Harbor Freight Sawmill - does it exist?

[newbury]

Newbury, Hud-son salavge is still part of the company. I believe they have 3 different types of stores right next to each other chainsaw, snowmobile, band mills/tractors. Plus they sell some other stuff.

I just checked there site and could not find the June show. I'll have to give them a call, usually it's around the 1st or 2nd week????

I realize they are all REAL close, but on eBay one finds hudonsledgesalvage and I haven't been able to find a Hud-son salvage on the web other than Hudsons Salvage, LLC which is a discount store chain based in Mississippi.

 

[Scotty370]

I think it's a family run business that has several off-shoots. The primarly business is Bandsaw Mills, with a branch that sells parts from a Snowmobile 'bone-yard'! ~Scotty

Hud-Son Sawmill USA Portable Sawmills

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Just for curiosity's sake I looked on Craigslist and Ebay and found several bandsaw mills for sale. I might pick up one at a much cheaper price over new to use with my Tree cutting business

 

[slaveToHorses]

Man I would love to have a BS mill.
I have some nice Blue Atlas Cedar logs sitting here waiting to be made into something cool.

I do have a chain saw mill attachment for my 30" Stihl. I haven't tried it yet though. I was going to rip one up this spring to see how well it works. A BS would be clearly superior though and a lot easier to use. The chain saw mill looks like a pain.

Has anyone tried the Alaska chain saw mill?

 

[20 20]

Made and used my one{AM} for a short time, it got the job done but wasn't all that great. Switched over to a small band mill, 8.5hp 28"X 18+' long, it's a HUGE difference and kind of fun. Not so much waste faster and easier cutting.

 

[newbury]

Well kind of an update.

They have apparently DISCONTINUED the Oscar 18 and renamed it the Oscar 121 (the pic even shows an 18) and the price is $2,795. About what the 18 was but it now has a 10hp engine.

bandmills, sawmills, portable sawmill, sawmill wood processing


But they have INTRODUCED the Oscar 118 which at first glance seems to meet the specs of the HF sawmill for $2,195, vs the HF price of $2,299.

Of course there will probably be some people calling it cheap chinese crap anyways. I think it's thrifty Yankee ingenuity.

Now if they could only fix it so I could use my Stihl 660, a 7HP power head.

/edit - wonder what it would take to adapt it to electric.

Their Hud-Son mills come with a 2 yr warranty.

and via email - for $2,395 they will sell it with a 5hp electric motor

 

[texaslogs]

Yes it does exist

I purchased one for 1799.00- 20% coupon total cost 1557.00 out of pocket.

This has 7 hp 20" x 12' max board cut. I cut 3-5 logs weekly mostly cedar. This is good mill for the money. One note you can add track to cut longer logs. 22" dia is max so it does not real effect me.

The main thing with any tool is keeping it fine tuned and clean and level in this case.

the robin motor starts very easy and runs clean. The blade sucks I ordered new ones the day I got it. It is build well 5/16 steel tracks and a good locking system. the track comes in 2 pieces so I mounted it on the set of pallet rack rail and added wheels at one end to move it into workshop when not being used. It has no loader so a used the pallet rack and a winch to load from my truck and trailer. I will post the setup if anyone would like to see it.

I look at many other for the money this is the brst buy. in the 2000-3500 price range.

 

[texaslogs]

I started with chain saw mill for 140.00 northern tool plus a 30" chain saw. the saw cost me more that my truck lol. I now have bs mill . the time, waste, and noise are just some of the things I don't miss.

texaslogs

Man I would love to have a BS mill.
I have some nice Blue Atlas Cedar logs sitting here waiting to be made into something cool.

I do have a chain saw mill attachment for my 30" Stihl. I haven't tried it yet though. I was going to rip one up this spring to see how well it works. A BS would be clearly superior though and a lot easier to use. The chain saw mill looks like a pain.

Has anyone tried the Alaska chain saw mill?

 

[newbury]

Pics would be nice.

 

[20 20]

Pics would be nice.

:thumbsup: Yep

 

[economy]

I believe the first Harbor Freight mills were built by Hud-Son, who continues to sell the mill as an Oscar 18 with a 6.5 hp Briggs engine.
A better choice is the Oscar 121 with a 10 hp Briggs, better log dogs, larger
capacity (21" vs 18" diameter logs) and a more stable 4 post mill head. See the mills at Hud-Son Sawmill USA Portable Sawmills.
The HFT mill no longer appears on their website.

 

[Scotty370]

I can't imagine that Harbor Freight would ever be able to market a quality HudSon unit at the prices they (HF) retail at. And I doubt that HudSon would give them an opportunity to do so......Just my opinion.....~Scotty

 

[newbury]

I can't imagine that Harbor Freight would ever be able to market a quality HudSon unit at the prices they (HF) retail at. And I doubt that HudSon would give them an opportunity to do so......Just my opinion.....~Scotty

Well everyone has an opinion.

But according to Hud-Son they did back in '09 and '10

Well I called the number on the manual, got thru to Hud-Son Forestry, I was told it's made in New York and to stop by and they could demo one.
Looks like it's not cheap chinese junk.

 

[Scotty370]

newbury- I never mind being corrected! Just that I wonder what kind of 'mark-up' that HudSon has on their products that they could wholesale to HF, let HF take a cut, and still market them in a 'flyer' in the "HF" pricing window. ~Scotty

 

[economy]

newbury- I never mind being corrected! Just that I wonder what kind of 'mark-up' that HudSon has on their products that they could wholesale to HF, let HF take a cut, and still market them in a 'flyer' in the "HF" pricing window. ~Scotty

There was a large price increase in 2009 due to steel price increases. So HFT
could have advertised the mill at the older lower prices. Evidently when their
stock was exhaused, they dropped the mill. Steel prices are on the rise again, so look for more price increases on equipment.

 

[minidozer]

Harbor Freight did at one time sell more than one sawmill but now only sell one i.e. SKU 37138. I doubt this sawmill is made by Hudson as the 121 weighs approx. 435 lbs. whereas the Harbor Freight sawmill weighs approx. 668 lbs. The Harbor Freight sawmill also uses metric bolts. A manual for this sawmill can be downloaded from the Harbor Freight web site.

I am considering the purchase of the Harbor Freight sawmill because of price but have many questions like how easy is it to raise/lower the head? and how do you tension the blade? I also assume this sawmill must be permanently placed because of the angle iron rails even if they are 5/16". The motor HP is low but as a hobby sawmill, I can take my time. I have a Robins engine on my Harbor Freight log splitter and have been very pleased.

 

[economy]

Hud-son now has an HFE-21 sawmill for $2500. It is powered by a 6.5hp B/S
engine and comes with 12 feet of bolt together track. The head is easily raised/lowered by a manual winch. It will saw 21 inch diameter logs.
Hud-Son.com

 

[economy]

Hud-son now has an HFE-21 sawmill for $2500. It is powered by a 6.5hp B/S
engine and comes with 12 feet of bolt together track. The head is easily raised/lowered by a manual winch. It will saw 21 inch diameter logs.
Hud-Son Sawmill USA Portable Sawmills

 

[rambler]

Interesting thread.

Been reading HF catalogs and online for years, never ever knew they sell, or sold, or still sell, sawmills!

--->Paul