Bought a 2004 Norwood lumbermate 2000 today

logfarmer · September 21, 2010, 02:54:40 AM

Hi Yall,
Looked at two of these mills, one in Spokane Wa. for 9500 and this one in Ketle Falls Wa. for 4000. The one in Spokane was a 2004 model with a homemade trailer ,20 hp honda, and 21 ft of track Kettle Falls was the 2003 17 ft of track, 23 HP Briggs, no trailer. The 2004 model looked way more used than the 2003 one and the owner had hit the log holders multiple times with the saw. Track was beat up and rusty, just looked like it had been used hard. Got the 2003 for $3750 the compression on the Briggs 23hp was about 145 lbs each cylinder. It needs a new water tank and we are going to buy a trailer kit to get it home and then to pull it around to get closer to the logs so we wont have to drag them as far and get them all dirty.
I live in NE Washington state on my own place and have a lot of trees available. There are a lot of Grand Fir (white fir), hemlock, and spruce dying here in this part of the state so I will be cuting a lot of that I think. There are also Douglas fir, Larch or Tamarack, some cedar, lots of lodgepole pine and a few birch.
I am getting about 25 or 30 used timberking blades that need to be sharpened does anyone know if that can be done in Spokane or should they be sent out someplace.
I have been reading about the 7degree woodmizer blades, will my saw have the horsepower to run such a blade in the type of whitewood described it sems like they area real favorite with a lot of people.
This is all the questions I have for now.
Martin

bandmiller2 · September 21, 2010, 07:14:39 AM

Welcome Martin and congrats on your new mill.I'am on the outher coast and not much help.Find out what outher bandmillers in your area are doing for sharpening,you may have to ship them I know Cooks will sharpen and set.If you decide that milling is for you, your own sharpening and setting equip. may make scence.Quite a few guys in your area I'am sure they'll be right along. Frank C.

Magicman · September 21, 2010, 08:04:51 AM

I welcomed you back in January, so I'll just say congratulations on getting a mill, and happy sawing. We want to hear more from you now that you are a "sawmiller" 8)

Meadows Miller · September 21, 2010, 08:26:30 AM

Gday

Congrats on the New Mill Logfarmer ;) ;D 8) 8) With band maint i use to do it myself because there was no one that did resharpening here back then so we had to teach ourselves ;) :D ;D with resharpening for a start there should be someone close by that offers that service Mate ;) ;D

Regards Chris

logfarmer · September 21, 2010, 09:01:30 PM

Hi Yall,
Thanks for the welcome and rewelcome. We got the trailer kit and leveling feet odered today Norwood said it will ship tomorrow from Buffalo New York and be around 6 days to get here.
Then it will be assemble as much as possible here, then go to the mill install the pieces and pull it home. My wife already has our first project picked out, to make board and bat siding for an 8 x 16 shed covered with OSB. My helper is my 92 year old father in law he will push the mill and Ill do the log turning and every thing else. As I mentioned we have a lot of dying white wood in this area so that will probbablly be what we will use for the siding.
Martin

paul case · September 21, 2010, 10:29:18 PM

congratulations on the new mill martin.
you may have the oldest head movement motor of anyone here! good to have help though. pc

Mike@Norwood · September 22, 2010, 03:39:48 PM

Hello Martin

First off, we're pleased to hear we have a new member to the Norwood family, welcome aboard. Also, welcome to the forum. I'm happy to inform you that your trailer package & accessoriers order shipped out of our Buffalo warehouse via. common carrier this afternoon. If you'd like I can send a private message with your tracking information or feel free to call us toll-free at 1-800-567-0404.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day

Mike@Norwood

metljakt · September 22, 2010, 03:53:27 PM

For bandsaw sharpening, try MSG services by the Spokane Airport.

barbender · September 23, 2010, 10:17:48 AM

congrats on the new mill- i hear only good things about the Norwoods.

cutterboy · September 24, 2010, 05:21:06 PM

HEY! Another Norwood guy! Martin, I think you're going to love that mill. I got a LM 2000 in 2001 and it has been very good to me.
Ralph

logfarmer · October 25, 2010, 01:24:16 AM

We finally got the mill home about two weeks ago got it into the garage and cleaned it all up, changed the oil, new filters, realigned the bandwheels, etc etc. Started to saw after getting the rest of the firewood in and have cut up maybe 5 logs so far. My father in law is doing most of the pushing of the mill after I get it set up. We are both having fun and this will get him out of the house to help and get some exercise. So far my observations are: We need a better way to get the logs to the mill than by dragging them backwards chained to the loader bucket of the tractor.... that really slows things down. Sawmilling creates a lot of waste that someone (me ) has to do something with it all. We could make more boards if the waste would take care of itself. :D I made some forks for my BX 22 but it only will lift about 450 lbs and that is hard for the poor little thing. May need a better way to get the logs up to the deck especially if they are bigger ones. There is a lot to learn about how to saw and get the most out of a log, this is probably only gained through experience.
So far it has been well worth it, there is nothing like taking a round log out of the woods and making lumber out of it and seeing it stack up.
Martin

Chuck White · October 25, 2010, 05:27:09 AM

Quote from: logfarmer on October 25, 2010, 01:24:16 AM
So far it has been well worth it, there is nothing like taking a round log out of the woods and making lumber out of it and seeing it stack up.

It's a good feeling for sure. ;)

Good to hear that you're up and going with your new mill!

bandmiller2 · October 25, 2010, 07:21:01 AM

Martin,material handling is pretty much the whole ball of wax around a mill,lots written about it in past posts.Stationary is easiest but your going mobile,make up some super duty saw horses the same hight as the mill with removable pieces to leave a gap to walk.A decent loader is almost manditory for any real production,Save your back and burn your slabs,sawdust can be spread on wood road soft spots. Frank C.

logfarmer · October 25, 2010, 05:40:28 PM

As for going mobile I thought that would be a good way to get the mess away from the house and dragging logs backwards with a tractor bucket is not so hard when you are going a short distance and not down hills. How ever the mill purchaser Jerry wants to keep the mill close to the house he's 92 and so deference to him is in order he will probably buy one of the Logrite ATV arches for us to use which will make it a lot easier to get the logs to the mill. Saw it demonstrated by Mark Havel in Auburn Wa when he had Future Forestry products. My wife said just stack the slabs on the flatbed dump and dump them out in the field for now and then well cut them up for firewood next year and if we decide to burn them they will all ready be in a nice pile. The post on log lot management has been on my to do list its just that those 35 pages are a little intimidating.
Martin