Forum:

woodland

portable sawmill

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 17 years ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Here is a picture of my friend Andrew running my new sawmill.

andrew.jpg

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Posts: 92

posted 17 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Any info on the mill you could provide?
Haven't seen one like that.

Laughter is the best medicine.
http://www.lawntimes.com

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 17 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

This is a swing blade style mill from peterson. It is their "skillmill".

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Posts: 92

posted 17 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

paul wheaton wrote:
This is a swing blade style mill from peterson. It is their "skillmill".

Thanks.

Laughter is the best medicine.
http://www.lawntimes.com

Posts: 24

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I have a couple questions about this sawmill..

How deep does the blade cut down?

Can you put larger blades on it?

What hp is the engine?

Also a friend and myself are just about to buy a sawmill to work with in Washington because i have many friends with property that needs cleand up and we will be falling lots of trees and besides that my friends and i are general contractors and landscapers and i cant even count how many hundreds of large trees we have taken down and cut into rounds for firewood and given away free to get it out of the customers yards.

This is the sawmill we are probably going to buy http://www.hud-son.com/oscar36.htm but i have never seen this model and will look into it. But it does not look liek it can cut very nice wood besides maybe 8" beams or so witht he small blade?

www.myspace.com/lostchief

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

The one you are looking at is a bandsaw style mill.

Mine is a swing blade style.

This particular blade cuts only 4 inches deep. But you can cut a 4x8. And you can cut one beam per log that is larger than 4x8. I have left behind slabs that were 18 inches wide and two or three inches thick.

A bandsaw mill can cut in only one direction, and you have to get the log up on the rails.

With this mill, you can roll the log under the rails and work on it, or move the mill to be over the log.

It is designed for you to cut in both directions so that each pass produces a piece of lumber.

With a bandsaw mill, you need to roll your log repeatedly to get a cant, and then you start carving off pieces of lumber.

In the sawmill trials, this style of mill almost always wins for quality and speed.

The downside is that it is optimized for basic lumber sizes. If you want lots of big things from one log, this mill does not do that well.

But! This style of mill comes in bigger sizes with a much bigger blade.

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Posts: 24

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Yeah i can clearly see mine is a bandsaw mill. My questions werent what kind of saw i was looking into but on what kind of cuts your saw can make. I checked out thier website and can see how limited in ways your saw is. Its pretty much up to what kind of wood a person is trying to mill. I can get lots of trees that would be wasted if i could only cut 16" boards. I see they have the mill with the chainsaw stile blade that can cut wide logs like i can get so im going to do more research on that model..

Once i but a mill i will post on it.. Wont be for a month or two.

Peace

www.myspace.com/lostchief

Posts: 27

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

if we're talking about portable sawmills, i thought i would mention the fabulous "alaskan chainsaw mill" that is the ultimate in portability.

1) if ur not going to be cutting a massive amount of lumber it is the best bang for your buck.

2) take the mill to the log. u don't have to skid logs out to the mill. u mill where the tree falls. no damage to the forest floor to cause erosion. no damage to other trees as ur equipment or horse bang into them on the way out. can cut on VERY steep ground.

3) can cut boards of unlimited length

4) can cut MUCH wider logs than bandsaw. cutting width is about 8" less than the total bar length. my longest bar is 50" long and i can cut 42" live edged slabs. watch of nakashima!

5) very physical work; no need to go to the gym and pump iron. i see this as a plus, not everyone will i suppose.

disadvantages
1) loud and dirty/breath fumes
2) wide kerf, more wasted wood
3) uses lots of fuel and mix oil
4) much slower than other methods

if ur curious about how it works:

www.nicksportablesawmill.com

there are lots of you tubes of alaskan mills

Posts: 148

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Cool.

Matthew Fallon

Posts: 308

Location: long island, ny Z-7a

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

oooh,Nice rig Paul, !
how long does it take to set up?
looks pretty involved to get it all leveled & parallel to the log
then chop out a 2x4 at a time

here's a video of mine in action
http://www.vimeo.com/4231260
definitely in the "crappy video is better than no video" category.
note:the chain really needed sharpening by this point,see the dusty chips.
we had already cut about 10 slabs or so.going thru the bark and dirt too.
also ,i always have chainsaw chaps on now.this was old vid.

heres a shot of my alaskan on a 42" bar.
in the garage you can see a stack of slabs we made.

