# Simple sawmill setup



## agmantoo

Previous I viewed some interest here on small bandsaw mills and I came by this today. I "borrowed" this pic as I think the person has done a neat task of setting up his mill. Notice he has a small hoist to log his logs.


----------



## Country Doc

I like that. Simple, shaded, works.


----------



## Ramblin Wreck

I wonder where the sawdust goes on this model. Maybe the chute takes it over the half/knee wall?


----------



## AnnieinBC

Since it is too HOT out, I thought I would come in and I found this thread I think I can add to. I grew up on the west coast of BC and was involved with logging for several years. Since moving to the Cariboo I did find a need for my big old Husky. 
This is my sawmill set up, it doesn't get much simpler and cheaper. I modified my old alasken sawmill toadd the v-wheels, bought two pieces of angle iron and stuck it on my car trailer. The end result is smooth, straight boards.


----------



## fordy

............fluidp , very simple and mobile setup . I'm curious , how many passes can you make with your chainsaw before having to change blades ? With enough blades and time you could cut the necessary lumber for a nice cabin with your simple setup . Also , do you push the chainsaw to cut each board and leave the log stationary ? Maybe a dumb question but I've never done any "sawing" . , thanks , fordy


----------



## AnnieinBC

You could very easily mill enough lumber for a small cabin or what ever you want to build. Yes I push the saw through the log. You need to keep one hand on the throttle and with a properly sharpened chain you can ripp through a lot of lumber in a day. It will take a bit to get used to the setup and every one is a bit different. If you are cutting clean wood you can cut maybe 2000 linial feet of boards. It would be easy to make a few changes to the setup I have to make it easier to use, but I am happy with what I have for now.


----------



## beowoulf90

Nice setup fluidp,

I might have to try that....Looks like an easy set up to build, or at least easy enough for those mechanically challenged.


----------



## longshot38

nice setup fluidp. heres a link to plans for making the Alaska Mill, someone could add the legs, wheels, and angle iron tracks. and there you go.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tresl39.html

dean


----------



## Blu3duk

I run a portable mobile dimension sawmill that my dad and I bought 21 years ago, and we have put a couple bdft through it over those years..... a circle mill that is about as easy to use as there is, can be broke apart and packed anywhere in the world on mules [or i spect by hand] I have never had the pleasure of a roof over it, soive shoveled snow from bothe the mill and lumber piles, cut in weather of 3 below zero [call me stubborn but i still put in a day of it] and in weather over 100 degrees F [ok call me foolish but i had an order to get out] this year when it got hot I decided to only run a part of the day, so i got up and ran from 4 am to about 9 am when it got around 85-90F out..... that old Volkswagen just gets to hot to run much above that.... and I just cant seem to take the heat anymore.....

For those folks who want vriety and simplicity I found an outfit up in BC that makes what i think might be pretty nice milling machines for the light commercial outfit like myself and the medium commercial as well. D and L double cut their twin mill is similar to the Oregon made Mobile Manufacturing mill I run, though I believe that Dave and Lindsay get a few dollars more for their mills of comparable size...... and of course they have a couple of their mills like the eco mill that can be packed in and set right on a log in the middle of nowhere too...... I never have cared that much for band mills like the original post started with, but shoot I may end up with one in the next few weeks to run if only for awhile to do some resawing of timbers with that have been salvaged out of old timber frame buildings [ a friend gave me a shout today about a 50 mbdft order and something about a 30-45 day window to do it in... but no firm price today]

and anyone wanting to check out available used millls across the the several states and provinces can do so on the Sawmill Exchange 

William
Central Idaho


----------



## fordson major

nice looking mill setup agman, too often you see these set up in the open with no way of sawing in the rain (our only spare time it seems!) i like the band mills for small boards where a circ or chainsaw mill takes a chunk of lumber outa the log as sawdust, they are great for squaring where the waste is slab but not nice seeing good maple, walnut or cherry lying in a dust pile!
fluidp that is a very nice log hoist ya got!! mill set up looks good to, any problem with the oiler feed? we have a large hydraulic powered saw that we are looking too use as a mill/fire wood blocker, way too massive to haul through the bush!


----------



## AnnieinBC

Ford major, The saw in the pics has a bum manual oiler, so I give the chain a squirt every cut, my other huskythat I normally use has a good manual oiler.

Blu3duk, The D & L Double Cut link you added, they are located about 40 miles from where I live, The put out a very nice mill, but you will pay for it.


----------



## Blu3duk

fluidp said:


> ....
> Blu3duk, The D & L Double Cut link you added, they are located about 40 miles from where I live, The put out a very nice mill, but you will pay for it.


