finally sawdust -- HF mill

[grouch]

New old guy here. Got my first ever sawmill about a year ago but things got in the way of really using it, other than a short trial to make sure it worked. Hoping 2016 will be a kinder year.

It's a Harbor Freight bandsaw sawmill. This is not the choice for someone intending to become a professional sawyer, obviously. It's well suited to my purpose, though -- turning some of my own trees into lumber for me.

When I called HF about the machine, they had 3 active advertisements going, each with a different size engine. Spent nearly an hour on the phone and the (helpful, patient) guy on the phone still couldn't be sure which one was currently shipping. I gambled and it turned out to be the largest then advertised, the 301 cc.

The shipping charge was less than KY state sales tax. Weird for a 770 lb crate by truck freight.

I live at the end of a little country road. Just before my house, there's a hairpin curve that my neighbor at the other end of the road hates. He runs a 'dozer and backhoe (actually a trackhoe) business and his lowboy scrapes the bank on the inside of that curve every time he takes it. The Conway Freight truck driver called to make sure he could get his rig all the way to my house. I told him about my neighbor and 2 truss trucks making it around the curve. When he got here, it was obvious that truck was never going to bend enough to make that turn. He backed up about a mile to get to a place where he could turn around. If he had any frustration or aggravation about it, it never showed in any way. Once turned around, he went to the other end of the road where my neighbor met us with a Bobcat.





Used the same HF lifting sling to get it out of my pickup, back at home.



Naturally, I had to open the crate right away.



I had spent the night before adapting my homemade front bucket for my homemade forks (they were on the back), in order to lift the crate off the Conway truck. That didn't work out so well when the truck couldn't get here, but the forks and the night work still paid off.



Had to have a little ballast on the back -- it's a 30 hp tractor.



The mill has to make a badly neglected old barn its home for a while.



Will add more later.

Oops. Left out the documents in the crate:

[grouch]

The track sections are made from 5/16-inch unequal leg angle. (Yeah, I'm sure it's metric, but I don't have a metric tape measure). The leg that the wheels ride on has been squared off. I measured 2-13/32 x 3-15/16. Close enough to 2-1/2 x 4.




Each of the 4 track sections is 76-13/16 inches long.









Toughest part was lifting the head with only an 8 ft 'ceiling'.


Lifted by using a sling through the same brackets that would eventually hold the cables to raise and lower the head on its posts.



And there it sits.

[tnaz]

Enjoyed the slide show and read.  Sounds like an A#1 truck driver.  Now just need some pictures of saw dust and lumber?

Thanks for sharing,

ttnaz

[grouch]

(I'm slow).

Now you pros are gonna laugh at the sticks I started with, but I'm new and didn't want to take too big a bite at first.



The hefty fellow in the shadows there is my son. (Warned him over 15 years ago that he'd have trouble adjusting his eating to fit with not doing football practice and training and weights. Still strong as a mule, though).



Real boards and sawdust at last!



These were actually kinda special logs as it was a tree beside my son's driveway. Something ringed it right at ground level and it had to be cut.


A picnic table sized to a wee granddaughter.



I started and finished that table while her birthday party was going on. (How's that for procrastinating?) She's made use of it nearly every day since. Can't get a better thank you than that!

[tnaz]

And you made it!!! :D

Good job to me.

[cutterboy]

WOW! How many little kids have their own picnic table? Thanks for all the pictures Grampa.

[grouch]

And you made it!!! :D

Good job to me.

Thanks! Apparently you were asking to see some sawdust as I was trying to get the last batch of photos up. Like I said, I'm slow.

[grouch]

WOW! How many little kids have their own picnic table? Thanks for all the pictures Grampa.

Glad you liked 'em. That table represents most of the useful lumber from those first little logs.

There was an almost square almost 4x4 thing that came out of the center of the first one. Turned out I had a dogleg at the joint between the tracks -- each end of the track was just a little lower than the middle. After that was corrected, I got several narrow boards and a real 4x4 out of the next log.

I just waded through the outside party and planted that table in the middle of the yard. It was like a magnet for the half dozen or so 2 - 4 yr olds there.  (All the folding tables were adult-sized). I puffed up like a peacock at granddaughter's reaction when my son told her that it was her table and that I had made it from the tree that used to be in her yard.

