What sawmill to get.

chips in my beard · August 25, 2015, 03:24:28 PM

Greetings this is probably a well talked over subject so forgive me for that.

I am looking at getting a band sawmill for the following projects
Milled Log house,
Timber frame house
Timber frame or log addition to wood working shop
possibly new larger wood work shop
Storage buildings
Lumber and slabs to wood work with.

Possibly cutting new lumber to restore my fathers 2 x late 1800 early 1900s head saws.

What I have already
Chainsaws
alaskan mill
Loader farm tractors 75-105hp ranges
backhoe 3pt hitch
35' gooseneck
16'ft bumper pull
1 ton trucks 4x4
homemade log skidder
d4 dozer and winch
d8 dozer
Fully equipped wood working shop including cnc machines
Timber framing tools
Log handling tools
p&H lattice boom crane (needs a little tlc)
Not to mention metal working equipment like benders, welders, torches etc. so we can build things.

we have several hundred acres of forested land and access to lease land logging.

Pine, Spruce would be the major uses, possibly poplar, aspen and birch.

some logs up to 26+ inches wide would like to slab some of them for furniture. could do them with the alaskan mill though.

what would be a good sawmill for under $10,000.
Mobility is not really a must as I will likely put it under a shed.

I was looking at either the lt15 or Norwood hd36

We will likely be purchasing the Logosol LM410 track mounted moulder planer to do the tongue and groove milled logs

I have little to no experience other then sawing 4ft logs on my bandsaw in the workshop.
My father and neighbours have experience with head saws.

WV Sawmiller · August 25, 2015, 05:23:01 PM

Chips,

A little more than you are listing as price range but I assure you if you can find a good used mill with hydraulic log lifting, clamping and turning it will be money well spent.

Looks like you have a good selection of support equipment. I can't see letting an undersized manual mill be your bottleneck. I thank my wife and friends every day who talked me out of buying a manual mill.

I also use my automatic settings religiously. For me they are much more accurate than me reading the scale (others no doubt do fine with the scales but I'm much better with the touch screen).

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

dgdrls · August 25, 2015, 06:38:14 PM

Welcome to the forum Chips'
Looks like you have the source and support equipment set.

What is driving you to a bandmill if I may?
There are lots of good circle style mills out there also.

Best
Dan

Magicman · August 25, 2015, 07:02:41 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, chips in my beard. I favor Orange. Oh wait, both of your choices are orange, so you can not go wrong. Also, click on FF Sponsor; Sawmill Exchange for a possible used sawmill.

rooster 58 · August 25, 2015, 08:43:06 PM

Magician beat me to it. You might be able to find a good used hydraulic mill for just a little more than 10 g's. There's alot of used 40's out there

WDH · August 25, 2015, 09:13:26 PM

If you go manual, get the most HP and a power feed.

Larch · August 25, 2015, 10:27:50 PM

Two words: log turner. Even if you have to save for a couple more years.

chips in my beard · August 25, 2015, 10:34:28 PM

I have a lot of burls and unique lumber that would be better cut on a bandsaw.
it would also let me get me more lumber out of log.

I can cut the lumber required to get the larger saw mills running which would be the best of both worlds.

Our neighbours have a head saw that use on occasion but its hard to get them to cut you lumber.

several dozen neighbours have bandsaw mills but they never have time to cut anything and do not seem to enthusiastic about you borrowing or renting it. plus then you feel pressured to do it quick and fast and not when you have time.

I liked the Lt15 as there is one for sale at $7500 after doing less than 10000ft (ad says)
It looked like making my own bed extensions would be easy and far cheaper then the $900 they were wanting. I believe I seen a post on a fella building his own.

the HD36 i liked because its on sale right now and you can add features later on to keep you moving forward.

My father did pick up a home made left hand hydraulic head saw mill a few years ago. how ever I never saw it together and have only seen it in pieces. maybe its what I should use but I think i would spend a lot of time redoing things on it to make me feel safe using it and for it to cut right. That is my opinion we have no word on if it was used, how it was used or how it cut (estate sale). I could share photos of it all and maybe get some outside opinions on it.

WV Sawmiller · August 26, 2015, 08:32:03 AM

Chips,

Another thought is to go watch and maybe off-bear for guys near you who have the kind of mill you are interested in. I know WM offers a Pro-Sawyer network who generally are glad to demonstrate their mill for you. Other vendors will generally provide you names of people near you with mills you can contact to go observe. Most sawmillers I am familiar with like to talk about their mill and would be glad to host a demo for you. Maybe that will help you decide what is best for you.

dboyt · August 26, 2015, 09:49:21 AM

One of the things that I really like about the Norwood HD36 is that you can move the clamps and log stops to any position along the track, and move the individually to fit oddball pieces like crotches, roots & burls. Even at that, it will take some trial and error to find what works for specific pieces. WV Sawmill is right about working with a mill to get an idea of the process. Here's a photo of tackling a walnut root. The clamps are about 2' apart. Other than the embedded rocks, it worked well. The mill also works well on real logs.

