. This 84 ft (25.6 meter) long picnic table was sawn from a single Douglas fir log. The two women had just moved to the far end of the table to give perspective to its length while the men continued discussing saws.

The Batard Brigade was given a full tour of Willamette’s laminated beam plant in Vaughn, Oregon. Gary Hamilton, technical director of this facility and third from right, explained more laminated beams are produced here than any other plant in the world.
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