Has anyone ever seen a Select Sawmill in operation?

[Cypress Man]

Hi everyone,

I was just looking at different sawmill web pages and came across a "Select Sawmill" made in Canada.  It's a double cut mill using a 6" bandsaw blade and a 75 HP 3 phase electric motor.  It's supposed to cut 3 feet per second   I've never seen one and would like to know if anyones ever seen it in action.

[Brad_S.]

I've seen the video and WOW! Worth the small purchase price, IMO. I got the impression it would be the nuts for sawing dimensional lumber or through and through sawing, but I wondered if grade sawing with it would slow it down to the point of losing its wow factor.

[deadeye]

a buddy of mine has one, i tried it out once and it will saw. if you don't have a semi trailer load of log to saw a day then it's not worth it.

[two saw]

Brad_S, Where did you see the video for the selct sawmill? I could not find it on there web site. Was it something that someone had from the co.?

[Brad_S.]

I received the video from them. My inquiry to them concerned their debarker and the video they sent me featured their entire line of products. I don't remember if it was free or if there was a $10 fee, but I like ordering videos from all producers to keep up on what's out there and order everyone's whether there is a fee or not.

I don't see specific mention of it on their site, but I see a lot more new products. I don't know if they pulled the video because it's now outdated or if it is part of the info packet. Been too long and too many other videos ordered to remember specifics.

[two saw]

Would you happen to remember the price of the mill?

[Nate Surveyor]

If you can afford a mill like that, you probably don't need one! ;D!

And, it is kind of 1/2 way between a circle mill, and a band mill. The blades are a little thicker than the ones commonly used by wood miser. Maybe around 1/8" kerf. (somebody correct me) The bands are 4" and 6" across. Thus they can handle the push of high speed milling.

Don't hit a nail. Those are real 'spensive blades!

Big production  mills use that kind of blade. They have a serious metal detector BEFORE milling anything. And a debarker.

Nate

[LOGDOG]

Yep ... Select makes a mill that really hums. But watch out for blade costs. I looked at buying one but everyone I talked to that had one was crying the blues over what they spend on blade maintenance. You really need a full time blade guy on staff with the tooling to swedge,sharpen, and flatten the blades. Sawmill Exchange had several for sale here not long ago. I looked the other day and they weren't there. But they're around.


LOGDOG

[Coon]

I got the video and a chance to run one for a day.  Grade sawing was quite a bit slower compared to through sawing but the savings in time with cutting in both directions was the key.  Overhead is the downside to the whole operation.  They guy who owned the mill said he only changes his blade out once a day cutting large diameter spruce for 10 hrs/day.  I don't exactly remember what he was averaging in footage/shift but it was big.  When I was there we cut all 1 and 2 inch thick and then sent everything through the edger, even the slabs as he wanted them slabbed heavy enough to make a 6" wide edged slabs for an order. With the mill and edger we had 6 guys altogether.  Sawyer, tailssawyer, two pilers, one person placing stickers and banding, and a loader operator.

Will try to get some pics of his operation at work.

[two saw]

Coon, Pics would be great.
Seems like it would be way too much labor involved for one fellow to be efficient with it.
Dan.

[Coon]

Even in the video I got from them they have two people tailing it.

[Minnesota_boy]

75 horsepower electric can keep up with 150 hp diesel.  With 2 way cutting that's like a 300 hp engine on a circle mill.  Looks like 4 to 6 people tailing would be more in line.  Then you need a great log supply, support equipment, somebody to buy the output, maintenance staff, a big shed to work in to keep out of the cold and heat, etc.....  If you have enough startup capital to swing that, why not just retire and enjoy life?

[Norwiscutter]

75 horsepower electric can keep up with 150 hp diesel. With 2 way cutting that's like a 300 hp engine on a circle mill. Looks like 4 to 6 people tailing would be more in line. Then you need a great log supply, support equipment, somebody to buy the output, maintenance staff, a big shed to work in to keep out of the cold and heat, etc..... If you have enough startup capital to swing that, why not just retire and enjoy life?

:D Your Killing me. :D
This is too true.

