Logs to Lumber

[jteneyck]

Those of you who have been around here a few years might remember that I have been using a chainsaw to mill some of my lumber.  Over the past 15 years or so I've milled 4 or 5,000 BF of all kinds of local hardwoods.



The quality of the lumber is as good as you can get any other way but it's slow going with a chainsaw, even a fairly large one like I have.   I have wanted bandsaw lumber mill for quite some time but could never justify the cost.  I still can't exactly justify the cost but I decided to buy one anyway.  After looking for at several months for a used one and finding none of the size range I was interested in available I ultimately did something I rarely do and bought new.  

Like most machines you can drive yourself nuts researching all the companies who make portable bandsaw lumber mills, the size of machines they make, the options and attachments that go with them, and on and on.  I finally choose a Woodland Mills HM-130 and trailer package because it met my criteria for size and features, and not least of which because it was substantially cheaper than any competitive option.  The big caveat, however, is that Woodland sells their products as a kit, so there definitely is "some assembly required".  As you will see, that is a bit of an understatement.


Woodland Mills is a Canadian company.  Turns out their US distribution center is in Buffalo, NY, about 20 miles from my house.  By picking up the mill and trailer myself I saved the standard $4 or $500 shipping charge.   I ordered the mill on Monday, picked it up on Tuesday.  



After I got it all unpacked there were indeed just a few parts to assemble.  Here is the trailer package, which was by far the more involved to assemble:





I'll not bore you with all the assembly details, but will say that Woodlands manuals are very well written and easy to follow, and putting everything together was not difficult even working alone as I did for almost all of it.  Here is the assembled sawhead and carriage.




And the trailer.



The sawhead/carriage weighs around 700 lbs so, without a high lift option, I built a gantry crane to lift it up so we could back the trailer underneath.





After the two were mated I finished adding the remaining components on the sawhead and then could hardly wait to try it out.  I bought the log loader ramps and winch system accessory package to go with the mill.  Loading logs is an easy one man operation.



The mill has a 14 HP Kohler motor.  While I had hoped a larger motor could be chosen as an option, it can't, but the stock motor seems more than adequate after cutting two 22 - 24" walnut logs.  12" wide cuts through an 8.5' long cant took just 30 seconds, cut after cut.  



Cut quality is as good as what I get off my shop bandsaw unless I'm using a carbide blade.  





Woodland Mills was great to work with.  Real Canadians on the phone, very helpful both with the purchase process to tech. support by email with a couple of questions I had.  The quality of the mill and trailer looks to be very good; extremely heavy duty components, laser cut for high accuracy, powder coated or galvanized.  I'm looking forward to many years of fun cutting lumber, and a lot more efficiently and with less work than my chainsaw mill.  

If you live near Lewiston, NY and have logs you would like cut into lumber feel free to contact me.  The mill is completely portable and street legal.  It can take a log up to 30" in diameter x 10' long, with a max. cut width of 22".  

John

[barryvabeach]

John,  thanks for the post and the photos.   I have no plans to buy a mill, but still found the post very informative.  That looks like one sweet machine.

[Stwood_]

Good luck with your choice of mill.
What width, thickness, and tooth spacing are the blades?
Do you have blade choices from the manufacturer?

[petertay15]

Happy for you, John. I enjoy stopping by our local mill just to watch logs being turned into boards. Plus, he has a kiln, so a log I took to him was returned as dried board’s in just a few weeks. Half my joy in woodworking is saying, “Made it from my own wood, a walnut I cut in our pasture.”

[jteneyck]

Good luck with your choice of mill.
What width, thickness, and tooth spacing are the blades?
Do you have blade choices from the manufacturer?

The blades sold by Woodland are Lennox 144" x 1-1/4 x 0.042" x 7/8 tooth spacing (1.1 tpi).  I'm not sure what angle they are, but most likely 10°.  They are the only blade offered through Woodland, but of course I could buy blades elsewhere.  Woodland's price worked out to $22.50 each for a box of 10 blades which isn't bad.  I could buy what likely is the same blade through Bandsawbladesdirect.com for $22.08 each for 10 blades.  We'll see how long 10 blades last.  Hopefully, I won't trash too many hitting nails and will be able to resharpen them at least 3 or 4 times each.   

In that regard, if anyone has a genuine bandsaw blade sharpener they want to sell I'm interested.  

John

[jteneyck]

Happy for you, John. I enjoy stopping by our local mill just to watch logs being turned into boards. Plus, he has a kiln, so a log I took to him was returned as dried board’s in just a few weeks. Half my joy in woodworking is saying, “Made it from my own wood, a walnut I cut in our pasture.”

Thanks Peter.  I'm working out my plans to build a solar kiln this Summer.  It'll be able to dry somewhere around 1000 bf per load. 


John

[Stwood_]

The blades sold by Woodland are Lennox 144" x 1-1/4 x 0.042" x 7/8 tooth spacing (1.1 tpi).  I'm not sure what angle they are, but most likely 10°.  They are the only blade offered through Woodland, but of course I could buy blades elsewhere.  Woodland's price worked out to $22.50 each for a box of 10 blades which isn't bad.  I could buy what likely is the same blade through Bandsawbladesdirect.com for $22.08 each for 10 blades.  We'll see how long 10 blades last.  Hopefully, I won't trash too many hitting nails and will be able to resharpen them at least 3 or 4 times each.   

In that regard, if anyone has a genuine bandsaw blade sharpener they want to sell I'm interested.  

John

Width, thickness, and tooth spacing is the same as on the blades I used on my woodmizer.
Woodmizer actually developed that style. I loved that blade. I could sharpen about 6 times before fatigue set in, and they cracked/broke.

[stav]

Very cool. It would be neat to take the wood from log to furniture.

[R Clark]

Very cool, John.

Even with the hand-winch, is it quite a workout to handle those logs?

[jasfrank]

Thats sure a nice looking mill John. Sure to bring you tons of enjoyment!