Bandsaw Milling \ General equipment needed

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Todd W

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Has anyone put together a list of equipment that's needed and\or nice to have when running with a bandsaw mill?

Some examples:
- Hearing Protection
- Cant Hook
- Lifting Tongs
-Skidsteer or Tractor w\Grapple
-Skidsteer or Tractor w\Forks

I'd like to see a list of what everyone uses day to day when running their mill to see if I'm missing anything.
 
I bought a small mill last March. I'm no expert, but this is recent learning on my part.

- I already had a sort of cheap cant hook and have bought another better one.
- I have a tractor with a loader and use a chain (or two) to lift logs onto the mill. Occasionally to remove large (thick) slabs off the mill.
- I usually have a chain saw out by the mill.
- One thing that is very helpful is a long steel bar, to make adjustments to the position of the log. I use it to help level the mill (lift the track to put a block or shim under it). Use it to lift one end of the log to level the pith.
- drinking water
- I don't find the mill to be all that loud (not like a chainsaw) but I don't wear my hearing aids while I mill.
- a broom or some way to remove sawdust can be helpful.
- pair of 3/4" wrenches as about every bolt on the mill is 1/2". I use it to move clamps and unlock the mill from it's storage position.
- grease gun (for obvious reasons).
- penetrating oil (for the log clamps)
that's all I can think of for the moment
 
Long saw horses
Sharpie, the biggest size
Tape measure
Circular saw chainsaw 36volt
Pallet or dumping trailer for junk slabs
Rack for useable firewood if desired
There are fraction aps for smart phone but the charging and file transfer port seems hard to connect now.
Leaf blower, scrapers, brushes
Roof demo shovel, lighter similar trench type also.
Most of stuff in post 2
What are we discussing setworks or visual scale? Log loader or put on deck?
 
- I don't find the mill to be all that loud (not like a chainsaw) but I don't wear my hearing aids while I mill.
You can still get hearing damage without wearing a hearing aid. In fact this would be even more of a reason to wear hearing protection, to protect your remaining hearing.

In my early 40's I was diagnosed with some hearing loss and my audiologist told me I had to be more vigilant about wearing hearing protection. I investigated ear muffs and bought a bunch of the better ones (Peltor 10s) and wore them at every opportunity. I have a pair in my van with my CS gear, and have 3 pairs in my shop within easy reach. At the time I was also doing a fair bit of flying for work so used noise cancelling muffs on planes.

A few years back I had another hearing test and apart from the 4000Hz range (too much 70's rock music) my hearing is about average for my age. This does not mean my hearing has improved but rather that every one else's has deteriorated more than mine because I protected my hearing.

The other day I was milling without my can't hooks (the tree lopper jockeys from the yard keep "borrowing" them) and needed to roll log on the Bandsaw mill deck by 45º. I could have used the forklift but I'm not that skilled at fine use of this machine, then remembered an alternative trick for rolling a log using a chain and a crow bar, both of which I had on hand. Lay the crow bar on the log and wrap the chain around the log and crow bar and fix with a shackle. Grab crowbar and pull to orient it @ 90ª to log which causes chain to tighten and grab log. Move log to desired position. One added benefit is that unlike a can't hook this gives you fine control in both directions. The downside is its slower and if log over rolls can result in the bar being trapped under the log. Useful enough if you get caught short.
 
- I don't find the mill to be all that loud (not like a chainsaw) but I don't wear my hearing aids while I mill.
-


LOL!! I'm sorry, but this made me laugh. You have significant hearing loss, so of course the mill isn't going to be loud to you.

Really, I don't mean to scold you, but I want to warn everyone else - the reason you have hearing loss is because you haven't been wearing ear protection when running tools, and now you need hearing aids.

I lost my hearing in my right ear 12 years ago - extremely suddenly, accompanied by terrible dizziness. Never got it back, but in the doc visits at the time, I was told I was also losing the hearing in my remaining ear because of not wearing protection around my loud tools.

Gents, it's annoying and takes an extra second or two, but wear your hearing protection around loud noises. If you listen to music, don't crank it up - keep it quiet. You'll get used to it over time and the rewards are worth it.

After much pondering, I decided that I would rather be blind than deaf. Protect your hearing!

Heed the wisdom of BobL:

You can still get hearing damage without wearing a hearing aid. In fact this would be even more of a reason to wear hearing protection, to protect your remaining hearing.

In my early 40's I was diagnosed with some hearing loss and my audiologist told me I had to be more vigilant about wearing hearing protection. I investigated ear muffs and bought a bunch of the better ones (Peltor 10s) and wore them at every opportunity. I have a pair in my van with my CS gear, and have 3 pairs in my shop within easy reach. At the time I was also doing a fair bit of flying for work so used noise cancelling muffs on planes.

A few years back I had another hearing test and apart from the 4000Hz range (too much 70's rock music) my hearing is about average for my age. This does not mean my hearing has improved but rather that every one else's has deteriorated more than mine because I protected my hearing.

