[Jasonfaroe]

Hello, Everyone! :smile::smile::smile:

First off, let me say that I'm embarrassed to say I'm completely ignorant as to woodworking, woodworking/workshop terminology and I have little knowledge as to woodcutting equipment but I have always had a great respect and admiration for all individuals of the woodworking trade.

I am volunteering for a local woodworking project destined to create employment for men and women whom have recently lost their jobs and for retired individuals who need to supplement their incomes.

As part of my work, I am responsible for purchasing equipment to set up a small woodworking workshop for the manufacturing of small wooden crates that will be used for the packaging of fruits and vegetables.

For the sake of making the best purchasing decisions possible, I have come here as I need expert feedback and input as to the specifications of the equipment that will be best suited for getting the job done as efficiently and economically as possible. Faced with high electricity costs in the locality, I need to ensure the equipment will be suited for the workshop and that the equipment that will use the least amount of electricity possible to ensure the productivity and the profits for the woodworking shop will be as high as possible. With that said, the equipment also needs to be of a reliable, decent brand that will provide durability. All of the equipment needs to operate at 120 volts to ensure the lowest electrical bill possible, thereby allowing the project to be as profitable as possible for the benefit of the workers.

Here are the details.

The lumber that is going to be used is recently-cut (wet) softwood pine that hasn't undergone any treatment whatsoever. The lumber is obtained from the outer part of pine trees and it has quite a lot of bark on it. Since I am not sure of the correct terminology, I will also refer to the lumber as wood scraps/wood strips here.

A total of 27 wood pieces need to be cut for the assembly of each crate. 100 crates will be assembled per day for a grand total of 2700 wood pieces to be cut each day. Two experienced people will be working the saws.

The strips of pine wood scraps/lumber come in irregular sizes. They measure an average of 69 inch (1.75 metres) in length and have a thickness of approximately 4 inches (10 centimetres) at their thickest points, and each have a maximum width of approximately 12 inches (30 centimetres). None of the pieces of lumber measure more than 78 inches (2.00 metres) in length and they have an approximately width of 12 inches (30 centimetres) and a thickness of 4 inches (10 centimetres) at their thickest points.

Here are the measurements for the lumber/wood pieces:

Dimensions of the lumber/wood strips from which the smaller pieces will be cut:

Length: in between 59 inches (1.50 metres) and 78 inches (2.00 metres) ((69 inches (1.75 metres average))
Width: approx. 12 inches (30 centimetres)
Thickness: approx. 4 inches (10 centimetres (at its thickest point)

The thickness of the wood strips to be obtained from the above lumber is 3 cm or a little bit more than 1 inch (approx. 1 1/5 (one and one fifth) of an inch).

Questions:

I do know that a bandsaw is needed to strip down the lumber/wood strips pieces into workable pieces, some of which will afterward be cut down with a table saw into the working pieces that will be used in the assembly/construction of the crates. A bandsaw with an efficient dust collection system would be preferred, although it is not a must. The bandsaw I need must operate at 120 volts.

I need to know the following information:

Size of the bandsaw that will be best suited to cut down these wood strips/pieces: 9'', 10'', 12'', 17'', 24'', etc.

Characteristics/Strength of the motor: How many HP? RPM? Speed, etc. What is the minimum HP that would be needed? What is the maximum HP and speed would you recommend? What would be the ideal?

What brand/make/model bandsaw would you recommend me buying?