Brucer · August 27, 2015, 12:32:26 AM

An LT15 (or equivalent Norwood) will get be a little slow, but it will get the job done. If you find a bandmill isn't right for the job, you can recover most of your cost when you sell it. If you find the mill you buy is OK, but too slow, you can upgrade (that's what I did).

This is a bad time to be buying new US-made mills in Canada. Better to look for a good used one locally that's at least two or three years old. The owner might be happy just recovering most of his original price.

johnnyllama · August 27, 2015, 07:35:51 AM

If you can get a good deal on a new Norwood, I'd lean that way. You can add hyd. as you progress, and if you outgrow it, it will hold it's value well. Either way, you won't get hurt, both great machines and companies.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · August 27, 2015, 08:05:50 AM

Quote from: Brucer on August 27, 2015, 12:32:26 AM
An LT15 (or equivalent Norwood) will get be a little slow, but it will get the job done. If you find a bandmill isn't right for the job, you can recover most of your cost when you sell it. If you find the mill you buy is OK, but too slow, you can upgrade (that's what I did).

This is a bad time to be buying new US-made mills in Canada. Better to look for a good used one locally that's at least two or three years old. The owner might be happy just recovering most of his original price.

Yep, I got 27 cents on the dollar when I exchanged US $ to Canadian last week at the bank here in Newfoundland.

Of course, if you had a bunch of US $ it would be a good time to buy almost anything in Canada...

Herb

chips in my beard · August 27, 2015, 12:06:50 PM

Yes the Canadian Dollar sucks right now

I have 10-11 neighbors within a 10 mile radius that have bandsaw mills.
Do you know many of them use them =0
Do you know how many would sell them = 0
Do you know how many would use them if you paid them =0
in fact the one neighbour who might have a woodmizer (its orange a friend told me) as probably only put one log on it then never used it and seized the engine.

There is a lt 15 for sale at $7500 with less than 10,000ft cut on it
I was on the phone to Norwood yesterday and their HD36 with 23hp engine was just shy of $8000 new. He told me that was Canadian and current. I feel like I should swoop in on that before they come to their senses.
I really like the fact you can go full hydraulic if I felt the need and that it has a 36" capacity and 28" cut.

I had looked at the ez boardwalk 40 but with our dollar where it is 7200 is more like 10000 Canadian.

I have looked on several sites including this, kijiji. woodmizers and a few others there is very little for sale within a reasonable drives distance and within a price I would be okay with for a first saw.

deadfall · August 27, 2015, 12:56:57 PM

Chips,

It's too bad your neighbors won't sell or share. I, myself, am very possessive about my tools, but love to help folks with them. I respect that you want a mill to make lumber, not dollars, Canadian, or US. When we get enough lumber for ourselves, we can let the trees grow. Who ever gets enough money? We can be as patient as the trees who give us so much, and do so much for us, if we would only take what we need of them for what they are. When we see them for what they are not, there will never be enough. For, they are not dollars. But it's that way with everything, I guess. We could live so well with this planet if we could stay so close to the Earth and the reality of things. We trade it all for pieces of paper.

My good hopes are with you to get your mill and make your living on the land. It's why I have my mill. Because, I look out my window at a stripped 700% grade that was ravaged by Manulife Financial of Toronto. My lumber supply doesn't do that to its neighbors.

chips in my beard · August 27, 2015, 05:00:19 PM

Agreed

I would probably sell a little bit to help pay for the unit, but mostly the idea was for my own projects.

Harvest windfall, take down older trees that are not doing well. etc. I believe in selective harvesting since it is a nicer option then the forest fire.

Forest fires are a natural and needed part of the ecosystem. out west they plant just spruce trees. Dad was out there and he said huge areas their is little to no wild life because their is no variety and nothing for them to eat.

Rickcnc · August 27, 2015, 05:57:31 PM

Quote from: chips in my beard on August 27, 2015, 12:06:50 PM
Yes the Canadian Dollar sucks right now

I was on the phone to Norwood yesterday and their HD36 with 23hp engine was just shy of $8000 new. He told me that was Canadian and current. I feel like I should swoop in on that before they come to their senses.

That is the price on the website as will.. been looking a WM for a week now, maybe I should consider Norwood

Magicman · August 27, 2015, 07:34:53 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Rickcnc.

WDH · August 27, 2015, 08:32:20 PM

Don't under-estimate the productivity value of the power feed on the LT15. Does the Norwood have power feed? Horsepower and power feeds are game changers.

chips in my beard · August 27, 2015, 10:52:38 PM

23hp electric start $7987
Power feed and power head option $2995
Plus every option you can think off.
several log roll assist options for manual and hydraulic and an auto lock dog for rolling odd shaped logs
manual or powered toe boards for taper correction or equalization.
quick set indexing of various lengths.
hydraulic log loader
trailer package
board return.
You can mill to 1 inch of the deck.
36 inch logs and 28 cut capacity. although its pretty hard to get logs of those dimensions in this area and if we do we usually leave those old girls alone.
a lot of options to add if and when you need/want them. I like the idea of it growing with your needs.