Swing mill of lane?

[Hiway40frank]

Hi all, well its time I uprgrade from my little hudson bandmill. Ive been looking for something that makes strait framing lumber that does not need to be planed. My main use will be a house on my property so this mill needs to be quick. My budget is 10k max more happy with 5-8. I have come down to the conclusion I need a swing mill and really like the lucas 6-14 and its price has come down a lot I think 3,300 less than when I first saw it 10 years ago. So I was set on the lucas but then I came across a friend of a friend who is selling a 1985 lane single mill? For 9k and hes the original owner. The thing is flawless and very well maintained. So what should I due? I dont need another portable mill but I could see the lucas making money on the side doing jobs the local bandsaw guys cant handle, then again I could see the lane turing out some output and speeding up my house build and I can still make money off my own trees. Please any opinions welcome I really cant make up my mind.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Before you rush out and spend money on a mill to cut framing lumber, you need to verify the legal requirements for structural lumber used in building dwellings in your area. If the inspectors and building code require the lumber to be properly graded and stamped it may be advisable to purchase the structural lumber and to sell your milled lumber for use by woodworkers or others who can use the ungraded/unstamped lumber.

Good Luck!

Herb

[york]

Yes,better check with your building inspector...If your in a hurry,it will take some time to set up a circle mill.....

[Hiway40frank]

Haha the building code is a joke here, built my dad a weekend house last year and got the building permit 6 months after we finished the house. Paid a 200$ fine and the inspector did not even get out of his car. In my town as long as it cant be seen from the road they dont care what you do just pay the tax on it. The tax value is done seperate from the building inspection thats the only reason the building inspector even showed up we called him when we started and he never replys to our calls.

[Hiway40frank]

Back to the question, what would be the best in the long run? Im not in a hurry I just cant spend the whole summer milling wood, I want to finish milling by july and start building next summer Ive got a million other things to do before I start building I just cant waste time doing the actual milling.

[Dave Shepard]

Perhaps it would be more economical of your time and money to hire the milling?

[dgdrls]

The Lucas is a dandy mill and will churn out Dimension lumber
no issue,  About the Lane,  is it possible its a Shingle mill?
Have you seen it?

Any Town in NY is wild card IMHO

best
Dan

[Hiway40frank]

biggest problem is im choosing to use my largest trees since its less work than gathering lots of small trees. Im not sure there is any bandsaw guy around here that wants to deal with 50in white pine. They would quarter it with a chainsaw and that right there is a few days work cutting up the trees. The hardwood I have is 20in hard maple and I want a mill to do some jobs with in a few years when I have spare time. Also around here there are a lot of let me say guys that show up cut spend half the day shapining blades and charging you more money for blades then the actual mill work seems every guy with a mill thinks hes for hire around here. Would in not still be 3-5k to have someone mill what I have?

[Hiway40frank]

The Lucas is a danady mill and will churn out Dimension lumber
no issue,  About the Lane,  is it possible its a Shingle mill?
Have you seen it?

Any Town in NY is wild card IMHO

best
Dan

It might be, could they use it to mill regular lumber still? Its the guys dad selling it and im not quite sure hes all there so all I no is the name of the saw. Also very true about NY the town right next to me has an inspector that likes to show up all the time while under constrution and has put many sites on hold for no good reason. While on the other hand half the fires in my town are caused by people who do there own wiring and somehow get it aproved.

[dgdrls]

I don't think you do anything but shingles with it. 

D