Would a 9'' or 10'' bandsaw do? More particularly, would a Craftsman 1/3 HP 3.5 AMP 10'' bandsaw with a speed of 2,780 feet (847 metres)/minute be a good choice? I was looking at the Craftsman 20400 10'' bandsaw due to the generally positive reviews I have read on it, for its sturdy build and for its apparent good dust recollection system. Is Craftsman to be completely avoided for getting the job done? Am I completely foolish to be looking at it for the particular needs the workshop will have, or would you recommend it? Could I even use a 9'' 2.5 AMP 1/3 HP bandsaw with a speed of 2460 feet (750 metres) per minute instead of the 10''? 1 AMP less electrical consumption would be better as this will mean lower electrical costs. For this reason, I would be inclined to go with the 9'' bandsaw. But the big question is, would a 9'' band saw do the job? The guy at the local hardware store told me to get a 24'' 7.5 HP bandsaw but I think this is excessive! After all, the lumber is soft pinewood, measures an an average of 69 inches (1.75 metres) long, is 12 inches (30 centimetres) wide and no more than 4 inches (10 cm) thick at its thickest point! Please advise.

Characteristics of the blade needed for the bandsaw: The cuts will be more rougher than fine (not for furniture) and I need to ensure there is as little wasted wood possible from each piece of lumber to maximize the number of working pieces that can be extracted from each piece of lumber/wood strip.

As for the bandsaw blade, it should be made from what material? How many teeth per inch must the blade of? What should its length be? What brand blade would you recommend, if any? Are there any blades out there that should be avoided because they are made of inferior materials and break easily? Which blades and brands should be sought? I need a durable blade that needs the least amount of sharpening possible, since sharpening would take away a lot of production time. What blade would you use in this situation? Please share your thoughts/recommendations. All input/advice is welcome and greatly appreciated! Please keep in mind that the lumber used is recently-cut pinewood.

Table Saw:

Some of the cleaned/stripped down lumber/wood pieces will need to be cut into smaller pieces, the largest/thickest of which having the following measurements:

Length: 12 ½'' (32 cm)
Width: 1'' (2.5 cm)
Thickness: approx. 1 inch (1 and one fifth of an inch) (3 cm)

I was thinking of purchasing either a table saw or a mitering table saw for cutting these pieces. Although the pieces required for the small crates don't need mitered cuts, my thoughts are that a mitering table saw would be useful to add some versatility to the workshop in the event mitered cuts would be needed for any other woodworking job. Should I just go with a straightforward table saw instead of the mitered saw? What characteristics would I need for either one?

What size table saw would you recommend? How many HP?, RPM?, etc. What is the minimum/maximum HP/size needed for best efficiency and durability of the equipment. What brand(s) would you recommend? Taking into account the pieces that need to be cut are relatively thin, how long would you operate the equipment? E.g. for two hours, and then take a 30 minute rest in between each work period? 5400 wood pieces to be cut each day. The work will be done outdoors in a well-ventilated area. Could overheating be an issue?

As for the disk, from what material should it be made of? How many teeth/inch must the disk have? Again, I need to ensure there is the least amount of wood wasted/wood dust generated possible, and also, it would be nice if production time could be kept to its highest if the time spent sharpening blades is kept to a minimum. Would a 40-T steel carbide disk be apt? What brand(s) disk would you recommend?

Lastly...I would appreciate it if you could give me an idea as to how long the equipment can be operated before overheating. I have downloaded the manuals of some equipment and they didn't mention operation times...they just mentioned ensuring the ventilation slots don't get covered with saw dust to prevent the motors from heating up. Do I need to get something heavy duty to avoid any heating issues? All work will be done outdoors in a well-ventilated covered/roofed workshop (the workshop will have no walls).

I would greatly appreciate any and all of your valuable feedback/comments/advice/recommendations as to my above questions so that I can complete my research and go ahead purchasing the equipment. I want to make sure I make the best purchasing decisions possible and I know your thoughts and opinions will be of great help to me in my making a decision.

Many thanks for taking to everyone who takes their time to respond. I truly appreciate your valuable time.

P.S. I would also need your recommendation as to which pneumatic nailing guns and compressor(s) to buy. Nail size is 1 ¼ inch (3d) . A total of 2,700 nails need to be nailed per day for the assembly of the 100 crates. How many nailings per gun would you recommend on a daily basis? How many nailing guns can, let's day, a 2HP compressor handle?

