I would like a sawmill..............

[Joe Fabbri]

That's probably my biggest motivation--that trees that I often just leave laying around (or see others locally just laying around) to rot could be put to great use.

My neighbor has a sort of preservation type property, so when a tree comes down, he leaves it to rot, or at most he cuts it up so he can still go through his trails. About a month ago, a black oak just broke, no rot or anything. We helped him cut it up to clear his path, and it was tough stuff to cut through. It was so clear and clean looking the wood, and he'll probably leave it to rot or cut it for firewood. Its a shame.

[Neil Brooks]

Just curious. On average, how often do you guys actually hit metal on residential trees?

'Tis a great question.

The local mill told me ... I bring it ... it ruins their blades ... I buy the new blades (something like $250). They say they hit bullets, and hardware (nails from yard sale notices .... posted 50 years ago, for example).

I didn't feel like taking that gamble.

[John TenEyck]

'Tis a great question.

The local mill told me ... I bring it ... it ruins their blades ... I buy the new blades (something like $250). They say they hit bullets, and hardware (nails from yard sale notices .... posted 50 years ago, for example).

I didn't feel like taking that gamble.

This is one of the reasons I mill my own wood. Besides being the lowest capital cost option, a chain for a chainsaw mill is pretty cheap. A ripping chain costs about $30 and is good for at least 1000 BF, I'd estimate. I inspect the log as best I can visually and have actually hit relatively few pieces of hardware. I have hit a few nails and staples, and once a big metal screw that held an electrical insulator. Usually, the chain goes right through a nail or staple, although it does dull it, but that big screw was too much, broke off about 8 teeth, and the chain was history. Thankfully, the saw was fine. Oh well, a $30 chain for a log with over a 100 BF of nice wood is well worth the trade. I once guestimated my cost of milling at around $0.24/BF including the depreciation of my mill, with $0 for labor. There are metal detectors available, and if I was running a bandsaw mill with a $250 blade I'd have one for sure. I'm told the quality detectors are very capable of detecting most any metal within the depth range boards normally are cut.

[Danny Hamsley]

I have designs on a manual bandsaw mill, too...probably a WM LT-10 or LT-15. I just think that sawing and drying my own lumber, then building with it would be the ultimate in woodworking. Reading the sawing forums doesn't help diminish the desire, either.

Cody, I have sawed tens of thousands of BF on my LT15. I am in the process of making 6 pieces of walnut furniture for one of my daughters from walnut that I sawed and dried. You will not regret it, and a LT15 is not too expensive, around $6500. I sell hardwood to woodworkers, so I have paid for mine several times over.

[Cody Colston]

Cody, I have sawed tens of thousands of BF on my LT15. I am in the process of making 6 pieces of walnut furniture for one of my daughters from walnut that I sawed and dried. You will not regret it, and a LT15 is not too expensive, around $6500. I sell hardwood to woodworkers, so I have paid for mine several times over.

That's great to hear because I was leaning towards the LT-15. It's simply a lot more saw than the LT-10 and the common refrain I hear from sawyers is that one will always wish for a bigger saw if an entry-level version is purchased.

It will be this fall before I get serious about a purchase but I'm already excited just thinking about it. I have some Cedar trees felled and ready to mill plus I always seem to have an opportunity to get logs free. A good friend has a few hundred acres nearby and is always offering me his windfalls and dead-on-the-stump trees. He even loads the logs on my trailer with his tractor.

I recently built a solar kiln to dry about 700 bft of Walnut that the friend gave me so I need to keep it full, too. I can see where sawing lumber could easily become as much or more fun than actually woodworking...as long as I keep it on a hobby basis.

[Dave Lehnert]

Cody, I have sawed tens of thousands of BF on my LT15. I am in the process of making 6 pieces of walnut furniture for one of my daughters from walnut that I sawed and dried. You will not regret it, and a LT15 is not too expensive, around $6500. I sell hardwood to woodworkers, so I have paid for mine several times over.

Question on the LT15. The hand crank looks like it would be tiresome to use. Seems like pushing it would be better????

