Bandsaw mill

[Redmt]

Has anyone have any recommendations for a bandsaw mill? We have hundreds of not thousands of fire cured pine trees. They are falling everywhere. A lot of them are 2' plus and straight as an arrow. I'm thinking about buying a smaller bandsaw mill to mill timbers and logs for a 1000sq. single bedroom log house. I'm thinking about renting it out for weekend getaways.

 

[mtmuley]

LT50 Hydraulic Portable Sawmill | Wood-Mizer USA

Loaded with high-performance features including advanced hydraulic log handling, Accuset2 Setworks, and faster sawhead movement, the Wood-Mizer LT50 hydraulic portable sawmill is engineered for speed and high-production. Built in the USA!

woodmizer.com

The builder I work for has one if these. mtmuley

 

[hank4elk]

LT50 Hydraulic Portable Sawmill | Wood-Mizer USA

Loaded with high-performance features including advanced hydraulic log handling, Accuset2 Setworks, and faster sawhead movement, the Wood-Mizer LT50 hydraulic portable sawmill is engineered for speed and high-production. Built in the USA!

woodmizer.com

The builder I work for has one if these. mtmuley

Look up Pacific Lumber in SLO, woodmisers

 

[44hunter45]

@BigHornRam is the personal mill expert

 

[Redmt]

LT50 Hydraulic Portable Sawmill | Wood-Mizer USA

Loaded with high-performance features including advanced hydraulic log handling, Accuset2 Setworks, and faster sawhead movement, the Wood-Mizer LT50 hydraulic portable sawmill is engineered for speed and high-production. Built in the USA!

woodmizer.com

The builder I work for has one if these. mtmuley

That 48k price tag is a bunch more than I want to spend! Nice mill though.

 

[Mtrimble]

I’ve had a Woodmizer LT15 diesel since 2009. It’s a manual mill, but is capable of good production. It’s been close to flawless.

 

[Southern Elk]

That 48k price tag is a bunch more than I want to spend! Nice mill though.

You can find used wood mizers. A lot of people buy them and end up selling either because they finished a project or just didn’t use it as much as they planned.

 

[mtmuley]

That 48k price tag is a bunch more than I want to spend! Nice mill though.

We have it set up in a building. It's convenient to be able to mill material for our customers home projects. Hope you find what you need. mtmuley

 

[BigHornRam]

I had a wood-mizer for a number of years but sold it recently. They are fun but also a lot of work. You might check with their web site and see if they have a list of local area mill owners that do custom milling. You may be money ahead to go that route then buy a mill. They have been hard to come by new or used lately.

 

[PrairieHunter]

Some guys have success with the harbor freight sawmills. They usually end up making some modifications but it's a good starting point if you are just doing it for personal use.

I have actually worked some biochar projects with the family who founded woodmizer back in the day.

There is an electric one for sale over in Nebraska that I know about.
Sawmill. Mighty Mite bandsaw. 20 HP electric motor, tandem axles w/ brakes on one axle, 36” x 24’ log capacity, (have cut 46” beams) hydraulic operation includes winch, knees, taper, near arm, dogging arms, far arm, dogging spike, log loading arms, and electric clutch and blade lift. Includes automatic blade sharpener, setting machine, 12 used blades and 4 new blades. Excellent condition. Never been used commercially. $17,500. Contact: Gary Fisher, Crawford, NE. Phone: 308-665-1580; email: [email protected].

 

[Redmt]

The Woodmizers, Hudson's , Cook, mills , all look pretty nice but are out of my budget. I'm looking at the Woodland mills. The one I'm considering is the HM 130. It looks like a bare bones no frills machine but also appears to be built decently. The harbor freight piece looks like a piece. I'm probably going to stay away from the chinee junk.

 

[schmalts]

Milling is tough work. Even more so without the hydro models. Plus you are going to need a mid size or larger tractor, or skid steer to be moving the logs around. I have mill that can handle up to a 32 inch log but try to turn that log with a cant hook is tough work. My mill is a bit of a step up from the Harbor Freight rig with a 15HP engine and I have done a few projects with it in the last year that would have cost me a ton in lumber.

 

[schmalts]

The Woodmizers, Hudson's , Cook, mills , all look pretty nice but are out of my budget. I'm looking at the Woodland mills. The one I'm considering is the HM 130. It looks like a bare bones no frills machine but also appears to be built decently. The harbor freight piece looks like a piece. I'm probably going to stay away from the chinee junk.

Got bad news.... the Woodland is "Chinee" as well as a lot of others. Not all are junk, and the Woodland is one of them that is Chinee but has some QC put into it. Take a look at the picture I posted and compare it to the Woodland 130MAX with trailer. It is pretty darn close to the same mill, just ordered with different minor specs. A USA built one to look at is the EZ-boardwalk. Might be out of your budget but it is built by Amish or Mennonites and gets good reviews

 

[Redmt]

Milling is tough work. Even more so without the hydro models. Plus you are going to need a mid size or larger tractor, or skid steer to be moving the logs around. I have mill that can handle up to a 32 inch log but try to turn that log with a cant hook is tough work. My mill is a bit of a step up from the Harbor Freight rig with a 15HP engine and I have done a few projects with it in the last year that would have cost me a ton in lumber.
View attachment 252417

Tractor is NBD. I have a Case 580k that is my Swedish pocket knife. Did you start off with the HF saw and modify it up to suit? I'm only planning on milling for myself. I have plenty of free wood and plenty of free time.

 

[schmalts]

Tractor is NBD. I have a Case 580k that is my Swedish pocket knife. Did you start off with the HF saw and modify it up to suit? I'm only planning on milling for myself. I have plenty of free wood and plenty of free time.

No. I will PM you some details

 

[Redmt]

Milling is tough work. Even more so without the hydro models. Plus you are going to need a mid size or larger tractor, or skid steer to be moving the logs around. I have mill that can handle up to a 32 inch log but try to turn that log with a cant hook is tough work. My mill is a bit of a step up from the Harbor Freight rig with a 15HP engine and I have done a few projects with it in the last year that would have cost me a ton in lumber. View attachment 252417

Which mill is in the picture?

 

[Redmt]

No. I will PM you some details

Cool. Thanks.

 

[schmalts]

My bigfoot son helping me mill out some slabs from this giant Black Ash trunk.

 

[Redmt]

View attachment 252420
My bigfoot son helping me mill out some slabs from this giant Black Ash trunk.

It looks like a little creative engineering at work.

 

[schmalts]

It looks like a little creative engineering at work.

Yeah, I found to flip those giant logs I wrap a trucker ratchet strap around the log with the ratchet on the bottom side, then use the crane to lift the loose end of the strap and the log will want to flip over. Had that log on planks because it was shorter than the distance between the bunks.