Women will also be doing the work, so something sturdy but lightweight would be nice. I suppose heavy duty guns would be necessary, right? What brand/make/model nail guns would you buy if you were in my position? What brand/size compressor would you recommend? How many HP do I need? How many nailing guns can be hooked up to each compressor?

Again, many many thanks. I anxiously look forward to reading your kind replies! :smile::smile::smile:

Jason

 

[woodnthings]

you sound sincere, however

You are trying to do "production" work on 120 Volts, not realistic in my opinion. 220 volts will allow you to use 3 HP motors in the tools which will give much better performance. Motors running on 120 Volts will be limited to about 1 1/2 HP.

I would really suggest that you contact a rep from Grizzly to discuss which tools and get their recommendations first.
http://www.grizzly.com/featured/woodworking-machines

Generally speaking .....
Your bandsaw should be at least 14" on 120 v, 17" would be better.
A 3 tooth per inch blade will be best for rough sawing. Get several.
A 10" tablesaw running on 120 v like a G0715P from Grizzly.
A 10" 24 tooth carbide blade like a Diablo D1040 thin kerf will use the least power. Get several blades, they are cheap.
The air compressor should be at least 2 HP.

Best of Luck in your venture. :smile:

 

[Hammer1]

Jason, you need a lot more help than you realize. Your expectations are way out of line. Just for the sake of argument, let's say you can cut each piece in a minute, 5400 pieces will take 90 hours. You are going to need 13 saws going 7 hrs. a day at the minimum to reach your quota. That's if, in the wildest chance of make believe, you could even cut each piece in a minute. You have to take a lot of other factors into consideration, just getting, picking up, stacking, moving, changing blades and keeping the saw cleared will take more time than you know. That doesn't include the fact you are using what are known as "slabs" and require other operations before they could be cut. Just the thought of one person operating a saw for 7 hrs. like a robot is insane, let alone 13, not to mention the 50+ others running an equal amount of other equipment just to keep the saws going. You are worried about electricity costs??? You are way over your head on this one or this post is a practical joke!

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Just so you're aware since electricity usage is a concern, a saw that can run on either 120 volts or 240 volts, wiring it for 240 it will use half the power of the same saw wired at 120 and produce the same result. Reason being, more voltage equates to less current consumption in order to make the same power. Since your power bill is calculated based on your current usage, and using higher voltages means using less current, then the power bill will be less overall. Many people claim to see their saws actually perform better on 240 volts also.

 

[woodnthings]

not so there Duane

Power is not a measure, unless you mean "watts" which means consumption.
Whether a tool is run on 120 V or 240 volts it consumes the same amount of watts. Watts it determined by multiplying the voltage times the current draw in amps. Watts = volts X amps.
When you run a tool on 240 volts it draws 1/2 the amps it would take if run on 120 volts, but consumes the same number of watts.
Some motors perform better on 240 volts for internal reasons.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Earlier I had not read the whole post when I offered electrical advice. I still haven't read it all, but I read enough to see that I'd RUN from this. That's an insane amount of wood to be processed in a day. Way too many tools running at once. Injuries are practically guaranteed.

5400 brad nails, and up to over 10,000, put through each gun in a day? I don't think those guns will last very long. And that many saws running at once, the power bill will be unimaginable, not to mention the temperature in the area where this will all be taking place. Sounds like one of those places in foreign countries where people are worked like slaves for cheap labor.

Not to mention milling unprocessed wood that has had no treatment at all? No dry time? Sap and heat build up will quickly slow down what a saw blade can do. Pitch build up will be a bad problem. You'll spend a lot of time changing and cleaning blades. And what will the final product look like once that wood does begin to dry? Twist and warp will be a bad problem too.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Power is not a measure, unless you mean "watts" which means consumption.
Whether a tool is run on 120 V or 240 volts it consumes the same amount of watts. Watts it determined by multiplying the voltage times the current draw in amps. Watts = volts X amps.
When you run a tool on 240 volts it draws 1/2 the amps it would take if run on 120 volts, but consumes the same number of watts.
Some motors perform better on 240 volts for internal reasons.

