Do I want a sawmill?

[Alligator]

This is a question I've been struggling with. I come at this with a different point of view from a lot of people. I love the mechanics of sawing lumber. I love the smell of fresh sawn pine. I sawed a good bit over the years, I'm not a "sawyer". I have too much respect for the title. I can get the maximum bf from a log, but I have to use a tape measure to do it. I don't have a great desire to make large piles of lumber and sawdust. I've done that. A minimum of 15,000 a day, if not we shut down and fixed something. a minimum of 150 days a year for 20 years. 15,000x150x20=a lot of lumber and a big pile of sawdust and chips. (We were chipping slabs whenI started)

But yet and still I want to build one. Many of have noticed I don't euu and aha over the lumber. For me it's all about the machine. I think all the WM guys sawmills are cool, and they are great to saw with, but they have about perfected the small to medium band mill. When I started going to the sawmill with my father, long before I got a paycheck he was thinking out loud about how to make one section or the other of the sawmill or planer more streamlined, easier for one station or the other.

I don't mean to annoy all you real sawmillers. I just have it in my blood. Although I had to do every job in the mill over 20 years, I was constantly reminded that I wasn't suppose to do those jobs I was suppose to find,train, teach someone to do them. I was suppose to find ways to make it more efferent. I guess what I'm trying to do is still that. It didn't help much that my first job after 20 years at CBLC was Windham Equipment Co.

After helping my neighbor a couple of day on the WM LT35HD I realized the sawing wasn't the fun part I wanted to take it apart. bolt some pieces onto it. If it stays around long I'll build some kind of edger.

I do appreciate all of you putting up with my ramblings. I have been working on this layout of the CBLC mill for a while. 20 years is a long time to remember all the details, but when I started drawing I realized I couldn't put all the details I remembered. In my current profession, computers are not much of machine compared to a sawmill.

Thanks Again
Alligator 

[5quarter]

Alligator...While I definitely enjoy sawing, It's just one component of my business. I have the heart of an engineer and really love building stuff, so I can really sympathize. Go ahead and build the mill and document it all right here so we can share with you. It'll be like all of us are standing outside your garage drinking a few beers, saying you should do this, or you should do that.  Perhaps one of us might even say something useful... ;) :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Good post -gator. I respect your ideas and find them really interesting,
I have noticed on the FF that there are some folks like myself, who are satisfied with their mill just the way it is.
I am not interested in seeing how much sawdust or lumber I can make in a day but rather how many happy customers I can make....I love meeting new customers and making them smile.
Some sawyers, I've noticed, seem to love sawing lumber but are more motivated in finding out how they can change something on their mill to make it more productive.
Others love comparing mills, putting blades under the microscope, interested in the hydraulic part of the mills and others love the electrical parts......its just amazing to me and I could read this stuff until I go to sleep some nights.
All this is what makes the Forum the Forestry Forum........ain't it neat?

Once again......very good post! 

[Alligator]

Thanks 5QUARTER & POSTONLT40HD! I enjoy the customer satisfaction aspect of every job I have ever had. I get that in my day job. Today I spent all day in a Dentist office replacing all the computers. It was alright until I got to the x-ray equipment. When I started making it talk to the PCs it got kind of crazy making The "practice management software" , "image management database software" ,"the image acquisition software" and the 2 different pieces of imaging hardware all play nice together.

On a more fun note, yes I hope to build that sawmill. That shop/barn I posted in a earlier post is at the bottom of the hill that I have to climb to get to the build. My present shop is 12' x 20'. When you raise the door stuff falls out. But, that 60' x 60' with a new top will do to build a sawmill. You know the routine you have to do this before that and something else before you do that. Right now a shop large enough to work on sawmill parts is first. One of the 12' x 60' wings is going to be the shop. Keep your eyes on the goal one step at a time. I have to keep telling myself.

[Ron Wenrich]

I never got into the customer end of things.  I did most of my sawing in grade and production in hardwoods.  There was a need for dollar maximization vs bf maximization.  My job was to breakdown logs, and figure out how to keep production up and costs low.  I rarely dealt with customers, but was more involved in problem solving and operations management. 

But, I also looked at the smaller mills and often came up with other designs and techniques that I though would work better.  I still do that, but I don't have the equipment or talent to build the machine to do it. 

If you have the talent and equipment, go for it. 

