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Wood-Mizer MONSTER mill!

Started by Bibbyman, July 08, 2011, 04:16:04 AM

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Bibbyman

Yea,  there are some big logs that just don't go to market because there are no mills that will take them.  There is one Amish mill that has an overhead saw that will take them.  Also, I've seen one home-made band mill setting behind an Amish mill that was MONSTER size that I assume was built to break down big logs.

There are a lot of big trees still standing because the loggers leave them.  The stave mill has some max size.  We've got a few butt cuts that were too big for stave mill yet had some major defect that kept them from the veneer market.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Hilltop366

It's a big one for sure,  I wonder if they were consulting with Fishpharmer on that one?

wwsjr

I thinks max size mill will take in our area is 26", at least that is what some loggers have told me. I have had a few 30" and larger show up to be cut on my LT40. There is a land owner  that I cut for  that has 1300 acres of primarily SYP with many trees in excess of 30", no market. He waited too long to harvest. I have cut several for him that had already died, no place to sell logs. I don't think I could swing the purchase of that mill, besides that I am too old to try to expand operations.
Retired US Army, Full Time Sawyer since 2001. 2013 LT40HD Super with 25HP 3 Phase, Command Control with Accuset2. ED26 WM Edger, Ford 3930 w/FEL, Prentice Log Loader. Stihl 311, 170 & Logrite Canthooks. WM Million BF Club Member.

LOGDOG

There's a mill over here that saws high grade pine. First and second stick only. I think the max diameter they'll accept is 28". I had an estimator come out to give me a bid on soil cementing about half a mile of my driveway. He was telling me that he and his family members had a large tree farm. The largest pine on their was 56" in diameter. It was going downhill though. They just left it because no mills would take that big of a tree. He says they have tons of trees that are 36"DBH and don't know what to do with them.

I wonder what the cost is for the blades on this WM1000? Mooney ...you have an idea?

Magicman

Foresters call waiting too long to harvest; "overgrowing the market".
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

Bibbyman

The problem with a lot of oversize logs in our area is that they're of no value to begin with.  Most are water oak/pin oaks, cottonwood, sycamore, etc.  Or some other large field tree or urban tree.  If they were of some kind of value, they'd been cut long before they got that big.

Had a guy talk my ears off about sawing some big sycamore logs for him.  Said the loggers just gave them to him.  He has a brother-in-law with a manual band mill that had sawn a few but they had to quarter them with a chainsaw.  He wanted to bring them to me.  I told him that the loggers didn't do anyone a favor - just ridded themselves of a problem and I wasn't taking them on.

We just had a guy pick up about 2,000 bf of cottonwood sawn from 7 logs.  There were no butt cuts as Mary told him nothing over 30". So there are some large butt cut logs pilled somewhere out of this project.  The logs he brought us were given to him.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

WDH

In most big SYP mills, the bottleneck on size is the ring de-barkers.  Most today have a throat diameter of 28" maximum diameter, but the log would have to be a perfect cylinder if it was 28".  Hanging a big log in the de-barkers gets a bunch of people upset, fast :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

GAmillworker

As a lot of you have mentioned Big logs in my area stay in the woods to rot or go to the land fill if there in Atlanta.  I have a good start on collecting them.  Thats the reason I joined FF to see what type of mill I could build to break them down.  Have been to busy trying to pay the bills to build the mill.  I'm going to make mine portable.  Going to build it on a 26K LB 36' gmc truck frame.  Also going to make the head rig adjustable from 3' to 6'.  will post some pics when I get started.  Ordered my 3X31" wheel covers last week.
Thank the Lord for second chances

Brad_S.

I have never been a WM fan...always said you'd have to give me one before I would use one.
That one, I may be willing to pay a couple of $$ for.  ;D
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

Ianab

For breaking down the occasional oversize softwood log a swingblade or twin-saw would be more economical as it's probably going to be sawn into dimension lumber anyway, which the small circle saws are really good at. This mill could do it, but you are going to be handling some large heavy slabs to resaw them into 6x2s.

But those big slabs of walnut etc that were shown in one of the videos, now that's where this mill would shine. A steady supply of those logs and it would soon pay for itself. Sure you could saw them with a chainsaw slabber attachment on a swingblade, but not as quickly, and the extra kerf would add up.

Very impressive looking mill, but I'm thinking a niche market?

Re the oversize logs, you would think that there would be a niche market for a twinsaw or swingblade. There is often a LOT of high quality wood in those big logs as the trees have self-pruned over the years, so those big butt logs have a lot of high value clear wood in them. This part of the world 36" isn't a big log, even for plantation grown pine, and up around 72" isn't rare. Heck I passed a local logging truck the other day that was hauling ONE big cypress log, and he was down to about 30mph on a hill, so it was a serious load. Not sure where he was taking it, but someone was planning to mill it  ;)

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

Cedarman

The first time I saw a swing mill was at the Richmond Expo sawing a 4' wooly hard maple and doing a heck of a job on it.  That was when they first came out.  I saw the potential of teaming up with our local loggers and mills to saw all the great big logs and the big cut offs that they leave inthe woods.  I was just too busy sawing cedar.
There are none in S Indiana that I know of so there is still that opportunity I believe.
A weeks worth of research would show whether it would be viable.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Meadows Miller