I know all that. I'm an electrician myself. What I mean is the electric bill is figured based on current flow, or at least it once was. They would read the meter and charge you based on the kilowatts used. Your meter tells you how many kilowatts you've used but it takes amps to make that little wheel spin (referencing the old meters before digital). So using less current meant less of a bill. Some guys I knew would hook up capacitors to their electrical panels to balance the loads and sometimes would even succeed in making their "wheels" turn in reverse. Technically it was like making the power company pay them for using their electric.

Sometimes I loosely use the word power when describing electricity. I know it means watts, but most non electricians don't even know what a watt is, or an amp, or joules, or coulombs, or ohms, or anything else. I generally speak in layman's terms to keep from overwhelming people a lot of times.

 

[Jasonfaroe]

You are trying to do "production" work on 120 Volts, not realistic in my opinion. 220 volts will allow you to use 3 HP motors in the tools which will give much better performance. Motors running on 120 Volts will be limited to about 1 1/2 HP.

I would really suggest that you contact a rep from Grizzly to discuss which tools and get their recommendations first.
http://www.grizzly.com/featured/woodworking-machines

Generally speaking .....
Your bandsaw should be at least 14" on 120 v, 17" would be better.
A 3 tooth per inch blade will be best for rough sawing. Get several.
A 10" tablesaw running on 120 v like a G0715P from Grizzly.
A 10" 24 tooth carbide blade like a Diablo D1040 thin kerf will use the least power. Get several blades, they are cheap.
The air compressor should be at least 2 HP.

Best of Luck in your venture. :smile:

Many thanks for your reply and advice, woodnthings. I will go with a new 220 volt installation since the installation at the location that is going to be the work location is only 120 volts. Thank you recommending grizzly. From what I understand, I need a bandsaw with minimum of 14". Thanks for all your info, recommendations and well wishes!

Jason :smile:

 

[Jasonfaroe]

Thanks for replying

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Hammer1. I now realize my expectations were totally out of line. I will use more saws. Thanks for teaching me the right terminology...I now know they are slabs. Could you recommend more realistic numbers in terms of pieces that could be cut per person per machine, taking safety factors into concern? How long, on average should or could a cut take for a person who has a lot of experience cutting using the power tools mentioned in my post?

Also, could you perhaps give me insight as to what power tools you would use?

Thanks again!

Jason:smile:

Jason, you need a lot more help than you realize. Your expectations are way out of line. Just for the sake of argument, let's say you can cut each piece in a minute, 5400 pieces will take 90 hours. You are going to need 13 saws going 7 hrs. a day at the minimum to reach your quota. That's if, in the wildest chance of make believe, you could even cut each piece in a minute. You have to take a lot of other factors into consideration, just getting, picking up, stacking, moving, changing blades and keeping the saw cleared will take more time than you know. That doesn't include the fact you are using what are known as "slabs" and require other operations before they could be cut. Just the thought of one person operating a saw for 7 hrs. like a robot is insane, let alone 13, not to mention the 50+ others running an equal amount of other equipment just to keep the saws going. You are worried about electricity costs??? You are way over your head on this one or this post is a practical joke!

 

[BigJoe16]

If you really will be using that much wood, you should be able to get a deal from a local lumber yard or even a big box store based on the reason of this work.

By using processed lumber, you will be saving a great amount of time, labor and machine cost. You wouldn't need a band saw, or bandsaws, blades, dust collection or parts for them.

You will be saving on table saw time too.


Not to offend you, but if you don't have experience running things like this, or woodworking experience, you shouldn't be. People's income are on the line so this would need to be stable, safe, and successful.

It seems you are in over your head, I would be too as with many people here.

