Sawmill. What do I need to know.

   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #1  

N80

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I'm thinking about getting a saw mill. I do not need one and I do not intend to sell lumber.

I've got a cabin on 250 acres that I've had for close to 20 years. There is always a big oak or hickory or cedar blown down. And I just hate to see it go to waste. We use some for firewood but a lot just rots in the woods.

My son-in-law has been ripping a big cedar with an Alaskan mill. It is slow and tedious and hard work but those cedar boards are gorgeous. He is siding a large chicken coop with the boards. It will last forever.

I plan to build a pole-barn type shop with a cement pad floor in the future. So I could use lumber for that.

So I want a saw mill. Budget is fairly low but requirements are fairly low too. This will be a hobby situation not a job. Pine. Oak. Cedar. Maybe some other hardwoods. The budget situation might be fluid. My son-in-law would pitch in some. A cousin across the road would probably pitch in some as well.

What do I need to know? Best brands? Features I can't live without? Things I need to know about storing and drying lumber? Dealing with saw dust?

Thanks for any basic info or considerations.
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #2  
I'm thinking about getting a saw mill. I do not need one and I do not intend to sell lumber.

I've got a cabin on 250 acres that I've had for close to 20 years. There is always a big oak or hickory or cedar blown down. And I just hate to see it go to waste. We use some for firewood but a lot just rots in the woods.

My son-in-law has been ripping a big cedar with an Alaskan mill. It is slow and tedious and hard work but those cedar boards are gorgeous. He is siding a large chicken coop with the boards. It will last forever.

I plan to build a pole-barn type shop with a cement pad floor in the future. So I could use lumber for that.

So I want a saw mill. Budget is fairly low but requirements are fairly low too. This will be a hobby situation not a job. Pine. Oak. Cedar. Maybe some other hardwoods. The budget situation might be fluid. My son-in-law would pitch in some. A cousin across the road would probably pitch in some as well.

What do I need to know? Best brands? Features I can't live without? Things I need to know about storing and drying lumber? Dealing with saw dust?

Thanks for any basic info or considerations.

Basic info - determine if you need portable, trailerable or not and what is your timber size?
The Alaskan route is good if you need to "carry in" for an occasional tree and with the right chain and bar you can get a 6' DBH tree slabbed up. A Stihl 880 (120CC) 0w/ 6' bar etc would probably run around 2.5K.
A 10hp Woodmizer will do up to 20", cost about $4K and be moveable. If a 4"x4"x8' stick cost $5 that would be about 800 sticks.
You can buy a lot of lumber for the entry level price of a sawmill.

I've a Stihl 088 (120CC) and 41" bar. I've a Woodmizer LT10. I've a 24"DBH oak I want to lay down and make small. I'll probably use an Alaskan mill to cut the tree in half (or suitable cants) and then feed it through the Woodmizer.
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #3  
When you buy that lumber, all the money is gone. But, when you buy that sawmill to make that lumber, the sawmill has resale so all the money is not gone!

SR
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #4  
No experience owning a mill but have hired lots of logs sawn and bought many loads from mills. Other than tornado damage,blown down trees yeild decayed wood or they wouldn't have blown down. There's extreme danger of being injured or killed when everyone has been trained,multiply by 10 when everyone is learning without a pro on site. You will need to invest more in log handleing equipment than invested in mill. My advice is to have someone bring their mill to your place from time to time or haul logs to them or at least go help someone around a mill before buying one.
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #5  
When you buy that lumber, all the money is gone. But, when you buy that sawmill to make that lumber, the sawmill has resale so all the money is not gone!

SR

Except that you can sell the logs and put the money toward building materials. While I would like to have something for sawing out small jobs and specialty lumber, there's something to be said for framing with kiln dried, uniform lumber.
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #6  
I'll assume you are talking about a band mill ?
You can greatly reduce the learning curve if you can spend some time helping or watching an experienced sawyer for a while...there are lots of tips and techniques that make things easier than learn as you go...things like cutting stickers etc...
FWIW...A partner and I have a Hudson 36" Oscar Pro mill...shop around for a decent used one possibly one that can be demonstrated...HF sells them there are some here on TBN that have them...

