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Need input on mill shed design

Started by RPowers, December 15, 2013, 03:09:07 PM

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RPowers

I am designing a mill shed and workshop area, and am looking for your experienced critiques. I have limited cleared spaces on my place to work with, and based on terrain and ease of access this spot is the most logical. I have an LT-28, and am wanting to have an area to stage logs for milling, as well as a place to air dry/stage milled lumber, and an enclosed and heated workshop for building furniture in the future. See what you think of my layout. There would be a turn-around and log staging area adjacent to this across the driveway.



 
Thanks for any ideas/suggestions,

RP
2013 Woodmizer LT28G25 (sold 2016)
2015 Woodmizer LT50HDD47

LoneDuck

I've been trying to figure out the same thing. One thing I would suggest is to figure out where your sawdust will go and how you will get it there. You don't want to have to move your mill to get the sawdust out. I haven't sawn much but already have a lot of sawdust. I swear it multiplies by itself. ???

pineywoods

Here's how to handle the sawdust..The blower is a 2hp harbor freight shop dust collector, pipe is 6 inch stove pipe. there 3 home-made slip joints, one at each end and 1 in the middle. Other than cleaning bark and junk from under the mill,  I haven't shoveled sawdust in a long time.


 

Here's where it goes, out in the woods behind the sawshed.


 
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

drobertson

RP, not bad, is this the total area you have to work with, meaning your property?   Is there a log decking area other than the right at the mill,  and how much do you plan on sawing, is it more than hobby?  Otherwise it looks pretty good, you will almost surely change things not matter how well you plan,  I say go for it and be flexible, as much as room allows,   david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Magicman

The first thing that I saw was sawdust.  You will need something like Piney to eliminate having to step across the sawdust with the lumber.
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

WDH

The best lumber drying shed is open on the sides for good air flow.  You cannot air dry lumber well in an enclosed shed. 
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

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: WDH on December 15, 2013, 08:45:36 PM
The best lumber drying shed is open on the sides for good air flow.  You cannot air dry lumber well in an enclosed shed.

Especially with the Arkansas heat.....an enclosed shed will induce Mold and Mildew.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

RPowers

Thanks for the input y'all, now I have more to think on. Maybe I'll do a seperate air-drying shed, and use that area for indoor storage of dry lumber. I planned on using a scoop shovel and wheelbarrow to keep sawdust down to manageable levels. I'm going to build this out of trees I saw and hopefully only pay for concrete and metal. My budget is small.
2013 Woodmizer LT28G25 (sold 2016)
2015 Woodmizer LT50HDD47

AnthonyW

Shovel and wheelbarrow will only haul so much. My first log was 80" log and yielded 94 boardfeet of lumber and 1 wheelbarrow load of sawdust. I would be fairly sure that it will scale proportionally. 100 board feet per wheelbarrow load of sawdust. Where is your sawdust pile going to be located in relationship to the mill?
'97 Wood-Mizer LT25 All Manual with 15HP Kohler

flyboy16101

I have also been working on a mill shed design. For the saw dust the best thing I could come up with is to leave enough room between the mill and the wall to use a skid loader or in my case an old hough ha to remove the saw dust. The biggest obstacle I have come across is the best way to span the opening for the log deck.
Wood-mizer Lt35, International 504 w/ loader, Hough HA Payloader, Stihl Ms290, Ms660, LogRite Cant Hook

redprospector

Quote from: RPowers on December 15, 2013, 09:51:34 PM
Thanks for the input y'all, now I have more to think on. Maybe I'll do a seperate air-drying shed, and use that area for indoor storage of dry lumber. I planned on using a scoop shovel and wheelbarrow to keep sawdust down to manageable levels. I'm going to build this out of trees I saw and hopefully only pay for concrete and metal. My budget is small.

Scooping sawdust takes a lot of time.
If you're sawing as a business venture, well, time is money.
If you're sawing as a hobby, scooping sawdust will take time away from your sawing hobby.
You seem to be putting a lot of thought into making a real nice mill shed, and workshop area. It's evident that you're trying to make material handling as efficient as possible. Don't let a hundred dollar blower stop you from having an efficient operation.
I like the layout of your building too. 
1996 Timber King B-20 with 14' extension, Morgan Mini Scragg Mill, Fastline Band Scragg Mill (project), 1973 JD 440-b skidder, 2008 Bobcat T-320 with buckets, grapple, auger, Tushogg mulching head, etc., 2006 Fecon FTX-90L with Bull Hog 74SS head, 1994 Vermeer 1250 BC Chipper. A bunch of chainsaws.

Nomad

     I don't see anyplace designated for a slab pile, either.  You're gonna need one of them too.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

dboyt

I know this keeps making things more complicated, but do you have an area in mind for storing and staging logs?  What is your plan to loading them onto the log deck?  Since the mill will be so close to the workshop, you might consider electric power, especially if you can get 3-phase.  Have you thought about devoting some of the lumber drying area to a small kiln?
Norwood MX34 Pro portable sawmill, 8N Ford, Lewis Winch

RPowers

dboyt,

I am staging logs that won't fit in the "deck" area across the driveway, and I am going to put a turnaround there big enough hopefully for a log truck in case I ever need one up here on the mountain. 3-phase is not an option, I don't know how far away the nearest transmission line that big is.... I plan on setting up a blower for sawdust eventually, and building a solar kiln somewhere on the site. I have 28 acres, so slab and sawdust disposal isn't a problem (We heat with wood), but this is about the only place on the property that can be used without alot of major earthworks being done to level the hill somewhere. Thats why I chose this layout.
2013 Woodmizer LT28G25 (sold 2016)
2015 Woodmizer LT50HDD47

Tee

RP,
A couple thing I considered if I ever have a shed is separating different sheds some in case of fire and also to keep the fine dust out  of everything.

RPowers

The fire aspect is something to think about. better to lose one building than all of them.
2013 Woodmizer LT28G25 (sold 2016)
2015 Woodmizer LT50HDD47

JimFX

Quote from: RPowers on December 17, 2013, 07:18:20 PM
dboyt,

3-phase is not an option, I don't know how far away the nearest transmission line that big is....

FYI: the sell single phase to 3 phase converters if you want to go down that path ...

Sawdust Lover

RPowers, I did the same thing you are doing a few years ago. I'm not sure how much land you have to work with but I started small and built just one building for the mill. Then I could saw the rest of the buildings in the dry. I like having separate buildings because of clutter. A sawmill can make a mess in a hurry.  A blower works great but you still have fine dust everywhere. I have 5 buildings now and it makes things very well organized and clean. As far as sawdust I clean it up with the bucket on the tractor. Once a month I will pull the mill outside and clean the whole shed. Some of my buildings can be seen in my gallery.

RPowers

Thanks for the ideas. The mill shed is definitely the first building to go up, sawing in the rain stinks! A friend just helped me weld up a log arch for skidding with my ATV, so hopefully the log pile for my mill shed will start building as soon as I can get time away from work.
2013 Woodmizer LT28G25 (sold 2016)
2015 Woodmizer LT50HDD47

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