 

[Jasonfaroe]

Many thanks for all your replies, Duane. You really enlightened me with your knowledge. I will definitely take your information into account!!

If you could please provide me with further insight,
what is the maximum number of brad nails do you think a heavy duty pneumatic nail gun could handle on a daily basis? Could you recommend me with the name/model of good quality heavy duty pneumatic gun? I will obviously be getting several. Production levels are obviously going to be lowered taking into account technological limitations.

With respect to the milling of unprocessed wood, eventual twisting and warping of the final product isn't a problem... actually, it is part of the obsolescence of the product and the industry here purchases them that way. With respect to pitch build up, could you please explain what that means? I know a lot of time will be needed in changing the blades... for this reason, could you recommend a good quality blade that could perform the best considering the inevitable effects of the unprocessed wood? With respect to the heat, work will be done outdoors in a well-ventilated roofed area.

I look forward to hearing more feedback from you, that is, if you are willing to reply!

Many thanks,

Jason:smile:

Earlier I had not read the whole post when I offered electrical advice. I still haven't read it all, but I read enough to see that I'd RUN from this. That's an insane amount of wood to be processed in a day. Way too many tools running at once. Injuries are practically guaranteed.

5400 brad nails, and up to over 10,000, put through each gun in a day? I don't think those guns will last very long. And that many saws running at once, the power bill will be unimaginable, not to mention the temperature in the area where this will all be taking place. Sounds like one of those places in foreign countries where people are worked like slaves for cheap labor.

Not to mention milling unprocessed wood that has had no treatment at all? No dry time? Sap and heat build up will quickly slow down what a saw blade can do. Pitch build up will be a bad problem. You'll spend a lot of time changing and cleaning blades. And what will the final product look like once that wood does begin to dry? Twist and warp will be a bad problem too.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

No offense meant at all. I'm just trying to offer the best advice possible. My number one concern with as many people needed to see through what it is you are attempting would be safety. For safety to be insured, as well as efficiency, a project like this needs someone to oversee, plan, and execute it, who has had a good bit of experience using this equipment themselves. It sounds like it's so large that even with prior knowledge there are still a lot of details needing attention. If you don't have basic knowledge of how to use the tools or even what to purchase, then safety is already compromised. There's just way, way, way too much for you to learn in a short amount of time. We can give you all kinds of advice (and what liability we assume, I don't know) but how well you are able to understand and make use of it is up to you. You need someone on your end of things who has extensive experience to help you out. Someone right there with you, who can be present to see to something like this. And there's no way I'd bring in what sounds like 20 people or more and put them to work on saws without guaranteeing they already know how to use them, or else training them yourself. A 20 minute crash course on saw safety and usage isn't training either. It would take time using the tools without the pressure of a deadline and production quotas to learn properly. I'm really sorry to say it like this. That's just the way I see it though. It also sounds like this is a business, so liability insurance is an absolute must. Get it!

Several bits of knowledge. First, pitch is the gunky buildup that sticks to the saw blades from cutting sappy woods. It's a mixture of sawdust and sap. It sets up hard after drying. It will periodically need cleaned from the blades using something like Simple Green spray cleaner. You may have to soak the blades in it, and scrub it off. Also, heat buildup might be alleviated by working in ventilated areas, but heat buildup on saw blades won't if they're used for extended periods of time. Pitch also helps cause this, since it adds to the friction the blade already sees from cutting the wood anyway. Heat will dull the blades faster. Keeping them clean and not allowing them to get hot will make them last and cut longer. For this reason, among others, the production goals listed by your first post were very unrealistic. And further, I can't recommend a certain pneumatic nailer that will hold up to a lot of use from my own experience. I use cheap guns personally, but nowhere near that many nails. You will need oil for these guns too. I think a few hundred nails per day is a whole lot. Thousands is unthinkable to me. I have no recommendation. Sorry.