[drobertson]

thanks for sharing your thoughts,  and they are not annoying at all.  After joining the FF I have learned that there are so many talented folks here with all sorts of knowledge, and their willingness to share what they know, makes me a better person.  I can hardly wait to see what you come up with. 

[slider]

What type mill Alligator,do you have in mind.

[kelLOGg]

Gator, I'm about 15% like you ;D. I bought a manual mill so I could modify it to make it like I wanted it. When I started milling, I thought I could add this component to make that function easier so I made it, milled some more to test it and repeated the process for the next mod. I spent about 8 years doing this in a major way and am still doing it but only on a smaller scale. All the time I was still sawing wood. A friend said "you had rather make mills than saw" - some truth to that. So, I say "go for it" - in one way or another. You can figure out how far from" scratch" you want to start.
Bob

[Magicman]

Thanks Alligator.  You very vividly point out the differences among us and our different objectives.  My Mom always said to "grow where you are planted".  I guess in other words, take the talents that you have and use them for the benefit of yourself as well as serving others.  In the end, the world is a better place because of your contribution, but self satisfaction is a very important component in the equation.  At the end of the day, it is very rewarding to look at that day's accomplishment and say; "I did that, and I am happy".

[Swatson]

I have the exact same feelings as you do.  I love making stuff.  Mechanical stuff.  For me its not really for economics I build something.  Its because I like the building, the problem solving and the reward for being patient at the end of having a useful machine.  My signature says it all for me.  I say if you have the resources, the time, and the will then do it.  I have a long list of things I have made, CNC router, 2 x 72 belt sander, router table, sharpener, metal auto hammer (this was a success kindof...now it is part of a bandmill) working on second bandmill as we speak. 

If you are not into making money with a sawmill then so be it.  I used mine for me, friends, and occasionally I will sell a couple boards.  I may never recover the cost in dollars for this mill I'm building now.....but I will have the satisfaction of saying I built it. 

You would be amazed at how many people think this is an engineering marvel and that I am a mechanical whiz...nothing is further from the truth.  I do what I want to do...when I get stuck I ask folks who do know.  These folks that are easily amazed I am afraid are just folks who live inside the box stores...if Walmart don't sell it then it don't exist.  They are afraid to get their hands dirty and possibly fail.  We ain't afraid...

[Alligator]

Thanks Guys, This forum is the best place I've found on the internet for me to fit in a bit. I've been on the internet since there wasn't any pictures it was mostly all text. I started in the computer business in 1990 as my second 20 year courier. I don't fit well with the IT community but I feel at home here. Magicman is my hero so far 71 and still sawmilling hard as he wants to. Slider ask "what kind of sawmill do I want" I started an hour ago and I am still working on it. I will post it later. I guess most of you have figured out by now I'm crazy as a bed bug!

[Alligator]

I have the exact same feelings as you do.  I love making stuff.  Mechanical stuff.  For me its not really for economics I build something.  Its because I like the building, the problem solving and the reward for being patient at the end of having a useful machine.  My signature says it all for me.  I say if you have the resources, the time, and the will then do it.  I have a long list of things I have made, CNC router, 2 x 72 belt sander, router table, sharpener, metal auto hammer (this was a success kindof...now it is part of a bandmill) working on second bandmill as we speak. 

If you are not into making money with a sawmill then so be it.  I used mine for me, friends, and occasionally I will sell a couple boards.  I may never recover the cost in dollars for this mill I'm building now.....but I will have the satisfaction of saying I built it. 

You would be amazed at how many people think this is an engineering marvel and that I am a mechanical whiz...nothing is further from the truth.  I do what I want to do...when I get stuck I ask folks who do know.  These folks that are easily amazed I am afraid are just folks who live inside the box stores...if Walmart don't sell it then it don't exist.  They are afraid to get their hands dirty and possibly fail.  We ain't afraid...

My building of mechanical items tends to range widely. I have ran out of room in my shop due to new equipment and unfinished old projects. One of my most rewarding creations is a very simple little device. It's a "Crab Grabber" . Me and my best friend started Flounder gigging a few years back. It's illegal to gig crabs, (you see a hundred or more in a night) but we noticed when we put our gig near one they didn't run they wanted to fight. So I built similar to a gig but with 2 sets of prong that open an close to grab them. Now we get as many as we want in a night, but flounder not so much.

[BCsaw]

Well said MagicMan. We can do almost anything that we want to. We are most comfortable and excel when we are grounded!

