Finished a major project, time to put it to work.

[Doug-Iowa]

Last January my son and I bought a bandsaw mill. Our area had a tremendous amount of tree damage from storms a year ago, and looking at all that wood available for the taking was too tempting especially with the skyrocketing cost of lumber. We set up first in the tractor shop and cut lumber to build the saw shed onto an old garage I had on another property. Then spent a few months putting it together and relocating the saw. Saw sits on four 10x10x14' switch ties ballested in 17 tons of gravel. Picture of my son cutting a white ash log, on the end of the track is a 8x8x10' cedar beam we just finished. All the siding and trim is cedar from electric poles. Main beams were reclaimed 4x6 treated sign posts. All salvaged from the storm damage.

Saw is from Woodland Mills. Log capacity is 22 diameter by 20' long. On the cedar we cut about 120 per minute. The ash, maybe half that. Loading logs with a MF1635 tractor, which is not enough for biggest log. We have lots of ash, pine, maple, and one hackberry log in the pile to cut. I'm very happy with the way it all turned out, stay tuned for more pictures as we make sawdust.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

Doug , that's the stuff of dreams !
Well done for following this one through . I'm so envious

 

[woodbutcher]

Nice setup. Well thought-out.

Butch

 

[caterpillar guy]

Dad hired a guy to saw some that way with one on a trailer frame and jacks.Seemed ok if it was solid ground. Would not work if the ground is a bit soft. Seemed slow going to. the guy would come out after work and saw about a log a night or maybe 2 smaller ones. Another local guy had a round blade saw and would saw out the whole pile in a few hours that took twice or more long to saw with the band saw. Another thing was when the blade got the least bit dull it would look like the surf coming it with all the waves in the lumber. I was not to impressed with it from a production and blade stand point. The old carriage mill with the round blade has it's warts too. Like if the front only dog is down it will shy away from the blade and weenie off the end so it is thinner sometimes. This is when it gets down to the last few cuts.
I'd like to set up a regular old carriage mill with room under the roof to get a telehandler in there to load the carriage with the logs and be able to saw at least 30 foot.

 

[Stroby]

Clever, congratulations and good luck.

 

[Brian G. NY]

These band mills do good work if set up right. They are much more practical for the average guy than a circular saw mill. Much easier to set up and use way less power. My Wife's cousin has had a mill for about 10 years and saws out lots of good true lumber. He has his sitting on concrete piers.
He has built a few buildings around his place, the latest of which is this garage/shop. He has all the board and batten siding cut for it as well. He also sawed the lumber for my little lean-to. You should be very happy with your mill and will derive a lot of pleasure from producing your own lumber, especially at the price of commercial lumber nowadays.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Very nice.
I had to think- it was nearly 30 years ago that a fellow came here with a self contained, portable band saw mill. Wood-Mizer. I don't remember if it was one of a kind, experimental, made just for him, or what. But it didn't seem like it was regular production.
It was self feeding. In other words, He didn't have to push the power head through the log. And it had a seat where he rode along.
Did a great job.

 

[Doug-Iowa]

Very nice barn and shed. I'd like to build a cabin using that type of construction, but I don;t need another big project. You are absolutely right the setup is key to good results. And don't push the saw too hard. To prove to ourselves we had it set right we cut 1/8 veneer off that ash log, several cuts one right after the other. Laid first and last on the table and they were just the same thickness, no taper. Here's the bench seat we cut today.

It's 3 thick about 16 wide and about 7' long. I sprayed it with water to highlight the grain, its in the drying trailer now.

 

[TimV]

We got our Wood-Mizer LT-40 in 1984, when you had to go to the factory out by Indianapolis to pick up your saw, and it's power feed. It's also still sawing today, with the fourth generation of our family now learning to run it. Sharp blades and correct feed rates are the big keys to avoiding wavy lumber, along with a solid setup.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Nice setup.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Lumber prices are dropping. Contractor next door is telling that the lumber yard he's dealing with has had to mark down the stock he bought during the height of the price surge, and is losing his shirt.

So figure on the bottom completely falling out of the lumber market, and/or there being a whole bunch of lightly used sawmills for sale at rock bottom prices.

 

[K Effective]

I was checking out an online auction site from our area (bright star auctions) and was surprised to see four or five of the established, permanent site local saw mills with equipment listed there. Seems it must be time for all the guys to retire or perhaps have passed away. The guy I bought my last rough-sawn has to build two hay decks is on there, he was too old to be working that hard five years ago...