I am about 300 miles give or take from the border and was gonna go up that way last fall and check the units out first hand, but have been busy until a month ago with a lawsuit.... and I am not going to expand this fall [unless I a get another chance at a huge timber frame contract and am still able to get the logs for it] so until next year I spose and then i understand I might have to provide a passport..... and I have a personal problem with the part about seeking permission and having to tell the state department I am a federal subject and not that the federal government is the servant..... but that is just me..... I suppose I should just write up my own like some other folks have done and keep on traveling with my own papers..... and take it to international court if I have to.

Have you went and talked to dave and Lindsay? Ive only talked on the phone with them a little bit and they sent me theirr first DVD project......

William


----------



## MELOC

do you have a rip cut blade on that chainsaw, or are the teeth filed square? i have seen chain for specifically for milling.


----------



## michiganfarmer

Ramblin Wreck said:


> I wonder where the sawdust goes on this model. Maybe the chute takes it over the half/knee wall?


I wonder how he gets those logs that look like they weigh 700 pounds up on the mill. I dont see a tractor, or a hoist, or even a timberjack


----------



## Ramblin Wreck

michiganfarmer said:


> I wonder how he gets those logs that look like they weigh 700 pounds up on the mill. I dont see a tractor, or a hoist, or even a timberjack


I do see some skid ramps and a chain hoist. If you have enough "gumption", you could manhandle logs into place with some cant hooks...but I'd stand to the side in case of a slip!


----------



## Ozarka

A consideration that the chain saw mill crowd doesn't seem to get is the incredible inefficiency of wasting 3/8" or more of prime lumber in each pass. By the time you have milled 10 logs into lumber you have wasted 20-25 percent of your wood, mill enough lumber for a house and you have to throw away enough sawdust to have built a garage...I'll vote for an .060" kerf, instead of .375"

A tip I discovered with my WoodMizer is to arrainge the mill so as to have the prevailing breeze blow the sawdust away from where the operator works, not the other way around so that you are constantly breathing the sometimes toxic dust (as in black walnut) and cleaning your eyes.


----------



## AnnieinBC

MELOC said:


> do you have a rip cut blade on that chainsaw, or are the teeth filed square? i have seen chain for specifically for milling.


As far as the chain I use, it is a chisel tooth, skip tooth that I sharpen straight accross, . I take the rakers down so I have about 0.025" cut. It ripps through boards pretty good.

As to the amount of wood I am wasting?? YES I am wasting alot with the chainsaw. First I have to consider my supply of logs, keep in mind this is for my own personal use and maybe a neibour or two, But if I don't cut them into lumber they will get burned for firewood or burned in the huge slash piles after logging. I am not sure if most of the users of this site are familiar with the Mountain Pine Beetle that is killing all our pine trees in centeral BC, Canada??. There is more wood around for the taking than you can imagine. Big logging companies leave a good part of it behind and burn it. So us back yard sawmillers have to get out there and get it. If you look at the boards that I posted, ypu will see a Blue stain on the outer edge of the board. That is what the Pine beetle does to the tree. Its CHEAP lumber.

The second thing to consider is the investment I have in my mill. I have two husky 2100's that I have had since new and they run great. I bought a new 36" bar and a chain, $150. I bought 2 leaghts of 2" angle iron, $100. I allready had the trailer!!! If you aren't in a hurry and don't mind a bit of work, hey why not??

Happy Milling


----------



## MELOC

whatever get's the job done...and to each his own. i wish to have a bandsaw mill, but if i needed lumber asap and had the stuff to chainsaw mill with, i would certainly do it.

just out of curiosity and since this thread draws the milling crowd...when i was pricing bandsaw mills, the catalog listed replacement blades for about $20. they also sold a tool to sharpen those blades for well over $100. ummm...i think i would just pop in a new blade. what do you all think?


----------



## Madroaster

MELOC said:


> just out of curiosity and since this thread draws the milling crowd...when i was pricing bandsaw mills, the catalog listed replacement blades for about $20. they also sold a tool to sharpen those blades for well over $100. ummm...i think i would just pop in a new blade. what do you all think?


The sawyers will chime in here with real world experience, but quality blades cost much more than 20 bucks. As well, a blade can be sharpened a few times before being too worn down. Doesn't take long to see the value in a sharpening system.


----------



## MELOC

i am sure there is a world of difference in blades. i am pretty sure this catalog only offered one type though. i honestly cannot remember which manufacturer it was, but it was a popular manufacturer of bandsaw mills. considering the time it would take to sharpen an old band blade, and if i had a mill...which i don't, i think that considering the cost of the sharpening system i would still opt for the new blade if $20 blades were all i had access to. i forget the specific price of the system offered, but it was somewhere between 5 and 10 new blades, lol.


----------



## wdchuck

If the OP sawmill is who's I think, then to the right and out of the picture is a bit of a hill, the logs are rolled down to the mill, then the hoist is used to power a parbuckle to help get the log onto the mill rails. If you look closely, on the left side of the mill, under the carriage, there are steps to a deck for walking along side the mill. Sawdust is just shoveled up. 