(source)

Baldwin Organic Garden Share Our home-based garden cooperative. Tribal Wind Arts Rustic Furniture & Artisan-Craftwork from reclaimed suburban trees

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

wow tribalwind where do i get one of those? the endless possibility's with that thing here makes me drool.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Matthew Fallon

Posts: 308

Location: long island, ny Z-7a

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

baileys is a good place. ive bought a bunch there..it's about $200
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=46778&productid=46778&channelid=FROOG

lots of guys make their own.its a really simple design.
i got mine cheap at harborfreight (dont think they stills ell it)

this guy here is selling his home-made ones it seems for 109..36" cut.
and other sizes.
http://cgi.ebay.com/36-panther-mill-chainsaw-mill-proudly-made-in-USA_W0QQitemZ160359595125QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item25562d3c75

on my (horrid) website you can see a few slab beds i made form wood i cut

www.tribalwind.com
heres more pics of milling

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v74/tribalwind/Craftwork/Milling/

Baldwin Organic Garden Share Our home-based garden cooperative. Tribal Wind Arts Rustic Furniture & Artisan-Craftwork from reclaimed suburban trees

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Set up time .... well, I would like to get a sort of trailer where it would be easier to take it off the trailer than my rig. If there was no time to take it off of the rig, I would guess that the set up time for the first log is about half an hour. Then rolling the next log in, or carrying the mill to the next log would be just a couple of minutes. Leveling the saw to the log might be another minute.

Then the cuts are really fast and the kerf is small.

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Mark Vander Meer

Posts: 75

posted 16 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I've been running a Swing-saw for 5 or 6 years. Mine is a Brand X sawmill. Google it, they have a website. I and crew have milled over 300,000 board feet with this mill. I can vouch for this mill.

We mill the by-products of our forest restoration work. So our logs tend to be somewhat low-quality. Still, we can produce enough to support 2-3 families. Check our our website: www.vanwild.com or www.badgoatgoodwood.com or www.watershedconsulting.com.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

And here you are Mark - with your mill!

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Posts: 271

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

That is Awesome! It looks so easy.
Someday........

Feral

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 59666

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I just checked some stats on the video and saw this

Honors for this video (6)
#89 - Most Viewed (Today)) - Science & Technology - Australia
#90 - Most Viewed (Today)) - Science & Technology - Canada
#94 - Most Viewed (Today)) - Science & Technology - New Zealand
#84 - Most Viewed (Today)) - Science & Technology - South Africa
#36 - Top Favorited (Today)) - Science & Technology
#94 - Top Rated (Today)) - Science & Technology

Wow!

you say "tin pot dictator" like it is a bad thing!

Brenda Groth

pollinator

Posts: 4437

Location: North Central Michigan

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

that's a humdinger..enjoy !

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I really enjoy the end of the video, where the owner talks about the business niche of designing buildings based on available logs, then making those designs happen.

Even people who don't know the term permaculture will likely see the elegance of this system. It warms my heart.

"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.

Fred Morgan

steward

Posts: 979

Location: Northern Zone, Costa Rica - 200 to 300 meters Tropical Humid Rainforest

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

As an owner of seven sawmills (yep, seven) I can tell you that the debates over which is better, is endless.

It really depends what you are planning on doing. Dimensional lumber works very well on a swing blade. Large planks, better with a band type. Alaskan is a good starter - we have a Stihl 090AV on ours which will give you a hernia just looking at it.

Swingblades are nice, I have used on before, a Peterson 10 inch. Made really nice wood from some very hard trees. But then again, I have cut up corteza with a bandmill with a bi-metal blade with great results.

Seingblades can handle bigger logs, generally speaking too.

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

To do a great right, do a little wrong - shakespeare. twisted little ad:

Our PIE page has been updated, anybody wanna test?

https://permies.com/t/369340/PIE-page-updated-wanna-test