Gday


Its sort of Amazing the amount of timber you have access to over there for timber production  :) :) Australia,s about stuffed in some areas due to over regulation as we only have access to about 8% of our forests for timber production due to the Greens changing Public opinion and the National Park system now as off today we are one of the first countries to have a Carbon Tax and you guessed it one of the first questions was will  there be further reductions on native timber harvesting operations also Native forest residual for Biomass production  is not going to be counted as Green Energy its abit stupid imho  :) ??? ::) 

I was thinking the same Cedar  ;) I Might Just Buy Myself a Lucas and Move to the USA Mate  ;) ;D 8) Ill Be Free to Saw up any Large logs You Boys want sawn up while I am there this time too  ;) ;D Only 10 Days untill I land In Sacramento  :) ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8)

Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

DR_Buck

Quote from: Cedarman on July 10, 2011, 08:43:14 AM
The first time I saw a swing mill was at the Richmond Expo sawing a 4' wooly hard maple and doing a heck of a job on it.  That was when they first came out.  I saw the potential of teaming up with our local loggers and mills to saw all the great big logs and the big cut offs that they leave inthe woods.  I was just too busy sawing cedar.
There are none in S Indiana that I know of so there is still that opportunity I believe.
A weeks worth of research would show whether it would be viable.

No swing mills in my area any either.  Ever since GA Boy cashed in it in over in S. Maryland I've had no one to call for oversized logs.   I've started breaking them down with a chain saw when I get a big one given to me.
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

bandmiller2

Guide rails would be just like building a railroad,all the expense is in the head.That rig is not only good for large dia. but legnth too all you need is a long extension cord.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

bandmiller2

Chris, sorry to hear of you guys problems down under.Its the classic city people vs. country people and almost all the folks live in the city.They don't want you  rough outback blokes cutting trees and hurting those cute fuzzy wallabees.Too bad farmers and foresters couldn't quit shipping to the city for 6 months,they would realize where their life support system was. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Meadows Miller

Gday

Nah She'll Be Rite Frank  ;) smiley_thumbsup Ill Always Find Logs To Saw Mate  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D 8)

With the Wallabies and Roo's theres over 100000 of them loose in the bush around home and if you live on a property you can get permits to shoot as many as you need to most of my mates have permits for 50 to 100 pa ea they get used as dog food  ;)

Back to the Mill  ;) My choice would be two deck packages and a genset then mount all that on a 48' trailer  ;) ;D 8)

Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

Mooney

For those wondering about blade price: around $80.00 a blade for a 2" x .055 offered in both 7/8 and 1 1/8" tooth spacing. The blade length is 32 feet!

Since the product is brand new, pricing is still being worked out for other profiles and sizes, so stay tuned! :-)  Enjoy these photos we got late last week from Art in Oregon. Looks like they're staying busy!






LOGDOG

That is one impressive block of Black Walnut!

Bibbyman

Quote from: LOGDOG on July 11, 2011, 05:17:58 PM
That is one impressive block of Black Walnut!

Would make a lot of salt and pepper shakers!   :)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

WDH

That would make a lot of anything  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

D Hagens


Cool mill :)
A few questions though :)
1: Why does the sawdust have to shoot out onto the operators side ::) I read here and a few other places that with the cantilever mills  there was no choice but to blow the sawdust onto the operator and all the controls.
2: This is a 4 poster am I correct :) So what's the reasons for not having the sawdust shoot out the side that it should ??? Seems to me for the amount of money and knowledgeably that went into this design that the operators health and safety should've been in the equation am I correct :) :)
BTW I think it's cool that WM keeps up with the customers in mind :) :)

LOGDOG

You could do it D Hagens. My Logmaster LM6  had it. THey called it the "clean side cut system". You have to reverse the direction of cut but the perk is that when you take the top off the log and then rotate it counter clockwise like we do on our Woodmizers, you are now cutting into a clean face. (Although , pending the thickness of the round on top, you may still end up cutting through bark on the on the first few flitches.) Just depends on how wide you open that first face before rotating 90 degrees.

Brucer

Quote from: D Hagens on July 11, 2011, 09:57:07 PM
1: Why does the sawdust have to shoot out onto the operators side ::)

'Cause that's the way the wind is blowing ;D.

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

SwampDonkey

Quote from: WDH on July 09, 2011, 04:25:39 PM
In most big SYP mills, the bottleneck on size is the ring de-barkers.  Most today have a throat diameter of 28" maximum diameter, but the log would have to be a perfect cylinder if it was 28".  Hanging a big log in the de-barkers gets a bunch of people upset, fast :).

Worked on a town woodlot once, had a bunch of 40-48" dbh sugar maple that were figured a tiny bit with birdseye. The buyer didn't want them as it was not through the logs enough, only on the outside. Had 1/3 heart-1/2 heart so that didn't help much either. A whole trailer load of them big logs went to the Kraft pulp mill down river.  :(

Can't make a silk purse from a  sow's ear, as they say. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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