what type of sawmill to get.

[swampfox88]

The wife and I are planning on buying land and building ourselves a homestead on it. For those of you who have a sawmill or have used one of the portable ones. What brand and size would you recommend us buying? I hope to make the investment next year so I can get some hands on time with it.

[Admin]

What I recommend is... DON'T buy one. Unless you know how to sharpen your own blades and know all the ins and out of sawing lumber and you plan to go into business with it, otherwise, just harvest your logs and hire someone to come saw them for you. I quit using my own mill years ago and hire someone to saw for me while I tend the mill. Buying a mill and sawing your own lumber sounds romantic and everything but there's A LOT of crap to deal with behind the scenes that they don't tell you about. One of the happiest days of my life was to see that mill of mine go down the driveway when I sold it.

[marshwalker]

ha ha ha!! JC, did you have a lemon? I don't own one, but have helped a bud of mine run his on several occasions. He bought a Harbor Freight band mill that I think is 21". When he purchased it, he brought it to my house for me to make extensions for the deck so he could mill longer logs. His set up can handle 20'x21" at the moment. Outside of filling the coolant tank, gas tank, and changing the band blade out from time to time, he hasn't had any issues. I think it cost him under $2k for the rig. He bought it just because he wanted to build his shed out of the trees from his land. Since finishing his shed, I think he uses it more now than he did before... once the word got out that he had a mill, the people in that area always "over for a beer" if you know what I mean.. lol.. not sure if he charges folks or not for milling but I know he is proud of that peice of equipment and will never say he didn't get his money worth from it.

[swampfox88]

I was thinking about doing it as a side business. JC thanks for your sharing your experince. But it did shock me..keep it coming guys!!!

[snowman]

I built a portable band saw mill with aluminum motorcycle wheels and a honda 185 three wheeler engine. It has a 20' bed that I can cut up to 17.5' lumber and I absolutely love it I've cut over a 1000 board feet even made some money doing custom cutting. I have made 2 lodge pole beds with drawers under them a chicken coop, shed, bug out shelter, flooring, closet doors trim, picnic table, fireplace benches, entertainment center, wall covering and I'm currently cutting lumber to build a 40'x40' shop. The company I buy my blades from is good about sharpening them and cleaning them quick turnaround.  

[brl]

Dec 2, 2014 0:09:11 GMT -5 snowman said:

I built a portable band saw mill with aluminum motorcycle wheels and a honda 185 three wheeler engine. It has a 20' bed that I can cut up to 17.5' lumber and I absolutely love it I've cut over a 1000 board feet even made some money doing custom cutting. I have made 2 lodge pole beds with drawers under them a chicken coop, shed, bug out shelter, flooring, closet doors trim, picnic table, fireplace benches, entertainment center, wall covering and I'm currently cutting lumber to build a 40'x40' shop. The company I buy my blades from is good about sharpening them and cleaning them quick turnaround.  

Any Pics snowman? I'd love to see them.

[mnnovist]

I realize this is a resurrected thread but thought I'd chime in. I own a harbor freight mill and it's a Peice of crap. The log hold downs are a joke and the logs bounce around as you cut leaving choppy or crooked cuts. Also finding blades for it is about impossible. I have a friend with a bigger woodmizer and in my opinion it's the only way to go. You get what you pay for

[snowman]

I'm trying to add some photos of the mill but I'm having trouble with the size 

[mrchicken]

If you want to do it as a business get a name brand with good service/support.

I built a big mill from a kit. It will mill a 30" log 17' long. Totally manual.

Doing it for a living would wear me into the ground before long. Its a lot of work without hydraulics.
Also when the mill gets out of tune, its a bugger figuring out what needs adjusting to get it back in line.

With the name brand mills, adjustments are easier, and if you can't figure it out yourself, support is as close as your phone or computer.

If you are set on doing it, buy a used name brand mill, cut your trees, mill them and see if you are still excited when you are done.
If not, you can sell the mill for close to what you paid for it.

