Originally Posted by
Scott T Smith
Craig, if I were in your shoes my first choice would be a manual band mill (as long as you had log handling equipment on site). If cost were not an object, the Woodmizer 1000 would be my first choice. It is fairly pricey (60K) and requires a dedicated site on a concrete slab, but it's a hydraulic mill with a wide throat (67") and excellent production capacity. On a more economical scale, the Hud-son Oscar 52 is a budget priced manual bandmill that can make a 48" wide cut. You can get into a new one with reasonable HP and track extensions suitable for 20' logs for under 20K.
A swing blade mill coupled with slabber attachment from either Lucas or Peterson is also an option. This would allow you to make dimensional lumber as well as operate a slabber. There are three drawbacks to the Lucas/Peterson slabbers, and those are 1) size of the kerf (3/8" for the slabber versus 1/16" for the Hud-son), 2) time it takes to switch between the two heads, and 3) and operating cost. The narrow kerf band mill will cost much less per bd. ft to operate versus the chain slabber. Typically in a 48" diameter log due to kerf losses you will net one slab more with the band mill as compared with the chain slabber. If you mill a lot of slabs, that loss of profit will add up. Additionally, large slabber chains can run $150.00, and if you hit metal you may trash the chain. Chains cost a lot more to sharpen than bands too (a band that size will run around $40 bucks and cost 7 bucks to sharpen)
Lucas and Peterson both make great sawmills, but Lucas's US HQ is near you in northern California (Left Coast Supplies). They have a great reputation for support, and the principle's have been working with/on Lucas mills for many years.
If you don't have log handling equipment, then your only choice will be a Lucas or Peterson system, as they will allow you to set the mill up "around the log". With the Hud-son, you will have to place the log on the mill (which sits flat on the ground), and we both know that it's not practical to move a 36"+ log with a cant hook!
You are correct that milling standard dimensional lumber is a pain in a manual band mill that is optimized for slabbing large logs.
One thing that we occasionally do on some of our large logs is to mill a combination of dimensional lumber plus slabs from a log. Having the combination of dedicated slabber and swing blade mill on the same track makes that easy to accomplish (but more costly due to the fact that two complete sawmill carriage assemblies and engines are required). It also allows us to mill both leg stock as well as tops from the same log and offer them as a matched package.
If you can keep the bulk of your logs under 48" wide, you can mill them on the Hud-son and sub the larger ones out to a local operation with a slabber. In time as revenues allow you can consider either adding a dedicated slabber to your operation for the larger logs or upgrading to the WM1000.
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