 

[Jasonfaroe]

If you really will be using that much wood, you should be able to get a deal from a local lumber yard or even a big box store based on the reason of this work.

By using processed lumber, you will be saving a great amount of time, labor and machine cost. You wouldn't need a band saw, or bandsaws, blades, dust collection or parts for them.

You will be saving on table saw time too.


Not to offend you, but if you don't have experience running things like this, or woodworking experience, you shouldn't be. People's income are on the line so this would need to be stable, safe, and successful.

It seems you are in over your head, I would be too as with many people here.

Taking into account everyone's replies, production will be lowered to realistic levels. What realistic production levels would you suggest?

With respect to the power tools I would need, what would you recommend?

Thanks for replying!

Jason:yes:

 

[Jasonfaroe]

No offence taken at all.

I realize a lot needs to be learnt...but I won't be doing the operations...i am just doing the necessary research as to the equipment that would be needed. People with the necessary knowledge and experience will be running the mill and of course, using the equipment. Those with least experience will actually be trained to do the nailing and those with experience running band saws and table saws will be running those.

Thanks again for all your input!

No offense meant at all. I'm just trying to offer the best advice possible. My number one concern with as many people needed to see through what it is you are attempting would be safety. For safety to be insured, as well as efficiency, a project like this needs someone to oversee, plan, and execute it, who has had a good bit of experience using this equipment themselves. It sounds like it's so large that even with prior knowledge there are still a lot of details needing attention. If you don't have basic knowledge of how to use the tools or even what to purchase, then safety is already compromised. There's just way, way, way too much for you to learn in a short amount of time.

 

[Steve Neul]

The saws will draw the same amount of power if they are 120 volts or 220 so that part isn't important unless your building isn't wired for 220. Then you just have the cost of having an electrician run the wire. In fact if the building had three phase that would be cheaper to run.

It sounds like you are setting up for a bigger production than one set of saws can do. For what you are doing I believe I would get table saws with a 12" or larger blade with at least a 3 hp motor preferably a 5 hp motor and not get a band saw. I think the wood could be ripped quicker on a table saw than you could do with a band saw. Then to cut the parts to length I would be inclined to use a radial arm saw. Then to assemble the crates use a wide crown staple gun. With using that many nails you will probably need a 5 hp air compressor. I have a Ingersol Rand T30 compressor that would do it.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

No offence taken at all.

I realize a lot needs to be learnt...but I won't be doing the operations...i am just doing the necessary research as to the equipment that would be needed. People with the necessary knowledge and experience will be running the mill and of course, using the equipment. Those with least experience will actually be trained to do the nailing and those with experience running band saws and table saws will be running those.

Thanks again for all your input!

While you were replying to me I was editing my post. It is now much longer, with information I believe you'll need. Please check it again.

 

[bwolfgra]

No offence taken at all.

I realize a lot needs to be learnt...but I won't be doing the operations...i am just doing the necessary research as to the equipment that would be needed. People with the necessary knowledge and experience will be running the mill and of course, using the equipment.

You might benefit from asking the people who will be running the equipment what they think you need and what they think a reasonable schedule would be. As they probably have a better understanding of what you are producing, they could help you avoid unnecessary expense and determine if the plan is feasible.

I'm not an expert at shop setup in any way, but it's clear from your posts that your start up costs for doing something like what you describe will be very high even if you buy low-end tools (that might not be up to the job). Do you have a budget for setup?

 

[BigJoe16]

If you incharge of getting the whole thing going, and need help with the entire set up, I would sit down and talk to the men who will be running the shop. They will be in charge of production and daily operations.

I'm sure they have worked in or very closely to wood shops for a good long time so they will have there own way of doing things. Therefore they are going to want to adjust the shop to there likings. I would research and plan all you can, then show your findings to the people you will have run this. Give them a plan to run with.

 

[Jasonfaroe]

Thanks for elaborating, Duane, and for your explanation of what pitch is.