One of the ~ 5 y.o. girls there had to have a look at the sawmill after seeing the table. It wasn't just a glance, either. She wanted to see how the blade travelled, how the engine was connected to the wheels, and how the whole assembly rolled on the track. That one might be a handful for her parents, soon.

[thecfarm]

Special logs make special picnic tables which make special memories.  ;D

[Savannahdan]

I have one of those purple HF straps and use it a lot for pulling and lifting logs.  The HF store is just down the street from me and it's hard not the visit even if to just look at things.  I would have loved to have been a fly on a limb watching you carry the picnic bench into the party.  Kids make a lot of what we do fun.  That goes for having your son there when you used the mill for the first time.

[Sixacresand]

Looks like you are having fun assembling a mill, milling, building a picnic table and post pictures.  Thanks, I enjoyed the post.  Building something for a Grandchild from something you milled is like the "super bowl" of sawmilling.

[Kauff44]

Nice mill grouch!! Congrats!!

[grouch]

I sure appreciate all the support, folks! You should have seen how long it took to set up for and make that first cut. The few sawmills I've seen in person have been scary circular mills operating at full blast. The only things I "know" about operating a bandsaw sawmill are what I've read here on the Forestry Forum.

Been trying to find photos of the next logs I cut. One was a gum tree that's been standing dead for no telling how long. Couldn't find those photos so I shot some of the planed boards as they are now in my garage. Will try to get those up today.

[grouch]

[edit 2016-06-11: This is not gum. This is elm. See Whatcha Sawin, replies by WDH and Magicman, beginning about msg1395304 on the linked page.]

After the little poplar described above, I didn't get another chance to saw until last fall. Found a standing, dead sweet gum tree and got part of it cut up, but couldn't find the photos taken at the time. Here are some of the boards as they are right now. The poo-brown stuff on the end is some old latex paint put on to try to reduce splitting of the ends.

[Peter Drouin]

Good job, and good luck. 8) 8)

[Chuck White]

Nice lookin' wood!

[sawmilllawyer]

Really like those boards. Nice figure. Magicman can tell you about milling that sweetgum wood. :D. Enjoyed your post and welcome to the forum.

[grouch]

Brain derailed -- forgot to give any kind of review of the saw itself. Not much help to other hobbyists / amateurs without that. (I don't think this mill would provide any competitive advantage to a professional).

This is an all-manual mill. It won't fetch, turn, lift, position or clamp the logs for you. The head is hand cranked up and down and the carriage moves along the track by operator power only (assuming you got the track level). If you assemble it and set it up correctly, it will cut true.

I only have two minor complaints with the saw. The carriage flexes a bit too much in one plane -- the off side can lag behind the operator side in little tiny jerks, and there are no fenders to keep sawdust off the carriage wheels.

The blade is held rigidly parallel to the track so the cuts are parallel. The flexing takes place in the one plane that doesn't affect the blade's path. Best way I can think of to describe it is to call it yaw as in an airplane. There's no roll to the carriage, which would yield boards varying in thickness across their width. There's no pitch to the carriage, which would give boards varying in thickness along their length. It just yaws. And just enough to make me want to fix it.

I think it can be stiffened up with the addition of a couple of posts at the back of the carriage and then connecting the tops of those to the tops of the existing posts. Some 0.120 wall, 2 inch square steel tubing should do it.

The groove in the carriage wheels likes to pick up sawdust. It packs in there and then the movement of the carriage feels rough and the yawing described above increases. There are no sweepers ahead of the wheels and there are no fenders over the wheels. I cut up a couple of plastic anti-freeze jugs and zip-tied them over the front wheels. That helped. Now I need to do it for the rear ones.

The manual claims the maximum length log is 9 ft 2 in. I tested that and it's a proper maximum; it leaves a little comfort space at the beginning and end of the cut. The maximum width board is 20 inches and the manual also claims that's the maximum diameter log. I haven't tested this, but I bet a larger diameter log can be sawed even with 20 inches between the guides. (Maybe Harbor Freight should search for "Bibbying" a log here on the Forestry Forum).

Initial break-in period for the engine is 3 hours. That's also the approximate time of running for 1 tank of gas. Oil is supposed to be changed every 20 hours.

I used the blade that came with the saw for the entire first tank. Now I have a Kasco blade on it with a 4 degree hook. I think these will be saved for some of the hard, dead trees and I'll get some 7 degree blades for general use.

