Making the move from band, to circle. And an update.

[strunk57]

Hello All, I've not been on in a long time. Been pretty busy. I've taking a job buying logs for a walnut mill. I like it a lot, get to travel some and meet a lot of people in the business. I have a yard setup two miles from my house. My boss let me move my timberking on the yard and saw on my downtime. I have a logging crew that works everyday that weather permits, and buy all the tie logs cheap. This has me wanting to move toward a circle mill. All I really want to saw is ties. I have markets for all my side lumber, what I really want advice for is what equipment/setup ideas would make for easier handling and faster production. I've not made the switch yet, but have made my mind up I'm going to. I wAnt to be as efficient as possible. Btw life has been great, and I'm very thankful for the forum. I credit a lot of my success to this forum and all the great members willing to share their wisdom.

[Dave Shepard]

Good to hear from you.  4x4American is in Upstate NY and he's buying a Hurdle mill to cut ties. I've watched them on YouTube. They really hum.

[PAmizerman]

I know this is a bandmill but it has a pretty sweet set up for ties. I'm sure it's pricey but may give you some ideas.

Two Man Dominator Sawmill System in Action!!! FULL VIDEO "C Highway location" - YouTube

[JB Griffin]

That 2man setup from baker is downright awesome, and they are just kinda poking along and getting around 6mbf a day.
Sort your logs for 12"-13" and 8mbf isn't out of reach at all, might even be common.

Manpower is the biggest problem you'll face.

[nopoint]

Bit off topic but watched the baker video and now wondering what is the purpose of the hanging pieces of roller chain?

[YellowHammer]

They are stiff finger guides to keep the boards being pushed by the dragback from going sideways.  I've seen the Baker setup in action, it really is an impressive two man system where the guys get paid by production rate.  Runs all day, every day, day after day.   

[Ron Wenrich]

I ran a Jackson Lumber Harvester portable mill for a number of years.  We had it permanent and on a concrete pad.  Set up time is considerably less.  It was an automatic mill that came with a 2 strand log deck, an offbearer, and log turner.  We run it with a 671 Detroit, which also ran hydraulics to run the edger.  We run it with 5 guys, but we had a debarker and chipper.  We also didn't have a used dead rolls at the time.  Annual production was in the 2MMbf range.  8' logs was about 200-225 logs/day.  Meadows also makes a portable automatic mill that you can use stationary.  Portables are a good entrance mill, as set up time is so much less, and you can get to production so much sooner.  Buy a used one and get the most production for the buck.

If you're only going to be sawing tie logs, a vertical edger can be added that will eliminate an edger man.  But, it does slow down the sawing.  The lack of an edger will mean that it will be difficult to upgrade lumber.

I would also add a green chain.  This can be used a couple of different ways.  It will be a surge deck if you're only running with a couple of guys.  You won't have to shut down to move bundles or to load logs.  

Having markets for side wood is good, but you also need markets for your waste.  Slabs and dust pile up pretty quickly.  We sold our dust to farmers.  If you go with a debarker and chipper, you'll have 2 more markets to find.

[moodnacreek]

Above is excellent advise. Try to visit other sawmills to study there set ups. 

[strunk57]

Thanks. I'm not interested in going with a band mill. I'm dead set on a circle saw. I was hoping you would show up Ron. Seems you have the right answers when it comes to circle saws. Anybody know of a decent mill somewhere a couple hundred miles from central Ky? 

[moodnacreek]

Older,stationary, circle mills are very hard to sell. For a person who can move one and re set it, they can be a bargain. If I was to do one again I would put it on continuous steel beams. Read all the adds, they are out there.

[killamplanes]

Are you looking to electric or diesel power? I've noticed fair amount of auctions that have the equipment. I can't stand to go to an auction everything I want goes double my price. I have a 75kw genset. Not as efficient as feeding of a power grid but works.