Any one have their own saw mill ?

[Panik]

Steppenwolfe

I don't own my own mill however I have spent time helping run both a woodmizer as well as a lucas mill. We were milling timber recovered out of urban areas (rosewood, live oak, eucalyptus, raintree/monkeypod). The wood was used for everything from instruments, to fine furniture, to craftwork. It's very rewarding and can be a great deal of fun as well. I can also be very dangerous, time consuming as well as expensive (beyond the initial cost of the mill).

My advice to you is that prior to jumping whole hog into a mill would be to find someone or preferably severa local folks that own mills. Spend time with them, develop a relationship with and consider donating your time helping them run their mills. There is a lot to learn in order to run a mill safely and cut good lumber, and that's not even talking about properly drying what you cut. If you get a mill at least this way you have a local knowledge base to rely on. Just some food for thought.

 

[MotorSeven]

For barns and sheds it can be put up green since shrinkage is not a huge factor. Even the old primitive log houses were constructed green due to time constraints which meant the whole thing shrank & settled together....sometime that worked out, other times not so much. If you do green wood and don't want gaps, board on boar or board and batt is the way to go for siding.

 

[Verticaltrx]

I have some pretty ambitious plans for a barn, equipment shed, and various other structures. I also prefer the old timey look of wood structures. AND I happen to have 8 to 10 acres of pines 8 to 16 inches in diameter I want to get rid of and turn to meadow. So, I got to thinking why not cut and mill my own lumber. If you have done anything like this, I would like to here about it. I have been researching home type band saw mills, and think I might have a good idea here. Any two cents will be welcomed. Thanks

I realize this thread is several months old now, but I'm in a similar situation and just bought myself a bandsaw mill. I started with a 24" Alaskan chainsaw mill on a MS441 and quickly realized it was a lot of work for the amount of lumber you got. Just a week ago I bought a little Hud-son Homesteader HFE-21 sawmill. It's quite small as far as mills go with only 6.5hp and a 21" dia capacity, but it's still light years ahead of the chainsaw mill as far as ease of use and production goes. For trees the size you are talking a mill like this would be about right, and at under $3000 it wasn't too spendy. I'll try to do a thread on it in the near future.

 

[deezler]

Just a week ago I bought a little Hud-son Homesteader HFE-21 sawmill. It's quite small as far as mills go with only 6.5hp and a 21" dia capacity, but it's still light years ahead of the chainsaw mill as far as ease of use and production goes. For trees the size you are talking a mill like this would be about right, and at under $3000 it wasn't too spendy. I'll try to do a thread on it in the near future.

Please do! Would be great to see pics and hear your impressions.

 

[newbury]

Don't know how I missed this thread

I have some pretty ambitious plans for a barn, equipment shed, and various other structures. I also prefer the old timey look of wood structures. AND I happen to have 8 to 10 acres of pines 8 to 16 inches in diameter I want to get rid of and turn to meadow. So, I got to thinking why not cut and mill my own lumber. If you have done anything like this, I would like to here about it. I have been researching home type band saw mills, and think I might have a good idea here. Any two cents will be welcomed. Thanks

But -
Trees under about 16" DBH are kind of small to mill. The only trees that small I've milled were Eastern Red Cedar because I want to build a cedar chest.

I've a woodmizer LT10 which I bought in 2011 when they were $3000 base price (now they are about $4K)



And so far the main thing I've been cutting lumber for is to be used as the shelves on my pallet racking.

.

most of the logs I've milled were on the order of 20" DBH and about 10' long. So far I've milled probably about a thousand board feet.

If your milling for yourself for building "roughsawn" wood will be fine. But it's a slippery slope.

SWMBO wants bookcases, so I needed to get a planer.



I went a little over board and got an entire pile of equipment. There's a 16" Powermatic planer in that pile. Now I've got to get an RPC and transformer to run the equipment. But when I'm done I'll have the means to make about anything out of wood that "gets in my way" building trails etc.

It's well worth it but it takes time.