Alligator, we should move in the direction that draws us. Building my mill has given me so much satisfaction. It is a learning tool for my son as well. I still can't believe that I can walk out the door at anytime and cut whatever the heck I want! What a gift! :D ;D

[Banjo picker]

Love your post Gator.  Only problem I can see is you need a sawmill to build the building to build your sawmill in.   :D  Banjo

[Alligator]

Love your post Gator.  Only problem I can see is you need a sawmill to build the building to build your sawmill in.   :D  Banjo

I have the building already started, I spent the summer putting new tin on it.

[backwoods sawyer]

Do I want a sawmill?

That is a good question :D

Like the other have said you have talent. Go for it, good millwrights can be hard to find ;D

The one thing that surprized me about your design is that you mix the bark and the fines. In the production mill i worked in these were seperated, hog fuel and fines.
The fines, tailings, sorter rejects all went into the same convayor. The vib convayor ahead of the chipper allowed the fines to drop out to another convayor keeing them seperate from the chipped wood.

Years ago I had the opertunity to tour 18 production sawmills, three plywood plants, two partical board plants, Roseburg forst products mile long mill and two paper mills. Half of those mills are no longer in operation in fact I was involved in stripping one plywood plant of all mill equipment and it is now the "Mill Casino"
The take away was seeing all the different equipment and ways of doing the same task even if the product was not the same.

[Alligator]

Do I want a sawmill?

That is a good question :D

Like the other have said you have talent. Go for it, good millwrights can be hard to find ;D

The one thing that surprized me about your design is that you mix the bark and the fines. In the production mill i worked in these were seperated, hog fuel and fines.
The fines, tailings, sorter rejects all went into the same convayor. The vib convayor ahead of the chipper allowed the fines to drop out to another convayor keeing them seperate from the chipped wood.

Years ago I had the opertunity to tour 18 production sawmills, three plywood plants and a paper mill. Half of those mills are no longer in operation in fact I was involved in stripping one plywood plant of all mill equipment and it is now the "Mill Casino"
The take away was seeing all the different equipment and ways of doing the same task even if the product was not the same.

This is not really my design it existed when I got old enough to work. I changed out the debarker from a Morbark to a Cambio, Replaced the chipper from I don't remember the brand, to Precision and installed the vibrating feed, Replaced the Trim Saw from a popup to pneumatic drop trimmer, and moved the old popup to the planer mill. About 10 years after I had been running the mill the Esterer Sash Gang wrecked, one of the push arms broke in full operation with a 10" cant half way through. We located one in Pennsylvania and bought it cat in the sack. When it arrived we had actually bought almost 2 complete exact duplicates. I rebuilt it without manuals just the old one to go by. I never could keep the slides from running hot. So eventually we flew a tech from Germany in. I took him 3 days of adjusting and running and more adjusting to get it right. I also got a good lesson on keeping the thing adjusted and maintained.

You caught one of the detail I left out the chip shaker did separate the fines and overs. We caught the overs in a wheel barrel and ran them back thru the chipper, and let the fines go with the chips, unless the paper mill rep was around.

Bark and saw dust all went together. We had a Kingsford charcoal plant about 10 miles away. They took it all.

You talked about touring. I have toured a few. I classify sawmills in 3 groups 1. Steel Floor Elevated Production mills 2. Dirt floor Production mills 3. Mobile Small mills
The second category has almost ceased to exist. That is what we were. We ran in an era when electricity was so cheap you couldn't think about building any kind of generating and we air dried.

Talent? I think everyone on this site has a lot of talent. When my sawmill talent was at its peak there wasn't much market for it, so I wound up in the IT field. When I was in  my 20s - 30s there were 15 dirt floor production mills with in 100 miles of us. Today I don't know where one is.

Thanks again

[longtime lurker]

I saw because... I like it. I could get a job somewhere (and make more money) or start into a different business, or go back to school and learn to build space shuttles or something; but I like what I do. I get enough variety in my daily work diet to keep me from being bored, enough challenges in figuring my way through each log to maximise grade and production to keep me mentally active, enough physical work that I go home feeling like I've done a days activity.

I dislike the dealing with customers part. Doesn't mean I'm not good at it - need to be in order to survive in this game - but personally I'd rather run the mill.
I dislike playing mechanics. I'd rather run it then repair it though as with customers its an essential skill set to stay afloat. I'm not a tinkerer with things mechanical. I just want them to work, and work well, with a minimum of downtime and fuss and a maximum of productivity and ROI.