[Danny Hamsley]

IMG_0071.jpgIMG_0070.JPG

Question on the LT15. The hand crank looks like it would be tiresome to use. Seems like pushing it would be better????

You can use the crank or push. It is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Using the crank lets you feel the blade in the wood and lets you know how fast to feed. There is very little resistance using the crank, just the blade sawing the wood. I get real tired by days end, but not from the crank. The most taxing part is handling the boards and edging the outside boards/flitches.

Cody, I have seen pictures of your kiln, and it looks great. Seeing yours, I revised my plans from a 1000 BF kiln to a 500 BF kiln. It is much easier to saw and have a consistent load ready at 500 BF versus 1000 BF. BTW, I have kept records, and I average a little over 100 BF an hour sawing alone. That is engine hours, not elapsed time. With all the log handling, board handling, and stacking, I can cut 500 - 600 BF in a long hard day, but a more realistic average is 400 BF. With a helper, I can cut and stack 1000 BF in a day.

Metal in residential trees is common. That is why I saw very very few residential trees. Most of what I saw are forest grown trees. Here is a picture of a nice walnut log from a batch of 24 logs (8 - 10 feet long) that I purchased from another Forester clearing a 5 acre site for a duck pond. Overall, I sawed 2000 BF from these logs.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, my guy has a fully hydraulic Woodmaster and it's still major-league hard work...I've helped twice and could barely move the next day. Oh, and there is that future gift of having to move the now-dried lumber off the stack and indoors to storage. (I'm about to do that with 1500 bd ft of poplar)

[Chris Fournier]

It is a lot of hard work to mill (or help mill) your own lumber. The number of times that you move a board from off the lumber mill to the time that it sees use in the shop is remarkable. Pray that you don't have to move all of your lumber because you've got to change storage locations... Your first day hupping green lumber will be an eye opener!

I have mixed feelings about a huge inventory of lumber. You save some and pay double... I had standing orders for figured logs and instrument logs so I bought when I got the call. Not just a bit ironic that personal tastes change and I find myself with wood that I loved 20 years ago but am not that attached to now. Perhaps its just the fact that the magic ain't there after squirreling stuff away for 20 years? That's the game and it's doubtful that I'd change if I had to do it all over again, current regrets or not.

I think that John was absolutely spot on when he said that a wood mill would likely get in the way of his making furniture. When I was buying and milling actively I spent time with lumber alright, just not in the shop. I had to sell the stuff too and there goes more shop time!

[Anthony Whitesell]

If I could even start to figure out where to get logs like that I'd have a mill in a minute. Since I've no source for good logs other than eastern white pine, I'll just continue to dream and drool. Thanks for the eye candy (pictures).

[Carl Beckett]

I would like my own sawmill also. Yep, it would no doubt get in the way of shop time. I would likely spend more time futzing with it (and searching for good 'finds' on logs, etc etc) than the savings would be worth.

But I get a kick out of making perfectly useful furniture from something that would otherwise be headed for firewood or rot.

Also, I could tend to 'hoard' nice wood. (of course I would need to build buildings to house all that lumber.... I can see this spiraling out of control). And I might try to sell some and make a few $$, but unlikely to ever really make a profit out of it.

Also, I have built a few pieces from logs that came off of a family property - huge sentimental value.

But all things considered - I figure with some time and effort (would have to build a solar kiln of course), it would be about as expensive as other equipment for the hobby (meaning not free, but just another cost of supporting a hobby). And a lot of satisfaction and fun in the process.