Overall, I think this mill is a very good value for people who want to cut some lumber for themselves and are not going to be sawing every working day.

[grouch]

Really like those boards. Nice figure. Magicman can tell you about milling that sweetgum wood. :D. Enjoyed your post and welcome to the forum.

The next stuff I sawed was plain on the outside and gaudy inside.  Had a mimosa tree that sent roots sneaking under the foundation, so it had to be cut.  It was really too short to put on the sawmill but ...
















(I promise I'll run out of photos. I'm still as tickled as a kid on Christmas every time I open a log and see what's in it.)

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Good review! and great looking wood. I never would have thought to mill that.

Thanks for sharing
Jon

[squidboy51]

grouch

I have enjoyed your adventure with the new mill. The short mimosa log really is an interesting surprise, good luck with your mill and keep the pictures coming. I think I can speak for the majority of members, we all enjoy your pictures and comments.

squid

[grouch]

Good review! and great looking wood. I never would have thought to mill that.

Thanks for sharing
Jon

I had to saw it open after seeing the mangled way it forked and the end grain. Unfortunately, there's been some splitting along the growth rings of the parts I didn't coat with polyurethane. It looks to me like this very wet wood gives up that moisture too fast if you let it.

[grouch]

(Maybe this belongs in another thread or even another forum. It seems to me to be part and parcel with a fumbling new guy figuring out it takes more tools than just a sawmill to make boards from logs).

Started building a log arch shortly after getting the mill, because of all the posts here about how dragging logs leads to blades dulling faster. Took me until this spring to complete it -- 2 days shy of 1 year in the making. First test was about 1 month ago. It's ugly and it's more of an odd trailer than it is an arch but it hauls my logs.

Here's my state-of-the-art design and production studio:

The towers of an old front-end loader for (I think) an Allis Chalmers became the uprights and crossmember of my arch.



I suck at welding pipe.


(More gorey details of welding and rewelding in my gallery https://forestryforum.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7278 )

Recycling some old front spindles and rotors from my '80 Dodge D150.




They have to be attached to those rusty old pipes somehow


Don't look too close at the MIG welds; I'm still learning to use one of those squirt guns.


I don't have a nice flat welding table so I had to improvise with a wooden platform and 3 pieces of PVC conduit cut to equal length.







Here's where it starts to go more trailer-like than arch


The 2 pieces of 1-1/4 inch black pipe and the HF receiver were bought new. Everything else is scavenged.



No photos of first test, but here's the 2nd -- 2 logs at once:





My improvised hitch:


This old white oak is too dear to drag:




That tree was the tipping point for me getting the mill. The sapwood is eaten and rotted, but the heart is sound. I was afraid it wouldn't wait for me to build a sawmill.

Hoping to get some expert advice on here on the best way to saw it up.

[tnaz]

Here's my state-of-the-art design and production studio:

And product output too.  Looks good to me; nice.

Terry

[grouch]

Here's my state-of-the-art design and production studio:

And product output too.  Looks good to me; nice.

Terry

Thanks! We all do what we can with what we have.

I'm still working the kinks out of lifting and securing the logs. I've seen some clever designs for that on here in old threads.

Feeding the mill is more work than running the mill. (I know there's bound to be some magic tune you can whistle to get the trees to just gather at the mill, but the old pros on here just ain't sharin' it).

[grouch]

The HF mill can handle some useful sized logs. Here's a maple that was big enough I had to use the long log stops that come with the mill.

(This is commonly called a water maple around here. I think it's also called red maple, but not certain of that. It's not a sugar maple for sure).




























There are some 2x6s from a previous gum tree hiding under those questionable 1 bys on the left.

I think I got about all the wood that's useful out of that log. That rotten part was just like a sponge -- poke it and water came out.

[tnaz]

Is that an old hay rake in picture 1 and 6?

Your doing some pretty work with that mill.  Lovin' the pictures.

I know I want a mill but not sure that is my path right now.?.?
Keep up the good work/pictures.

[thecfarm]

Looks like an old dump rake to me.
Wife drove the small tractor and I was on the rake. Rake is 8 feet?? wide,tractor only about 4 feet wide. She headed off and was hugging the stone wall mighty hard.    I started to holler at her. Not a good sight to see that wall coming at ya.  :D

[tnaz]

Looks like an old dump rake to me.
Wife drove the small tractor and I was on the rake. Rake is 8 feet?? wide,tractor only about 4 feet wide. She headed off and was hugging the stone wall mighty hard.    I started to holler at her. Not a good sight to see that wall coming at ya.  :D

Wish I could have seen that!!!! :D

[grouch]

Is that an old hay rake in picture 1 and 6?

