A.O.
ArboristSite Lurker
Ok, a little background...
I'm a reasonably young 62 in decent health. Have wanted a sawmill most of my adult life but either didn't have the money, or the trees, or something.
Now, we have 100 acres we bought about 3 years ago in South Carolina, a lot of it was set up as a pine tree plantation, mostly Loblolly pine, straight trunks with few low branches.. a lot in the 6-8 diameter with lots in the 12-20 inch diameter and a few larger.. so now I have the trees.
I have a Kubota 37hp 4x4 tractor with a loader with a bucket and a grapple, so I have a way to move and load logs. (hoping they aren't too heavy, not tried it out yet moving logs) I plan to drop a tree or two prior to actually buying a sawmill to make sure the tractor and I am up to the task!
I've 3 chainsaws, 1 Echo arborist , and 2 larger Stihls. Been cutting trees for firewood most of my life so I know my way around a chainsaw pretty well.
Also have a 20 foot trailer with a 12000 lb winch
So I'm thinking NOW might finally be the time, but with all that stuff I listed above.. I don't have a lot of money! ;-).
I'm looking for a small personal use sawmill, but which one. I have up to maybe $2500 to spend..
Looked at the Harbor freight one, but I think it scares me. So right now I'm stuck between a Hudson "Sawyer" model at $2195, and a Woodland mills HM122 at the same $2195 plus $299 shipping so basically $2500. Also looking/dreaming about the Woodland mills HM126... but its $2999 + $345 shipping so its a stretch... a BIG stretch!
Between the last two, I could get the HM122 plus, a 5 pack of sawblades and a bed extension to mill 16 foot logs for about $300 cheaper than the HM126 so I'm a little torn there too. The 126 is bigger, heavier, with a lot of good looking options and a bigger motor..
So what do you guys think?? or is there something out there in my price range I'm missing? Wish I could find a decent one used.. but nobody has the little ones for sale..
Thanks...
I'm a reasonably young 62 in decent health. Have wanted a sawmill most of my adult life but either didn't have the money, or the trees, or something.
Now, we have 100 acres we bought about 3 years ago in South Carolina, a lot of it was set up as a pine tree plantation, mostly Loblolly pine, straight trunks with few low branches.. a lot in the 6-8 diameter with lots in the 12-20 inch diameter and a few larger.. so now I have the trees.
I have a Kubota 37hp 4x4 tractor with a loader with a bucket and a grapple, so I have a way to move and load logs. (hoping they aren't too heavy, not tried it out yet moving logs) I plan to drop a tree or two prior to actually buying a sawmill to make sure the tractor and I am up to the task!
I've 3 chainsaws, 1 Echo arborist , and 2 larger Stihls. Been cutting trees for firewood most of my life so I know my way around a chainsaw pretty well.
Also have a 20 foot trailer with a 12000 lb winch
So I'm thinking NOW might finally be the time, but with all that stuff I listed above.. I don't have a lot of money! ;-).
I'm looking for a small personal use sawmill, but which one. I have up to maybe $2500 to spend..
Looked at the Harbor freight one, but I think it scares me. So right now I'm stuck between a Hudson "Sawyer" model at $2195, and a Woodland mills HM122 at the same $2195 plus $299 shipping so basically $2500. Also looking/dreaming about the Woodland mills HM126... but its $2999 + $345 shipping so its a stretch... a BIG stretch!
Between the last two, I could get the HM122 plus, a 5 pack of sawblades and a bed extension to mill 16 foot logs for about $300 cheaper than the HM126 so I'm a little torn there too. The 126 is bigger, heavier, with a lot of good looking options and a bigger motor..
So what do you guys think?? or is there something out there in my price range I'm missing? Wish I could find a decent one used.. but nobody has the little ones for sale..
Thanks...