I have a Wood-Mizer LT30 that I have had for about 12 years. Good little saw and good company support. The thing about small mills is they all will do a good job, but they have their limitations. The small mills will be slow on production sawing and are more labor intensive, you will have to position and turn the log manually. The larger mills are faster, have larger motors and log handling capabilities. On a small mill you will be doing good to cut 1000 board feet in a day and you will be tired when the day is done.
You can get by without an off loader (helper) but this will slow you down dramatically. A truck or trailer and a tractor with a loader will be very helpful. Green logs are heavy and beyond muscling so you will need cant hooks, winches, chains or steel cable to mention a few things.
If you skid your logs you will need to clean them before cutting. Skidding gets mud and stones in the bark and these will dull your blades very quickly. Cleaning the log is done by pressure washing or de barking the log. De barking can be done by hand with a bark spud, shovel or hand axe. I have a de barker that fits on the end of a chain saw, it is basically a jointer head driven by the saw chain. The newer, larger, Wood- Mizers have a de barker on the mill that cleans the log in front of the blade.
Cutting your own wood is satisfying, but hard work. When looking at mills look for company support and blade service. Will you sharpen yourself, if so, you have to buy the equipment to do so or you can go with a sharpening service. I would recomend one of the older established companies that will still be there 10 years down the road. Good luck!