Your doing some pretty work with that mill.  Lovin' the pictures.

I know I want a mill but not sure that is my path right now.?.?
Keep up the good work/pictures.

Yes, that's an old team drawn hay rake. That belonged to my late father-in-law. He "loaned" it to my wife and I nearly 40 years ago; said he wanted to see it get some use rather than just rust away. We use it for gathering mulch for the garden after bushhogging about a 5 acre field.

[grouch]

Looks like an old dump rake to me.
Wife drove the small tractor and I was on the rake. Rake is 8 feet?? wide,tractor only about 4 feet wide. She headed off and was hugging the stone wall mighty hard.    I started to holler at her. Not a good sight to see that wall coming at ya.  :D

I've had a few adventures like that with this one. They don't like to jack-knife or even turn sharply. They also don't like moving fast.

This one is 10 feet wide with a 10 ft tongue and 4.5 ft diameter wheels. It dumps by stomping the peddle when the hay starts pushing the tines up and letting some get out from under.  It was originally intended for a pair of horses or mules to pull. I used a '39 Ford 9N for a few years and now use an '80 Long 310.

When the kids grew up to where it was no longer fun to them to ride and operate the rake, I rigged a rope to a lever clamped to the foot peddle so I could operate it from the tractor seat. Yanking that rope will keep you busy when trying to rake rows into piles of hay.

[grouch]

Here's a photo from 2005 of the old rake in use. The offspring agreed to work the rake just so I could get this picture.

The peddle she's pushing is not the one that dumps the load; it's there, along with that lever behind her, to assist in holding the tines down until full. The dump peddle is centered on the tongue under the seat.

[grouch]

Hit a snag while getting ready to saw a maple log.




That's with the carriage raised to its limit.

That log is not beyond the limits of the mill.


The maximum blade height is 17 inches above the bunks. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that the max height should at least equal the max diameter log the mill is rated to cut. That would be 20 inches. Looks like an unnecessary design limitation to save the cost of 3 more inches on each post.


Distance between the carriage posts supporting the head: 31-1/8 inches.


Distance between blade guides: 22-1/16 inches. (Less a fuzz. I'm sure "fuzz" is an international engineering standard unit of measure).


Distance between the blade guide mounting posts: 21-9/16 inches. There's the limiting factor. Some slice of a log has to fit between those mounts or you can't saw it. The length of the carriage support posts shouldn't be the constraint.

I'll be correcting that when I get some 2" round tubing and some 2" square tubing to replace those posts.

Now to the two minor problems...


That T-handle lock bolt interferes with the log clamp handle and the log clamp itself is too long.


Here's the clamp on that maple log. Measuring from the log backstops to the outside of the log where the clamp is engaging, it's 19 inches. That's still an inch less than the stated max diameter log, yet the clamp handle is overhanging the outside of the track rail and will interfere with the carriage.


You can see in this picture how much thread on each is used. The clamp is an M16x2.0 and the lock bolt is M10x1.5. Since I have yet to use the telescoping aspect of the clamp post, I replaced that T-handled lock bolt with a hex head bolt about 1/4 as long.

I don't have a big collection of metric bolts, but a 5/8 inch rod is just a fuzz or two smaller in diameter than a 16 mm bolt, so a little pointing and tapping and hammering and welding and hammering again...









That hammered handle fits my hand better than the window-crank plastic knob, too.

I still have to figure out the best way to saw that swaybacked whale looking log, though.

[derhntr]

Looks like you have the cure, you could have leaned the clamp down to bite lower on log. that should have given you more room to run the threads in further.

[grouch]

Looks like you have the cure, you could have leaned the clamp down to bite lower on log. that should have given you more room to run the threads in further.

That's where that lock bolt problem showed up -- when I layed the clamp over to run the threads far enough in to get the handle out of the way of the carriage, it started hitting that T before engaging the log. I expected to have to fine tune some things.

[fishfighter]

Just do away with that tee handle. It is there just to hold the insert top piece in place. You don't need that. Once you screw the top piece that into a log, it's not going to go anywhere.

