1220 timberking Am I crazy

sully · February 10, 2012, 01:17:55 PM

I have been dreaming for yrs about having a sawmill. and with everyone tearing out trees for farmland I think this is now a good time to get one. I know what I want which is a tk 2000 or 1600 but just the added price and being able to justify it with the wife. I know it will bother her when a $20,000 piece of equiptment is just sitting there for a few months during the summer. I have found a used 1220 that I thought I could use for a few years until upgrading. I will also get somekind of chainsaw mill for slabbing large maple trees that most are birdseye. My main concern is that the trees that I will be milling are maple, walnut, oak and cedar the size mostly will be 18" with most being 24-30" range. most of this sawing will be for me but I will try to sell some of the lumber. I will have room for the wood thanks to friends and empty buildings. I also have a trailer and bobcat to help move logs. Am I crazy to think I can saw 28" oak with a 1220 and 15 hp. I do have alot of trees like 100 plus thanks sully

Magicman · February 10, 2012, 01:47:56 PM

My recommendation is to always go for the larger sawmill. For me, used is not an issue. They are all well build and easy to adjust and maintain. Maintenance is the life of the sawmill and proper alignment and blades insure a quality product.

paul case · February 10, 2012, 02:02:39 PM

Crazy? Probably.
IT can be done.
I have been sawing logs for the past 3 years with a manual mill and have gotten along just fine, except for being completely worn out at the end of the day. It has made me a good sideline income and works well with farming.
Keep in mind that more horsepower and more throat will keep you sawing faster and less time on the chainsaw bibbying those logs down to the size of your mill.
PC

sully · February 10, 2012, 02:28:18 PM

I was thinking I was crazy also but I was thinking again and I have alot of wood and I am not sure what to do with most of it after I mill it. the walnut and cedar I will take care of but the oak ash and locust no idea. I just don't want to see it go up in smoke. also today I went and looked at another place, huge hackberry trees probably 40 of them going to be put in a pile and burned. I will have to get these moved also. thanks

medic · February 10, 2012, 04:54:43 PM

Sully
I had a 1220 for about 5 years. It will cut a 28" log without a lot of trouble. You just have to listen to the motor and when it starts bogging down slow your feed rate down. I usually work alone and if I put in an 8 hour day loading, sawing and offbearing by myself I was a whupped puppy by the end. But like MM said there are used mills out there with full or partial hydraulics for a lot less than 20K. The more hydraulics you have, the more you can get done without killing yourself.
Good luck
scott

redbeard · February 10, 2012, 05:09:28 PM

welcome Sully I too was in your situation I ended up going for the hydralic mill and since 2006 when I started I have more than paid for it. I only saw part time and you have some good support equip already. So welcome to the crazy world of making lumber.

LarryRB · February 10, 2012, 05:35:45 PM

Hi no I don't think you are crazy but I would shop for a good used mill. I found mine after three year of dreaming. I found a 1999 wmlt40hd for 12,000 with 350 hours on it. So what I am saying is look for a good used mill.

qbilder · February 10, 2012, 06:14:16 PM

I have a mill similar size of the 1220, with a 16hp motor. It'll easily cut a 28" hardwood log. The problem isn't milling, it's log handling. I'm 34 and strong as an ox, lil over 6' at 215lbs muscular build. I'm strong. But I cannot even come close to handling logs that large. An 18"x10' log is everything I can do without serious risk of injury. This is using cant hooks & an old ford tractor. Anything larger & I need help. Point being, the mill is capable of far more than I am. Hydraulics & a forklift would make the task a breeze. But manual milling is very hard man work. When i'm in the gym working out, I think in terms of hundreds of pounds. At the mill, it's thousands of pounds & figuring out how to leverage the weight.

wheelinguy · February 10, 2012, 06:27:05 PM

Go for the bigger mill if you can afford it, your wife might appreciate paying more for the mill rather than paying for the chiropractor/doctors fees. I owned a tk 1220 it was decent but bigger would certainly cut down on your frustration level and make it more enjoyable for you. You could always check out the sawmill exchange, they have a ton of listings for used mills and you can call them and discuss your needs and they will send you in the right direction.

ladylake · February 10, 2012, 06:32:42 PM

One thing I'd do on a smaller mill on big logs is get the log squared up then cut it in half or thirds and saw 1 section at a time . Steve

shortlogger · February 11, 2012, 12:27:27 AM

Im with qbilder and wheelinguy,I have a manual logmaster lm 1 and am laying flat of my back in some serious pain for the third day over restling with a large 12 ft log,now im thinking thoes hydrolics sound pretty good .My wife sayes im just not smart enugh to know when to stop. Maybe time to upgrade

Brucer · February 11, 2012, 02:13:47 AM

Many folks will tell you to get the biggest mill you can. That's good advice ... if you know for sure you will enjoy running a mill, if you have the money, and if your spouse/partner is supportive.

I took a different route. I had the sawing experience, I had a supportive spouse, but I didn't have the money. So I bought a manual mill.

As you can see, a manual mill didn't keep me from sawing big logs. Now I'll admit it was a lot of work. It took a heck of a long time to winch that log up onto the mill -- it weighed about 4000 pounds. I bent the 3/8" thick winch mounting bracket getting the log up there.

The thing is, that one job convinced a timber-framer business to start buying logs and having me saw them exclusively. With a year's experience under my belt and the promise of ongoing work, I was able to borrow enough to upgrade the mill 53 weeks after I bought the first one. The timber framer has since died but I'm buying my own logs now and I'm the go to guy around here for big timbers.

