This is one big heavy duty bandsaw mill

[Arlin Eastman]

The wheels look to weight 150lbs or more

[ajkoontz]

My dad was a timber buyer for a local sawmill until they closed about 15 years ago. I worked there many summers/ snow days as a kid growing up- OSHA and child labor laws not what they are today. That mill makes the one in the video look like a bench-top bandsaw compared to a Woodmizer. Not saying the mill in your video isn't impressive, because it is, but seeing a big production mill in action is pretty cool. The local mill blades were about 12" wide and had teeth on both sides so it would cut forward and backwards. It was electric powered and the motor was about the size of a Volkswagen bug. The sawyer cab was upstairs and the motor was in the basement so the mill was almost 2 stories tall. I hated every second I spent in that mill because it was hard dirty labor, but looking back now as a woodworker I can appreciate the awesomeness of a production sawmill.

I found a link to the video below, 99% similar to the one my dad used to work for.

Banks Sawmill

[Arlin Eastman]

Thanks for the link it as a good watch

[ajkoontz]

Thanks for the link it as a good watch

It's funny, I just found that video today looking for a visual to describe my old memories from my local sawmill but the mill in the video is eeriely similar to the one I worked at. I guess commercial hardwood sawmills aren't that different in the US, but still it exactly matched my memories of mid-80's working there. That green line off-bearing is no joke. I remember when my mill got a re-saw and how much it sped up production. They could cut red oak like butter and it was a never ending assembly line of boards you had to pull-off and sticker. I was a HS football player and off-bearing wet 4/4 16 foot oak in the middle of summer was worse than 2-a-days.