Figure an hour finding the tree and getting the tree to lay down and cleaning up the limbs.

Then maybe another hour dragging it to the mill and cutting it up.

Then 6 months to dry (at least).

 

[Verticaltrx]

Please do! Would be great to see pics and hear your impressions.

Not exactly a review thread, but I have a thread going in the Owning/Operating section now about sawmilling with some pics and info.

 

[TnAndy]

I've owned a Woodmizer LT40 since 1991. It's the manual (non-hydraulic) model. Great tool if you have timber. I've used mine to build all kinds of barns and shed around the place, plus 3 really nice rental houses, a nice horse barn for a neighbor, a 40x60 & a 50x200 post frame building for a pallet operation down the road, as well as thousands of feet of cabinet and furniture lumber to use in my own shop (35x75, built with my lumber).

When you have dirt cheap lumber, you WILL find things to build.

Like a new kitchen for us:

Or a shop building:

And stuff to come OUT of the shop: ( a 'one' log ash table with walnut inlays and benches.

Or a little square bale barn:

Or portable wood sheds:

Or a rental house:

Or a birdhouse:

Or a hog house: (with flip up top so you can get in there and clean it)

Or a chicken house:

(One for a neighbor)

Or a lumber house:

Or a hoop house: (build your own hoops...white oak)

(hint....saw the strips thin, then laminate)

Or a fun house: (outside doesn't do it justice. Inside is exposed heavy rafter red cedar, and all red cedar paneling)

Or a real house:

No, if you've got timber, by all means, get a small mill. You'll NEVER run out of projects....ahahahaaaaa

 

[Egon]

There are places where Codes would require inspected lumber.

 

[TnAndy]

That is a fact. Fortunately, where I live, there was no such thing until just recently. And still isn't for any kind of agricultural building.

And there are places that have Native Species Acts......where the sawmiller can sign a statement saying he reasonably believes his lumber to meet standards.

 

[Sodo]

I have some pretty ambitious plans for a barn, equipment shed, and various other structures. I also prefer the old timey look of wood structures. AND I happen to have 8 to 10 acres of pines 8 to 16 inches in diameter I want to get rid of and turn to meadow. So, I got to thinking why not cut and mill my own lumber. If you have done anything like this, I would like to here about it. I have been researching home type band saw mills, and think I might have a good idea here. Any two cents will be welcomed. Thanks

Steppenwolfe, here's my 2cents

Having a sawmill is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
You have to REALLY like the look of rough cut wood. (I do)
You have to REALLY like the look of oversized beams. (same)

Now the practical part:

It's very difficult to save money with your own sawmill.
You don't have enough TIME to save all the TIME you think you're saving.
If you can leave it assembled, 100% ready to cut anytime, it will be more useful.
You need to think of it as a hobby.
You can get into trouble with codes (if certified lumber is required).
Be careful building outdoor structures with pine, some pines are OK. Ponderosa pine, for example as here in the NorthWest rots about 4x as fast as doug fir (outside).
Trees cut 18 months ago can be 95% as wet as one you cut yesterday. How are you going to dry all this wood?
Where are you going to stack all this wood to dry?

And now possibly the BIGGEST question:

What are you going to do with the waste? Can you burn it where you are? Can you burn all the bark and the messy sappy cants? Do you have a tractor to carry it away from the work area and to pile it up higher? I think dealing with the waste might be the single biggest surprise a 'new' sawmill owner will face, because it there's so much of it and it seems to come out of the woodwork. I know what you're thinking, you will make firewood with it. Yep you will, and that's more work input because a lot of it will have thick bark on a thin strip of burnable wood. You are continually trying to decide whats a keeper. And its sometimes wet, so where do you dry the wet USABLE scraps? Do you pile it with the dry burnables? Now you're talkin 2 piles. It goes on and on.

Not a timesaver or money saver, really.

But if you want a sawmill you're pretty much gonna have to get one. Theres nothing more satisfying than nailing the boards on a building while you still remember what tree it came from.