Any Sawmill owners?

Mike.O said:

I've been playing around with the idea of getting myself a little band saw mill to mill up lumber for a few pole barns I'd like to build. Also, to make some furniture, and any other miscellaneous lumber needs.

Maybe a $5,000 budget.

I think I've ruled out the cheaper ones (WoodMaxx and Woodland Mills).

I keep getting drawn back to the Norwood LumberMate LM29.

Woodmizer would be sweet, but I think the bang for your buck goes a bit further with the Norwood. And it looks to be a quality unit.

Any one on here have band saw mills?

https://www.norwoodsawmills.com/en_us/lumbermate-lm29

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look at https://www.hud-son.com/ I haven't priced one, but have seen them in action and they can cut some lumber.

We bought a portable saw mill a few yrs ago at work. I know nothing about it but i wanna say it cost around 5-7k. Upper management thought it be a great idea to have one being we have an unlimited about of trees we have access to and we use lumber/firewood all the time. Long story short, it was used two (SHORT)times and now its stored on our second floor of our warehouse. From what ive been told its an accident waiting to happen. Plus the whole process is such a pain in the ass that everyone refuses to use it.

Mike.O said:

No I have not seen those. I will definitely check them out. Thanks for the share.

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Yea, their built in the US locally in Up State NY. I've seen them working at the Woodsmans Days in Boonville during the display/show. they can process some wood, watched them cut some big Maple into slabs 3" thick like hot knife thru butter.

Any used ones in your area?

Buddy in NH went in on a used one with a friend they got for $3000. It needed some work after being out in the weather but after a couple hundred for new bearings and some paint, the thing ran great and they milled scores of logs. My buddy would get calls after ice storms to remove tall trees that had fallen. Before winter, lots of people took out trees as a preventative measure. What he couldn't mill, he chopped and split and sold back to many of these folks the next winter when they ran out of firewood.

An Air Force retiree across town has one he uses to cut burl and big mesquite logs up with.

If I had the material readily available like my buddy up in NH, I'd have one for sure. Up there, trees are everywhere. He had dozens of gorgeous pine 4x4's he had milled, stacked, and dried that he ended up burning because no one wanted softwood! In Phoenix, those would have been really expensive.

CaveCreekRay said:

Any used ones in your area?

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I know where there is an almost new one out of the weather sitting on the second floor of a warehouse in Pennsylvania.

I own 50 acres of woodland that I have been harvesting for the past 33 years. Of course, when we first got here and began working those woods we thought that a sawmill would be an economical and practical tool for us.
[Un]fortunately, we were land rich and dollar poor so we passed on that idea and decided to hire a sawmill and operator. And a great choice it was.
Since that day we have had Dick and Andy back to our woodlot 5 or 6 times.
We have spent a few thousand dollars for all that milling, got many thousands board feet of lumber that we have used for all our wood building needs and most importantly, learned that owning and running a sawmill for a business is a noisy, dusty and strenuous job that I would rather pay someone else to do.
We did tail and stack for them anyway because many hands...
Anyway, take the time consider what you actually want to do with the mill, your money and your time.

Around here, there are a couple/few custom portable guys, and a couple small sawmills that will do custom sawing.

A small portable mill will not have hydraulics to load or turn the log. A small sawlog is more manageable, but makes very little lumber, whether 1x, and less 2x. Remember everything is based on small-end diameter.

I would look for a custom guy first. Not trying to discourage you investigating them; I tagged along with a buddy looking years ago when I was cutting a lot of wood.
I guess my advice is not get to enamored with their promotional videos.

Years ago, we were at the Woodsman's Field Days in Boonville New York tughill Tom mentioned. Could see the units in action. Gave a better appreciation of what it takes to run one.

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A couple of local saw mills will slice and dice 'you brung it' lumber pretty cheap. The only people I know that bother to bring in timber is with really nice hardwoods.
No mill of your own to store and service. You lumber gets cut on accurate equipment by a skilled operator.

I use to own one before I retired. It was a hyd WoodMizer and I started a business with it. I ran mine for about 15 years then we retired so I sold it. I wish I had it back. It was full Hyd would turn the log and load it all I had to do was roll the log ion it. I used my skidsteer most of the time. I could cut any where from 1000 to 1200 BF lumber a day depending on the logs. Most of my customers were repeats and they spread the wood when I was going to be in the area. I ment a lot of interesting people and many had skills I could only dream of. One place I sawed the lumber out for a 25 foot sail boat. I made a lot of good friends during my travels with it. The cheaper ones are a lot of work and slow. You need to go full hyd to save your back. I had one guy that made gun stocks and thank god for the skidsteer as these were cut 2 1/2 thick and whatever the log length was. Make sure whatever you buy has good support behind it as sometime you will need parts

Mike,

Lots of good experience here to draw from.

