Build it myself?

9shooter · February 06, 2004, 04:15:29 PM

Been lurking about for a while and decided to come out of the woodwork .:D I have been thinking about small time, occaisional sawmilling, and have concluded that a chainsaw mill might be the place to start. Have any of you folks built a Procut sawmill? I am a little leery of going on just the word of the guy who has my money to gain. I hope to look at a mill of this type before deciding to build one.

music_boy · February 06, 2004, 04:37:56 PM

Give these guys a budget you are willing to work with , and I think you will get all the options there are. I started out small and right away, I wished I had gone a little bigger. You may start out "chainsaw" and want bandmill in very short order. Might want to consider a reasonably priced bandmill or the like. I saw as a hobby\partime. Had an Alaskin Mk ll,. Recently, I bought a Hudson bandmill. Already looking "bigger" . You will have lots of things to consider once this crew homes in.
Welcome and listen to these folks.
Rick

Frickman · February 06, 2004, 05:39:01 PM

Welcome 9shooter! I've never heard of the Procut sawmill, but I have been around some chainsaw mills, the Alaska/Grandberg style. Let me tell you, they'd be great if you're cutting beams back in the bush, but for any quantity of work they're man killers. Bending over and pushing a saw through a log all day is not my idea of fun. If I was to start out sawing wood I'd look at the simple, all manual band mills. A cousin had an Enercraft for a time, and it was a nice little mill. It was slow compared to a full blown hydraulic mill, but alot faster and easier than a chainsaw mill. You had to push the sawhead through the log, but it took alot less effort than a chainsaw mill. Check out sawmillexchange.com, you might find one near you. If you have any questions speak up. You're in with a good group of guys and gals.

Fla._Deadheader · February 06, 2004, 06:06:36 PM

  Welcome, 9shooter.

  Someone here built a 4 post type mill and frame, and for some reason, time, money,whatever, he strapped a chainsaw into the 4 post carriage and used it for quite a few boards.

   At least the work was at waist level. I hate bending over to work ;D

9shooter · February 06, 2004, 06:14:21 PM

The procut guy says the basic 24" capacity sawmill would cost around $900. A husqvarna 3120 with a 60" bar runs $1095.00 from his site. I'm not concerned about speed right now, and rather than join the Y.M.C.A. (again), I figure the pushing around bit might be good for my fat a**. ;D I really enjoy messing with wood and have enough wood lined up to keep me busy for a while. The building/assembly part is no problem, as I happen to be a weld instructor as part of my job responsibilities. With 9 varmi......I mean kids, eating me out of house and home, alas money is a concern. I do know several locals with woodmiser sawmills, but I'm not sure it would be economically feasable to keep the landowner and the sawmill guy and myself happy with the return. The land owners are good friends of mine who decided not to voluntarily get shafted by the commercial sawmill operators in the area. So the idea is to build or buy a sawmill, saw and dry the wood and market it ourselves. I realize there is a lot of unknowns in this arena, but with retirement approaching, what the hey, I'll have lots of time on my hands.

Frickman · February 06, 2004, 06:37:53 PM

9shooter,
I found procut's website, and it's a good looking little mill. It is the same thing as the little manual bandmills, but with a chainsaw. It's nothing like what I thought. The only difference will be in the saw kerf, with a chain saw bar and chain you'll be losing at least a board or two every log versus a band. You could build it as a chainsaw mill, and then add a band head later if you desire. There are some band saw kits that only include the head that you could surely adapt later on.

9shooter · February 06, 2004, 07:16:55 PM

Frickman, That later modification to a band mill has crossed my mind. I like the idea of multi-function machines. I will probably design in some options to make the mill a useable trailer for also hauling lumber/logs. I want to attempt to make this pay as I go along, It's easier to negotiate with the wife if I can show her the money. I do have a good resorce in my boys, it's like the army ants in the woods when we go out to make wood. Got to keep them buggers busy.

Frank_Pender · February 06, 2004, 08:16:50 PM

Welcome aboard, 9shooter. You need to know that the sawdust fever will get much worse before it even out. So, you might as well begin a bit larger that a chainsaw mill. 8) 8) 8)

Lorax · February 06, 2004, 08:54:20 PM

9Shooter,

I was in your position a year ago and decided to buy a chainsaw mill from Hudson.

http://www.hud-son.com/chainsaw_mill.htm

I figured it wasn't all that much more expensive than building one myself, and I could start sawing logs right away.

I purchased an extra section of track, so I can saw up to 18 ft. logs. The largest diameter that fits on the mill is 30 in. The track also works with Hudson's band saw mills, if I every decide to go that route.

I also bought a Husky 3120 XP for the power supply.
I have a total of $3000 invested in the system and I am very pleased with the lumber it makes.

Knotty spruce has been the majority of the logs I have sawed so far. The lumber comes out very straight and true - so what I lose in kerf is made up in not having to plane out alot of wavy cuts that can happen with band saws.

It is not a high production machine - I can usually cut about 500 bd ft in a 6 hour day working by myself, but that is plenty for my needs.

Good luck on whatever you decide. ;D

Bill_B · February 07, 2004, 05:30:35 AM

Welcome
My brother and his son have built a Procut mill. I helped saw with it. It is work, but if you are sawing for youself it will produce lumber.
The mill was powered by an 066.
This style of mill is up off the ground so there isn't a lot of bending over.

Norm · February 07, 2004, 05:32:23 AM

Welcome to FF 9shooter, sounds like a good plan you've got. Never used a chainsaw mill but they sure are affordable to get your feet wet.

