Any one have their own saw mill ?

[TnAndy]

Not a money saver ? Seriously ?

You see that rental house I built above ? $35/sqft in it. Cut all the framing, the trim wood, etc. I can make oak casing and base for a nickel a foot....or I can go buy fingerjointed pine for 50cents/ft.

See this pile of 2x8 floor joists ? (Which went IN that rental house above). There are 120 pieces in that stack. Two days work, including cutting the pine logs right next to where the mill is. ( I normally keep my mill down in a shed to work, but I had so many pines there, it was quicker to take the mill to the logs than to move the logs to the mill shed. Setup time is about 10 minutes on a move. )

A 2x8x14' at the local Big Box store are $11.99 (just checked). Add Tennessee sales tax of 9.75% to that ( yeah, our sales tax IS high, but we have no State income tax either ) and out-the-door price is $13.16 ( plus delivery or my time/fuel to go get them)

That pile is worth ( or will be when it dries about 6 months and gets used ) 120 x 13.16 = $1580

That ALONE ain't bad for 2 days work unless you're a doctor or some other highly paid professional. (I'm not)

BUT it gets better. To HAVE $1580 to spend on lumber, I have to go EARN about $2,000 before taxes to have 1580 leftover.

SO that pile is REALLY worth $2,000.

I would completely disagree that a small mill is not a money saver.

As for time, that is debatable. But for all the lumber I've used around my place, my guess is I've saved 100's of trips to town to buy lumber. And a lot of sawmill time is time I would have probably wasted doing crap like bass fishing, ATV riding ( local trail here is knee deep in them on weekends ), watching some fool professional sports twits beat a ball/puck/themselves around, or dozens of other money wasting hobbies.

Nothing like a hobby that makes you money to get one ahead.

 

[Sodo]

Not a money saver ? Seriously ?
<snip>
That pile is worth ( or will be when it dries about 6 months and gets used ) 120 x 13.16 = $1580
That ALONE ain't bad for 2 days work unless you're a doctor or some other highly paid professional. (I'm not)
BUT it gets better. To HAVE $1580 to spend on lumber, I have to go EARN about $2,000 before taxes to have 1580 leftover. SO that pile is REALLY worth $2,000.

I would completely disagree that a small mill is not a money saver.
Nothing like a hobby that makes you money to get one ahead.

Well Andy, you make some good points. Easy to forget the detail about buying taxed lumber with your after-tax dollars. That's a BIG percentage, at least 25% and more.

Furthermore that's one nice stack of wood, and nice clean work area. What I don't see is the waste, or the tractor you'll use to put that nice stack to the shed for drying. Or will you erect a shed there and move the mill?

You also have invested a lot of time into learning how to do this. And you have the place to dry the lumber, and the time to wait for it to cure. Furthermore have a use for the lumber you create. And possibly, you actually NEED the buildings you create. All good points but they don't fit all folks especially those who don't even have the sawmill yet.

And not using the time otherwise is a very important part. That I understand WELL, I'll screw off with the best of them.

Whenever I cut lumber its because I need that lumber in the next few days, and then the time invested in it, becomes clear that cutting my own boards cost maybe $3-5 per board foot, whereas the lumber store sells wood (cut by a computerized mill) for $1.00 per BF out the door, all I have to do is drive to town and load it up. ( that 2x8x14' in your example is 13BF for $13.16 ). Another problem I have is that I don't live near my sawmill.

But I've bought #2 doug fir for as little as $.33 per BF (in 2011) but it was a big stack; not one board. So cutting it myself might cost 10X as much. But my boards have have no ink stamping on them, and I like the rough cut.

It will probably take Steppenwolfe awhile to save money, depending on how he adapts to it. Certainly having a specific use for the lumber helps, but the delay drying it can be a problem.

I can edit to say: "A small bandsaw mill sawmill CAN be a money saver for some" who have trees, AND all the other support eqpt: Tractor, chainsaw, drying sheds, log washing station, debarkers, waste disposal location.

And on-going projects, time and experience, natural ability, and hobby interest.

 

[caver]

Baker HD 18 that I bought used from a guy in west TN. The Baker factory is about 20+ miles down the road from my place.

 

[TnAndy]

Furthermore that's one nice stack of wood, and nice clean work area. What I don't see is the waste, or the tractor you'll use to put that nice stack to the shed for drying. Or will you erect a shed there and move the mill?

On waste: The sawdust simply gets spread out right there in that pic. The slabs, limbs, tops got burned about where I was standing taking the photo. Typically, down at my shed where I normally saw and keep the mill, I have a big hole the slabs go in, and when I get enough, I burn them. Have a couple of neighbors that burn wood, and they will also come get quite a bit of the slab wood, except the white pine. Just not enough fuel value there to bother. The dust at the mill gets used as mulch around the place, or another neighbor comes for it for his horse barn. There actually is never enough dust.