One thing about your guy, if you can take your wood to him whether he is set up at his place or is set up on another job and get an hour of work out of him, he might charge you an hourly rate. Might ask him about that option for smaller jobs of two or three logs. Hauling those is a pain but, if he is set up at a site or his place, he might have a machine to pick the logs off your trailer.

I was faced with the same decision when I looked at re-loading equipment. My wife, a cost analyst for 20 years asked me about the set-up costs for equipment. Her call was to spend the money on more factory made ammo. I saluted and said, "YES M'AM!"

Mike.O said:

Wow, great replies! Thanks!

Seems like the general consensus on the lower end ones is they can get the job done, but are not desirable way to go. I do not mind hard work at all, I actually enjoy it.

I would be alright with low production rates, as it would just be a hobby thing to build things around the house. First would be pines for some out buildings, then maybe some nicer woods for indoor projects. Have a gorgeous cherry tree begging to be sawed up, more red oak and sugar and red maple.

It does seem like the way to go would be to hire the portable guy. He has a large woodmizer, all hydraulic and charges by the day. I have some timber ready and can easily drop some more. I could have everything ready to go and get him in for a weekend.

And as Wolfman said, I could abandon the mill idea all together and use the "mill money" to purchase all the wood needed.



Lots to consider.

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I couldn't bear to make firewood out of some ash oak maple black walnut trees that had to come down about 10 years ago, and had a guy come and saw some of it on my property about 10 years ago. He kind of went nuts and sawed up a lot in one day. Most of it is still neatly stickered in my barn with the exception of some donated to people for other projects and for one small coffee table of spalted maple. I had in mind making paneling out of the ash and finish my basement. The problem is a lot of my projects were for after I retired when I would have more time. Trouble is I have more time all right, but less energy to get stuff done. And the cut specs for the wood I have is not necessarily right for every project, maybe even any project. Thinking my quarter sawn oak was too thin for flooring for my kitchen, this summer I had some walnuts taken away to be sawn for a carefully calculated amount of a thickness just right for a flooring company to prepare. Not only did it take 4 months for him to get around to cutting it, not even in the kiln yet, but the bill arrived yesterday for over 2K. I am about to let him keep it. Well maybe, for sure I have to go look at it. I had been lead to believe that of the 8 trees part could be used to pay for the work. I knew going in it wouldn't be cost effective, but the rest of the flooring in my old house is from trees on the farm, so I wanted to replace the kitchen linoleum with the walnuts. Stupid sentimental reasons.

Moral: this can get pricey real fast, people in the lumber cutting and sawing business are both casual and sometimes downright crooked if you are trying to sell logs, and to end up with what you want you need a lot of preplanning. And a lot of barn space to store your stash.

Im fixin to buy one of those Granburg Alaskan mills and a ripping chain
And give that a go.

I have a good size Shagbark Hickory also have an oak and probably three or four ash trees I can play with.

From what I’ve seen if you take your time they do a decent job.


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North Idaho Wolfman said:

Everyone wants their own saw mill, it's a dream come true... till you actually get one!

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I built a carriage type mill from scratch in the 1980's.

After operating cutting ties and lumber, I found that the humble $1.85 2x4 in the lumber yard was one of the greatest bargains of the century.
You need to be young and strong to pull boards and slabs and have a wife who works with you.

groomerbuck said:

We bought a portable saw mill a few yrs ago at work. I know nothing about it but i wanna say it cost around 5-7k. Upper management thought it be a great idea to have one being we have an unlimited about of trees we have access to and we use lumber/firewood all the time. Long story short, it was used two (SHORT)times and now its stored on our second floor of our warehouse. From what ive been told its an accident waiting to happen. Plus the whole process is such a pain in the ass that everyone refuses to use it.

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Interesting. Have a good friend in the pallet business with a huge woodlot and he has a mill. It's a big one. I think it was over 20 grand and it turns out some serious dimensional lumber for his pallet business.

One thing that I've always wondered about is what happens to the bandsaw blade if you hit something in the tree like a rock or some metal?

Reason I ask is because I have an Alaskan chainsaw mill and I've ruined chains before.

I have to agree, for personal use, you can buy truckloads of dimensional dried umber for the cost of admission.

Mike - just another thought....

An 18" DBH (diameter breast height) tree with 1-16' log could have 100+ board feet of lumber in it, if it's perfect. Sounds like a lot of tree, but 100 board feet doesn't go far...

Guess my point is what may seem like a lot of raw material (trees/logs) may not go as far as you might think.

Subtract irregularities/cull/sweep, etc. from your harvest, and end-product gets smaller yet, as most trees are not perfect in their shape or condition.

Understanding how to buck trees to minimize loss/waste and maximize higher-value yield is also important, and takes practice.

Again, just a thought...well, 2 or 3...and they apply to whether you have your own a mill, or have someone come in. You still want to maximize the yield in either case. If you give a hired guy junk, you will get junk.