Cool old hay rake. ;D

[Kbeitz]

To bad you cant rotate that bottom tube 45% so the bolts sticks out the side.

[plowboyswr]

If you relocate the push handle it will gain you the extra head height without new uprights. I had to pull mine off for one of the bigger ones I did. ;)

[grouch]

Just do away with that tee handle. It is there just to hold the insert top piece in place. You don't need that. Once you screw the top piece that into a log, it's not going to go anywhere.

Cool old hay rake. ;D

If it interferes again, I'll move it to another side of that tube. It's just a hole, a welded nut and a bolt. HF should've tested it for interference.

I'd almost trade that hay rake for some of the logs I've seen you post in the Whatcha Sawin' thread!

[grouch]

To bad you cant rotate that bottom tube 45% so the bolts sticks out the side.

The clamp has to stay where it is but that locking bolt doesn't. ;) Putting a hole and nut on another side of that bottom tube would effectively do what you suggest.

Actually, I could just toss the locking bolt like fishfighter suggested, but I worry about Murphy taking advantage with some weird hang-up that causes the blade to yank the log and pull the sliding tube up and out and flip the sawmill and kill busloads of puppies, nuns and orphans. Probably far-fetched.

[grouch]

If you relocate the push handle it will gain you the extra head height without new uprights. I had to pull mine off for one of the bigger ones I did. ;)

Thanks! I'll have to look into that tomorrow. I didn't take note of *what* was hitting first at the top, only that it was stopped. If that's all it is keeping it from raising another 3 inches, that push handle has got to move!

Putting 2 rear posts on the carriage and connecting the tops to the 2 existing ones would stiffen the whole thing and provide lots of options for mounting the push handle.

[grouch]

If you relocate the push handle it will gain you the extra head height without new uprights. I had to pull mine off for one of the bigger ones I did. ;)

Excellent tip! Thank you!

Rain finally let up so I could go check that out.



Lots of post still available above that push handle bracket.







Lots of cable still available, too. (Operator side has the round tube carriage post; off side has the square one).



With the push handle out of the way and the head crank handle just starting to hit the head, there's about 21-1/4" of space under that blade. Almost a full turn of the crank still available. That puts the blade height very nearly equal to the distance between the blade guide mount posts mentioned earlier.



Still room to mount the push handle bracket. The bracket takes up about 1-5/8 inches on the post.

The higher mount might start making the flexibility of that carriage show up more. This one's gonna have 4 posts any way before I'm done. It was always intended to be a quicker way for me to get started sawing than starting from scratch.

[plowboyswr]

Same here. I have a few more mods. in mind also. The only drawback back is you lose your scale mount also. But if I get the scale remedied I will let you know.  ;D I'm thinking  a flat strap or angle mounted to the carriage and top just behind the head with a pointer coming off the head at blade hight would be great. Similar to Kbeitz's mill. But tractor repair is taking my time right now. So the mill got back burnered.  :D

[grouch]

Same here. I have a few more mods. in mind also. The only drawback back is you lose your scale mount also. But if I get the scale remedied I will let you know.  ;D I'm thinking  a flat strap or angle mounted to the carriage and top just behind the head with a pointer coming off the head at blade hight would be great. Similar to Kbeitz's mill. But tractor repair is taking my time right now. So the mill got back burnered.  :D

I got the push handle moved yesterday. It's now at the top of the post. That keeps the scale, except the scale is useless when the head is near its lower limit because the square rod the pointer mounts to is too short. There's always a domino effect, eh?

Best I can tell with sketching and scratching, this should allow up to a 26 in. diameter log to be handled on the mill. That's a hypothetical perfect cylinder log of course. ;)

[plowboyswr]

Yep that's what I was talking about on the scale and the reason I haven't relocated  mine yet. But can't complain too loudly about the little mill I knew what I was was getting when I bought it. Just watch out for the head shimmy on the extra height /width.   ;D

[grouch]

I ran into some shimmy while cutting some maple today. It was mostly due to a dull blade, but partly due to the lack of rigidity of that carriage. It really needs 4 posts.

What about swapping places with the pointer and the scale? I'm thinking of mounting an aluminum yardstick where the pointer rod is right now and a pointer fixed to the push handle where the scale is now. Or maybe do both -- mount the yardstick behind the square rod holding the movable pointer and have a fixed pointer on the handle. If only one is useful in practice, the other gets dumped.

[grouch]

It's growing.