I think there's guys who are happy just to buy whatever off the shelf product and run it, and guys who have the nouse to see where the factory product can be improved, and guys who have the nouse to see where it can be improved and the skill set to make it better. I fall somewhere between the latter two categories. Simple bolt on fixes and minor design changes are about my limit, though I've got a full mill design in my head on the "one day when I have time" list of things to do.

What annoys me, and this is particularly true in the small sawmill manufacturers market, is that the manufacturers wont listen. I get that they're building a product for a wide range of customers whos needs are all slightly different. I get that they have limited funds available for research and development. I get that there may be liability issues arising from doing things a little different each time. But I'm a living breathing potential customer, and the needs of my business aren't the same as the needs of anyone elses even though they're in the same line of business, and no-one knows what my business needs or what the design requirements of a sawmill that best meets my needs are better then me.

There's at least one manufacturer who posts here occasionally who hasn't sold me one of his mills because he won't customise his basic offering to suit my requirements, and it's not like I'd expect that modification to be done for free.  Sorta like car shopping I guess - at 15k you take what you can get. But when you step up to dropping 60 or 100k you probably feel a choice of colour and maybe a few engine options shouldn't be out of the question. :D

[hunz]

It sounds to me like you need to start manufacturing sawmills. I think if you build one mill, without the true love of the lumber itself, you are going to Cadillac out your diy mill pretty fast and get bored with it. With the way you tick, It almost seems you are a logistics efficiency kind of guy looking to improve a process. I think everybody loves to work more efficiently, but there is a reason I care about being efficient with my milling over changing the brakes on my car. One I love, the other I hate. Don't take this the wrong way, any particular reason why you want to make a sawmill vs say a lawn mower? If wood has nothing to do with it....  I'm just playing devil's advocate here........

Just admit it, part of you has to oohhh and ahhhh over a pretty board!

[backwoods sawyer]

The mill I worked at started off as a dirt floor timber frame man eating mill built in 1950 with a crew of close to thirty per shift.
Then in the late 70's these four cement "A" frames reaching five stories in the air apeared and a building was later built around them. That was the start of the worlds first fully computerized sawmill (according to a 1978 national geographic magizine) and it ran a nine man crew at that time.
The "A" frames were for the end dogging over head carrige the first and second floors were the chip system with the sawmill on the 3rd floor the office with a 360* veiw of the third floor swayed between two of the "A" frames on the forth floor along with the filing room. Carbide shop and machine shop on first floor. The fitfh floor was parts storage, a 5 ton bridge crane spanned the building and could reach the fith floor to first floor. The infeed and out feed for the sawmill were side by side. The barker and block saw were seperate as they also fed the veneer plant, later the veneer plant was retooled with a high speed planer to replace the 1940 "Woods" planer and the block saw was conected up to the saw mill eliminating one of the cats in the yard. With continued upgrades over the years they have trimmed it down to be a 6 man sawmill crew putting out just under half million bft per shift. Takes four electritions, seven millwrightes, nine saw filer ect ect to suport the three sawmill crews.

When the mill was running smooth shaving fractions of a sec to improve production over the last shift was the goal. Sure wish I could fine tune the traffic lights in town to improve flow the way we did in the mill ;D

[Alligator]

DIt sounds to me like you need to start manufacturing sawmills. I think if you build one mill, without the true love of the lumber itself, you are going to Cadillac out your diy mill pretty fast and get bored with it. With the way you tick, It almost seems you are a logistics efficiency kind of guy looking to improve a process. I think everybody loves to work more efficiently, but there is a reason I care about being efficient with my milling over changing the brakes on my car. One I love, the other I hate. Don't take this the wrong way, any particular reason why you want to make a sawmill vs say a lawn mower? If wood has nothing to do with it....  I'm just playing devil's advocate here........

Just admit it, part of you has to oohhh and ahhhh over a pretty board!

