Neat inexpensive sawmill just arrived!

[totalloser]

I just thought I'd share. For the price I have to say I was nervous. But it appears to be quite high quality. http://www.lumbersmith.com/

My original plan was to build my own to get around a design flaw in most sawmills. Most sawmills have the carriage supports right along side the center of the bandwheels, so your cutting width is just about the same as your max board size. This is a real bummer because once you shave a couple sides, the log gets a lot smaller. So a 24" sawmill cuts a 24" log into a square, and then the log is only about 16", so you wind up with a 24" sawmill that can only cut 16" boards because the carriage can only clear a 24" uncut log.

Then I found this thing, and the support arms are out at the edges of the housing. This means that you can easily square up a 24" log and cut it on a 16" saw. It actually cuts wider, but that's with slimmer boards. The drive mechanism is clever. No belts/chains. Off the shelf Honda with 6:1 gear reduction. I wish it had a clutch, though.

But for 2grand, There's nothing like it. And now that I have it, I am VERY satisfied with the quality (which worried me as I'd never heard of this company). Really slick backyard sawmill for cheap.

 

[Autocar]

Sounds like you have a new toy ! I have had a number of circle mills over the years my last one was ran by hydrawlic had a 54 inch on the bottom and a 48 inch top saw unlimted with but never sawed much over 14 inches wide because it would cup so bad. I always told people the best times I ever had sawing was the first board after I plummed it all up, after that it was nothing but hard work. My wife would run the mill and I would off bare , I will never forget a guy brought over 16 foot white oak logs that were 16/18 inch on the butts and 8 inches on the tops. Told me he wanted 16 foot 2x 6's They would bow and spring making a bunch of thick and thin lumber ,we went to the house and we never did a custom sawing job after that. For sure these new band mills do a all right job but for me I always like all the gears and carriage ripping back and fourth.Good luck !

 

[sculptedurns]

Inexpensive bandsaw mill

That really is a clever small sized mill that is capable of cutting a lot of lumber. Have you had a chance to cut much wood with it. Thanks for posting. I am in the market for a small bandsaw mill.
Sculptedurns

 

[Autocar]

Sculptedurns what kind of wood would you saw there in Hawaii ?

 

[sculptedurns]

Hey Autocar, we have lots of tropical hardwoods. I grow teak, 3 types of Mahogany, Koa, Tuna, Mango, Many types of Eucalyptus just to name a few. It's really small scale however, no one has more than a few hundred acres except two or three of the very large land owners.

 

[Autocar]

Guess a fellow never stops learning I didn't realize those types of trees grew there. Won't you have to be careful breathing the dust from some of these while you saw them ? I have heard some of the dust is poison.

 

[Squizzy246B]

There is a bit of an old thread on this:

http://heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=45029

 

[Stump Knocker]

If you are ever in central Fl. make it a point to stop by Goodwin Lumber in Micanophy,Fl.
They have a wood mizer and a circular saw mill.
Most of their production is resaw and old sinker's.
The mill turn's out some beautiful lumber.