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New Mill

Started by jdtuttle, December 18, 2007, 11:57:14 AM

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jdtuttle

 :) :) :) Hi everyone. Another newbie to the site. Not wood or woodworking though. I'm planning my retirement in a few years & everyone knows when you retire you get busier (not sure how that's possible). So I took the plunge and ordered my Wood Mizer LT28 with deck package 25 HP upgrade & power head. I plan on building a solar kiln with supplemental heat (fingerLakes region NY gets cool in winter) I am making custom moulding now with a WM18 moulder/planer My plan is to saw lumber from my woodlot dry it in a kiln & make moulding. Of course if I'm retired there won't be any pressure for deadlines (right!!). I currently have a Kubota L-3000 & will be purchasing a Logosol PH260 next year. I also have a 20x44 shop with dust collection and most of the toys inside. My question to you guys & (gals) is what else do I need to be a good operation? I beleive in quality not quanity but will upgrade to a hydraulic WM if needed.
Thanks for any input
jim
Have a great day

Furby

Welcome to the forum. 8) 8) 8)
Guess I gotta ask what operation it is you wanna run, what is your product going to be and who will you be selling to?
Trying to cover too many things at once, usually don't work out too well. ;)

Jeff

Welcome to the forum!

I guess my answer to your question may seem to be a smart-alec answer, but I would say CUSTOMERS. ;)

Again, welcome jdtuttle :)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

york

Hey Jim,

welcome to the forum.....Bert from newfield.....
Albert

PineNut

Welcome aboard Jim.

You hit the nail on the head about being busier than ever. But at least when someone ask you about missing your former job you can tell them that you miss it every day when you wake up and realize that you don't have to go back to that job.

Don't think there will not be any pressure for deadlines. They always seem to creep into the picture somehow.

I could make suggestions for what to acquire and how to do it but each person will have different requirements so my ideas would probably not be the best for you. Just stay active on the forum and you will find plenty of ideas and just select the ones that apply to you.

Roy



Hi-Country Orange

Welcome Jim: As i'm sure you already know woodworking & milling is addictive! ;D

jdtuttle

Thanks for the feedback. Furby has a great point. My customers will be contractors mostly. I'm already selling moulding to them now. I also do design work for additions & remodeling. I'm tied in with some log home builders. I have been in construction my whole life & have been a code officer the past ten years so I know most of the people in the area & more importantly they know me. This isn't a get rich kind of job. I mostly like to work with wood & enjoy seeing my efforts rewarded with the finished products in someones home to enjoy for years to come. Besides I like the smeel of wood & diesel together!
jim
Have a great day

gharlan

Hi Jim

You might look at the baker moulder also. I think it is a bit heavier with more horsepower. If you are going to be doing big moldings in hardwoods the extra power might be nice.  My moulder has 4x6 max capacity and 65 horsepower between the 5 heads. It takes a lot of horses to pull a big cut in hard wood. I also have a manual mill. I do not mind pushing the head through the cut but I sure find it a major pain to load and turn the logs. Good luck with your quest. Hope you find happy sawing.

dad2nine

Welcome and sounds like you'll be needing customers...

John_Haylow

Welcome Jim. It sounds like you have come to the right place.Congratulations on the new mill.
John
2004 Wood-Mizer LT40HDG28

jdtuttle

 :) Thanks for all the nice welcomes. This is a great site with a wealth of knowledge & information. It's like a big brain trust on sawmills & wood processing. I have already spent a few hours just looking around & checking out everything on the site. I like the cooking section too. I just built a masonry pizza oven this summer and was looking for some new recipies.OOPS that's a different forum.Sorry
Thanks again, jim
Have a great day

slidecreekdan

Welcome Jim, I did the same as you, Retired an got into sawmilling. Now we mill, mold, and build kitchen cabinets, so, see what retirement gets you?
  Do what your heart tells you to do. 