[Bibbyman]

I've never seen one but I talked to a man at a Wood-Mizer open house last spring that had one.  He was there looking at an LT70 (Told him about LT300) because the blade costs on the Select was killing him.  I don't know what he decided.

[Norwiscutter]

I think that a select type mill is really out of the ballpark of most guys in our situation because we simply do not have the infrastructure in place to support a mill like that.  I looked into them a long time ago and I think that the blades were in the 200-300 range apiece? (This is a WAG though) If you can cut all day with a blade like was stated which is likely in the 6-8mbf range, then I think it could be made to work out.  I think people look for rationalizations for not being productive and in some cases the blade cost is a scapegoat.  I think that in scope of things band blade cost is negligible compared to other bigger things.  However the kerf on a wider band starts to get pretty close to that of some circle mills, which I think could be had for a lot less overhead and even higher production.  If a band saw isn't thin kerf anymore, why get a band saw?

[LOGDOG]

I watched the Select Mill video again last night. That thing flies! I can get past the blade cost because as someone mentioned previously it's proportionate to output - that is IF you're cutting trees out of the forest where the danger of foreign objects is reduced and running a commercial debarker ahead of the mill to remove bark,mud,etc. A debarker such as is used with most of the portable mills would never be able to keep up with the feed rate of the Select. Cutting yard trees and the like  sets you up for higher blade costs because obviously the risk of metal in the logs and the like goes up. On the production side though, there's no doubt it cuts a ton. Great thing about the Select video - they cut continuously for a LONG time. Log after log , zip,zip,zip! Not just one log like so many of the other videos that manufacturers send out. It's one thing to throw a 200 bd ft log up on a bandmill and cut it in 30 minutes and say "See it'll cut 400 feet an hour". It's a whole different thing to watch a mill cut 1000 board feet in 30 minutes or less, going through log after log. The results speak for themselves. One thing that would be great is to solve the material flow quandry with a double cut. Not sure how one would do it though. I see in the commercial atmosphere boards are tipped off the top of the cant onto a conveyor belt which leads to a green chain. The same conveyor catches the sawdust and likely lets it drop into a hopper with a blower attached to it to pull it away. The sawyer is very efficient in tipping the boards off. I believe the salesman told me that in the one scene in the video it was 25 below zero, they were sawing hard maple, and the mill was cutting 17,000 board feet in an 8 hour shift in 4/4 leaving a 4x4 boxed heart in the brown wood. Now that's movin'! Especially for live sawing. Imagine adding a merry go round and cutting cants. Definitely capable of big things. If you're curious order the video - it's fun to watch.

LOGDOG

[333_okh]

I have seen one of these operate at a local mill.  It was set up as a semi portable and have many of the infeed and outfeed options.  This really shouldn't even be considered in the same range as most other portables.  I have been off bearing on a LT70 hydo lately for our specialty woods and they are totally in a different class due to size and capabilities.  The LT70 is a fantastic saw, but the Select screams.  It was not the right saw for use cutting for grade and figure.

[tdelorme]

There is a local mill about three miles up the road that is replacing their old circle mill with a new Select.  It is a great looking machine that they are going to set up this weekend.  They are looking forward to not having to deal with two truckloads of sawdust a day.  The narrow knerf, the safety factor and cutting the HP need in half where the main reasons for the change.  They have one guy that does blades.  This is a good outfit that cuts ties as well as pallett material and cants that go to their grade mill.  I am going back up there in the morning to pick up some oak and I will take some pictures.  These folks know their stuff and looked at a number of different mills before going with the Select.  They flew down to a mill in Mississippi to see one in operation and placed their order that same day.

[LOGDOG]

Looking forward to those pictures tdelorme. What town are those folks in? I'd like to go over and take a look firsthand.

Thanks,

LOGDOG

[tdelorme]

Well when I got up to the mill this morning the crew had already gotten a good start moving the Select up on the mill deck.  Real tight fit but they got it done.  I will go by next week and take a few pictures of the mill at work.  You gotta love these bands.  This mill is at Peeples Lumber, Ore City, TX.

[LOGDOG]

Wow! Now that's a hoss. I'd be a little nervous putting that baby way up in the air like that. Keep the pics comin' tdelorme. Looks like these guys have a good size operation huh?

LOGDOG