Peterson or Lucas

[bugmeist]

Treebiker,

I also own a Lucas 618.  It is very easy to set up and use. I've set up on some pretty rough terrain but had no problems.  The service from Lucas has been excellant. 

I do wish the Lucas double cut though (as I'm told the Petersen does).

Good Luck with your mill search.

[Troy]

Bugmeist -

You can double cut with you Lucas, just a pain to do so because you have to take the mill head off the rails and turn it around for the back cut.  The Peterson only requires you to take the guard off and reverse the direction travel for the back cut.  It is pretty easy with my ATS.

KnotBB -

All of the swing mills have a maximum size limit and it is determined by the width of the saw frame that the head travels on.  You can chock up the mill to get it high enough to start cutting real big logs then put the frame down on ground level as you get a ways through it.  Do a search in the Forum Gallery for ATS and you will find some pretty impressive photos of some of our boys down under milling huge gum trees with Petersons.  I just recently milled a 47" white oak with my ATS, you can see pictures from a few of my posts on the forum as well.

Cutting with the taper is easily done with my ATS.  There are crank handles on the far end of the mill that you can adjust up or down.  I use this method to level the mill travel to the log when I have a big log on the ground that is sloped as opposed to blocking up one end of the mill.  It is simple and quick.

I too did a lot of research before deciding on Peterson.  I really liked the construction of the Peterson and the ability to easily perform double cuts.  I don't think I have ever heard a Lucas owner complain about their mill, so I'm sure they are quality mills as well.  There is a price difference as you may well know, but I think for me the Peterson was well worth the price difference and the wait.

[Captain]

Hey guys, everyone knows where my bias is 

Just for the record, the Lucas 618 is a 6" cutting capacity 18hp mill.  Peterson does make 6" cutting capacity mills, with any powerplant in a range between 13hp Honda and 27hp Kohler.  The difference in option cost to move up to 8" is just over $500, therefore I sell few 6" mills.

Troy beat me to the "cut with the taper" answer...the ATS is equipped with end cranks at the "far" end to allow taper adjustment.  This becomes a little more difficult on the WPF.  As much hype is put into this capability, I don't use it very often. Most of my logs have at least one bad face to sacrifice the taper on with some short boards.

WPF mills are usually sold with the "HiLo" track option that puts the track to the left of the operator 4-6 feet above the ground, and well out of the sawdust.  When used in the "LoLo" position, one has to shovel often    I only setup LoLo for the small jobs, or the "one big log" job.

Peterson Sawmills cut 20 foot logs of limited diameter out of the box.  Standard ATS mills cut 6' in diameter with larger frame sizes available, Standard 6" and 8" WPF mills cut 4' in diameter with larger frames available, standard 10" mills cut just over 5' in log diameter with larger frame sizes available.  The ASM mills are all "large frame"  I guess your answer on size is tell us a time of order how big you want it..of course if you want to cut a larger log, it is possible by blocking the mill and rotating it 90 degrees after the top section is removed.

My favorite??  WPF.  Faster vertical adjustments, especially with the electric winch.  The track sections breakdown shorter for ease of transport, and there are physically less parts to setup and move.  Certainly more condusive to production when sawing alone.

Best of luck on your decision, both are good mills that cut quality lumber.

Captain

[bugmeist]

Troy,

I know the Lucas will 'double cut' if you turn the mill around.  I heard of someone that put a tripod on one end of the rails so he could hook on to the mill, lift it past the rails, spin it 180', and let it down at the same height he picked it up.  It sounded like it simplified making a double cut with a Lucas but I've yet to experiment with such a tripod.

[Troy]

Now there's an idea!  You could use something like an engine hoist to lift the mill head and spin it when you need to double cut. 

[Part_Timer]

Welcome to the forum.

Take a good look around and you'll find all the information you need to confuse the snot out of ya

I have put cinder blocks under my mill to cut logs up.  Rex at Petersons tells me that if you have say a 7' dia. log that you jack the mill up cut over as far as the centerunit will move then you move the head back to the left and slide the mill to the right and start cutting again.

Both companies make good mills.  I went with the Peterson because their reps offered to let me cut my logs at a show so that I know for sure how it would cut hard woods.

Best of luck with your decision

Tom

[tmullen]

Ditto to what SOLODAN said.

For milling were I live a little farther north than SOLODAN, flat ground is hard to find and my LUCAS 618 works great. Bailey's has always done an exeptional job in everything I have ever bought from them including my mill.

tmullen

[solodan]

 One 52" X 16' log is just over 2,000 Bft.  Not a bad days work for only one log.  


  

That is what is so great about the swing mills . You could saw a log this size in a few hours. stacking lumber and cleaning up  included , then yes a full day.

[jpgreen]

I can milla 7' diameter log on my Wood-Mizer can't I?... 

[Ga_Boy]

You sure can.....

All you need to do is get your chain saw out and cut that bad boy into quarters, then load the quarters on your WM and cut away.....



Swingers rule!!   

