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A Good Mill

Started by Terry, September 23, 2006, 10:52:59 PM

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Terry

 :P    I am going to purchase my first sawmill. The only, local dealer sell's the Hud-Son brand. I'm looking at the Oscar 36--Manual unit. Could you all give me some info as to whether this is a good mill or not.
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Furby

Well that depends a lot on what you plan to do with it and what you compare it to.

Terry

I will be sawing red and white oak and very little pine. I will be building my house with this mill.
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Frank_Pender

Terry, I have had my Oscar 36 for about a year and a half.   I only use it to cut Maple burl and do some mantle pieces or slabbing.  I only got about 12 or 13 fet of track.  that is all I really wanted to have to cut the burl and some speciality pieces.  I had my money back in about 3 months, cutting just those sorts or items.  It is out in the weather all the time and still operates great and precise.  I would not hesitate in recomending such a unit.


My primarely units for sawing are two Mobile Dimension mills, each of which are all hydraulic in loading, anchoring and turning the logs or cants.  One unit can saw logs that are 4 1/2' in diamenter and  18' long and the other 26' long logs.
Frank Pender

Terry

Thanks for the info Frank. I am really enjoying this site and finding that if I look enough I should not have much trouble learning to run the mill. Please feel free to give me any advice you guy's and gal's think I might need.
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Terry

I am also getting another section of track and 10 blades to get me started. Is the standard 15 hp enough to cut the oak?
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DanG

Hi Terry.  Welcome to the forum. :)

Hud-son makes a pretty good basic little mill.  They will do what you seem to be looking for.  Several of our members have them, and are generally pleased, but some have some gripes, just as with all the mills.  Do yourself a favor and look on the left side of the screen.  The sponsors listed there have some economical mills as well, and you may find something you like better.

Better yet, make your way down to Moultrie, Ga. next month and look at all of them in person.  Hud-son will be there with their entire line, and so will Woodmizer, Baker, Norwood, Kasco, Peterson, Lucas, D&L, and maybe a few more.  Along with the sawmills, you will see the Blue Ox trailers, the Logrite cant hooks, and meet the guy that invented RustReaper.  To top it off, there will be a bunch of ForestryForum members there.  So come on down and join the fun.

As far as the horsepower is concerned, get all the H's and P's you can possibly afford.  You can't have too many. ;D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Terry

thanks, norwood and wm seem to be the saws of choice, from what i gather at this site. i have contacted both and am waiting on their info. the four post just seems to me would be more stable. i also have to see which company offers the best in house financing.  i work a full time job, third shift, so there wont be to many long days of sawing. Mostly 5 hours of the morning when i get home from work. i would really like meeting you guys and picking your brains. work keeps me busy 6 and 7 days a week. got to feed the masses.
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Left Coast Chris

Terry,

I built a woodmizer clone.  It has the cantilever head and is extreemly stable.  The good thing is that the deck is off the ground (for the back) and you can push boards away from the head back towards where the logs ramps are.   When operating it by yourself......... its fantastic.   Also,  you need to consider the possibility of your enjoyment...... if you like sawing you may keep going after your house is built.  Then you need durability and better function.     The woodmizer resale value is also tops.  I would look hard at the Woodmizers.  They are good investments........a selling point to the wife... ;D ;D
Home built cantilever head, 24 HP honda mill, Case 580D, MF 135 and one Squirel Dog Jack Russel Mix -- Crickett

Terry

hmmmm---good points--i do have a mig welder, worked a few years at building boat trailers, maybe i could build my own?
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Terry

could i see your mill, maybe some close up photos.
Life is short---Live It !!!

Rancher

Terry, I've had my Oscar 36 for about 2 1/2 years.I haven't had any problems to speak of. I bought it for several reasons. Mostly cost and location. Less than 2 hour drive, I looked at it, wrote a check and picked it up two days later. Mine has a 20 HP Vanguard which it probably a good thing for this altitude(9,500 ft.) I know the limitations but most of the time it's a three man crew(me, myself and I). It suits us just fine.
Dave
If you're honest you don't have to trust your memory.

Left Coast Chris

Terry...... I do not have very many good pics.   It is fashioned after the LT30.... manual everything.  I did profesional metal fabrication for several years and my dad has 50+ years of experience as a machinist.   He did the machine work for the head.  I did the head frame and trailer.   It took us about 4 months in our spare time.  Most people would have said I was nuts.   Without alot of fabrication experience and a machine shop handy (and free)  I would not attempt building a WM clone from scratch.  I am almost as excited about metal working as I am about sawing.......... it was fun but alot of work with little room for error on some of the critical parts. :)

This is the mill....... it is not an exact clone I used many of my own ideas and fit the design to available parts etc:




Home built cantilever head, 24 HP honda mill, Case 580D, MF 135 and one Squirel Dog Jack Russel Mix -- Crickett

Terry

you may be right, something to think about tho. your saw looks to be heavy duty for sure.
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tomboysawyer

Quote from: Terry on September 24, 2006, 11:31:51 AM
hmmmm---good points--i do have a mig welder, worked a few years at building boat trailers, maybe i could build my own?

