Haut-Fer de Mandray: The story of the sawmill and the French village

THE Haut-Fer de Mandray still fulfils its time-honoured role of milling locally felled logs brought to the yard by individuals who have specific requirements for various types of construction timber. The name – literally ‘high’ or ‘tall’ iron – was coined by local sawmillers and foresters in the mid-19th century for the improved sawmills that were springing up in Alsace and Lorraine in eastern France.

The hydraulic sawmill at Mandray in the Parc Naturel des Ballons des Vosges is the main feature of the village’s Museum of Wood. Sawmiller M. Lamouline explained that, operational for centuries before being abandoned in the late 1900s, its restoration was intended to preserve a method of processing logs once common in the forests and woods of the Vosges mountains. He said: “Before WWI there were over 400 water-driven sawmills in the area.”

M. Lamouline watches as the blade completes its cut of a board of silver fir. As soon as the milling is finished, the flow of water to the wheel is automatically cut off. When the carriage is returned and the baulk repositioned, the miller can reactivate the water flow by means of a cord. A second cord engages the drive mechanism. (Image: FJ)

Records show that in 1827 the local inspector of forests and waters authorised M. Jean Nicolas Bastien, who had recently acquired a long-established flour mill, to convert it for sawmilling operations. The boom in powered sawmilling at the time was due to new methods of converting the rotation of the mill wheel into the reciprocating motion of the sawblade. The ‘haut-fer’ would soon replace the top and bottom sawyers who laboured in the sawpits of the mountain forests and villages.

In 1905, the building was modernised by another new proprietor. M. Joseph Léonard improved the water supply to the wheel and the sawmilling frame as well as building accommodation. The mill became a community-owned facility, but shortly thereafter it was gutted by fire. Despite the devastation, the Mandray authorities kept faith. After rebuilding, funding was provided and a sawmiller contracted and paid on piecework. Over 20 years elapsed before an auxiliary electric motor was installed to cover those periods when drought or low temperatures restricted the water supply.

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Amazingly, the Haut-Fer de Mandray operated as a commercial venture until 1986. It remained idle for less than a decade. In 1992, a group of volunteers set about restoring it as far as possible to the design that Joseph Léonard had implemented early in the 20th century. The venture was supported by Mandray Town Council and the Parc des Ballons des Vosges. Three years later, the sawmill was reopened and the Haut-Fer Association established. The site is managed by volunteers who organise visits and undertake demonstrations. Finance was obtained in 2009 from the Départment des Vosges and Lorraine Region for further renovation of the hydraulic system and the provision of a timber heritage exhibition and learning area. 

While water had been used for centuries to power sawblades, a major advance in the late 19th century was to synchronise the movement of the carriage with that of the blade. Cutting only on the downstroke, the carriage stopped during the raising of the blade. The rate of advance could be precisely controlled to optimise the milling process.

A further refinement added by M. Léonard allowed the sawmiller to control the water supply to the mill wheel from the sawhead. The operation of a second cord slipped the belts and transferred the power to the headrig and carriage. Water was only needed during the actual milling process.

he duty ‘sagard’ (the local term for a sawmiller) M. Lamouline is just one of the volunteers who demonstrate traditional timber milling to the general public at Mandray’s Museum of Wood. His hand rests on what became known as the ‘minute’ wheel (a term borrowed from clock and watch makers). Adjustment of this feature precisely coordinates the timing of the sawblade and the powered carriage. (Image: FJ)

In general, the only masonry used in the Vosgienne sawmills housed the below-deck machinery. The major proportion of the mill was constructed of locally available silver fir with oak only used where absolutely necessary. Repair and reconstruction were ongoing processes. The wheel, for example, was only expected to last for approximately 15 years. Records show that after the rebuilding of the community sawmill in 1910, the wheel was replaced in 1926. The original wheel was designed with 42 buckets, but the current wheel has 36.

Sagard M. Lamouline shows off the mill wheel that was installed in 2011 and the renovated ‘overshot’ water supply channel. He will wait until he is inside the building and ready to cut timber before he pulls the cord to release the water to power up the system. (Image: FJ)

The mill and its machinery had certainly done prodigious quantities of work in the post-war period. Mandray had been at the centre of much fighting during WWI, therefore there was plenty of rebuilding to be achieved. From 1918, the sawmill operated day and night with the sawmiller and his son each running a 12-hour shift. A report from the Director of Waters and Forests estimated the annual output of the mill at 15,000 boards, each with a sale value of 0.5 francs. Interestingly, the sale of waste (bark and sawdust) brought in another 1,200 francs a year.

The author of the report, however, felt the sawmiller – although there were in effect two at the time – was being overpaid. He would have liked the community to raise the rent of the mill in order to increase the profit from the venture. This was 1,000 francs in 1924.

The length of the timber carriage limited the new sawmilling method to shortwood logs, but the speed of production and accuracy of the boards produced far outclassed the production of the old-style timber mills. For a few years after WWI, the Mandray sawmill worked day and night producing lumber for the rebuilding programmes. (Image: FJ)

The gentleman also considered the free accommodation for the sawmiller and his family to be far more generous than was normal. The 1930s saw the installation of an electric motor to cover for periods of water supply problems. 

The good times lasted until the outbreak of WWII. However, in the 1950s the quantity of timber cut collapsed, as did the sawmiller’s remuneration. All who rented the mill needed a second occupation, usually as a stock farmer or grower. Attempts were made in the late 1960s to improve the water supply and seal the reservoir, but within a few years the hydraulic system was completely abandoned. Any milling undertaken used the under-powered old electric engine. Breakdowns were frequent.

The spinning crankwheel nearest the camera provides the reciprocal motion to the sawblade and headrig through a timber connecting rod. The metal rod next to the final drive belt-wheel is cranked through linkage to move the timber on the carriage towards the saw only on the downward cutting stroke. (Image: FJ)

The end came in 1986 when the mill cut 58 cubic metres of timber for the local community. After the sawmiller had been paid, the community was left with 2,958 francs. Unfortunately, the bill for the electricity was 5,408 francs. The mayor had no option but to call a halt to the mill’s operation and sell off its assets.

A team of volunteers came together with a project to restore the sawmill. Regional financial support of 35,000 francs covered the costs of materials. Engineering students from the Georges Baumont Technical College in nearby St Dié-des-Vosges were invited to contribute to the designs. Over two years, volunteers fabricated all the timber parts at the weekends in the workshops of supporter and local joiner J.M. Simon. One of the final tasks was the reprofiling of the 176 teeth of the wheel’s inner drive. The outer components of the wheel that the students of Georges Baumont school had helped design was replaced in 2011. The prime mover now in place still has a few years of service left, but a new generation of keen craftspersons will no doubt join the surviving ‘class of ’96’ stalwarts to fabricate the third water wheel of the Haut-Fer de Mandray’s second lease of life.

Even with the coming of the more efficient sawmills, long construction timbers – commonly used as beams up to 15 m in length in traditional buildings – were almost always transported as trees and fashioned on site. That tradition remains in the east of France, with Diebolt and Friederich ‘grumiers’ – full tree length transporters – still holding sway. (Image: FJ)

Recent improvements to the reservoir and water channel have increased the operational availability of the sawmill. The main axle carrying the crank wheel and the flywheel has been replaced by a local engineering firm. A current project is to mill all the timbers required for the construction of a traditional timber and tool storage barn.