As to the tractor.....sure, you need one to do this kind of work, but heck, this IS a Tractor forum, so I'm kinda assuming most folks here already have a tractor, and this milling thing is something auxiliary to that. Just like I'd assume most folks here already own a chainsaw, and so on.

That particular pile dried right there.....that's why it is stacked nice and on sticks. I use some scrap roofing metal to cover it, and pile some cinder blocks on it to hold it down, and just let it sit there until I'm ready to use it. I used to do it the same way down at the mill location, (see pic), but later build a couple of shed to hold it so I don't have to fool with the tin anymore.

You also have invested a lot of time into learning how to do this. And you have the place to dry the lumber, and the time to wait for it to cure. Furthermore have a use for the lumber you create. And possibly, you actually NEED the buildings you create. All good points but they don't fit all folks especially those who don't even have the sawmill yet.

The learning curve: I went to Indianapolis one day and picked up my mill (Woodmizer). They throw in one day of training.....half day on sharpening if you buy their sharpener (I did), and half day on using the mill. Brought it home, and sawed out the lumber to build the shed the mill now sits in....nailed it up dead green right off the saw.
The rest of the curve is simply: get out there and just do it.

Curing time IS an issue.....but I simply plan my work ahead. I bought the property for couple of the rental houses, for example, 10 years before I got around to building them....because it was a killer deal at the time. Then I sawed the lumber out, mainly because Southern pine beetle came thru and began to kill all our pines, about a year or so ahead. No, it's not instant use....you do have to plan your work, then work your plan.

Nowdays, I do keep quite a bit of stock hardwoods for projects in the shop I haven't even come up with yet. When I run across a prime log, I paint the ends, saw it, and put it on sticks in a shed for future use. Got walnut, ash, beech, oak and other stuff, probably 8=10,000bdft. I've got 8x10 white pine logs drying in a shed (for about 5 years) that I plan to build a small guest house on our place with....when I get around to it.

Some stuff I simply use fairly green. Fencing, for example. Built a bunch of fence around our gardens to keep the deer out, and fencing some other parts of the place. Was logging out white oak this week for that, and will saw 5/4 x6" lumber out of it, and put up nearly green. Spray paint the fence after it dries in place 6 months.

And for the most part ( OK....the gazebo was simply a fun project ), I do need and use the barns/sheds I build on the place. I would assume that if one is considering a mill, one does have a need for lumber.


Nothing is for everyone.....but I highly recommend a small mill as a great tool. I paid around 15k for mine new in 1991, and probably have spent another 5k on blades, fuel, etc. over the years. My (very) conservative guess is that investment, plus (yes) my time (hey, I was planning on living anyway ), has increased my net worth well over 500k.

As I tell my wife when I start a project: "Honey....it could have been a bass boat, you know"......

 

[woodlandfarms]

We have 40 acres but the previous owner logged a lot of it. Really sad as he did a hack job and it was illegal but meth is meth. Anyway, with 40 acres of trees I have yet to find one try I am willing to part with . I would love to mill and build sheds but my wife would string me high. She already strugles with all the alder I cut down (sort of a weed tree in the PNW).

 

[chopped]

Not sure if its been mentioned before here but there is a certain satisfaction and pride when you think or look at the wood being used and how you'made' it.. That cant be bought from a yard..

 

[Barry 1]

Here's my homemade sawmill,made out of a house trailer frame and scrap for about $500. Then I built a 28x26 shed over it.Then I built a 24x36 metal building,and the only lumber I bought were treated boards along the bottom.Takes alot of time when you do it all by yourself,but costs very little.

 

[treefarmerguy]

I bought a woodmiser LT15 a few years ago that was used and in very good shape. I have done some cutting and find very few things more enjoyable then felling, milling, and building with my own lumber. I'm retired and own a tree farm so I have plenty of trees and time.

However, if you plan to put up any structure that will be inhabited by humans, in Massachusetts, all the wood has to be certified by an engineer that it's safe to use! This is according to the local Building Inspector. Of course there are some folks who have been know to disregard the local building codes.

 

[caver]

We have 40 acres but the previous owner logged a lot of it.

Find an area logger and just buy the logs from him. Right now I just cut up diseased and storm damaged stuff. I'll eventually go the route of my neighbor since I hate to cut my own trees. I like trees and my place was probably logged about 20 years ago.

 

[Sodo]

Find an area logger and just buy the logs from him. Right now I just cut up diseased and storm damaged stuff. I'll eventually go the route of my neighbor since I hate to cut my own trees. I like trees and my place was probably logged about 20 years ago.

Pretty much the same here. Haven't had to cut more than a few live trees. I've got lots of dead or down doug fir "in-stock". Some are dry & in danger of rot, and there's more than I can burn. That's part of the reason I bought the sawmill, because I couldn't stand to let it rot.