Having just finished rebuilding something that is part Woodmizer clone and part original Woodmizer, you might want to think LONG and HARD about that and chuck a couple extra pennies in the spare change jar and purchase a used mill that suits your needs.

I had a four poster Norwood with 13hp and needed more production so I bought a used mill at auction (along with all its problems). I'm happy with my mill and I really do love the way it cuts all kinds of wood, but I can tell you that whole building thing is not cost effective.

I had a thread on it here:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=20569.0

I have a blog too - I'm pretty sure if you click on that globe icon under my avatar (picture) you'll get to my site with more pictures and narrative.

Steel ain't cheap today. Steel for my repair ran about $850. Then there was all the extra little parts, axle...

Okay, so the parts were cheap compared to a whole mill, but the construction of a monorail is not simple - and we only did as well as we did since I'd run a couple mills already and had an idea of what I wanted. I'd suggest building a 4-poster if you have that much more time than money - but from your post and your available hours, buy a mill and mill lumber.

That is, of course, unless you prefer metal working to wood working...

Besides thinking about the mill, shop for blades too. Getting hardwood blades for hardwood and softwood blades for softwood helps tremendously with accuracy and production.

timcosby

no problems with the stability of the norwood lumberlite 24 2 post.

Raphael

  I like the idea of a mill that gets the log up closer to or above waste level, bending over to pick up oak planks from near ankle level a dozen times per log can be a bit wearing.  Though with my mill the log is so close to your face you tend to gaze at the freshly exposed grain when you should be making the next cut.  ;)
... he was middle aged,
and the truth hit him like a man with no parachute.
--Godley & Creme

Stihl 066, MS 362 C-M & 24+ feet of Logosol M7 mill

arj

I bougth my oscar 36 as a hobby machine 6 years ago. Like you I planed
to build a barn and a shed etc. Well I haven`t got to that yet, I seam to
get over run with custom work, even though this is more a hobby or starter
mill I have cut over 100.000 bd.ft. Much more than I expected to cut in a life time
It cuts good accurate lumber. My mill is blocked up to a comfortable working hight
for me. I would get more HP my is 20hp, if I had to replace the engine I`d go
bigger. I have added more log stops and dogs, so that when I roll a log on I can
dog it where ever it lands. Works good for short logs also. I also modified the braces
on the head so I can saw a 36" log. I would recommend a Hudson to anyone, Just remember it`s a manuel mill and still have to load and turn logs by hand !!
                 arj


Terry

Thanks Everyone, I got the money today to purchase the Oscar 36. The best deal so far is with Southern Tool. They have the basic 16 hp saw unit for 5,812.22.  1 extra section of track for 441.00. 10 extra WM blades for 220.00. Shipping to our local dist. 625.00. Internet order means I pay no taxes here in Tenn. If you all know of a better deal, let me know before Monday. Again, Thanks.
                                                                                 
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Gustavo

what about buy an used sawmill
in the usa there are many  sites to get it

in the photos this appear   in very good conditions

thanks to the forum for share very value informations.
here i have got good information  and  over all   good friends

Terry

with a used mill-no warranty. thanks for the idea tho
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DomR

Hey Terry,  It doesn't sound like you are getting a trailer package.  Read the post about building a trailer  for the oscar 30.  Could easily be as much as 2000 just for raw materials frame rails, axle, hitch, lights, jacks, crossbraces....  you get the Idea.  Both Timber King and WM have saws comprable to a Hudson without having to provide the stability yourself for an Axle.  I wish I would have been able to talk My Bro-in-law into one of these
life is a merry go round and I'm getting dizzy

Left Coast Chris

Terry,   I built my trailer for about $1500 in materials.  I did cut cost by using a moble home axle & tires for $75.  They are only intended to go a few thousand miles but I will not even approach that in my life time.  I liked the 6000# rating too because I can chain lumber to the deck and haul it back when sawing for 50/50.

Congrats on the Oscar 36.......... the price sounds good if you want to get going right away and the capacity should work out well.

Since you are going with the Oscar instead of building, I will not post detailed pics of my home built WM clone as I mentioned before.   

Happy sawing  8) 8) 8)
Home built cantilever head, 24 HP honda mill, Case 580D, MF 135 and one Squirel Dog Jack Russel Mix -- Crickett

Terry

I will be making the saw stationary. At the same location where I'll build our house. Thanks for all the ideas and support.
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Terry

Update--Bought the Lumbermate 2000, thank's for your help.
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