New trick I have learned since I added hydraulics.

[hackberry jake]

On boardwalk mills, the back stops are on the opposite side as the operator. That means the lumber is usually over there when I'm done cutting. Instead of reaching across the mill for every board, I use the clamp to get up under with the stack and bring it over to my side so I don't have to reach. This works best if you square up a log and then flitch saw it leaving the boards on the stack as you cut. I guess it wouldn't be as benificial if you had to flip it each time, but with heavy boards it would still help.

[bedway]

Id love to put hyd. loading/log handling on mine. One small difficulty, i dont know squat about hyd's.  Wife says since ive built my mill, added power up/down and feed she figures two more years ill have it all. Log shows up, mill loads and clamps log, cuts log into desired sizes, unloads lumber, stickers and stacks it, cleans itself and then refreshes my coffee. ;D

[pineywoods]

Jake, like I told you, that clamp is good for more than just clamping a log.  ;D Try standing a stack of slabs up against the backstops for edging. Nother trick, sooner or later you will turn a log too far. You can put the claw up under the log all the way and roll it backwards...be carefull here., You can easily roll the log all the way off the mill.

[bandmiller2]

Hydraulics is truely a mighty hand,once you use it you won't go back to manual.Bedway if you can build a mill you can put hydraulics on it. Frank C.

[Brucer]

Bedway, get your hands on a copy of Industrial Fluid Power, Volume 1, published by Womack Educational Publications. It's an excellent book for the beginner. There are additional volumes but you will find most of what you need in Volume 1.