Want to buy a sawmill - Talk me out of it!

[HawkinsHollow]

I have a couple of big projects coming up, 2 shed builds and a sizable addition on our house plus a few other projects I would like to do down the line. My wife wants a lot of wood accent in our house addition and I want to add a "timber frame" covered deck off the back once we are done with the addition. I am VERY tempted to pull the trigger on a sawmill to mill a lot of this lumber myself. I am leaning towards a Woodland Mill HM126 at about $4200 shipped with a bed extension. Seems like it could pay for itself in short order.

Yes I understand a manual mill is not fast and it is LOTS of work. But I have the space, I have the trees, I have a tractor, I have the money, I am only 49 and in good shape. Honestly, the only thing I DON'T have is tons of free time. But the way I look at it is if I set this mill up well I can go over there and saw a log or 3 per week, blow off some steam and have some nice lumber for my projects.

I have wanted a mill for a long time. I have a friend with a nice Woodmizer hydraulic mill about a mile down the road from me but we can never seem to make time to mill my wood, so I have pretty much given up on that. Which is why I want my own mill so I can just do it for myself.

The way I look at it is if I do not use it enough or I run out of projects to use it on I sell it for a small loss, but still come out ahead in the long run. This is something I have always wanted to try seems like now might be the time.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Go for it.

 

[Eagle1]

QUIT trying talking me into one.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

QUIT trying talking me into one.

You guys are no help. Half the time I post on here someone always tells me it is an AWFUL idea. Where are those guys at when you need them?

 

[Eagle1]

You guys are no help. Half the time I post on here someone always tells me it is an AWFUL idea. Where are those guys at when you need them?

I was just talking with my wife about getting one, just no money right now. Have other priorities first.

 

[txbonds]

If you have a use for one, and have the funds, go for it.

We haven’t used ours as much as we planned yet, but will be doing so more this coming year. We did add a 7’ extension since this first picture.

I’ve so far milled some oaks and some wild cherry.

And, I’ve used the oak to build some wood working projects like this. It’s only air dried and then we heat treat in a metal cargo container that uses a fan for air circulation and humidity control. Not exactly the most scientific approach but it gets the wood temp up in an attempt to kill any bugs. Whenever we start milling up some pine I’ll need to supplement the heat to get the pitch set in the pine though.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Do it.........you got the rest needed. It will be a good ability to have in self sufficency with lumber. Yeah, I know.....I'm not helping LOL

 

[MattB4]

I had a Hudson mill for several years and it was worthwhile both as a hobby and for my own lumber needs. I sold it once I pretty much ran out of projects. I have since than had to hold myself back from buying another one. The Woodland mills are awful tempting. Lots of features that other mills lack at the price.

Make sure you get extension rails, blade sharpener, and the adjustable blade guide. Although you can buy your blades from them I found that blades from Cook's Saw were a better deal.

 

[Minsid]

You are planning to use this for a home addition, how do you plan on drying and curing the wood or boards? Green wood shrinks alot and may be infested. My father had a mill and used it a ton. Much of the pine he built with has beetles and the oak paneling shrank leaving nasty gaps.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

You guys are no help. Half the time I post on here someone always tells me it is an AWFUL idea. Where are those guys at when you need them?

I would love to have one.