Hud Son Oscar II

AndrewY · April 13, 2016, 11:50:12 AM

Update: Bought it, a few pictures posted down the page. First post here. I've been researching portable sawmills for some time, and found a Hudson Oscar II for sale about an hour away. I can't find much info or details about this specific model on the web or on here, since it seems they've been renamed or discontinued. Does anyone have experience with this model? From what I gathered it will take up to 36", and has a 16hp. My budget is $3k, so I was preparing to settle for a smaller Woodland, but this Oscar sounds like a decent size, comes with a trailer package, and fits my budget. I read the guides are crap on these, and it is best to replace them with aftermarket.

Can anyone give me first hand details and opinions about the Hud Son Oscar II?

tnaz · April 13, 2016, 12:01:02 PM

Hello and welcome, I just typed in Hud son in the search at the top of the page and got a good bit of info.

tnaz

Magicman · April 13, 2016, 12:26:13 PM

I am of no help with your question but Welcome to the Forestry Forum, AndrewY

Chuck White · April 13, 2016, 03:19:18 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Andrew!

I've only seen 2 or 3 Hudson Mills and they seem to be heavy made, so should stand up to a lot of sawing.

justallan1 · April 13, 2016, 04:01:34 PM

I had the smallest mill Hudson makes and liked it just fine. The only reason that I sold it was to get a bigger mill. The blades guides worked fine as long as I didn't try to make the mill do more that it could. If you run your blades dull or make it cut faster that it wanted, obviously it was going to get some wave, but that's any mill.
I'm guessing that the one you are looking at is comparable to the HFE-36. I'd call Hudson and ask how old that series is and if the engine is in good shape and everything is doing what it's suppose to, I'd jump on that for the $3,000 you mentioned.

21incher · April 13, 2016, 09:44:58 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum AndrewY. I have the HFE21 and have no problem with the guides. You may want to make sure they are adjusted properly and give them a try. Sounds like a good buy for $3k if it has the trailer.

sandsawmill14 · April 13, 2016, 09:49:19 PM

welcome to the forum

i have an oscar 228 that i have had for years and sawn ALOT of lumber on it they are good mills

never finished · April 14, 2016, 10:34:19 PM

I've had an Oscar 36 for several years. That sounds like a great place to start. Give the Hud-Son people a call, their a lot of help on the phone. 1-800-765-SAWS. Let us now where your at. Happy to help any way I can. Dennis

jimdad07 · April 17, 2016, 11:14:36 PM

I bought an HFE 30 in the fall for milling my barn project and I am very happy with it. It's certainly not the fanciest mill going but I can tell you that I have been cutting 20' x 30" diameter logs on it with great results. I do find that over dogging cants will actually lift the cant up on one side and can throw the cut out of square but that is user error on my part. The Oscar series are a little better built than the HFE series, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

AndrewY · April 26, 2016, 08:58:47 PM

Well I went for it. I talked to Hud Son and they said is comparable to the modern Oscar 236. This one is a 2002 ish model with trailer package, Cook guides, 6 new blades. Ill hopefully run some logs through it in the next few days. I think I did pretty well for what I paid.

thecfarm · April 26, 2016, 09:32:53 PM

AndrewY,welcome to the forum. Sounds good for the money.As I say when I buy something and asked if I like it,Ask me in a year and I will let ya know.

What's the plan for the lumber?

AndrewY · April 27, 2016, 09:38:51 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on April 26, 2016, 09:32:53 PM
AndrewY,welcome to the forum. Sounds good for the money.As I say when I buy something and asked if I like it,Ask me in a year and I will let ya know. :)
What's the plan for the lumber?

A pole barn has been on my mind. Local code required graded lumber set in the ground, but everything else is fair game. I have a good amount of large (some 40" +) EWP on the property that I've wanted gone. Hopefully the mill will help recycle them.

tnaz · April 27, 2016, 01:34:29 PM

Congratulations on the new to you mill. Went to look up your mill and now I'm not getting any info, even googling?
Watched the u-tube video; that's not you pushing the mill is it ? :D

cutterboy · April 27, 2016, 06:38:16 PM

Congratulations on your mill. You are going to enjoy the adventure that is just ahead of you.

Hale87 · April 27, 2016, 07:27:56 PM

I had a mill like that before my WM, for a manual mill I thought it was great.
Please post a pic when you have the time.

welcome to the forum

AndrewY · April 27, 2016, 10:22:02 PM

Quote from: tnaz on April 27, 2016, 01:34:29 PM
Congratulations on the new to you mill. Went to look up your mill and now I'm not getting any info, even googling?
Watched the u-tube video; that's not you pushing the mill is it ? :D

I had a hard time finding info too. I could only find a single picture! I'll post a few once I get it throwing some dust

AndrewY · May 05, 2016, 08:54:55 PM

I finally was able to run a log through it today. I had a pretty rough start, the first victim was a white pine along a trail that my trailer always comes close to. It was a backleaner along the property line. I made a nice facecut, used felling wedges, and even rigged a line to my truck. Well, the line snapped, my wedges didn't do enough, and the tree went through my neighbor's fence. Then while cutting the cant I heard the "zing" people wrote about. An eye bolt completely embedded. Anyway at least I got to practice changing a blade.

Magicman · May 05, 2016, 09:00:35 PM

It goes with the territory but still "ouch". :-\

never finished · May 05, 2016, 09:40:07 PM

Andrew Y. I sent you a pm with my #. Your more than welcome to call and I'll and walk you through the mill. It is identical to my Oscar 36. I can't believe MM is slipping. He usually lets every one know that it helps us help you. If you fill in all the info on your (what you macallit) where your name is. I'm still so old school I use a flip phone and don't do the picture thing yet. As far as the guides go set them with all most no gap and they work fine.