Bandsaw mill

Oh, it's not fun but it is splittable, I stacked up tons of it. You just need 2-3 wedges and a sledgehammer, and a college kid with plenty of spare time and energy...
There were hundreds acres of it planted in rows in SLO county when I lived there still. Lots of field windbreaks on the farms.
PITA and oak was easy after that.
 
Not on your life! I do some pretty stupid stuff. It's not often I care to prove it. Remember, I'm the guy who laid a d4 on it's side last year. I didn't carry enough dirt into the slope cut and had nothing underneath me. View attachment 252487
Damn.... I don't know if we can trust you to run a spinny toothy sharp thingy
 
I have been eye-balling the TMG saws which come out of (Oh) Canada. They have been showing up at an auction sight I frequent.
Have not bot one yet but they have been selling for about 3,500 new in the box.
BHR gives me the 'Meh' on these. But for a hobby operation I think it would be ok
 
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Honestly, unless you have a solid supply of logs, a place to dry them, a place to get rid of the slabs, a safe way to load them onto the mill, knowledge of mechanics and the ability to fix things on the fly, ability to sharpen your own blades and set your own teethe, and the lack of concern for sweat and sawdust running down your butt crack in solid stream fashion, I wouldn't recommend buying one.
 
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
Yep, made in China. The reality is for a small project like this he is going to be looking at the cheapest chinese saws on the market, but nobody want's to come right out and say that.

The videos of the different mills and reviews from owners are the best info out there. Both the HF and Woodland seem to be good starting points and then watch videos to find how to upgrade the saw to make it work better.

 
I looked at Wood-mizer for a long time. Now looking at these guys. There are about 2 hours from me in Washington.

 
I owned a good sized circle mill for years and I tell you that it would cut circles around any bandmill.. Many of my clients owned bandmill and I could just out produce them 10:1. I mean I could cut 10-15k/bdft per day with good trees and help tailing the saw and loading the deck.. My personal best day was just over 20k/bdft of 2" white pine structural lumber.. It didn't hurt that I was sawing with 165hp vs 15hp..

I would be looking for an old circle mill as they can often be had for less than a new cheap bandmill.. IMHO.
 
We call it Digger Pine. It's weak rooted, falls over because it wants to. It burns very hot and fast. It will soot up a stove pipe in a week. BUT!! It makes for good timber in a non structural application. Cut into 6x6 it will stack well for a log style cabin. It also makes for beautiful interior wood paneling.
Cutting burnt trees with a chainsaw is miserable dirty filthy work. Sometimes you have to sacrifice to get something for free.
I spent too much of my youth trying to split that chit with a maul and wedges. The burls in that stuff in the crotches is amazing. It eats wedges for lunch.

FWIW :ROFLMAO: - Not politically correct to call it that any more. Now they call it "Gray Pine". Mind the thought police don't ticket you.

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