[Scott Driemel]

Funny, I read with interest the contributions of those with mills for profit, mills for pleasure and those considering mills. I smile because I wanted one for years myself & finally bought one (a Lucas Mill). Like so many, I'd been paying an operator $60/hr to cut my logs up. At $500/day it hurt but compared to box store prices, man! was I saving dough! But looking at the 2000brd/feet on an avg day cut, I knew I'd need him for a week or so to do all my logs. So, like many of you, I made the plunge. The learning curve is pretty steep. The # of mistakes, sometimes pretty scarey isn't small either. Logs can have incredible stress inside and on a few occasions have banana'd down the center while being cut with a bang like a shotgun going off. A 30" 1200lb log can knock a fellow quite a distance, and I'm lucky to have not been beside it when it split. So, never mind the blade that can cut you in half, lots of other danger there too. A couple of fellows touched on it and I wanted to expand. It seems very easy to become more of a sawyer, and less woodworker very easily. I don't how or why wood/logs seem to have the call of a siren and lure some men into wanting/hoarding more & more wood beyond any usueable amount that is reasonable. Perhaps the curiosity of what's inside the next log?, or I'll just finish that pile, or gee, I've never cut this species. But I now find myself with logs galore, cutting all the time and haven't gotten into the workshop for a year! (funny .. ever since I bought the mill!) My mill is roughly $14,000 new. Used maybe $8500. My point is in retrospect, I can honestly say I've been bewitched by the sawmill. I sit here looking out my window looking out to the side pasture which was once a serene scene of hobby farm bliss and now see 100's of logs piled up. Funny how you become a place to bring logs to once the word gets out. Dirt everywhere. So much for the grass! Sawdust everywhere. Bulldozer to move the logs, tractor to move the wood, piles of wood airdrying everywhere. If I was to ever offer a kernal of wisdom to another woodworker, it would probably be to really be rational when considering the purchase of a sawmill. Sawmills are costly to buy and they can be costly to run. They need gas, tune-ups, adjustments, and the related accessories like log peavys, levers, chains, chokers, paint, brushes, sharpeners, tarps, shovels etc. You need to sharpen blades and have a reasonable amount of mechanical skills to keep it running and for it to stay safe. Friends who are much better woodworkers than me buy their wood from mills or big brokers (still not paying box store prices) and their wood is ready NOW. They decide on a project & buy their wood. They get way more projects done than I do. I think sawing is a lot of fun, (man is it EVER hard work) and probably one of the most rewarding experiences in life. (related to wood) but it can pull you away from woodworking. I guess bottom line is careful what you wish for. In the end when I'm done I'll have 20,000 brd/feet or more of lovely wood, I just hope I'll still be around healthy enough and interested enough to woodwork with it. Logs do have an expiry limit on them so if you get or find logs, you have to understand how much grace time you have left. Just remember this .....Be wary of the "call of the sawmill"...

[Richard M. Wolfe]

For Joe who asked how often metal is encountered in residential trees. The answer off the top of my head is 100%. The town I live in isn't all that large but every town tree has had metal. For example a sycamore we milled had in one section that was about ten feet long about a dozen nails (none very large), a four inch hinge and a metal arrowhead. I can't think of one we've done that hasn't had something in it. And with 'country' trees there's still a chance of it. Generally you're milling larger trees that have had a good many years to 'accumulate' stuff....nails from steps to a deer stand, wire if it's in a fenceline, etc.

We're doing a tree now and have done half of it with no metal yet and it came from Fort Worth but it's different. It came from a Trinity River reclamation project and is a big post oak. By big the main trunk is about thirty feet long and four to five feet across. What makes it different is the guy who got it said it was buried under five to six feet of silt in the river bottom.....I have no idea how long. The wood has been darkened for a good depth into the tree but there is no rot. It had to be split with a chainsaw to 'sawable' chunks. Even after pressure washing the remaining sand does fun things to blades.

[Alan Schaffter]

I had the benefit of working with a local tree service guy who wanted to do more than cut his trees into firewood- yup that's what he did at first. I convinced him he would do better if he restricted his firewood to the gnarly stuff and save the good trees for lumber. When he had enough logs he had a sawyer with an LT140H come do all the milling. But as Scott said it was still a LOT of work. Something just touched on- even with a hydraulic mill you don't just pick up and plop the logs on the mill by hand! You need a good Bobcat or tractor with forks to move those big logs and stacks of lumber around. I wouldn't even consider having my own mill without one of those,

[michael a nelson]

what mill was it at