This link will give you a whole winters worth of reading and pictures. Some great ideas for oilers at the end of a bar for chainsaw millers.

http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62


I run a Stihl 075 42" bar, with milling chain, and 44" GB mill, and while their is more sawdust on the ground at the end of the day, the equipment required to get the logs to a big bandsaw are economically prohibitive for me. A Ripsaw setup may be in the very distant future.

For now, I'm content with what my setup produces:


----------



## MELOC

seeing grain like that makes me want to go in debt for a bandsaw mill right now, lol.


----------



## Blu3duk

Wdchuck

nice wood, looks like some of our western red cedar ive cut out here in Idaho.... Ive kicked around the idea of getting a slabber mill for bookmatched sawing of large and unique shaped logs since i was reading about the fella back east who got over $100,000.00 for a pair of 400 year old oak 10/4 bookmatched..... and he started out 30 years ago using crosscut saws to slab with.

as far as bandmill blades go, many of the folks who I know run the Timber wolf blades although many of the fellas buy direct from the factory which sold them the machine if they are part time sawyers buying one or two blades at a time. 20 years ago the blades were cheap like $10 each, buy 4 in a box at a time and you could toss them, but now they tend to run between $25 and $50 each in lots of 10 [depends on the size and the kerf and the type of tip on the blades] and some are even higher.... it all depends on the type of wood being sawn.... oaks and other hardwoods saw fast and easy, the western soft woods cut slower and dull the blades faster making resharpening necessary to stay profitable..... I watched one fella who had owned his woodmizer for several years replace a blade every 3rd log cutting a single 6x6 from grand fir [hem-fir on the market place] and every 2nd log on the douglas fir [aka red fir] and the pine we wer sawing in the same yard...... I was changing teeth in my circle mill about every 1000 bdft or after about 30-40 4x6's and maybe 4-5 bigger logs..... same log pile, just the difference in saw mills, I was cutting about 500 feet per hour and he was cutting a little over a 100 on average, no race just the difference in sawmills in the same specie of logs.

kerf does not mean much if all a person is saving is a 1x4 that is not salable, and while I have 5/16 inch main saw teeth I primarily cut plank and beams and timbers, one of the reasons I am willing to look into a resaw for the higher dollar woods now......for cutting 1x12 weatern white pine, or western red cedar..... there are still a few large logs around 5-8 feet in diameter I would love to sink my sawteeth into around here and cut for an hour or two on and saw large cants out of.

William
Central Idaho


----------



## Rockin'B

Fluidp,,

Great set up for your Alaska mill. Thanks for posting those pics.

I have a 36" AM that I run a Husky 575 on. I have to go slow on the big oaks, but with patience it will do the job. I use the auxiliary oiler on the bar tip to help keep it wet. Works well.
I'm in the process of slabbing some big red oak and Burr oak for siding material. It does take time.

The forums at Arborist Site are responsible for my owning one. It's a sickness......


----------



## wdchuck

The log pictured is red oak, milled with a GB chainsaw attachment , I've found that milling specific chain gives me a very smooth finish, once the wood is dry it should only require one pass through the planer. 

I'll be milling this Labor Day weekend, I'll post a pic of the saw/mill in action.

From just cutting firewood for heat, ArboristSite really added to how I value a log/tree now, I see it through more open eyes and when I ask a landowner for access to trees for firewood and tell them a portion of the trunks will be milled for lumber on site, they offer up some nice trees in addition to the dead stuff. I make something out of the milled wood from their property for them in appreciation for access, it really cements a good relationship from then on. 

It is an addiction, the saws, the milling, the great wood that comes out of a log, and the calories burned are another side benefit.


----------



## WayneR

Remember a fellow in Countryside magazine several years ago from KY who built a bandsaw mill from scrap. A bandsaw would be much better as it cuts a narrower kerf - less waste (sawdust)

He used wheels,axles and tires (partially inflated) from a junk car as the blade holder. A 10-15HP IC engine to supply power. Homemade blade guides,etc. He had an address where you could buy a set of his plans.

Might be a good winter project, even without the plans :baby04: 

What about using a jacked up truck and taking off one of the tires. A temporary PTO arrangement to supply power to the saw (variable speed :dance: )- MHMMM


----------



## Durandal

Here is my mill...all the telephone poles to make the overhead cover were free. I am currently working on building a different building at a different location to separate my horse operation and my other non-horse related stuff.










Here is the mill hauled out to one of our fields to cut some green boards for horse stalls.










Some finished product...




























I just cut some really nice rustic maple (pretty much silver maple with color caused by powder post beetle) and some really nice spalted white ash.


----------

