I got an old rotary sawmill kicking around. It came with the farm when I bought it a few years ago, but decay is causing the building to lean and ultimately it will crash down around it. Everything works except for the engine. It had a 1965 Chevy 305 running it (I believe), but blew the motor. There is a 6 cylinder White Diesel with hand clutch to replace it, but I would have to buy that I think. The thing is, it would require completely moving it and putting it up in a new building, location and everything. But is it worth it? To do all that would cost almost as much as a band saw mill. I got a chainsaw mill that works, but is slower than the Donner Party at cutting wood. It has an excellent 24 foot carriage to it, so I was thinking about converting a bandsaw head to mount on that. Harbor Freight sells a bandsaw sawmill for $2000, but the tracks absolutely sucks. By combining the two, I might have a decent sawmill for $2000. Not bad, and a much narrower kerf. I do have use for the sawdust on the rotary mill as I do own a farm with livestock, BUT at 3/8 of an inch wide, that is a LOT of sawdust that otherwise would be boards. Just wondering what people's thoughts were.
I think Woodland sells just the head of the unit ( bandsaw) , better choice in the long run than HF. Band saw only good for slabbing. Depending on the set up of circular mill more versatile. Band saw blades can be resharpened a couple times but will require being sent out, service charge and shipping. Circular saw, might just have someone local or there are some grinders that you can purchase to diy. Lot of variables to many to discuss here. Note resharpening is my business but this not a solicitation ( besides freight would be a killer). I have a bunch of red Oak outside some of which I want to slab. Still toying with band vs Logosol chain unit ( If you include a chain saw, price wise they are close) already have chainsaws in the 80 to 120 cc classes. Kerf wise it only becomes a question if you are looking to try to sell slabs ( .060 vs .325, .375, .404) Cost of bands + resharpening and setting vs cost of chains and diy on sharpening chains. Running out of time weather wise so got make up my mind slab it or firewood. ( course there is that nasty dollar problem also.)
Chris, have you looked at the Norwood sawmill system? They're comparable in price to Logosol, but they look to be much lower impact physically on the operator.
Like you said, a lot of variables. Kerf is a concern for me because I might be sawing a lot of smaller stuff. Right now in Maine paper mills are shut down (I got piles of wood and weeks before I can even think about it having a place to go.) Logs are moving, and paying well, but what to do with the tops? I am looking at $10 a cord for 8 foot hemlock and not much more for Spruce and Fir. There is NO WAY I am going to fell, limb, twitch, then cut into 8 foot length wood for $10-15 a cord. But just because it is not commercial grade (a 7" top) does not mean you can't get more out of it sawing for yourself. I'll even be honest, I thought about cutting and splitting the stuff and selling it for $75 a cord just to see if I could get rid of it for a higher price. But speed is also a factor. The old rotary would hammer through 5000-6000 bf per day, a hand driven bandsaw mill perhaps 1500 bf per day and a chainsaw mill about 1 bf per day! I am only slightly exaggerating on the latter. As I said, the Donner Party moved faster. So on a rainy day when I had nothing to do I could cut saw some lumber. There is a guy by me that builds band sawmills too, and I have yet to ask him if he would sell just the head. That is Thomas Bandsaw Mills. As for you, we built our own sawmill and saved a boatload of money. We bought the plans off procut Portable Sawmills, changed a few things on the carriage to make it better and now have a really good base to set a band saw mill on. But gosh darn, I got a usable rotary mill (albeit a 48" instead of a 52" rotary mill), but its still sitting there.
I like your idea of leaning towards the bandsaw mill vs doing the repairs to the rotary mill that's already there. I'm not sure if there's a market for the rotary mill or not but I can imagine how the costs associated with repairs and upgrades would have gone, not to mention possibly putting up a new building to house it. I'm not so informed on the bandsaw mills but aren't they able to run outdoors without being susceptible to the weather compared to the older rotary mills?
Production rates will probably vary based on the skill of the operator. I've cut mortise and tenon joinery with an MS200T and 54" wide slabs with an MS880. You want to get your chain good and sharp.
Band saw is the most efficient. There is a good niche and trendy market for circular sawn wood though. For the amount of wood you are talking using a chainsaw mill you would turn to dust before the logs would! You could sell the mill you have, depending on what it is there is a market for that too, use the proceeds towards a band mill. Wood disappears fast with a band mill, the biggest thing is log logistics. Trailer vs ground unit and log size width length etc. Hemlock is the easiest wood I've milled bands last forever(use quality band blades) and it's fast cutting. You could do 1500bdft in a day easy probably with one band. The harbor freight mill would probably chew through it lickitdy split. Modding it to fix its shortcomings is easy. I almost bought a HF unit, but it was too small and underpowered for the bigger stuff I see.
Hf mill is around 2700 + shipping and ya can't use the coupon anymore- plus you can forget about any kind of customer service - Heck I have been waiting 10 years for a reply to a simple question + a part for a splitter( doesn't matter as I simply rebuilt the whole dang thing, as the commercial says betterfied. ) Band mills will suffer the same fate as any other equipment left out in the elements. As with a lot of other semi stationary power tools weight tells a lot about what is or isn't there. Also like chainsaws power is king. Tops- Cut it, split it small, bundle it- that is where the money is, Around here about 6-7 dollars for a 1.5 cf bundle retail which contains about 1 cubic foot of wood and .5 cf of air ( wholesale 3-5) even at $3 so about $300 cord factoring in wrapping . To me one of those bundles look like kindling. just an idea.
Before you take a dump on harbor freight.... They are 2k plus tax-shipping and parts are available from woodland its almost the same as hm126 minus features.
My father wants to build a home made flip rotary saw he saw on Youtube now. I looked at it since he said it would be so simple to fab up, but I am not so sure. However, he has a degree in engineering, but cannot weld, and me, I am as dumb as a welding rod but can at least weld. Maybe we could make it work, but boy for $2,000 it would be hard to pass up on a Harbor Freight band saw rig. I see three issues with the flip saw: (1) It takes forever to initially get a flat surface. Perhaps that would be made up later with how quick it works? (2) Limited depth (3) In my experience, the more something moves, the more it tends to break
BTW: With a Wallenstein Log Trailer we would probably use an electric motor. I don't ever see us needing something portable.
I'll see him at the fair next week, Fryeburg that is. Besides your log trailer, did I mention that I really want a saw mill also?
Oh I know Mr. Thomas well. He lives 4 miles from me and my Uncle has one of his mills. I would buy one, but honestly, I have a bandsaw half built and it has a 24 foot carriage so I can saw some really long stuff, more than many mills. 24 feet is a nice length because it comes in handy for making trusses.
here's a couple of pictures of our most recent building project. the building is 48 X 42 ,including the rear shed area. it stands 19 feet at the peak without the cupola. All the materials were cut on our 52" round blade sawmill except plywood and the two structural beams that span the center. just finishing up the doors in the next couple of weeks. here's a video of the mill in operation.
What in the heck is that big black thing in the left corner (of your beautiful building ) with a huge looking flywheel and what could be 5? cylinders?
32 e14 fairbanks morse four cylinder diesel. 1938 vintage. Weights 24 tons. It will run again in 2017.
I was afraid to commit to that as a guess because of that flywheel? with the super size teeth on it Me and a few neighbors of mine sure would like to se it in action. I'm expecting pics in 2017
the super size teeth are actually the outside of the alternator. when it ran, it produced 200 kilowatts of 480 3 phase power to support the fire protection system in the City of New Britain
