Portable Sawmills

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I am considering buying a portable sawmill. I want one for personal/hobby use, but if the opportunity arises, I might hire out for custom sawing or even saw some wood to sell. Any of you ever have a portable mill? Any advice on their use would be appreciated.

 

[inveresk]

I have a Lumbermate 2000 bandmill (Canadian made) that I bought a year or so ago. Capacity is 18' long x 24" dia. logs although it's a real struggle to get logs that size skidded up to and rolled onto the mill and for that reason I haven't milled many quite that size.

Essentially there are two types of mill, bandsaw and swing blade. The undernoted thread on woodweb explains some of the benefits and advantages of each.

Swing-Blade Mills Versus Bandsaw Mills

Bandmills are cheaper and can produce bigger cants but swing blade mills can tackle the biggest logs that a bandmill couldn't look at, are more portable, easier and cheaper to sharpen and generally don't require the wood to be turned because the saw blade moves and rotates (why it's called a swing blade mill) so you can do vertical and horizontal cuts to produce your cants. There are other factors that would dictate the choice you make, not least price - swing blade mills are usually a good deal more expensive - whether you want to produce post and beam work (swing blade mill) or whether you want to rattle off a load of planks for siding (for which bandsaws have the advantage).

I paid $4500 for my used Lumbermate then another $1500 or so for upgrades and tools such as a new blades, a bed extension, new adjustable legs, peevies, chains, etc. and I've probably saved more than that milling the lumber on my farm for the post and beam work on the new barn. In addition I could probably sell the mill for much the price I paid for it. If you have the time to mill yourself, it can be cost effective but I can tell you that unless you have proper skidding equipment such as skidding tongs or a tractor with b/h and thumb, and the mill has a powered log loader, milling wood is a real workout.

 

[johnk]

Here's a link to the forestry forum where they have all the particulars on sawmills etc...Should give you some idea of what will fill your needs...I'd love to have a sawmill but too many irons in the fire already..Go to the sawmills part in the forums...Hope this helps.

http://www.forestryforum.com

 

[inveresk]

Here's a link to Peterson's web site. This is probably the nicest swing blade mill on the market, New Zealand made, but it's EXPENSIVE. Lucas also make a nice swing blade mill.

Peterson Portable Sawmills Home Page

Here's a link to the Lumbermate web site.

Portable Sawmills and Forestry Equipment, Norwood Industries Inc.

Both web sites have demo. videos you can download.

 

[mrpoppy58]

tnhobbyfarmer,
I have a Timberking 1220 mill. I like it. I have a Mahindra 2810 Tractor with fel and bh. This is a fine Mill. It is a portable mill. I can run it by myself with the help of the Tractor, but it is a lot better to have my Grandson helping. Timberking has been real helpful with advice and they have a good warranty. Talk to Mark Klein at timberking.com I really like my Mill.
mrpoppy58

 

[450EXC]

I have a Hud-Son Oscar 36. 16' bed and will cut 36" diameter logs. It is a good mill and I would recommnd it if you can get a good price on one.

Milling involves a lot of manual labor unless you buy a much more expensive hydraulic mill. It is a hobby thing for me gets done when there is time. I'm not a wood worker and have not persued a market to sell hardwood so framing lumber is mostly sawed. It is very nice to saw into a clear Red Oak log and get those perfect boards though.

There is a lot to it to saw logs correctly but it is learnable. I would highly recommend getting one.


Here are a couple pics of a small 10'x10' lean-to made completely with lumber from from the mill. I made a jig to mill the tapered clapboard siding. I used a special corregated blade and one of those rare metal logs for the roofing.

 

[Youare]

I have owned and operated a portable saw mill for over 25 years, they can provide you with hours of fun and work. As you have been already advised read all you can and ask all the questions you can think of on the Forestry Forum.

There are many band mills out there at all kinds of prices. Most portable band mills use tires for driving the saw blade. The better mills use metal wheels for driving the blade. Band tensioning seems to be one of the more important aspects of having a band saw mill perform consistantly.

Keep your logs as clean as possible, dirt is not your friend even just a little bit can dull one side of the blade and give you fits. Metal in the logs is an ever present concern especially when the trees have been cut down around a house or fence line.

Each type of wood will cut differently and whether it is fresh cut or been cut down a while contributes to differences in sawing.

Swing mills are becoming more popular today. There are many trade shows where you can watch several different types in operation and talk to people who own them. Happy hunting.

Randy

 

[czechsonofagun]

There is a very active sawmill group on yahoo.com

Also there are mills or better say jigs for chainsaw to cut boards with - thats hard work but it can be done. Baileys sell them for instance.

 

[dmartin88]

I have a Woodmizer LT15 bandsaw mill- 15hp gas motor, one extension so can cut logs a bit over 16 foot. No commercial use, just a hobbyist, cut enough red and white oak last year to frame and roof a 24X24 shed for my tractor. I'm lucky and have a Bobcat with a grapple to move logs on to the mill, then use a cant hook most of the time to turn the log.

I boughty mine about 18 months ago, have just started using some of the 5/4 lumber I've cut (oak) to build some small projects after it has air dryed. It's down to about 10% moisture- may try to build a solar kiln this spring- whoops, it's almost spring so better get with it. Would like to have the moisture content a bit lower but what I've made so far has stayed together- would also like to get the temperature of the wood up for a bit to ensure any bugs are dead.

A lot of fun (not sure I'd want to do this for a living!) and great excercise and sometimes a great surprise when you open up a log- sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

What are you looking to do with the wood you cut, fine woodworking, construction, resale?

Good luck with your research.

 

[JRobyn]

Hiya TN,

If you get one soon, PM me. My powerline cut has resulted in about 100 nice downed trees including a couple of huge shagbark hickories, several nice walnuts, one giant wild cherry, a couple of beeches, etc.. I haven't been able to generate much interest from local foresters/timber buyers, so they are either going to lay and rot (in the bottom) or become firewood. You can save a few from this fate if you're willing to come get 'em.

Jay