[BEAVERBOY]

TreeBiker,
   Welcome to the forum   
   We (Baileys and Lucas Mill) do monitor the forum however most of our day is filled with customers and potential customers calling us on our toll free number- 800-322-4539 for questions and/or technical issues. We also get numerous emails that I spend a good deal of my time responding to.  Most of the posts that we have dealt with in a quick fashion on the forestry forum are related to troubleshooting. We have reps available from 8 am et to 9 pm et in two locations (Jackson, Tn and Laytonville, Ca) if you do have questions or need technical assistance. We also keep our three main models and parts in stock. You can reach our main reps at extensions 283 (Brian), 237 (myself), or 233 (Darian).
    A special thanks to those Lucas owners and non Lucas owners who responded back in regards to our customer service. You guys beat me to the punch yesterday morning as I had started this email but got some calls that kept me from finishing. We appreciate the support as it is always nice to hear that most think we have good customer service.
Thanks   
Sam
800-322-4539 ext237
samb@baileys-online.com
   

[jpgreen]

Good to hear from you Sam.  That's what we like in a forestry associated business.. 

Now I need a Long, long bar for my 3120 til I can get a swinger.. 

[BEAVERBOY]

We have a 7 footer sprocket nose. Is that long enough. Husky suggests that a 6 footer is the longest you should put on it but we have had some customers use longer. Its very expensive though. Made by Cannon Bars so it is real high quality. The 6 footer is about 300.00 dollars less. We also have double ended bars that go up to 120 inches. We don't keep them  in stock but have ordered them in the past. I would give you a price but I'm not sure you are sitting down.
Sam

[Jeff]

Thanks for the post Sam, I got a chuckle out of the sitting down part. .

I just want to let folks know that all of our sponsors to the left make themselves available to the membership of the Forestry Forum. Many of them, such as Sam are very busy in their day to day duties but go out of their way to help the folks on this forum and for that we are most grateful. I have a "hot-line" to Sam and to all of the other sponsors and if I or any of our other admins see one of their customers in need, we try to shoot them a message or if we think its urgent enough, a phone call, and every time we have done this WITHOUT FAIL they were here, many times within moments.

I can't thank any of our sponsors enough, as without them I truly don't know what we would do.

[Kedwards]

Im a Lucas 618 Dedicated Slabber Demo guy and I own a Woodmizer Lt 40 Hd I like my Lucas and can talk to you if interested. I am located near Charlotte, NC.  Thanks.

[customsawyer]

Welcome to the forum. Glad to see another on here from Ga.  If you ever get the feeling that you want to get some more exersize come on down here to Dublin Ga. and I will let you have a WoodMizer 101 course. If Phil L is back from Miss. he might let you look at one of his Petersons heck he might even let you play with it but that is something that he would have to answer.

[brdmkr]

I responded earlier, but I really should step in to comment on the support I have gotten from Bailey's.  I haven't dealt with Sam, but I have dealt with Brian.  He has been a big help.  He demonstrated the saw form me, and when I ordered, he even offered to spend time on the phone talking me through any problems.  Fortunately, I have not needed that level of help, but based on his prompt support concerning other matters, I am sure he would do just what he says.  Again, treebiker, I'll be happy to demo a 618 for you if you are ever down in SW Georgia.  Just send me a PM. 

[Troy]

TreeBiker - have you placed your order yet?  Don't just leave us hanging here, keep the forum posted on your progress.  We love it when someone orders a new toy!

[treebiker]

Thanks Troy, I haven't had much computer time in a couple of days but, No purchase yet as I am still gathering information and learning all I can before I make a decision. Like will I use that extra 2 inches very often on the Peterson 10in. vs. the 8in.?  The 10 in. weighs a good bit more than the 8 in. Is it much harder to push thru the log because of the extra weight?  Will the bottom line be better if I find markets for my on products rather than sawing for someone else? This is a great web site with a bunch of nice sawyer guys that are willing to give good advice to greenhorns like me. Your archives are very helpfull and you can count on me getting to know some of you guys and making this forum one of my hangouts.  And maybe I can help encourage someone with some good advice someday.  Thanks again

[Troy]

See, all it takes is a little nudge and you can get this thread rolling again... 8 in. vs 10 in., thats a good one start with.  The weight is not an issue when it comes to pushing through the log on a Peterson as the mill head or mill frame depending on which style you go with actually glides very smoothly over the rails via rollers when the setup is level.  The only time weight will be an issue is when you are jockying the mill around and loading on and off your truck/trailer etc.  The smaller the blade the faster it will cut through a log and because of it's physical dimentions is probably eaisier to maintain.  Cost is another issue as bigger is not always necessarily better (except when it comes to HP), but with sawmills bigger is definitely more expensive.  The biggest driver would be what you want to mill and do you actually need a ten inch cut on a regular basis.  I can cut up to 16in. boards with my 8in. mill by double cutting so if I need a ten inch cut its a doable thing for me.  It's not very difficult at all to do with the Peterson, but not something you don't want to do all day if you don't have to.  If you have the need for lots of 10in.+ boards on a regular basis then go with a 10in. mill.  I have not found myslef wishing I had ordered the ten inch version although six would not have been large enough and I knew that from the start.  There are more pros and cons that I'm sure others will chime in about so stay tuned.