One word of caution thou, you get that sawdust in your nose and it goes straight to the brain. I used to see a pretty red head and whistle now it's a pretty red oak that gets me excited. :D

Carl_B · February 08, 2004, 03:26:32 PM

I am Bill B's brother who built the procut mill. It will make a nice mill for someone who is starting out sawing. We cut around 5000 board feet of hard wood lumber in the first year and a half that we used the mill. There are somethings that we changed on the mill as we used it. We added jacks on all corners for easier set up we also changed the log dog so they are easier to work with. I am sending a pic of the first log that we cut.

Plowboy · February 09, 2004, 03:55:06 PM

Welcome to the FF, I am the son of Carl B. Alan at Procut is a straight shooter. His plans for building the mill are simiple and you can make some modifications to the mill so you can saw bigger logs. We ran into a fellow in Illinois who had one built and made the carriage larger. The mill sawed good lumber, the only thing is it is a little slower. The Procut is a inexpensive way to start milling and if you can build your own you can really keep the costs down. We had even toyed with the idea of mounting a bandmill sawhead on the four post carriage. I should tell you that we have sold our Procut and have bought a Woodmizer LT15. We hung onto the Procut for awhile to make sure we really liked the Woodmizer. If you decide to build one I'm sure we can answer most questions that you have. Alan at Procut also said that he could answer your questions or help you through any problems that you encounter. Good Luck. Plowboy

Swede · February 10, 2004, 01:52:35 AM

When I first saw a chain sawmill I wanted one. When I saw a manual band sawmill I wanted one but not a chain sawmill. When I saw a fully hydraulic band sawmill I wanted one and now I´m up to get one.

Does this ever stop? :D
Why don´t they warn for sawdust addiction at TV as they do for the annual influenza epidemic?

Swede. *addicted*

Tom · February 10, 2004, 07:21:12 AM

This is the greatest part of the Forestry Forum, family.

Unlike other places I've attended we have husbands and wives,sons and fathers, brothers, nephews, uncles and everybody is friends. It sure makes me feel at home. ;D

Swede, "I feel your pain". I didn't make that up, it was a quote from a celebrity here in the USA. :D :D

I was lucky when I bought my mill. There were backyard circle mills around here everywhere. Nobody was running them though because the tax man had made it too expensive. I just kind of walked up on a bandmill at Wood Mizer in Atlanta when I was in the right mood and had the money in my pocket and "Voilà" I was an LT40 owner and had all of the bells and whistles at the time. In comparison today it is pretty plain. :D

The first thing a fellow should do is get himself a sawmill that he can afford as soon as he can afford to get it. Treat it almost as if it were an impulse buy. Just get one that will pay for itself and it will buy you another one. When you get it, you can start learning all the things about sawmilling that puzzles you now. You will also determine, real quick, just how involved you want to get.

I was lucky that I started out with such a large bandmill. I was in business pretty quick and needed all the log handling capabilities available. I could have started with a much smaller mill but it wouldn't have lasted me 6 months. I'm still wanting a larger mill. That never stops.

The older you get, the more labor saving things you will purchase. That means that you will have to budget support equipment as well as the sawmill.

I've been told that "if you wait to have kids until you can afford them, you will never have them". I guess that is about the same with sawmills too. :D

Norwiscutter · February 10, 2004, 11:53:10 AM

I think that your best bet would be to find a dealer and demo a chainsaw mill and an entry level band mill to find out what you think will work best for you. I own a manual mill and an alaskan mill and wouldn't even think of using the chainsaw for anything other than deep woods recovery of remote logs. If your budget is $3000, I would think that a small band mill would be much more efficient in the end. kerf loss, speed, labor, gas, time for maintance are all areas to consider. I have not used a chainsaw mill with the four post track set up so I can't say how well those produce. But if your willing to fabricate certain sections of the mill, why not spend your money on a good band powerhead, build the track/trailer setup, and salvage an engine locally?

raycon · February 10, 2004, 12:27:07 PM

How much faster is a procut versus the alaskan mill?
I liked/like using the alaskan mill with a homemade rail setup (read spare ladder with a couple of brackets attached) it was pretty easy to get parallel to the heart etc. I would think adding log dogs and toe adjustment and fabricating a 4 post head is 75% the way to a bandmill --might as well go all the way.
My gut says if you are not using one now is get an alaskan mill -- you need a decent size chainsaw irregardless. Build the procut at night and make provisions for adding a bandmill carriage as well as the chainsaw carriage.

9shooter · February 10, 2004, 01:04:18 PM

I appreciate all of the responses you folks have given. I won't be making a decision until this summer. I have too many irons in the fire at this time. I'm just in the research phase and like to make an informed choice. My first priority is to build an outdoor wood fired boiler. This has been a 'real' winter, and I'm hate'in those gas bills. I have a friend who happens to be an incredably talented craftsman/toolmaker/engineer. He is currently building his 4th boiler(for a friend) and has offered me the prints/cut sheets for his design. This is a 500,000 btu unit, that costs around $2000 to build and install. I'm looking forward to having a heated workshop and cheap heat for the house next winter. Perhaps if the workshop is toasty warm next winter, I will be able to build a sawmill then. I'll admit it, I'm a cheapskate, ;D I hate spending money on something I can build for half the cost. Like this stove deal, the conferable stove bought commercialy would run me $5-7000 minimum. Besides, I've always learned a lot doing things myself. I'll just have to watch my language when I'm working on this stove, there's always one of my kids lurking about! :D I've been looking hard at grapple loaders today. You know, they don't look that complicated. I wonder how much liability insurance drives the price up?....................