Skillmill swingmill blade (what kind is it)

[cperhne]

I am currently trying to find info on swingmills. After building two bandmills my interest are shifting to smaller mills such as the Skillmill.
Can someone tell me where to purchace a blade similar to the Skillmill size. One web site says it is a ten inch, but I cannot find pictures of the specific blade. Does it have multi holes for attatching to the arbor or just a single. Also what rpms would a blade this size need to turn. Thanks ahead for any information.

[Magicman]

I have no idea about your request about blades, but Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 

[cperhne]

Thanks, I have learned lots from the folks about band mills especially from the gallery, but just never got around to joining. I hope I can learn more or help someone else.

[zopi]

Peterson made the skilmill...then quit due to lack of interest...they claim that they may revisit it if the economy ever stops sucking.

the mill was electric, and what I do not know, is if it had a belt/gear drive off the motor, or if the blade arbor mounted directly to the motor...I think an engineer would have to be smoking dogfood to do it that way...belt drive from motor to arbor at a minimum would be my guess...just to reduce wear on the motor itself...they being pretty expensive...soo..missing that bit of info, and not knowing whether the motor is wired for 17XX rpm or 3490 or whatever it is, cannot deduce from there....might be a best bet to figure out how fast the blade rpm on the lucas/peterson gas powered mills are and work from there...oh..if you plan to belt drive the bugger..take a look at multi groove serpentine belts...lotsa grab there..

[cperhne]

Thanks for the info. Does Lucas have a mill similar in size? Its nice to see someone from VA. How far from Gate City are you?

[zopi]

I have no idea where gate city is...sp probably a ways.... I live in smithfield.

Lucas does make a nice smaller gas powered swingmill...I do not know much about them...for various reasons i went with the LT-15

[Okrafarmer]

I am interested to see how your project develops. 

[Al_Smith]

If you look around long enough  Dewalt and Rockwell at one time made a huge radial arm saw ,16" .If I'm not mistaken it was 10 HP .

They used it to cut timbers for huge shipping pallets and dunnage .

The few I've seen at auctions usually go pretty cheap because very few people have a use for such a monster of a saw and they are all three phase which deters most people .

The neat thing would be it would already have the swing gimbles built into the power head .You'd just have to figure out some way for tracking .--Junk yard dog  stuff ---

[zopi]

If you look around long enough  Dewalt and Rockwell at one time made a huge radial arm saw ,16" .If I'm not mistaken it was 10 HP .

They used it to cut timbers for huge shipping pallets and dunnage .

The few I've seen at auctions usually go pretty cheap because very few people have a use for such a monster of a saw and they are all three phase which deters most people .

The neat thing would be it would already have the swing gimbles built into the power head .You'd just have to figure out some way for tracking .--Junk yard dog  stuff ---

smiley_clapping smiley_clapping smiley_blue_bounce smiley_bouncing_pinky smiley_applause

[cperhne]

The radial arm saw is a good idea. Currently my thoughts are to stay with the smallest blade possible. I already have a 6.5hp small engine and the 90 degree drive which I would like to use for my first swingmill. My feelings are the smaller and simpler I can make this, the cheaper my mistakes will be.

[Al_Smith]

I've only seen one in action .A Peterson  at the Paul Bunyan show in southern Ohio .Seems to me they were cutting fairly good sized planks with it .Odd looking blade as I recall .

I can't remember how in the world they swung the sawhead though ?