The other day I was milling without my can't hooks (the tree lopper jockeys from the yard keep "borrowing" them) and needed to roll log on the Bandsaw mill deck by 45º. I could have used the forklift but I'm not that skilled at fine use of this machine, then remembered an alternative trick for rolling a log using a chain and a crow bar, both of which I had on hand. Lay the crow bar on the log and wrap the chain around the log and crow bar and fix with a shackle. Grab crowbar and pull to orient it @ 90ª to log which causes chain to tighten and grab log. Move log to desired position. One added benefit is that unlike a can't hook this gives you fine control in both directions. The downside is its slower and if log over rolls can result in the bar being trapped under the log. Useful enough if you get caught short.
 
I run a Hudson 360 mill and to tension the blade we use a torque wrench, so that might be a need but like everyone said:
Cant hook or Peavey ( the longer the better IMO)
Chainsaw
Some way to tension the mill,
some way to get your logs onto your mill,
some way to clean off your mill,
Tape measure, and sharpie or pencil
I like to have a 4 foot level on hand,
We use water to cool the blade as we are milling (This is very important) or we will use windshield wiper fluid during the winter, and some diesel in a spray bottle for really sappy logs
Leather gloves
and a place to offload your scraps.
Good luck to you and cant see some pics of you up and running!
 
Roof demo shovel, lighter similar trench type also.


Never thought of that one! I made myself a bark spud and have a couple long handle ice chippers. I'll have to try the roof shovel.

I also made a long handle prybar. For those of us with manual mills, it's not so easy to manage the big logs by hand, so this prybar helps to lift one end of the log to put spacers underneath.
Speaking of spacers, I got tired of jamming random bits of wood under the logs, so I made a set of spacers out of 2x4's in 1/4" increments.
I have 3 different sizes of cant hooks. The smaller size really helps to turn things quicker if the log isn't too big.
If you don't have the Groundskeeper 2 rake, get one. Much cheaper to buy just the head and put your own handle on it.
 
You can still get hearing damage without wearing a hearing aid. In fact this would be even more of a reason to wear hearing protection, to protect your remaining hearing.

In my early 40's I was diagnosed with some hearing loss and my audiologist told me I had to be more vigilant about wearing hearing protection. I investigated ear muffs and bought a bunch of the better ones (Peltor 10s) and wore them at every opportunity. I have a pair in my van with my CS gear, and have 3 pairs in my shop within easy reach. At the time I was also doing a fair bit of flying for work so used noise cancelling muffs on planes.

A few years back I had another hearing test and apart from the 4000Hz range (too much 70's rock music) my hearing is about average for my age. This does not mean my hearing has improved but rather that every one else's has deteriorated more than mine because I protected my hearing.

The other day I was milling without my can't hooks (the tree lopper jockeys from the yard keep "borrowing" them) and needed to roll log on the Bandsaw mill deck by 45º. I could have used the forklift but I'm not that skilled at fine use of this machine, then remembered an alternative trick for rolling a log using a chain and a crow bar, both of which I had on hand. Lay the crow bar on the log and wrap the chain around the log and crow bar and fix with a shackle. Grab crowbar and pull to orient it @ 90ª to log which causes chain to tighten and grab log. Move log to desired position. One added benefit is that unlike a can't hook this gives you fine control in both directions. The downside is its slower and if log over rolls can result in the bar being trapped under the log. Useful enough if you get caught short.
I lost 100% in my right hear from brain surgery. It's weird that now hearing is so much more important when you lose so much so quickly.
 
Instead of spacers, why dont you try a old car sissor jack to lift one end of the log. Maybe a battery powered drill to run the jack up .


Hmm. I think that would take longer. I have a big prybar I use for all small and medium logs, and a quick pry and shove of the spacer does the trick.
For the bigger logs, I have an I-beam above my mill with a 2-ton chain hoist. Slower, but it'll lift anything I can get on the mill.
 
Hmm. I think that would take longer. I have a big prybar I use for all small and medium logs, and a quick pry and shove of the spacer does the trick.
For the bigger logs, I have an I-beam above my mill with a 2-ton chain hoist. Slower, but it'll lift anything I can get on the mill.
I wouldnt know about the speed, but I am pretty sure the sissor jack would be easier than prying and lifting with one hand and trying to place blocks with the other.
 
LOL!! I'm sorry, but this made me laugh. You have significant hearing loss, so of course the mill isn't going to be loud to you.

Really, I don't mean to scold you, but I want to warn everyone else - the reason you have hearing loss is because you haven't been wearing ear protection when running tools, and now you need hearing aids.

I lost my hearing in my right ear 12 years ago - extremely suddenly, accompanied by terrible dizziness. Never got it back, but in the doc visits at the time, I was told I was also losing the hearing in my remaining ear because of not wearing protection around my loud tools.

Gents, it's annoying and takes an extra second or two, but wear your hearing protection around loud noises. If you listen to music, don't crank it up - keep it quiet. You'll get used to it over time and the rewards are worth it.

After much pondering, I decided that I would rather be blind than deaf. Protect your hearing!

