Portable Mills

[J-L]

One of our two mills closed down here due to the death of the owner (who was a real good man). He was the only one you could go to with out of the ordinary orders (Norm would cut you a 3x6x13 if that’s what you needed for instance). I would frequently take him timber for milling for my ranch projects, the other mill won’t do that for us.
My question is, do any of you have any experience with the portable mills (like Wood Mizer or Hud Son)? Could you make one pay for itself without too much trouble?
Any input is appreciated.

[Gabe Ayers]

JL,

I have a portable band sawmill, but don’t use it much lately. This is not because it doesn’t make me money, but because I chose to invest my time into other aspects of restorative forestry work and have a great portable band saw man that works reasonable and lives up to his logo of “Your Logs, Your Location”.

This is mostly my selfish attitude about working. I had rather watch a cat gnaw on a marble than stand beside a band mill all day long. The work of actually managing the forest is just so much more diverse and suits the personality of some, more than others. There are folks that love “cracking the diamond” to reveal or optimize yield from a log, but I just like to leave beautiful trees growing for the future and bring out what needs to come….

But in order to see some of the relationship we have with our community portable band sawmill man I would invite the DAP readers to go to a new blog started about our current project in Appalachia.

http://www.crookedriver.wordpress.com/

There are lots of photos and some interesting stuff about this site. One recent piece of history includes evidence that this physical location could be the scene of the last casualties of the Civil War….

Enjoy the site, let us know what you think….off to take advantage of the frozen ground of the morning conditions.

Regards,

[TBigLug]

I’ve often wondered the same thin and am very interested in seeing what people have to say. Have you thought about getting together with some neighbors or other ranchers and splitting the cost? Just a thought.

[Rod]

I had a few woodmizers in the past until I decided like Jason that I really didn’t like sawing wood. The machines work fine and some like doing it but not me. They result in a lot of manual handling of wet and heavy boards with lots of debris and waste product to organize and keep in order.

[john plowden]

I have a small Norwood – or I should say my brother-in-law and I own one – all manual, saws a 20″ x 16’6″ log – We find it really useful- I live to work the horses in the woods but don’t mind taking a break to saw wood for a week when the weather brings me out – Yes slabs and sawdust add up – the slabs burn in the stove and the sawdust makes great bedding –
Often working a firewood job you come across a few logs that make good lumber but don’t make a truck load – they’ll end up on our mill – I’ve also found that once people know you have a mill they want you to saw something for them -sometimes they even want you to cut the trees down as well –
I will say that you get what you pay for – and hydraulics would be welcome after rolling on,turning and stacking all day –
John

[Carl Russell]

I have a Woodmizer LT-15. The small manual one. I paid $6400 or something 6 years ago. Built the house off it. All paid for.

I don’t do any custom sawing, but of course a few buddies from now and then. I also live to work in the woods, but having the mill is a great addition, especially to the home place.

Horses broke a pole on the bobsled one day, unhitched, got the cart, went up on the hill cut an ash, skidded the log, cut out a new stick, and was back in business the next day. Also sawed out a complete scoot, and several other implement poles from the same tree.

It keeps a good small stack of lumber available for any and all building projects, and like John says “got extra logs?, take ’em to the mill”.

If I’d paid for all the bells and whistles, I’m not sure I could afford to use it like this, but knowing how I depend on forest products, making my living from them, I figure if I can make what ever I need right from what I have right here, the better off I am.

The other thing about this model is I can load it right on the scoot and take it right into the woods with the horses. You can get sections to add to this one, making it so you can saw really long timber. The only draw back is that it sits right on the ground, and leveling it takes some experience and regular attention to keep it that way.

Carl

[J-L]

Thank you for your input. Wood Mizer was one of the brands I’d looked into. My budget probably won’t allow for many bells and whistles and for now it’s just in the idea stage.
I have two brothers living on adjoining ranches and it’s possible we could cost share on a mill.
Not many people around here are logging with teams (actually none, excepting myself on a small scale) and I’ve been contacted a few times about doing some thinning to curtail the beatle kill that’s going crazy here. Last year I did a 40 acre patch and it went quite well. This fall I did another place for firewood as the timber was already dead. It could keep me very busy if I advertised.
The very thing that John Plowden mentioned has happened as far as running into some good saw logs while doing the firewood job. That wasn’t a problem for me until the other mill closed.
Being very portable would be nice. Some of the time you could mill right on the sight and burn the slabs and ends with the slash piles if the landowner’s wanted that.

[Rod]

You may be intrested in this site http://www.sawmillexchange.com/ , all kinds of used mills.

[jason glick]

i own a mill with a friend. split the $8000+. i just got done milling for my house this spring: 30,000 brdft @ $.25/thousand. i’ve also gotten several jobs because of the ability to do all of it stump to sticker.

[Author]

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