Building a cabin: buy lumber or buy a mill?

ChugiakTinkerer · August 19, 2016, 02:27:36 AM

Thanks, at least it's a decision. There's an estate auction in Salcha on Saturday, has an LT40HD among all the equipment and toys. Was really hoping to get up there this weekend but life has other plans. So I opted for the sure thing. Great North Auction web site has details, lots of other items including some chainsaws, an old Foley Belsaw planer, etc. Enough tools and toys to equip a half dozen man-caves.

Doh, just re-read the rest of your post. Friend named Taylor by chance?

DMcCoy · August 19, 2016, 08:05:25 AM

Met a guy along the Alcan, if they still call it that, hauling bandmills to Anchorage. Had a 5th wheel with 5 of them on it. Said the trip was 5-6 days, sold like hotcakes, then he went back for another load. Can't remember the brand came from SE USA.

That is a very BIG state you live in, its hard to comprehend unless you go there! Got back and it felt far too busy here at home, too many people, too many roadsigns, everything seemed to go too fast.

Enjoy your mill! Great place to live imho.

starmac · August 19, 2016, 12:55:20 PM

Now why did you have to mention tha estate auction? I have been up north for a couple of weeks and hadn't heard about it, and probably would have been fine without knowing about it till it was over. lol

I do know a guy from salcha that is selling out, but not at auction. Lots of his stuff is in the big buck range.

starmac · August 20, 2016, 10:11:52 PM

Well the mill did not bring the reserve, so didn't sell. It was a 93 with the 24 horse onan. It had 2000 and change for hours on it, and looked to be in good condition.
They had a reserve of 15,000 on it, which seems a little on the high side, but everything mill related went with is, so maybe not. It had several boxes of blades, the old drag type sharpener, the lap siding attachment, some lumber stands, a small edger also went with it.

My wife told me when I informed dher I was going to an auction this morning, that if I bought anything big, something had to go. I think I am safe, as I only bought an axe, a tire hammer and a 1 ton ford with a 12 foot flatbed dump. She will probably consider the 1 ton big, but since it is smaller than my other trucks, I should be somewhat safe, iffen I play dumb.

I went to look at the planer moulder, and there were actually 2, that probably sold worth the money, but they were bellsaws, and fairly light, not what I eventually want.

ChugiakTinkerer · August 21, 2016, 12:27:02 AM

Thanks so much for the auction report. I'm surely glad I didn't go, as that $15k is way out of my reach. Congrats on the truck, and good luck with the better half!

starmac · August 21, 2016, 02:48:48 AM

There is an lt28 in the anchorage craigslist today for 7500.
There was a guy from Anchorage that drove up to have a go at the mill at the auction.

ChugiakTinkerer · August 21, 2016, 03:21:18 AM

Quote from: starmac on August 21, 2016, 02:48:48 AM
There is an lt28 in the anchorage craigslist today for 7500.
There was a guy from Anchorage that drove up to have a go at the mill at the auction.

Well where was this LT28 earlier when I bought my Woodland Mills? ??? Oh well, I guess that's how it goes. I need to start prepping a bed for my mill which is due to arrive about September 1.

starmac · August 21, 2016, 01:45:40 PM

The lt 28 was not hydraulic, but did have power up and down and power feed.
Sounds as if your luck and timeing is about like mine. lol

Look at the bright side, your woodland mills will be easier to transport to an off road site, and easier to build more track to cut longer logs.

I would love to get my hands on an lt 15 just for the ability to add track, to go along with the lt 40.

starmac · August 21, 2016, 02:09:28 PM

My bad, that is an lt 30 listed in los anchorage, not a 28.

Magicman · August 21, 2016, 02:15:47 PM

An LT35 has a Base Price of $15,595.00. LINK

starmac · August 22, 2016, 03:28:10 AM

Ah, but then you get to add the Alaka premium we get to pay for the priveledge for living this close to heaven. lol

The lt 30 for sale did have power feed and head.

I was back out there today to pick up the 1 ton and noticed some orange through the trees. and checked it out, it was an extension that I don't think has ever even been used.
This would, along with all of the other things that went with the mill would make her reserve not too bad for this area. I also found out that he had only had it for about a year, and knew the guy he bought it from, so knew it had had excellent maintenance, since new.

