Sawing in the snow

[delgra]

You are correct about the saw dust. With the WM its clean up every night or wade in dust. Around here its $40 per hour for a sawyer and a mill and thats ok by me as I only saw twice a year and sell very little dimensional lumber. I would rather invest in more toys for the tractor!!! Plow comming.

 

[IndyIan]

My neighbor has an old LT-27 with electric feed and height controls but he seems to have trouble keeping the electrical system happy on it.
For the occasional miller probably a simple mill would be best. Also you can get blades for hardwood or softwood which should help with a manual machine.
I've also had a guy in with an LT40 with the hyd log roller and clamps, it was fast and I really needed to have another helper to keep up with him sawing 10-12" white cedar logs. He charged quite a bit for his time so I would've rather kept him hopping the whole time than me being the limiting factor for production.

 

[MotorSeven]

Well, the sawdust shoot on the drivers side has never been a problem for me. It does force me to take the snow shovel to it every couple of hrs. I fear if it was on the other side the pile would be about 3' high:laughing: Since it is on the back side of the mill I shovel it over onto a creek levee. It it was in front of the mill I'm not sure where I would put it.....prob into the tractor bucket. Either way, sawdust management is inevitable and has to be dealt with.
I have tried off bearing from the front, but I have been cutting 16' out to 26' logs and it's impossible to get them off without walking around them anyway. Even when I do 8'ers I just stand on the back side and flip them up onto the tractor forks...never been an issue.
So far I have cut a lot of timber for my log home without any issues.

 

[roger4400]

For a part time hobby, is a 13 hp sawmill has enough power or I must get a 18 to 20 hp ?????? ( brand new Woodmizer lt15 comes with a 18 hp engine)Some of my pines are over24 in. but the average are 18 to 20 in. I also have 20 in. hard maple......So is a 13 hp slower but efficient or I would need a 18 to 20 hp to have a nice cut...time to mill is not a problem (I'm retired :thumbsup. Thanks .Roger

 

[PaleFX]

Has anyone had any experience with these?
Portable Sawmills for sale. Woodland Mills Ontario Canada
I am really interested in any info on these you may have...

 

[MotorSeven]

For a part time hobby, is a 13 hp sawmill has enough power or I must get a 18 to 20 hp ?????? ( brand new Woodmizer lt15 comes with a 18 hp engine)Some of my pines are over24 in. but the average are 18 to 20 in. I also have 20 in. hard maple......So is a 13 hp slower but efficient or I would need a 18 to 20 hp to have a nice cut...time to mill is not a problem (I'm retired :thumbsup. Thanks .Roger

Roger I have an older LT15 with the 15horse Kohler. I have cut oak, ash, walnut, pine, hemlock, poplar up to 28" in diameter I have not met a log it would not cut. A 13 will do it just a tad slower and sharp blades are your friend.
This one was so big I had to whittle down the end with a chainsaw:

 

[roger4400]

Thank you for your answer Motor seven, I don't have any experience in those mills and I do not want to regret a bad decision, it is why other's experience is so valuable. Thank you.
Pale FX, all the big names in sawmills ( woodmizer, Norwood, Gilbert...etc ( I'M from Quebec Canada and those are the renamed mills overhere) are selling for ｱ 7,000$ to $9,000 for an average mill, I do not know if a $3,000 mill is good , those equipment works very hard... (just my opinion. ) The bed has to be very strong to have a nice cut (torsion), and engine are industrial and are expensive.....for myself I prefer to buy a good used rename mill...but I never tried those Woodland mills.