having big trouble narrowing down brands of portable mills

[Skywalker]

there must be 50 makers of portable mills that i have found in just a short search. i have narrowed it down to Baker, EZ, cooks, american bandsaws, anyone im forgetting im in the 8000.00 range thanks, i guess they all cut wood

 

[thechknhwk]

Norwood... buy used.

 

[gemniii]

Thomas 8020 Bandsaw Mill

heres the mill im getting, around 8700.00 shipped and heres a pic of the new shop where the magic will happen

What happened to that?

 

[Skywalker]

i started looking further and am not sold on that unit as of yet, it is the priciest of all ive looked at and unproven

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Here's another vote for buying a used Norwood LM2000. EXCELLENT manual mill!

Rob

 

[scor440]

Sawmill Brand

Meant Turner for ease of use and price.[video=youtube;IZpzvjTBHhY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZpzvjTBHhY[/video]

 

[mikeb1079]

when i was looking at manual bandsaw mills i found both excellent pricing and reviews of the ez boardwalk sawmills. seemed like alot of bang for the buck.

there's also woodmizer, timberking, linn lumber, etc, etc....

 

[gemniii]

when i was looking at manual bandsaw mills i found both excellent pricing and reviews of the ez boardwalk sawmills. seemed like alot of bang for the buck.

there's also woodmizer, timberking, linn lumber, etc, etc....

I'd been looking at mills since I joined this forum, getting literature, reading other users experiences, and finally even visiting demos, and buying a mill.

Most of the mills are priced pretty similar for what you are getting for materials. And most of them have some form of support.

When I first started looking:
(1) ALL my trees were small (acreage had been clearcut 30 yrs ago)
(2) I wanted to be able to transport it easily on my little 23hp tractor
(3) I was only going to be using it for building small sheds etc.
(4) An Alaskan Mark III just wouldn't do the volume
(5) I always want the best perceived bang for the buck
(6) I'm new, and will need some support
(7) I was trying to keep the $$ well under $5K, preferably under $3K (about what a new 880 w/ a 48" Mark III and all accessories - Long bar, extra chains etc.)

Well life happens, #1 changed (got some bigger trees), (2) is still good (3) now I also need a LOT of shelving and and wood to build cabinets, (4) thru (7) stayed the same.

Initially I focused on a BSM sold by Harbor Freight for as low as $1,600. But by the time I determined it was a rebadged Hud-Son Oscar 18 HF went to another mfg.

But in my search for under $5K mills I have determined the following:
Hud-Son is extremely portable because the lower end models are lightly built. Support seems pretty good in the Northeast.
Norwood, very good once built right (it's a do-it-yourself kit). Lot's of threads on here. They recently increased the price about a year ago when they introduced their new models. Good support.
Timberking is very good, even the low end has a 4 post head, but it's heavy. Good support network.
E-Z boardwalk EXCELLENT mills, they don't make many, are Amish based (a good thing), but of course support is limited because they are so small.
and
Woodmizer, good mills, WIDESPREAD support network.

I ended up going w/ a Woodmizer LT10,

 

[Skywalker]

its between EZ boardwalk and American Band saw, the latter named is closer to me, still have to make a decision

 

[locdogg]

its between EZ boardwalk and American Band saw, the latter named is closer to me, still have to make a decision

EZ boardwalk are nice mills, i just bought a used one.

 

[Tim L]

I have a Turner and like it. Customer service is excellent and they furnish you with all belt and bearing numbers so you can buy what you need local. It cuts very well, I have the trailer model with a 24 hp honda.

 

[wej52]

Here is another vote for the Turner. I have had one for 10 years and sawn many 1000's of feet for use on our farm and for others. Simple, basic. easy to maintain. I work solo so I am not conserned with high volume production. I tend to saw trees that have died and salvage the the best part of the trunk. The rest is used for firewood. W Jones

 

[Tim L]

This is my neighbors farm stand.It started with a pencil drawing and transformed into a cut list. We are kind of proud of this.

