Sawing Machine Setters and Set-Up Operators set up or operate machine to saw wood. They examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, and patterns to determine size and shape of items to be sawed, saw machines to set up, and sequence of sawing operations. Sawing Machine Operators operate or tend wood sawing machines, such as circular saws, hand saws, multiple blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, equalizer saws, power saws, and crozier machines, to saw logs to specifications, cut lumber to specified dimensions, saw curved or irregular designs, trim edges, and remove defects from lumber, or to cut grooves, bevel, and miter according to specifications or work orders. May include operating gangsaws, circular saws, conveyor systems, and diamond and silicone carbide-toothed circular saws. Less than high school is required.
Training is done on the job.
There were an estimated 3,133 Sawyers employed in Alabama in 1996. They may work in log and lumber industries or in industrial manufacturing. An average of 102 job openings occurs each year. Beginning Sawyers earn slightly above minimum wage. May be exposed to noise, vibrations, hazardous conditions, all kinds of weather, dust, and dirt.