Good Luck...
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #7  
And there is also storage of the mill. I've got one shed that is has about 12x20 feet occupied by a rarely used sawmill. And another area about 12x15 where I dry my occasional lumber.
So you'll need space for the mill and equipment, plus drying space. For some of us space is not a problem, and you could probably leave it all outside. But the last time I was in South Carolina it was HUMID.

As far as
need to invest more in log handleing equipment than invested in mill.
If you've got the tractor and your son has the chainsaw equipment it's about like my set up. I added a set of clamp on pallet forks, a peavey, a cant hook and a few chains rounded out my logging equipment. Probably about $300.
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #8  
Except that you can sell the logs and put the money toward building materials. While I would like to have something for sawing out small jobs and specialty lumber, there's something to be said for framing with kiln dried, uniform lumber.
It's a fact, logs aren't worth near as much to sell, as all the added value you get by milling them, that's why they buy them!

Kiln dried lumber picks up a lot of moisture back, by the time you use it, and it doesn't take long to get construction lumber to 20%, air drying it. That's about where kiln dried lumber is, by the time you get it!

As for uniform, tune your mill up and properly stack it, and it will be uniform... Truth is, I don't mind nailing it up green, and it comes out just fine...

SR
 
   / Sawmill. What do I need to know. #9  
I got one for the same reason N80. It's very labor intensive. I found mine on ebay and only 100 miles away. Good bang for the buck is EZBoardwalk in northern MO. Amish? family, nice folks I went there in person to buy a log arch later on. Don't expect fancy internet site and they probably do business via phone. I would have bought one of their models had it not been for finding the Baker HD18 on ebay. Baker Wood Buddy is a basic mill and made only about 20-ish miles from my property. Lots of other smaller companies out there like Mister Sawmill, Lumbermate, Cooks, Hud-son and on and on.

Check FB Marketplace and just tweak the towns to find stuff outside your area. I've seen a few for sale over in the Ozarks. Also a few large circular mills since the area has a lot of Oak.
 
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   / Sawmill. What do I need to know.
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Thanks guys. Good info here.

As for type, yes, I'm looking at a band saw. Portable. Does not need to be on a trailer.

As for quality of blow downs, I beg to differ. Have had plenty of healthy trees uprooted by the wind when soil is wet and loose. Solid from butt to branches. Some white oak blow downs are hollow at the butt but solid the rest of the way up.

As far as danger, I have no experience with a portable band saw mill but they do not look inherently dangerous. But as for recovering logs and trees, well, I've done that a lot. Log handling won't be a major issue as I'm not talking anything huge. I've got a tractor with a front end loader. I know guys with experience with portable band saws. Agreed it would be good to get one of them to come show us the ropes.

newbury, as mentioned, my son-in-law has the Alaska mill and a big Stihl he uses with it. He uses a ripping chain. The big cedar he ripped into boards was 90% bright red heartwood and hard as a rock. The boards he was getting were over 20" wide. I think oak or pine would go much faster. This was his first Alaska mill Great idea about reducing a large log with it to make it manageable for the band saw mill.

As far as return on investment goes, that would not be a major consideration. This would be for fun and to make decent use of wood that would otherwise go to waste. I'd probably give a lot of it away. I'll think up projects to use it. (I have an open tractor shed that I would love to put wood siding on, for instance.) And as mentioned, if it does not turn out to be useful it could be sold.

Also, we have planing and drying facility not far from here. When we built our cabin we bought pine boards from a local guy with a saw mill. We had them dried and planed at this place and it was remarkably inexpensive.

Anyway, still in the wishing/dreaming stage but have been thinking about it for years. My son-in-law went to a Wood-Mizer demo and was impressed. They have a new entry level model that will handle a 12' log up to 26" diameter for around $4000 new.

Not sure it will ever happen but you guys have been helpful.
 
 
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