First, making some brackets:






Here's where the brackets go:


Those are 2 W beams I bought some years ago with the intention of building a bandsaw sawmill from scratch. They were going to be the track, and they still will be.

No power there except by generator, so a cordless drill for pilot holes and a cordless impact driver with a step drill bit to finish. Hacksaw and chisel for miscellaneous fixing.



Outside to outside track measurement -- 30 5/8 inches.
Extension has to be the same:





After some grinding of a couple of old lumpy welds and moving one of the carriage stops and much fiddling with leveling and blocking...





13 ft 6 in added.



Those brackets may not make the two 11-1/2 x 6 beams act as a single piece of steel, but they'll DanG sure minimize the disputes between 'em.

Don't really think it needed grade 8 bolts. That's all I had on hand.

Maximum log length before: 9 ft. 2 in.
Maximum log length now: 22 ft. 8 in.

Still have to block up midway along the extension. Those beams were not built to lay down like that. There is some visible deflection as the carriage rolls by so they would move too much with the weight of a log.

Also have to saw some bunks for the new section.

Next up:

[grouch]

After moving the push handle up, I couldn't stand the fact that the head could be raised a little bit higher if only that crank handle wasn't hitting the guard.

New 1/2" hole drilled 2-1/4" higher up the crank arm, arm hacksawed off, handle put in the new hole:





Result -- another 3/4" of blade height:



That's 1/2" more than the distance between the blade guide support posts, so it'll do for now.


Also trying out a mod that appeared in the Useful sawmill mods thread started by Bibbyman. Moved the lube tube to the side where the blade exits the cut (drive side). Just zip-tied in place for now.



Had to lengthen the hose and re-route it.



The blade has been cleaner since moving that, but soggy sawdust piles up in front of the guide. Need to move it and see what effect it has.


Next job is taking care of this aggravating thing:

[Magicman]

Am I seeing your lube tube on the exit side of the log?

[grouch]

Am I seeing your lube tube on the exit side of the log?

Yessir. The blade was always covered in gunk -- sawdust, sap, material from the belts -- and now its clean!

Here's the first mention of it I saw:

Reply #72 on: September 09, 2004 by ElectricAl

[grouch]

[bluegrasscellular provides LOUSY internet service]

There's something not quite right with having a fixed scale but a sliding pointer on a square rod that moves with the head.

So, off with the pointer and make my own scale for the rod.

First, a red zone:



That "indicator" is a broken piece of a reciprocating saw blade with the teeth ground off. The hole is handy for running a sheet metal screw through to attach it to the square tube of the push handle. Where I've located the push handle, that surface is 43 inches above the bunks.

This is what makes that the red zone:



Blade is about 1-3/8" above the bunk; log stop at its lowest is 1-1/4".

Now the yellow zone:



This makes it the yellow zone:



That's straight up, but not telescoped. I don't telescope that thing anyway.

And the rest is green, right up to maximum:



Just needs measurements added, now.

[tnaz]

Man Grouch; neat and good job.  I like the color coding too.8)

[grouch]

Thanks tnaz.

I'm hoping the colors help postpone the day I cut the stops. The yellow zone covers the long backstops, too.

[Czech_Made]

Well done sir 

[grouch]

Thank you kindly.

I need to make an adjustable scale, too. It would be handy to be able to set '0' for, e.g., pith or top of a cant, etc.

[woodcat47]

Very much enjoyed the thread. I just got my first mill [Woodland Mills]. You're already way ahead of me on mill time [I work too much]. Great write up on the mill and your mods. Haven't made any yet on mine, but I only have 4 hours on it so far.

I too will be milling just about anything I can get my hands on, just need more time to do it and that's coming soon. Have fun with yours!

[grouch]

Thanks for the kind words.

Best I can tell, the Woodland Mills mill already has corrections for all the deficiencies of the Harbor Freight mill.  You'll probably be milling more than modding.

The HF mill is a good value (if they haven't raised the price too much). It's just like some other HF equipment, it needs some tweaking here and there.

There's a discussion thread on another site that has several tips for the HF mill. (I won't link to it because it includes some disparaging, unfair and unrefuted remarks against Woodland Mills). One comment there points to the Woodland Mills owner's manual -- full color and complete. It's good advertising because it gives graphic (pun intended) contrast to HF's mill and manual. Comparing the two manuals should be sufficient to let a buyer make an informed choice.