I see you are 25. You will have a different prospective at 60. Not better or worse, just different. You will realize that there things you have done that you would like to take another run at, but you will have learned to have the patience to find the right time, or not waste your precious time that's left on something you may not be able to finish. If I had never sawmilled I would be shopping tomorrow. When you start being around a mill at 15 and work in it from 20 to 40 it takes some of the love out, but not all. I've been bit by 440vac 3 times had 2 men die in front of me one natural one not, I've been completely soaked in hot hydraulic oil while standing on my head trying to get a JD 440 hose changed so the mill could run that afternoon, and a thousand good and bad things. Sawmilling isn't urgent for me it's what I want to do if and when I free myself. It will be a hobby I already had to sawmill to live. I won't let it trap me.

Sawmilling was just the first 40 years of my 60+ year life. I have faint memories of my father taking me to the mill when it was moved to the woods, and having to sit in the truck and watching mules pulling logs. That had to be 1956-7-8 at the latest.

Right now I have 3 fish scalers half complete
A lathe 3/4 rebuilt
a barn/shop with a new top and no walls or floor
a boat that need several things minor but works if I had time to go
I have a day job 45 to 60 hours a week (IT project manager) (design and replace computer networks)
That's the short list
Yea, I still oohhh and aahhh over a pretty piece of lumber and a pretty girl, but my ability to work with either has decreased considerably since I was 25. But I have sawed some as pretty as I've ever seen. I had 6 pieces of heart cypress 3" x 24" x 16' that was clear of knots in the top of the stacker shed. It took forever to dry. I made a really nice table and bar out of some of it. It burned up in my house in 2005.

As you get older you will, no matter who you are, find it taking bites out of your life. Your father, uncle, a good friend.  Logistics & efficiency has had to be my best friends since I was 16. I have kept up with a two handed world with one hand tied behind my back. Before I start any project I look at it for a while. ;D I drives my boss crazy. My projects take less time than his.

[Alligator]

The mill I worked at started off as a dirt floor timber frame man eating mill built in 1950 with a crew of close to thirty per shift.
Then in the late 70's these four cement "A" frames reaching five stories in the air apeared and a building was later built around them. That was the start of the worlds first fully computerized sawmill (according to a 1978 national geographic magizine) and it ran a nine man crew at that time.
The "A" frames were for the end dogging over head carrige the first and second floors were the chip system with the sawmill on the 3rd floor the office with a 360* veiw of the third floor swayed between two of the "A" frames on the forth floor along with the filing room. Carbide shop and machine shop on first floor. The fitfh floor was parts storage, a 5 ton bridge crane spanned the building and could reach the fith floor to first floor. The infeed and out feed for the sawmill were side by side. The barker and block saw were seperate as they also fed the veneer plant, later the veneer plant was retooled with a high speed planer to replace the 1940 "Woods" planer and the block saw was conected up to the saw mill eliminating one of the cats in the yard. With continued upgrades over the years they have trimmed it down to be a 6 man sawmill crew putting out just under half million bft per shift. Takes four electritions, seven millwrightes, nine saw filer ect ect to suport the three sawmill crews.

When the mill was running smooth shaving fractions of a sec to improve production over the last shift was the goal. Sure wish I could fine tune the traffic lights in town to improve flow the way we did in the mill ;D

It took another 15 years for it to reach the south. I would probably still be running a sawmill but for one fateful decision my father an uncle made in 1959. There was a tract of land between Panama City Beach and New Hope Fl. That was for sale around 100,000 acres, they were asking $125,000 for it. Lumber was $35 to $50 a thousand. They would have to mortgage every thing they owned to buy it. They didn't know that in 1965 lumber would be selling for $200+ a thousand. There was enough timber to keep our mill running forever without expansion. There is still a mill about 5 miles from there sawing on it. Wish we had a crystal ball, I'd get the lottery numbers and then build a sawmill or maybe get a 2 story double wide, you know the ones they make for people with money. :D :D

[hunz]

DIt sounds to me like you need to start manufacturing sawmills. I think if you build one mill, without the true love of the lumber itself, you are going to Cadillac out your diy mill pretty fast and get bored with it. With the way you tick, It almost seems you are a logistics efficiency kind of guy looking to improve a process. I think everybody loves to work more efficiently, but there is a reason I care about being efficient with my milling over changing the brakes on my car. One I love, the other I hate. Don't take this the wrong way, any particular reason why you want to make a sawmill vs say a lawn mower? If wood has nothing to do with it....  I'm just playing devil's advocate here........

Just admit it, part of you has to oohhh and ahhhh over a pretty board!

