Hammered for left or right

[Ron Wenrich]

The problem with the smaller band mills is production.  Until they can get production to a level comparable to circle mills, the small bands won't replace them.  Automation and less grunt work is needed.  

They are awful expensive for what you get.  I see small hand mills going for less than $5000 and automatic portable circle mills for $20000.  These are used units.

Many of the larger mills are using band resaws, but quite often use circle mills to break down the log into cants.  They can just bull through a log so much quicker.  They also use a 1/8" blade and have 4 to 6' wheels.

For small and medium-sized mills, they just can't afford all the money required to sharpen and set the saws.  You need a seperate sharpening room, and a trained band filer.  That gets into a lot of expense and you have to have increased yield and production to justify the move.  Some of the real small mills may convert to small bands.  But, I haven't seen a great rush.

I think the place for the small band is as a resaw.  You can get a lot more milage out of those blades.  But, they have to be redesigned to make them more labor efficient.

[Jeff Lesak]

No, I don't work on bands. I have great respect for those that do.
Until the supply of logs becomes restricted, or regulated as it is in much of Europe, the use of band saws will not replace the circle saw in the foreseeable future. Why cut big board feet in a hurry, only to run out of logs by Tuesday? As it was pointed out, smaller band mills tend to lack in production capability. But if you aren't getting a lot of logs....
The use of band resaws as an augment to the circle head rig seems to be the configuration most larger operations are moving toward. You don't need as big and expensive a band rig to resaw, and the inevitable wrecks on initial break down to the cant are easier to handle on a circle head rig. Recovery there isn't an issue. Your throwing the slabs away anyhow. It represents a big capitol outlay, and increased employees to tend the bands, but the increase in recovery, and production offset the costs, if you have the volume.

Practically speaking, it has been my experience that folks that have not had much experience around a mill are probably better off getting started on a little band rig. They are turnkey, and the manufacturers seem to provide support. If you don't know what you are doing on a circle rig, you are in trouble. The problems with a band set up seem easier to solve. And when things go wrong, they usually don't blame the saw Doctor.

[Corley5]

Some friends of mine decided to change from the logging end to the sawmilling end a few years ago.  Their first mill was a Heartwood band mill that sawed both ways with 90hp Perkins power plant.  Nifty little fella.  They used it for a year or so then went to Meadows #2 auto mill with a 200hp Cummins .  The Meadows is more sawmill than the Heartwood ever hoped to be.