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- Boscobel Dial, Thursday, June, 4, 1974, p. 1, cols. 1-3
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Harry Schell's Hammer Baffles M.I.T. Professor
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, said to be the top metallurgical expert in the saw industry, admits he is stumped by the achievements of Harry Schell, "who lives in Blue River, Wis., and performs magic at his anvil."
The scientist is Dr. Joe Blucher. He came to the United States as a refugee from Hungary in 1956 and now is the metallurgical expert of the Simonds saw plant at Fitchburg, Mass. Blucher, 43, who also flies his own plane around the country, and is known as a gliding expert, is responsible for several innovations for making saws - ranging from tiny coping saws to bandsaws and six-foot diameter circular saws used in lumber mills.
Despite his expertise, Blucher cannot uncover the secrets of Harry Schell, who was referred to, in a United Press International story from New York, as "the saw industry's most famous anvil man."
Said UPI:
"The anvil man is a kind of super-blacksmith. He puts the tension in big saws after they have been made at the factory.
"There are many such craftsmen, but the Simonds Company says Harry Schell is the most accomplished. They are all secretive about their art and Blucher admits he hasn't been able to penetrate their secrets by scientific testing and analysis.
"He says Harry Schell will take a huge circular saw sent from the factory, position it on his anvil, run his fingers over it, then hammers it at certain spots. Presto! The huge disk miraculously has acquired a tension that will make it perform properly at high speed in cutting big timbers.
"Blucher has watched a number of other anvil men tempering expensive new saws with blows of the hammer. He has noted the patterns of their hammer blows, worked out data from that and fed it into a computer, hoping the electronic calculator will solve the mystery he has been unable to penetrate. No luck, so far, and naturally none of the anvil men can or will explain it to his satisfaction.
"'It's a challenge,' Blucher told UPI. 'I've got to find the answer someday.'"
The Dial editor showed Henry Schell the UPI clipping from New York and it drew a smile. "That must have been the fellow who was here about a year ago asking all kinds of questions," he said.
Schell isn't secretive. He said putting tension in a big saw blade is no mystery, it's a skilled trade that takes about 10 years to master, which is longer than it took Professor Blucher to get his degree. Without tension, many new factory blades will "wobble." By proper hammering the metal is "drawn" in just the right places to permit the saw to run true.
Schell's saw shop at Blue River is a busy place, with huge circular saws leaning against the wall, a variety of heavy hammers close at hand, and the ringing sound of steel as Harry or his assistant, Harvey Hendrickson, work at the anvil. Most of the big saws now used in sawmills around Wisconsin and other points in the midwest were turned out at Schell's shop. Repair work on used saws also is done there.
Hendrickson now does most of the hammering since Henry suffered a heart attack some time ago, but he has also been at it for years and knows just where to strike the saw to give it tension.
Harvey Hendrickson