As you may notice I have edited my original post. I realized a made a huge mistake in stating 200 crates would be assembled on a daily basis per worker...what I meant to say I that a total of 200 crates will be assembled on a daily basis amongst all the workers. I have also revised the entire production goal down to 100 crates per day.

Also, it is important to add that the reason I am doing all the research is that the people who will be overseeing the entire production are old-school, using 30-year old, clunky, locally-handmade expensive equipment because that is simply what they are used to using. They have never used internet, but they do know how to operate more modern machinery. They just insist that the older equipment is best to use but I insist there must be a better way. They are unfortunately ignorant as to newest, most modern technologies, that use less power but that can possibly provide the production goal (revised from 200 crates per day to 100 crates per day). and I need to inform myself of a better way so I can translate and pass them along the information so they can understand that modern can sometimes be better, more efficient, and guarantee the same results, whilst saving on exorbitant electric costs Also, I am looking for a way to increase production by implementing the use of pneumatic nailing guns in order to increase productivity and avoid the pain and hassle of having the workers do the nailing manually by hand.

Thanks for all of your help. Have a good evening!

No offense meant at all. I'm just trying to offer the best advice possible. My number one concern with as many people needed to see through what it is you are attempting would be safety. For safety to be insured, as well as efficiency, a project like this needs someone to oversee, plan, and execute it, who has had a good bit of experience using this equipment themselves. It sounds like it's so large that even with prior knowledge there are still a lot of details needing attention. If you don't have basic knowledge of how to use the tools or even what to purchase, then safety is already compromised. There's just way, way, way too much for you to learn in a short amount of time. We can give you all kinds of advice (and what liability we assume, I don't know) but how well you are able to understand and make use of it is up to you. You need someone on your end of things who has extensive experience to help you out. Someone right there with you, who can be present to see to something like this. And there's no way I'd bring in what sounds like 20 people or more and put them to work on saws without guaranteeing they already know how to use them, or else training them yourself. A 20 minute crash course on saw safety and usage isn't training either. It would take time using the tools without the pressure of a deadline and production quotas to learn properly. I'm really sorry to say it like this. That's just the way I see it though. It also sounds like this is a business, so liability insurance is an absolute must. Get it!

Several bits of knowledge. First, pitch is the gunky buildup that sticks to the saw blades from cutting sappy woods. It's a mixture of sawdust and sap. It sets up hard after drying. It will periodically need cleaned from the blades using something like Simple Green spray cleaner. You may have to soak the blades in it, and scrub it off. Also, heat buildup might be alleviated by working in ventilated areas, but heat buildup on saw blades won't if they're used for extended periods of time. Pitch also helps cause this, since it adds to the friction the blade already sees from cutting the wood anyway. Heat will dull the blades faster. Keeping them clean and not allowing them to get hot will make them last and cut longer. For this reason, among others, the production goals listed by your first post were very unrealistic. And further, I can't recommend a certain pneumatic nailer that will hold up to a lot of use from my own experience. I use cheap guns personally, but nowhere near that many nails. You will need oil for these guns too. I think a few hundred nails per day is a whole lot. Thousands is unthinkable to me. I have no recommendation. Sorry.

 

[yank]

These are your words. "First off, let me say that I'm embarrassed to say I'm completely ignorant as to woodworking, woodworking/workshop terminology and I have little knowledge as to woodcutting equipment but I have always had a great respect and admiration for all individuals of the woodworking trade."

I don't mean to be argumentative, but, in my estimation, you are no where near being qualified to supervise the job you are undertaking. You have NO knowledge of the tools needed, how they operate, the electrical source best suited for the work needed, the wood you say that will be used, you know nothing about the wood. From all the questions you have asked, you would be better off sitting behind a desk in an office somewhere. When and if you do get this project going, you realize it will have to be inspected by OSHA, also an electrical inspection will have to be made before the first switch is turned. on. I would be in awe if you ever get this project off the ground.