Anyone own a small portable sawmill? advice on buying one please

[Sawyer Rob]

What constitutes "Made in the USA?"

Norwood's "non china models", are like all the smaller tractors, "assembled in the USA", as long as someone from the USA buys it! lol

Truth is, most of the parts are made in Canada, with some from the US. BUT, pretty much all of the sawmill companys use parts from non US suppliers...

SR

 

[Oldpath05]

I narrowed the search, extra track can be added on.......

 

[ovrszd]

Nice!!!

 

[Jstpssng]

I've seen homemade bandsaws, but that's the first one I've seen made out of wood. Is that something which you made, OldPath?

 

[BrokenTrack]

I have built a few homemade sawmills, had a few bandsaw sawmills, and have an old rotary sawmill, so I know a few things about sawmills.

The best sawmills you can buy are Woodmizer, but they are expensive, however, like most things in life, you get what you pay for. Finding a used one at a good price might be possible though.

You want to stay away from chainsaw mills as they are just too slow. You will start a log today, and finish it tomorrow...they are that slow. And they take too much of a kerf. Goodness, a bandsaw mill means you lose a board to sawdust after cutting 15 boards, but with a chainsaw you lose one board to sawdust after just three boards. It is just too much waste for the slow speed that sawing lumber is.

You want to stay away from the Norwood brand of sawmills. They are a lesson in frustration. The frames are too weak and so when you set a big log down on the mill, it flexes and thus cuts banana boards because as the boards are removed from the log, the weight relaxes and the flex springs back. The head-rig is also located too close to the left track, and so you have to have really straight logs with no stubs or buttresses too the log. It also lacks the ability to cut on a taper. It really is a frustrating sawmill to work with all the way around, and I was glad when I watched mine leave behind another persons truck, but still felt sorry for the guy.

The real important part of a sawmill is how the log is secured. As some have said, hydraulics are the answer, but it is an expensive option. But some are just too frustrating, like the Norwood which is slow, inconvenient and has few adjustments.

I have heard great things about the Harbor Freight Sawmill, with the exception being the track. As cited in the paragraph above, this is important so I think the best bang for the buck spent, is to take the Harbor Freight Sawmill ($2000) and make it what it aint. My suggestion is to buy the plans for the Procut Sawmill, which is a company that sells plans to make a homemade chainsaw sawmill, but just build the track the plans show, as the chainsaw aspect is worthless. That would give you all the quality of the saw rig of the Harbor Freight sawmill, but put it on a 24 foot track with log holders and adjusters that rival even the Norwood Sawmill. If you are unable to fabricate, since you have plans to work from, you could just have a local metal shop build the track for you, and still be ahead. This would give you a sawmill that was quite capable, and be in the $3000 range.

 

[Jstpssng]

Another option if you want to build the track yourself is to just buy the head gear. The last time that I knew Hud-son would sell those.

I looked at a used Norwood last month, and if not for the experiences of some of the members here I wouldn't even consider one. It looked like it was made from garage door rails laminated together. For the price of that used mill though I could go right down past BrokenTrack and OldPath's towns, and buy a Thomas.

 

[kenmbz]

Ash are dying because of Emerald Ash Borers. They destroy parts of the tree at the bark level- they don't make small holes, you can see their damage between the bark and the outer part of the wood. Small holes are likely powder post beetle grubs which invade after the tree is dead. The must be eliminated by kiln drying or treatment (spraying) with a borate product prior to actually using the wood.

Ash borere make D shaped holes when they exit the tree to become adults. I have seen some adults in the cut up wood, but not many. They do not go into the wood.
in the dozen or so I have cut up, I have only seen 2-3 adults so far. They seem to leave in batches as they mature.

 

[Ken45101]

This is why there is no way I'd own a sawmill without a tractor and grapple.

Absolutely agree! But even after you have the log on the mill, the labor is exhausting.

Speaking of amazing, one of my barns is all hand hewn with mortice and tenon joints. One of the rafter beams is 12"x16"x 36 feet. I cannot envision the effort that went into that barn and raising that beam in the days before power equipment.

 

[Ken45101]

Ash are dying because of Emerald Ash Borers. They destroy parts of the tree at the bark level- they don't make small holes, you can see their damage between the bark and the outer part of the wood. Small holes are likely powder post beetle grubs which invade after the tree is dead. The must be eliminated by kiln drying or treatment (spraying) with a borate product prior to actually using the wood.

Oh, okay! I just assumed the small holes were EAB. Thanks for the heads up!

Ken

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have a Norwood sawmill, broken track didn't like his, but when you get into the details, you find out why.

It's just NOT true that the track is weak ect... It's a different design than the woodmizer he compares it to, so he's comparing apples to oranges! IF he was as knowlegable on BSM's as he says, he would have figured this out and realized he made a mistake by buying the wrong mill for the intended job.

Compare Norwood's mill to a woodmizer of the SAME price catagory and you will find out the Norwood is just as good and in most cases stronger and better designed. Then there's the problem of woodmizers quality control having went south, although they "may" have got that under control now?

There are a number of well made BSM's made today, mizer is no longer the leader and hasn't been in a long time.

SR