New to the forum

[Bibbyman]

I’z just thinkin’.   Where a LT70 mill would come in real handy is if you went around to all the circle mills (assuming there are some in your area),  and setup and sawed their high-grade logs.   The extra yield they’d recover would pay for your services.

Another note:

Last fall Mary and I visited an sawmill operation with an LT70E25 and the rest of the system – logdeck, conveyer, board separator,  edger.  Although the logs (walnut) were real dogs (small, crooked, lots of defect),  the sawyer was able to keep one guy busy constantly kicking slabs off the separator and feeding flitches through the edger.  Another guy on the other side of the edger was constantly stacking and trimming ends, etc.  There wasn’t any lost motion or resting.

A fourth guy was sweeping and cleaning up.   I could see where he could be used about half the time loading logs, moving lumber, slabs, etc.

[DanG]

Welcome in, Woodchopper!  You've been getting some good input here.  Assuming you're gonna by a new mill, rather than used, consider the cost of upgrading rather than downgrading, later.  If you have to make a change, you'll give up a bit on the sale...say 15% for argument's sake.  I'd rather give up 15% of $20,000 on the upgrade, than 15% of $60,000 on the downgrade. Just something else to think about in case you run out of things to think about.

Keep your business plan flexible.  My operation hasn't turned out at all like I had envisioned, but I've been able to stay afloat by going with the flow.

Have you considered other types of mills, or are you dead-set on a band saw?  The others deserve a look, too.  Try to spend a few hours with somebody in the shed, sharpening bands after a hard day's work. 

There are several guys running band mills in my area that couldn't saw a decent board if their life depended on it. That ain't the fault of the mill, but is due to the fact that they ain't done their homework.  There's a whole lot more to sawing than lining up and pulling the handle.  You've already taken the best first step you could, by coming here to The ForestryForum.

[Rockn H]

Welcom, Woodchopper.
DanG and Back40 have some really good points.  There is an LT 70 maybe 3 miles from me and its permanent.  He tried moving it when he first got it but the mill is heavy and if you want to open it up ,production wise, it best set up with a resaw and at least 2 off bearers. With a super 40 you have the hydraulics and production along with portability.  Resale ,as mentioned, if you should feel like upgrading is close to retail.  From the sound of your last post you seem to be thinking custom portable sawing and from my experience you may be looking at less than a 1000bf per job, a good way to start though if you don't have access to logs yourself.  With that type of operation a 40 or something similar would seem the way to go.  I am a little bias towards the yellowishred brand though.

[RacinRex]

I purchased a small manual mill from a guy who builds them in the shop out back of his house. I paid 3400.00 for it delivered to my house. I added 4 screw jacks at the corners and devised a technique to take the axle off and out of the way to lower the bed down to about mid calf.  I also have two ramps that I hook over a latch I build on the side of the mill. It takes me about 15 minutes to setup on site. I started with only sawing for myself, however I have done a couple of custom jobs now and these guys definately know what they are talking about on here.  At $.20/bd ft some say I'm expensive but I go to the next guy looking for a favor.

The 200bd ft / hr is a very realistic figure with supplied help.  With Sharp blades and the logs lined up and ready to saw I can keep the off bearer pretty darn busy with just a 13HP gas motor and all manual everything. Like you woodchipper I grew up in an atmosphere of work. (100 head family dairy) I can work and do it all day since I'm still only 26 yrs old and at 6ft and 240 I can apply force simply by leaning on a handle  . An LT40 will let you get your feet wet at a whole lot less expense than the LT70. I hardly think that a 35 HP Diesel could be considered skimping on power when you consider its a portable mill. We used to produce 4500 bdft in a day with a 70HP farm tractor PTO powering our Frick 00.  I'll tell ya that keeps two teenage boys skampering!!

 I'm using my little trailered setup to earn some extra cash on the weekends is all. It will probably pay for itself after a year or so not bad return for a hobby. Its all about costs, market, and profits

Good luck with your endeavours.