Heed the wisdom of BobL:
Rather be blind than deaf no way!
 
Watching the boss driving his new Woodland yesterday and seeing him using a laser level to see the proposed line of cut along a log. Pretty neat idea - I must get one myself.

One thing I find really useful in setting up the band mill is a digital level and/or digital angle finder. I use these for bed levelling, mill geometry like the following wheel tilt, following wheel to guide block angle, levelling the band to the mill rails and setting the band perpendicular tilt.
 
all I ever use extra is a skidloader with forks, and a good prybar 6' long. never saw the need for anything else. ---You will also have to deal with sawdust and slabwood. I burn that all on the spot to get rid of it.
You can go hogwild with a bunch of stuff that will only get in your way and is not needed!
 
I'm interested to hear no one's said wedges/hammer. Some of the eucalyptus trees we mill have heaps of tension in them and even while they can be cut through without wedges, for some reason if I have to back out of a cut (ie after the band has taken a dive) there's no way I can do this without wedges in some cuts as the tension can tightly close up the kerf. Even then this only works near the start of a cut if you are half way into a log and the band has taken a serious dive my bands are not coming out and I've had to cut some out with the chainsaw.

In most cases backing out will also pile up sawdust and jam the band in the kerf so I keep a piece of old band on hand to keep the kerf clear of sawdust. The pieces come from when several of my bands have come off the wheels and wrapped themselves around the drive wheels so much so they had to be cut off with and angle grinder. I've managed to recover some pieces of band around 45" long and taken the set off the teeth by flattening the teeth on a piece of steel with a hammer.

The following is pretty specialised but I'm now maintaining two bandsaw mills at the tree loppers yard and this includes sharpening and setting the bands. It's taken some time to get up to speed with this but I am slowly getting better at quick touch ups and resets which is pretty handy.

As for moving slabs and clearing sawdust we have a very useful articulated loader that stays permanently in the yard. It has interchangeable attachments including forks, and open and closed buckets. The forks can lift logs/lumber up to about 1 ton although above about 3/4 ton the load has to be kept close to the ground during tight turns or the loader can tip. It's not as bad as it sounds because with the load near the ground the loader tips until the load touches the ground and doesn't tip any further

I usually park the loader alongside the log being cut and provided they are not too heavy slide the slabs direct onto the loader like this.
Here I was using one of my CSMs
loading1.jpg
To clear sawdust I swap the forks for the bucket and make a couple of passes long side the mill - the sawdust gets dumped on one of the wood chip piles.

For heavier logs there is a Kubota Tracked loader(with loads of attachments long forks, grapple, various buckets and mowers etc) but while it can lift close to 3 tons this thing is a bit of a brute and has bumped the mill and several times pushed the mill and its tracks off its concrete pad. The Kubota is mainly used to move logs around the yard. I don't have my ticket on this machine but as this is usually out of the yard on other jobs its not available most times in the yard anyway.

Heavy logs are usually lifted onto the mill and turned using a HIAB and chains. if the logs are small enough I rotate them on the mill bed using cant hooks.

LSG2.jpg

The bigger mill is mainly used to make cants small enough to fit onto the smaller mill which is a bit more precise at milling.

BTW my job is not really to mill bulk timber but to maintain the mills and sharpen the bands although I occasionally use the big mill to make cants. I make lots of test cuts on both mills and am able to cut stuff for myself but these last few years I have accumulated so much I cut very little for myself. If the test cuts are of no use to anyone, every now and then I throw some onto the back of my van and take then to a local mens shed (community wood/metal shop) for mainly retired men - although I now hear women can attend one day a week!).

I realize not everyone will have access to this sort of equipment but thought you may find it interesting.
 
The flat trench type shovels can be used to push open the cut. I thought about adding a flat bar like the kind made from a six sided piece of steel one with a 90 on the end and one straight. And some Nylon straps to stick through once the slap or thick section is to be removed. I think the guy in post 1 was only active on here on Dec 1.
 
Over the years of milling I’ve gone from famine to feast on log handling equipment. In the absence of log handling equipment, here are some items I found useful.

One of the more useful items has been PVC pipes in various lengths and diameters. Once a log is rolled onto a pipe it is quite easy to slide even the largest of logs. On smaller diameter logs, getting two well positioned pipes under the log makes it easy to “roll” from an end using a cant hook.

Short lengths of PVC pipe are quite useful for maneuvering heavy beams off the mill and onto a trailer. With 3 to 4 pipes, large beams are easily handled. Just move slowly and think the heavy beams into place.

Another unique item is a gunpowder wedge. It can be used to split a log that is too big to handle from end-to-end. These are still made today.

Log arches are very handy as well for getting logs out of tight places. Be careful using these!

Rip chains are also good to have on hand in the event you can’t blow a log in half using a gunpowder wedge or various black powder splitting methods.

A bandsaw setter and sharpener. Various species of wood require different tooth geometry to cut properly. Changing a hook angle 2 degrees can be the difference in band being able to mill a hard log or having all kinds of problems.

Best wishes learning.
 
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