[Petron]

What is your budget? If you want the Cadillac I think you can't go wrong with the Wood-Mizer brand. If spending between $5-$7k is your alternative then the Norwood brand is the way to go, with plent of options when needed. You also can get a chainsaw woodmill. You can make it work, yes there are pro and cons but what doesn't come with pros and cons nowadays. Good luck.

[snowman]

I can't put pics on here for some reason it says this forum has exceeded its attachment space I'm new to this stuff so it could be me screwing something up any ideas

[crossroads]

I just picked up a woodmizer lt30 yesterday, I haven't had a chance to use it, but I think it will fit my needs. I've used a mobile dimension mill before and like the way they operate, but the set up was an all day ordeal. With this woodmizer, it's a 15 min. Set up and your ready to start cutting. I'll have to get back to you in 6 months to let you know if I'm glad I bought my own.

[bckev]

I am curious to hear how you are getting on with your sawmill. All of the research I have done suggests that the woodmizer is the best one. I have thought about getting one as well with the idea of doing custom milling.

[crossroads]

So far so good, I've had to do a little bit of adjusting to get it to cut straight. Also, once a blade starts to run away and not cut straight, I've learned not to fight it, just put in a sharp blade and get on down the road. The first 4 logs I cut up were fir logs that had been down for a couple years and were pretty dry. The dry stuff is pretty hard on blades, but I cut up a small green port orford cedar last night and it cut very nice. If you can afford to, I would suggest buying one with a hydraulic log loader as well as log turner. With the band saw you spend a lot of time Turning the log, then turning the cants. Your back is worth the few thousand extra for hydraulics.

[bckev]

I watched a display of the woodmizer and decided if I bought one I would get the hydraulics for sure. Did you pick up the blade sharpener as well.

[crossroads]

I didn't get the blade sharpener, I bought the mill used and it came with about 30 blades. At this point I plan to just send them in since it's only like $7 to have them sharpened and the teeth set. I didn't even price the sharpeners at this point, but figure it would be pretty hard to justify one. Even if you could do 4 blades an hour that's only $28/hr for you and your sharpening machine, so it would take a long time to pay for it self at $500-$1000 (just guessing) for the sharpener. A friend of mine has an old sharpener and can only do 1/hr
I just prices the sharpener/setters and they run $1200-6100 without a grinding wheel $200 and no grinding oil $78/5 gal. I think a guy could buy 40-50 new blades for the price of the cheaper one and run for quite a while.

[crossroads]

It's been a while since I've used photo bucket and it seems to have changed, so let's see if I got it right. Here is a picture of what I've been doing with the mill.

[crossroads]

Sorry if the panoramic pic. Isn't very clear

[bckev]

How are you finding it?

[crossroads]

Here's another

[bridgeboy]

Has anyone compared a Hudson Saw with other saws that are out there?
Thanks,

BridgeBoy

[tkfurs]

Feb 21, 2016 17:02:41 GMT -5 bridgeboy said:

Has anyone compared a Hudson Saw with other saws that are out there?
Thanks,

BridgeBoy

Come on sawmill guys, anyone have an answer for bridgeboy?

[old243]

I don't have a Hudson mill, have seen them at shows. A friend of mine has  had 2  woodmisers , Seemed quite happy with them. I have had a mill for about 20 years , don't do a lot any more , my back won't take the heavy lifting. Also have a nyle dry kiln, if you have a mill and do a lot of cutting , a kiln will pay for itself , quickly.

My mill was made by a machinist in Ontario, Can cut 20 feet, up to about 2 foot logs. Hydraulic log lifter, turner, toe boards, clamps.20 hp onan engine. Has been a good mill. Just got some new cooks blade rollers, As the old rollers were badly worn.  As soon as the snow is gone , I have some ash , maple and beech to cut. Have a mixed load of elm cherry and oak in the kiln , that will be another week finishing.

Have fun with your mill . old243