OneWithWood

Welcome, JD.  You have the operational part of the business well in hand.  I would suggest you take some time to sit down and put your intended plan on paper.  Gather up some info on your ongoing costs, forecast the volume you realistically can do and match the two up.  then put a budget together for 2008 to serve as a guide and benchmark.  It doesn't need to take the fun out of it all, it just helps keep it in perspective.  Don't forget to budget time away from the shop too.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

thecfarm

Welcome to the forum Jim.Is this your first mill?How big is that Kubuta hp wise?How are you going to get the logs from the woods to the mill?With a 3pt winch or by the drawbar?Those manual mills are a lot of work and take alot more time,just so you know.I have a manual mill and have seen what a hyd one can do.Just depends on how much you plan to do with it and how much money you can make with it.Time is money by the way.No since in being slow when a hyd upgrade will make you money in the long run,2-3 years maybe.But starting out small is good too.You will know in 2-3 years what to do.Can always sell what you have and upgrade than.Good luck.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Nate Surveyor

Yer gonna need a good wife, to help you SPEND all that extra cash, once you get going!  ;) ;) ;D ;D


Welcome to the forum!

And, you are so far ahead of me, (equipment wise) that I hope to learn from you.


Merry Christmas!

Nate
I know less than I used to.

jdtuttle

Yep this will be my first mill. I have worked with guys on three other mills and just need to take the bull by the horns & learn on my own. Before my wife would agree to "THE PURCHASE" I had to write a business plan and do a power point presentation. She works at Lockheed Martin. Good Woman! So I do have some idea about the #'s. The other point that was brought up was the equipment. I have a 30 hp 4wd kubota & a logging winch with lots of cable. I have moved some pretty big logs & was able to load them with the fork lift on the kubota. I know lots of loggers & they have already agreed to bring lumber to my place if I need it. I have lots of lumber to harvest about 100' from where the mill will start. Should be a gret way to learn. I also live on a slopy area so I intend to build a staging area and stock pile logs uphill to roll to the mill. I understand the hydraulic issues. I just sent a note to Scott at woodmizer & told him I may want to start with the LT40 & add hydraulics later.
Thanks all
Have a great day

york

Jim,
i just looked at the LT40 and they have a good offer for it now-if you can add the HYD. later,i think your on the right track...looks good..Bert
Albert

Part_Timer

Welcome to the forum.  Make sure you get a good Logrite cant hook or two to go with that mill.
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Brad_S.

Welcome JD. We suddenly seem to be getting an influx of New Yorkers here. :)
The only comment I would add is that once you are up and running, there is always something more pressing for your capital than adding features to the saw. If at all possible, I would suggest getting all the hydraulic bells and whistles up front and cut back elsewhere. Just my two cents.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

MikeH

  Greetings :) If you cut, dry, plane, and mold your own wood  95%(maybe more maybe less depending on h.p. and hydralics) of your time will be moving wood around.  Think of ways to make that flow when building a kiln and such. I have a skid steere that I could not imagine doing without it. I would buy a used skidsteer over hydraulics if I had to chose. :D

ljmathias

Welcome to the forum- I've been a newby for a while myself and just bought my second mill.  The first was an LT30 non-hydraulic and old as the hills (as am I).  Key for me was having a reasonable size tractor with a front end-loader and backhoe attachment.  The FEL is absolutely indispensible for skidding and loading logs, then transporting timbers cut on the mill for post-and-beam timberframing I'm getting into real heavy now.  BTW, I don't use the backhoe attachment for timber or lumber, just weight to balance the heavier logs- it's amazing how you can balance and drive on the front 2 wheels of a FWD tractor while skidding a really big log (and did I mention roll-over protection and a seat belt?). You have to have some kind of usable equipment to move things around or you'll kill yourself (figuratively for sure and maybe literally as well- I've dropped things on various body parts over the last three years and I can attest to this: logs are darn heavy and dangerous).  Having gotten an almost -new LT40 with hydraulics, I don't know how I managed without the power to load and move logs on the mill: cutting a 28" red oak that's 16' long is almost child's play now where it was real and dangerous hand work on the older mill.

So which to choose?  Both, of course, but first in importance is a tractor with FEL or a forklift or skid-steer.

Good luck and have fun!

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

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