Eyeing HM122, a few questions

[Ginger Squirrel]

I bought a 40 acre homestead property  in northern Ontario and with price of lumber figured I am going to be better off milling my own lumber and may even look at selling some at some point.  But chances are I will always have a use for it myself.  

I guess my first question is, with a budget of about 5k all in (taxes, shipping, accessories etc) is the Woodland HM122 a good way to go or is there other options I should look at?   I was looking at Range Road as well which are even cheaper, but from some video reviews I saw they seem to have lot of issues with quality.   From what I gather Woodland is a Canadian company and ships from here too, so that is good to know.

I would want to get at least one track extension, and wondering what other accessories I should also get.  Ex: spare belts, bearings etc is that highly recommended or is that something I should not expect to have to change too often.   What about blades, how long do they typically last, ex: how many cuts can you get typically?   Is it worth getting the sharpening machine or is there a cheaper manual option?  

I'd like to convert it to electric at some point as my long term goal is for the homestead to be 100% renewable energy, has anyone done this and been successful? What is the smallest motor I can realistically get away with?  I'm thinking with a 3hp motor I should be able to run it off a standard 15 amp circuit off a 2000w inverter if I make a soft start circuit, but would that be super under powered?   I would probably only do this conversion later down the line though, once I get the mill I'll want to just start using it as soon a I can and not tinker with it right away.  Ideally I should probably keep the existing motor until warranty runs out, at least.  

I'm 100% new to doing my own lumber, any tips and tricks I should know about when I have limited equipment?  Ex: I don't have a tractor or even ATV and won't really have the money for it.  I'm thinking I will be doing a lot of rigging with snatch blocks and winches etc to move stuff around by hand but curious of other ways I may be over looking.  Realistically I'll probably end up sticking to 10 foot logs at most otherwise it probably gets gnarly trying to manhandle that alone.  

I guess this post is a bit of  a tangent so just looking for general newbie advice.   But mostly, if the Woodland is the way to go or if I should look at other options.  I'm still at least a month or two away from being able to get to the property and still need to figure out where I want to start clearing so I will order once I'm at the point of starting so I don't end up having it sitting in a box in my driveway for too long.  

[rusticretreater]

Disclaimer: I own a Woodland Mills HM130Max

All of the lower end mills have their pluses and minuses and their followers worship them just like chainsaw guys, tractor and truck guys.  Based on what I have been reading on the forum, many manufacturers are running behind, months or years.  Right now Woodland Mills is shipping regularly and has known good customer service.  As for going cheaper, look out.  Some stuff needs a mechanical hand to adjust or modify it a bit to work good enough. Other folks will weigh in shortly with their opinions.

Spare parts, buy em now or buy em later.  You might end up with down time due to unavailablity.  Most parts will not need to be replaced for years.  Others, like belts you should have one on hand.  My basic rule is if it isn't metal, better have another one around.

How long blades last depends on the wood species, how often you cut and also what diameter logs you cut.  Many folks buy blades for different types of wood. Time to read up on that.  But buy in bulk if you can.  On bad days you will go through 2-3 blades easy.

If you have a sharpening service nearby, you might opt to just use them.  Its a calculation on your expected blade use vs. long term cost.  Hard to do if you have no knowledge of what that use level will be.  For me, it would be a constant hassle of shipping/delivering blades, time used, quality service and constant payments vs. do it myself.  I almost always bet on myself.

You need something to pull logs around with and get them out of the brush.  A winch, towable log arch, small truck/tractor/atv are required.  You could build a trailer with a log arch and winch.  How are you going to move logs across your acreage?

Start reading and researching and find out what works for you.  The search box on the Forum is your friend.  Also check on the specific topic areas.  Welcome to the adventure and life long learning!





 

[Blevdog]

I have an HM122 , I love it. Been over a year. I have cut 24" fir logs and no problems. Most of the logs that I cut are in the 16-18"dia. Also I didn't use the factory tracks. I bought 20ft. angle iron and made a couple of log bunks. Good luck with the search.