I see you are 25. You will have a different prospective at 60. Not better or worse, just different. You will realize that there things you have done that you would like to take another run at, but you will have learned to have the patience to find the right time, or not waste your precious time that's left on something you may not be able to finish. If I had never sawmilled I would be shopping tomorrow. When you start being around a mill at 15 and work in it from 20 to 40 it takes some of the love out, but not all. I've been bit by 440vac 3 times had 2 men die in front of me one natural one not, I've been completely soaked in hot hydraulic oil while standing on my head trying to get a JD 440 hose changed so the mill could run that afternoon, and a thousand good and bad things. Sawmilling isn't urgent for me it's what I want to do if and when I free myself. It will be a hobby I already had to sawmill to live. I won't let it trap me.

Sawmilling was just the first 40 years of my 60+ year life. I have faint memories of my father taking me to the mill when it was moved to the woods, and having to sit in the truck and watching mules pulling logs. That had to be 1956-7-8 at the latest.

Right now I have 3 fish scalers half complete
A lathe 3/4 rebuilt
a barn/shop with a new top and no walls or floor
a boat that need several things minor but works if I had time to go
I have a day job 45 to 60 hours a week (IT project manager) (design and replace computer networks)
That's the short list
Yea, I still oohhh and aahhh over a pretty piece of lumber and a pretty girl, but my ability to work with either has decreased considerably since I was 25. But I have sawed some as pretty as I've ever seen. I had 6 pieces of heart cypress 3" x 24" x 16' that was clear of knots in the top of the stacker shed. It took forever to dry. I made a really nice table and bar out of some of it. It burned up in my house in 2005.

As you get older you will, no matter who you are, find it taking bites out of your life. Your father, uncle, a good friend.  Logistics & efficiency has had to be my best friends since I was 16. I have kept up with a two handed world with one hand tied behind my back. Before I start any project I look at it for a while. ;D I drives my boss crazy. My projects take less time than his.

Very well put. Through what you just said I was able to see my father in your story. He has been running a commercial tomato farm in FL producing 250,000 packages per year, since he was 21, and spent the earlier part of his life since he was 8 working on it(3 generations). He now hates it after 40+ years being in it, but now is trying to grow apple trees on a small scale in NC. Its in the blood, he's just looking for a slower pace, so life can be a little more enjoyable.

[Solomon]

This is a question I've been struggling with. I come at this with a different point of view from a lot of people. I love the mechanics of sawing lumber. I love the smell of fresh sawn pine. I sawed a good bit over the years, I'm not a "sawyer". I have too much respect for the title. I can get the maximum bf from a log, but I have to use a tape measure to do it. I don't have a great desire to make large piles of lumber and sawdust. I've done that. A minimum of 15,000 a day, if not we shut down and fixed something. a minimum of 150 days a year for 20 years. 15,000x150x20=a lot of lumber and a big pile of sawdust and chips. (We were chipping slabs whenI started)

But yet and still I want to build one. Many of have noticed I don't euu and aha over the lumber. For me it's all about the machine. I think all the WM guys sawmills are cool, and they are great to saw with, but they have about perfected the small to medium band mill. When I started going to the sawmill with my father, long before I got a paycheck he was thinking out loud about how to make one section or the other of the sawmill or planer more streamlined, easier for one station or the other.

I don't mean to annoy all you real sawmillers. I just have it in my blood. Although I had to do every job in the mill over 20 years, I was constantly reminded that I wasn't suppose to do those jobs I was suppose to find,train, teach someone to do them. I was suppose to find ways to make it more efferent. I guess what I'm trying to do is still that. It didn't help much that my first job after 20 years at CBLC was Windham Equipment Co.

After helping my neighbor a couple of day on the WM LT35HD I realized the sawing wasn't the fun part I wanted to take it apart. bolt some pieces onto it. If it stays around long I'll build some kind of edger.

I do appreciate all of you putting up with my ramblings. I have been working on this layout of the CBLC mill for a while. 20 years is a long time to remember all the details, but when I started drawing I realized I couldn't put all the details I remembered. In my current profession, computers are not much of machine compared to a sawmill.

Thanks Again
Alligator

  YES !!!!  You want a saw mill.

[Alligator]

author=Solomon link=topic=78951.msg1198925#msg1198925 date=1415551490]
  YES !!!!  You want a saw mill.

I know, just asking for opinions. I like to hear people here talk, to hear their prospective. Most everyone knew the answer,including me.