 

[Tim L]

Heres the actual saw.

 

[Tim L]

We cut everything but the under cross beam, one of which is on the front porch. We sawed in the winter and ran out of space on our trailer.So the local mill sawed the under beams that spanned the piers on a circular mill.All else was done on the Turner including the hardwood floors inside.I almost forgot, PT on the exposed porch boards.Hemlock beams and rafters, pine boards elsewhere.

 

[porta mill]

if you are still looking you might want to give hudson a look . I have one it is all manual but they have mills with all the bells and whistles. here are a few pic's I do not know why but I am unable to upload video. Hudson is located in NY . good with what ever you buy.

 

[chaikwa]

I'm VERY happy with my Linn mill, but I built it myself. Very clear and concise plans and support second to none. The few questions I DID have were answered with one phone call.

I've had my mill together for 3 years now and have replaced nothing until this week. Had a bearing go bad in one of the blade guide rollers. Called Gary to find out if I needed to buy a whole roller or if the bearing could be replaced and if so, what was the part number. He sent me 4 bearings at no charge and emailed me the procedure to replace them.

Even his completed mills seem to be in the 'very affordable' price range and all parts and prices are listed right on his website.

 

[TraditionalTool]

I'm VERY happy with my Linn mill, but I built it myself. Very clear and concise plans and support second to none. The few questions I DID have were answered with one phone call.

I've had my mill together for 3 years now and have replaced nothing until this week. Had a bearing go bad in one of the blade guide rollers. Called Gary to find out if I needed to buy a whole roller or if the bearing could be replaced and if so, what was the part number. He sent me 4 bearings at no charge and emailed me the procedure to replace them.

Even his completed mills seem to be in the 'very affordable' price range and all parts and prices are listed right on his website.

I agree. In fact if you compare some of the features on the Linn to some of the other mills, Linn has a few really nice features. As an example, the blade tensioner looks pretty sweet and much better than I have on my LumberMate 2000. Most everything about the carriage is superior to most other mills, when you start looking close at them.

The one area I have always felt they were a bit weak is in the bed, but to give them credit, it seems easy to fabricate your own with Gary's plans.

Gary was helpful to me, even though I don't have one of his mills, and offered to help me fabricate some dogs for my mill that would use springs like the dogs he sells. I need to re-think my log dogs and/or clamping, as I have a custom bed and not happy with how the previous owner fabricated them. I've come to the conclusion that I am best off buying a trailer, and bolting angle iron to the bed, so that I could trailer my sawmill around, most any trailer is built much better than the trailer options on most mills, and you can carry more lumber that you mill up when returning home.

For folks thinking about building their own mill, Linn is a great option as they have most all the pieces cut and/or welded, depends on what you want. Linn is one of the most flexible in that sense, you can buy the parts, you can buy a partial carriage and finish it, or you can even buy a complete carriage.

 

[chaikwa]

The one area I have always felt they were a bit weak is in the bed, but to give them credit, it seems easy to fabricate your own with Gary's plans.

I built my bed as a copy of a Baker, so I have no experience with Linn's. But I agree; it looks like it could be a little more robust. Linn's bed IS made to bolt together in sections tho, so it can be added to easily. I suppose it would be a rugged bed if you mounted it on a trailer frame.

 

[TraditionalTool]

I built my bed as a copy of a Baker, so I have no experience with Linn's. But I agree; it looks like it could be a little more robust. Linn's bed IS made to bolt together in sections tho, so it can be added to easily. I suppose it would be a rugged bed if you mounted it on a trailer frame.

Tell me, what did you do for log dogs and/or vertical posts ????

I was thinking of doing something similar to how Linn uses the chain with springs and u-channel over the cross member, and I have 3" wide cross members. It looks easy to pull and cinch it up quickly.

I was wanting to find some cam type log dogs, but don't see any that would work without modifications. WoodMizer has some they will sell, but it would take something to get them operating on my mill.

I may end up just cutting some off center rounds on a pipe, which is common. As you rotate them the offset clamps the log.