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Newbie mill purchase

Started by cowpie, February 23, 2011, 04:13:30 PM

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cowpie

 Hi all been reading lot's of post here from sawmilling/timberframing/chainsaws and forestry in general. The wealth of info here is priceless. Hat's off to all who run this sight it.s buy far my favorite. Iv'e been wanting a mill for a long while (years). I recently retired and own acreage in northern lower mi. Im leaning toward's a  stationary set up with a 10hp single phase elect mill. I have a tractor with a grapple attachment for moving log's and dont see myself sawing offsight and the low maint/noise of the elect appeals to me. I have never ran a mill got a buddy that has a hudson (small one) on angle iron frame. He has used it twice in the 3 yrs hes owned it he pulls the head off when not in use and sez 's its a pain. He wont sell it eaither!!!!! I am looking at the woodmizer lt15 or a 1220 timberking. I got some ash tree that have emerald ash bore and dont want to wait to long to start on them. What do yall think of this set up or pro/con's of these saw's. anybody running one of these saw's in mi? Id be willing ta throw a few board's with ya and check out your set up Thank's

laffs

i dont have an electric,but i did watch one run for a while. it was nice you could actualy hear and not have to wear earmuffs.
watched dirty jobs last night they was making cedar log cabins in michigan
timber harvester,tinberjack230,34hp kubota,job ace excavator carpenter tools up the yingyang,

mad murdock

Welcome to the forestry forum cowpie! I hope you get a mill that suits you.  Electric would be nice and quiet, compared to petrol power.  Beware! once you start milling you will not want to get too retired. ;)
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

Larry

Electric is the only way to fly saw.  Cheaper, more dependable, and less noise.

I would've had an electric if the power company could have supplied more juice.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Ianab

If you have the power on site and don't intend to move the mill, then electric would be the way to go.

Both those mills seem good, the TK might save you a bit of money up front, but the Woodmizer is likely to hold it's value better, so it's a toss up there. Both of them will Git R done  ;)

Both are manual mills, so you can't expect a heap of production, but as a hobby or part time business you will still be able to turn out a pretty serious stack of boards.

Not much help with your choice I guess, but you are thinking along the right lines.  ;D

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

fishpharmer

Welcome to FF cowpie!!!

You should be able to find some info about both mills with the search button.  Both look like great manual mills to me.
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

KyTreeFarmer

Welcome cowpie!!
I have an LT15 gas and I love it. I am retired also and only saw for myself so I don't look for any kind of production. Both of those mills would do the trick for you. Look around for a used one, save some cash for other toys. Any manual mill is a lot of work, not so much the sawing but handling the logs on the mill and handling the lumber. Whatever you get, when you set it up get it up off the ground some, sure will save your back. I have yet to see an electric running but I bet its sure nice and quiet.
KTF
Woodmizer LT15G
Belsaw from Sears & Roebucks
8N Ford
87 Kubota 2550 W/FEL

Dave Shepard

I'm a big fan of electric mills, if you are not going to move it around a lot. I've got my genset hooked up to a friends LT40 E15. I think 10 HP electric on an LT15 would have plenty of power.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, cowpie.  As suggested, I would search the two different mills on here and do a lot of reading.  I'm sure that both are quality mills from reputable companies.  But of course, I always lean toward WM, for 10 years.   I leaned on it quite a bit today, and yesterday, and tomorrow.   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

bandmiller2

Welcome Cowpie,I built my bandmill using a Wisconsin two cylinder engine,yup off a bailer, it did OK but recently converted to a 15 hp motor what a differance its also driving a hydraulic pump.Ten HP on a manual mill should be fine,easy to start too.As mentioned the trick to A manual mill is to have everything at a comfortable working hight,a log deck same hight as the mill saves having to roll them up ramps.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

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