Vertical Band mill

[ozarkgem]

anyone currently  using a vertical band mill? I haven't seen any postings about them.

[IndianaJoe]

The big commercial mill down the road from me uses one.

[brianb88]

There is a pallet mill near me that used to use one.  I worked there when I was about 19 or 20 and one of my jobs was to keep the blade lubricated.  The lube was kept in a bucket and there was about a 6' long wooden handle with rags tied around one end.  Just dip it in the bucket and slather it on the running blade.   

[YoungStump]

They're fairly common around here, some small Amish mills are running a band head with a 1.5"-2" band on a handset carriage. And others guys run the big 8"-10" bands. From what I hear and see there are probably more vertical band mills in my area than horizontal.

[rwepinetree]

yes I run a vertical it is a woodland pro 4 made in the late 90s from Missouri it has a 2 in band and a built in edger a nice mill

[yarnammurt]

yes I run a vertical it is a woodland pro 4 made in the late 90s from Missouri it has a 2 in band and a built in edger a nice mill

I have looked at buying one of those mills. I would love to see a video of it running.

[ozarkgem]

yes I run a vertical it is a woodland pro 4 made in the late 90s from Missouri it has a 2 in band and a built in edger a nice mill

I was looking at the vertical mills. Seem like a lot of mill for the money. Productions seem to be good also.

[ozarkgem]

yes I run a vertical it is a woodland pro 4 made in the late 90s from Missouri it has a 2 in band and a built in edger a nice mill

what kind of power do you have? Is it a 2 person operation or can you do it by yourself?

[ozarkgem]

They're fairly common around here, some small Amish mills are running a band head with a 1.5"-2" band on a handset carriage. And others guys run the big 8"-10" bands. From what I hear and see there are probably more vertical band mills in my area than horizontal.

I wonder how much power it takes to run an 8" band and what it the world would one cost?

[bandmiller2]

I don't see the economy if you need a carriage for a verticle band why not just use a circular saw, unless your into huge logs. Frank C.

[sandsawmill14]

the big bands still run less kerf

[Southside]

Two modern, high production, hardwood mills I ship to are vertical band, I would guess 8" to 10", they put out some serious wood. 

[Dave Shepard]

Some are also double cut.

[bandmiller2]

Don't those over two inch bands require some expensive equipment to sharpen and someone skilled enough to level and tension them.?? Frank C.

[YoungStump]

Don't those over two inch bands require some expensive equipment to sharpen and someone skilled enough to level and tension them.?? Frank C.

Yes they do. This is probably one of the biggest drawbacks to running a wide band.

[Darrel]

Someplace on YouTube there is a video of a vertical band mill, not sure how wide the band is but it has saw teeth on both sides.  They load a log on the carriage and run it by the band and cut a slab off and another board comes off on the return trip.  That thing puts out some serious production. I'll have to see if I can find it and post a link here.

[YoungStump]

http://youtu.be/l5Gru0IyX6s
This one? There's a few different ones on YouTube.

[Darrel]

@ YoungStump: The one I was thinking of had a stationary saw and the log on the carriage moved, but same basic concept.

[Southside]

Just wondering how do mills that produce like this deal with stress release in logs?  Is there simply a higher cull % ?

[YoungStump]

http://youtu.be/d_jjrv9X5UU
Here is one where the log and carriage moves past a stationary head. We actually buy low grade logs and poles from this company.

[beenthere]

Just wondering how do mills that produce like this deal with stress release in logs?  Is there simply a higher cull % ?

They have to deal with it. Likely do by turning the log as they saw...
In the video you could see where they turned back to a face that likely wasn't still straight from stress, so made a clean-up pass (dusting) to square it off before taking the next board.

[Darrel]

When I was a kid, I would sneek into the mill where my dad worked and watch them slice up logs. I wanted to be a sawyer when I grew up, but I became a planerman, s4s on 100,000+ bf on most days.

[Magicman]

I enjoyed those videos.  Yup, the sawyer turned the logs to open the correct fact to deal with stress in logs with sweep.  Interesting.

[longtime lurker]

I've worked around band resaws a fair bit - Robinson, Stenner, Dankaert and similar built machines that last forever - and I've seen them setup with both roundabouts or rack benches, and heard of one with a reversing belt setup. You can use them for log breakdown if you like, but me I'd prefer a circle number 1. When you start playing with wide bands you need a proper debarker though, the cost of filing means you keep those bands away from dirt and bark.

I dislike band primaries, but I do like band resaws. I'd like to see a Brewco 3" headrig in action as a resaw. 3" is the best of both worlds ifn you ask me... sharpen and set at home without the hundred grand filing room setup, but still got that bit more stiffness then a narrow band and you can start thinking about stellite or TC teeth.

[Darrel]

Another thing about those wide bands, they make one heck of a racket when they break!

[rwepinetree]

I HAVE A 38 HP KABOTA ON THE SAW AND A 20 HP HONDA ON THE EDGER AND HYDRO PUMP. I RUN A 2 IN BAND EHAT RUNS ABOUT 43 DOLLARS PER BAND

[ozarkgem]

I HAVE A 38 HP KABOTA ON THE SAW AND A 20 HP HONDA ON THE EDGER AND HYDRO PUMP. I RUN A 2 IN BAND EHAT RUNS ABOUT 43 DOLLARS PER BAND

Does the 38 HP work good?

[rwepinetree]

yes it does and I run it alone but another person helps a lot

[rwepinetree]

Maybe if I can find out how to put videos on this page I will take one of me sawing

[ozarkgem]

videos are cool. That is why I have kids to do that kind of stuff.

[beenthere]

Put videos on YouTube, and then link them to your posts here.