What mill to buy? Looking for input.

[Ugly Tree]

A smooth end roofing shovel. Not so bad on SYP. Probably a bear on oak.

[thecfarm]

I see we need a GRITS-grits definition.
GRITS,Girls Raised In The South. Nothing a matter with that.  ;D
Now the grits one,the so called corn food from the south.
Now back to our regular scheduled program.  ;D

[pine]

It's nice to have a mill. Kinda like a bass boat. :D

You know what they say about boats.  The day you bought it was the best day of your life, up until the day you sell it.  Then that becomes the best day of your life because you no longer have it hanging around your neck.

I would hope that the mills do not start to feel like they own you rather than you owning them.  Takes all the enjoyment out of milling.  Every log has a story to tell and each one is a new canvas, some better looking than others of course.

[goose63]

@thecfarm I like both the grits GRITS from down south

[Robert Owens]

I have never once looked at my mill like I have a bass boat I had in the past. When I can't saw I think about it, and even try to find logs/trees to cut when I run out. I just really enjoy sawing. There are some lower priced mills out there and a good place to find different companies is the Sawmill and Woodlot magazine.

[4x4American]

Some one will bring up food too just don't bring up GRITS some on here don't like em  ;D

by grits you mean girls raised in the south, right??  Who couldn't like love them?

[thecfarm]

I suppose girls are better than goats!!  :D

[WDH]

Ray,

I would hope so  :D. 

[fishfighter]

Some one will bring up food too just don't bring up GRITS some on here don't like em  ;D

by grits you mean girls raised in the south, right??  Who couldn't like love them?

I been married to a southern girl for the last 35 years. She is even off loading for me now. ;D

Oh. I'm a grits eating sucker too!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I suppose girls are better than goats!!  :D

You can have a fun evening with Goats and Grits.  ;D

[justallan1]

I have the Hud-son HFE-21 and like it. It's billed as a hobby mill, but it does a pretty good job. There's not much to setting it up and very little maintenance. Set up right it saws boards just as straight as anything else out there if you saw at it's rate. I can go from standing timber to lumber and get 300 bf in a day by myself.
I've had mine for just over 2 years and it's paid for itself in cash better than 3 times now and I've probably only used it a couple dozen full days, plus bunches of evenings and I've sawn quite a bit for myself.
My only complaint would be the log stops and log dogs are one assembly working together and if you don't pay attention it's easy to clamp out of square. Granted, that's just me being heavy handed and not spending the time to get things perfect.
If I were to buy another mill I'd definitely look into a larger one used. Unless you have only perfectly straight logs you will use up your height and width on this one real fast with any sweep in your logs.
I would also highly recommend spending the time and fuel to see just as many mills as you possibly can. Keep in mind that most videos made are the ones that went perfect, some logs are just a PITA.

Allan

[Southside]

I really do appreciate all of the responses. I was going over some of these with my wife at dinner yesterday and she looked at me and asked what it would cost to get a hydraulic mill, so I am at least looking at some used ones there - LT-40H range.  Her logic is that we can pay for steel or medical bills from turning and fighting logs, so she allowed the budget to come up a fair bit.  She is good to me so I don't complain - could not do it without her.  Still not going to get into a payment situation.  The local mill I sell #3 pine / pulp to shut everybody off this week, so it gave me more incentive to find a better way to get value out of my timber. 

I realize it depends on a lot of factors, but what is the general rule of thumb - if there is one - that separates what production mills pay for logs vs what they sell the lumber for.  I guess what I am asking is what does pallet stock / tie stock / grade go for over what the logs were purchased for.  Just trying to see if there is any market opportunity for me is all.

Thanks again

Jim

[dgdrls]

Good morning Southside Logger,

I suggest you add a little more into the budget and
look at an EZ Boardwalk Jr.  lots of owners here on the board
who speak very highly of them.

I don't think you can get a circle mill for the same price that will cut right out of the box

Also,  look to a used machine
check the sale board here of FF,

Best
DGDrls