Norwood

rockman · September 19, 2009, 08:51:42 AM

Hey folks, I have been researching bandmills for awhile, have all the literature on most of them. But, I like the Norwood 2000 but am concerned about all those nuts and bolts that hold the frame together. Are there any Norwood owners here that can review thier mills?

Thanks, Kevin

p.s. , Great forum, I have learned alot in the short time since I found the site.

Banjo picker · September 19, 2009, 09:44:29 AM

Welcome to the forum....I would think you will get some help shortly....Tim

WoodButcher · September 19, 2009, 06:01:26 PM

Quote from: rockman on September 19, 2009, 08:51:42 AM
Hey folks, I have been researching bandmills for awhile, have all the literature on most of them. But, I like the Norwood 2000 but am concerned about all those nuts and bolts that hold the frame together. Are there any Norwood owners here that can review thier mills?

Thanks, Kevin

p.s. , Great forum, I have learned alot in the short time since I found the site.

Hey Kevin, I have a NW LM2000. It was fun to put together. After building it, you know it inside and out. I've had to build some of the accessories for it but it's a great little mill to start on. It won't be long though untill you'll be wanting a hydraulic mill. If your going to be milling as a hobby, it's a great mill. If your milling for a living,.... save your money and buy a hydraulic mill. A LM2000 will work you to death to mill enough to make a living with it. I'm sure I just opened a huge can of worms here but, I'm not trying to sell them. I'm Just calling it as I see it.

Magicman · September 19, 2009, 07:20:45 PM

rockman, I can't help with your question but I can say.....Welcome to FF..... 8)

Joel Eisner · September 19, 2009, 07:25:13 PM

It takes about 12 - 15 hrs to assemble a LM2000 with the help of an air ratchet. The great thing about it being bolted together is that you can fix the allignment of the bed if you need to.

BTW, we have paid for ours several times over cutting a lot of the wood for our two houses (or conjoined house).

rockman · September 19, 2009, 08:19:16 PM

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I didn't phrase my question correctly. With all those nuts and bolts( as opposed to a welded structure) do they loosen up and require tighting very often? Woodbutcher, looks like you have a nice setup, are you able to make a living at it or is it a second source of income? My sister lives in Pageland, kinda in your neighborhood.

ohsoloco · September 19, 2009, 10:38:49 PM

I purchased my Lumbermate eight years ago. Honestly, I never even checked to see if any of the bolts have loosened up, that might be a good maintenance check, but it's never "acted loose" Found one of those cup washers on the ground a few weeks ago from a bolt that broke, but other than that there hasn't been any issues. BTW I work the pith out of that Lumbermate. I can't tell you how many logs I've put on that thing that were too big (diameter wise) that I've had to whittle down with the chainsaw. Great sawmill! 8)

Nomad · September 20, 2009, 07:27:04 AM

Rockman, the nuts used in the framing assembly on the LM2000 are self locking; not impossible for them to loosen up, but if properly tightened in the first place, unlikely.

When it arrives, make sure you've got some room set aside to store the pile of boxes it shows up in. They do make a rather large pile. Of course, you need room to put it all together, too.

As stated by others, pneumatic tools are a real big plus when putting one of these together. I really like mine!

Ironwood · September 20, 2009, 07:54:46 AM

Bought mine used, hence preassembled (see pic)

. Also, had a guy bring his over for years and he, hmm,........... beat and neglected his mill quite abit. Niether of us had an issue. His muffler rotted out (never even tarps it). The throttle cable is a little on the cheapish side for such a nicely engineered manual mill. Great mill, as I have stated in other posts, I have had many mills here on my property and ran even more, for my usage a manual is the way to go, and I liked the Norwood best.

Ironwood

Weekend_Sawyer · September 20, 2009, 09:04:57 AM

I'v had my LM2000 for about 7 years, It has served me well. I am a hobby sawyer, never charged a cent for sawing but have had some great times sawing for myself and neighbors.

I have 8' of extensions on it for a total of 21' of saw bed (25' overall) and have never had to thghten the bed bolts.

We are getting ready to fire it up this morning and saw some White pine. Gonna be a sticky day :D

Jon

rockman · September 20, 2009, 09:42:06 AM

Thats what I was looking to hear, thank you for the info guys. From the outside looking in they do seem to be a well engineered/ built mill. Although my purchase is a ways away I will hang around here learning all I can.

Thanks again, Kevin

Weekend_Sawyer · September 20, 2009, 10:10:43 AM

Take a look at my first post. My Norwood had a flaw in the rails that had to be ground out. The factory folks offered to replace them but I was in a hurry to start milling so I fixed it myself.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,1054.msg12450.html#msg12450

Jon

Banjo picker · September 20, 2009, 08:37:31 PM

Quote from: rockman on September 20, 2009, 09:42:06 AM
Thats what I was looking to hear, thank you for the info guys. From the outside looking in they do seem to be a well engineered/ built mill. Although my purchase is a ways away I will hang around here learning all I can.

Thanks again, Kevin

Keep hanging around here and reading & the purchase might not be as far away as you currently think....The heart wins out over the mind almost every time... ;) Tim

gizmodust · September 20, 2009, 08:45:47 PM

Welcome Kevin. I might be a little late with my post, but here it is. I've had my NW2000 four years and still haven't tightened the bolts. I have had a few big logs (22'6") drop on the bunks when we rolled it. Had to trim it with a chainsaw to fit the carriage around it (it was 35" on the butt). I've built an axle for it and actually just set it on a site this morning. Don 't know how many logs went through it, but just thinking about make me smile. Sorry, got a chronic case of 'sawdust-i-tus '. :D :D

rockman · September 20, 2009, 09:28:17 PM

Banjo picker, My heart is certianly bigger than my mind, it's my bank account that I'm thinking of.

Gizmodust, Not late at all, thanks for the reply. I love to hear(read) you guys stories.

ohsoloco · September 20, 2009, 10:19:40 PM

Mine has paid for itself several times over. Just one sawing job a month can easily make the payment ;)

rickywashere · September 21, 2009, 12:48:11 AM

well thats the one i'm saving for timberking 1220 would be my second choice .. i dont want the payment so i'm saving to pay cash for mine so i can enjoy it more without the worrie of the payment

Stephen1 · September 22, 2009, 02:31:34 PM

I have a pre Norwood silva-craft from the early 90's. It will cut 17' logs. What I like the best is going to Norwood and they still have parts for my mill and I was able to add some new parts to update my saw. The mail problem I had was the rails were wore down at the joints and since I do not weld I just used a grinder to grind down the high spots on the rails. it turned out pretty good. I would like a bigger motor but the little 10 horse works.When it dies I will go a little bigger.The people at Norwood are great. When I call I am always referred to pete who is 1 of original company founders.
Enjoy!

Skip · September 22, 2009, 06:12:22 PM

Best saw for the money ,worked mine full time till I went pipelinen, no big deal putting it together I,d tell you to go to our forum on Norwwods web page but it seems to be down for the last couple of days.

sawwood · September 22, 2009, 09:47:21 PM

We have the older Mark 4 mill and have used it for about 4 years now. We have run into
it with the track loader and moved the rails about half way down. We used a come along
to move it back into place and readjusted every thing, no bolts came lose and we where back into sawing. We use it part time and so far we haven't had any trouble with bolts
comming lose. The throttle is the only thing we have to adjust some time but with the
tiny tack we can keep track of the rpm. Look at my album it has lots of photos of our mill.

Lester