This is what that first manual mill has turned into. Hydraulic mill with debarker, autoclutch, drag back, and 12' of extensions, plus a twin-blade edger.

If I'd bought a hydraulic mill to start with I wouldn't have been able to make the payments.

thecfarm · February 11, 2012, 08:17:07 AM

Nice set up Brucer. Maybe better to start out small. Have you got a "for sure" buyer for all the lumber. Show me the money is a factor. Yes there is the sales pinch of sawing so many board feet a day and making this much money,but are the buyers standing there with cash in thier hand?

shortlogger · February 11, 2012, 11:38:40 AM

Brucer has a good point, thats why I have a manual mill really wanted the big fully automatic mill but it was nearly 20,000 more and not knowing how much work I would have or how much I would enjoy sawing on a daily basis to make that payment I went with the manual mill,its more work but im not bound to a big payment every month. If things continue I proabably will upgrade but maybe to a good used big mill.

Stephen1 · February 11, 2012, 12:20:17 PM

I started with an older 1991 Norwood/silvacraft fully manual. Boy was it a lot of work, some logs were so big I was using my loader to turn them, no way I could do it on my own. but I used it for 3 years. Last fall I sold it and bought an older 1993 LT40HD , I waited and watched for 3 years until one like this came along. It was stored indoors since new and had only 750 hrs on it. Boy do I love the hydraulics, 8)
I believe like everyone else is saying, buy what you can afford, used is great, these mills have a very long life, as long as the frame is straight everything else can be adjusted and maintained.

Qweaver · February 11, 2012, 12:30:36 PM

I sawed the posts, beams, decking, framing, sheathing, paneling and trim for my house on a WM LT15. We sawed quite a few 30" logs and it was tough but doable. I paid $ 4500 for the LT15 . I loved the 15 but I'm glad to have the LT28 to replace it. Way easier to handle logs with a turner and toe boards.

Brucer · February 11, 2012, 02:55:36 PM

Stephen's comment got me to thinking about another advantage to starting small.

You can wait 3 years for the perfect used mill to appear, all the time wishing you were sawing. Or you can wait 3 years for the perfect used mill to appear, all the time sawing with a not-quite-so-perfect mill. ;D

For those of you thinking about a manual mill, remember that you can save your back by doing things more slowly. The winch-powered turner was slower than a cant hook for turning mid-sized logs. I always took the extra time when my back was at risk.

Magicman · February 11, 2012, 03:15:13 PM

And wear one on these when you are young.

Or wait until you get old and then wear one. ;D

Ironwood · February 11, 2012, 03:31:02 PM

One other thing to consider is the type of finished product you want. If you want logs-to-square edged dimensional lumber, then go hydraulic. For me I do almost all low volume flitch edge cutting, thru and thru. Also I do ALOT of reclaimed splitting of 2x stock so in both instances you need to careful of NOT damaging your product (I used to cringe when the hydraulic guys clamped down my bark/cambium), so for me MANUAL is what I need.

Now this summer I will need a bunch (1000's and 1000's bd ft) of roof decking for some projects here. I will get my buddy up the road to mill that on his fancy fully hydraulic WM. i will likely barter some logs with him in exchange for using his mill.

Ironwood

sully · February 13, 2012, 09:50:15 PM

Thanks for all your advise, I have decided to save up a little more and get a tk 1600. if I stack some of the ash for a year will it be ok from bugs or should I make firewood? thanks again sully

WDH · February 13, 2012, 10:01:13 PM

Go to your profile and add your location. If you were in Georgia, ash after a year from harvesting would make for a bunch of very very happy bugs. They would be dancing in the streets. Ash is bug candy down here. You location may be different.

wheelinguy · February 15, 2012, 08:11:27 PM

I live in vt, and we had some ash and cherry that we let sit for over a year, other than some checking at the ends of the logs they were bug free and looked like they had just been cut down.

Andy M · February 15, 2012, 08:45:46 PM

My father-in-law bought a 1220 a few years ago when he retired. He thought that just doing it part time the manual way would be the way to go. After sawing 10-20 cords of big pine logs, he told me I have to come up with a way to automate this mill instead of hand cranking or pushing it through the log. I came up with a Dayton 90vdc motor coupled to a Boston Gear right angle speed reducer with sprockets and chains. The motor is run by using an inverter run off the battery on the mill and the speed of the motor is controlled by a fwd/off/reverse toggle switch with a speed pot for adjusting your speed. It was about $1000.00 retrofit but he is still sawing today with it. It was cheaper than upgrading to a new mill and he is happy. I also built him an extra 8 foot frame to attach to the mill so he can cut up to 24 logs. The reason for this was we were sawing telephone poles for people to use to build barns.

WDH · February 15, 2012, 09:07:35 PM

Every time I read the title to this thread, I say to myself, "Yes".

Anyone who comes on the Forestry Forum and goes to the Sawmill Board and posts a thread asking if he is crazy for buying a sawmill has to be crazy :D. (No offense intended.)

Ludo · February 16, 2012, 08:10:09 PM

Hello All-
I Have been using a 100% manual mill for five years now. I cut logs up to 36" and 17' long (most of the big ones are 10-12'). I have a cheap 4500lb portable electric wench and a 7' Logrite log cant. With the two I could not do! The Logrite cant was the best investment I have made for the mill. If you go with manual mill, get it in the7' length- can't go wrong. I built a steel plate that bolts to the bottom of the wench and it allows me to hook it to the mill to pull logs on and center them- second best investment! Good Luck and remember, used mills are not like cars, if you take care of them, after years of enjoyment and some profit, you can sell them and get a good portion of your money back.