I kind of fault the auctioneer for it not selling. The mill was one place, the lap siding attachment another, the sharpener cant hook, lots of boxes of blades, the friggen battery, the edger and extra edger blades for it were all under a tarp where they had pulled it out of the garage, but covered it because it started raining, and now I find an extension in yet another place. The edger was advertised as a debarker.
Oh yea and the fenders in another place.
Everything sawmill related went with it, but most folks didn't know what all went.
The guy from Anchorage was still on the fence about telling her he would pay the reserve, when he was loading up to leave, this little fact could have been a deal maker.
I have to go back to get another pickup I traded her out of, and told her I would put the battery in it, put it in transportation mode for her and reinstall the fenders, as she doesn't know how to get it ready to transport.

Magicman · August 22, 2016, 06:40:03 AM

Ah yes, the plot thickens. :P

ChugiakTinkerer · August 22, 2016, 04:19:17 PM

My plot twist is the purchase of a Woodland Mills HM130 bandsaw mill. I started a thread about it for anyone interested in seeing what this little mill can do. Well, will be able to do, as in future tense. It's still making its journey to Alaska.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=91934.msg1415250#msg1415250

ORsawyer · August 31, 2016, 12:10:30 AM

I appreciate all the info and the decision process you went through. I have been struggling with the same decision for the last 6 months. Between the land I have to clear for our cabin site and some beetle killed pines from this year, I have about 6,000 bd ft of logs available to mill. Trying to decide whether to buy a mill or just hire a local sawyer. The realist in me (and my wife!) says to hire a sawyer but the romantic in me wants to mill my own lumber for our cabin and then have a mill for other projects in the future.

Funny thing is I have been following your cabin build for a while now on countryplans.com and just now stumbled into your thread on the forestry forum.

Look forward to seeing how your milling goes.

Magicman · August 31, 2016, 08:38:14 AM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, ORsawyer. I assume you are in Oregon, but adding your location to your profile always helps with questions.

ORsawyer · August 31, 2016, 10:37:03 AM

Yes, I am in NE Oregon. Will add that info to my profile. Thanks.

ChugiakTinkerer · August 31, 2016, 12:04:22 PM

Howdy ORsawyer, thanks for checking in. I really like the way you worded your choice, the realist vs the romantic. That fits my decision process to a tee. What sold me on milling my own was the fact that I know I will be building more than just a cabin. My wife and I had already discussed how nice it would be to have a guest cabin, and I know I will be needing a generator shed and a tool shed. Having a mill on the property and trees available means lumber will be available whenever I need it. Add to that the difficulty in getting on our property and I ruled out hiring a sawyer pretty quickly. That's the economic argument, but I think the romantic really won the day. ;D

eyewood · September 02, 2016, 02:09:45 PM

I wouldn't deprive you of the experience, but unless you are really in love with the idea of logging and cutting your own boards, I think there is a good chance that you might decide at the end of it all that it would have been better to seek out someone with a mill who is already equipped to do it. It can be frustrating, brutal work without the support equipment you need in addition to the mill itself.

Quote from: ChugiakTinkerer on August 04, 2016, 07:56:02 PM
Hello FF folks,

I've lurked here off and on for a couple years and I now have reason to step out of the shadows. My wife and I bought some land and started the process of building a cabin in the woods. I've settled on a post frame design and have started to cost out the timbers and dimensional lumber. Looking at all sawn lumber, from 8x12 timbers down to 1x6 tongue & groove paneling, I'm in the ballpark of $7,500. I don't really have either, but if pressed I would say I have more time than money. So I says to myself, "Self, why don't you just buy a hobby bandsaw mill and cut your own lumber?"

It certainly appears that I could save from $1K upwards of $4K depending on what I bought, but I know there would be plenty of other costs in addition to the time and effort of felling and hauling logs. I have the advantage of being adjacent to much state land from which I can cut firewood and house logs free of charge. Some background on the property and my plans are at http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=14235.0

I'm still a working fool and have no illusions of wanting to mill for coin. I'm just considering a small mill for building a cabin and the inevitable outbuildings that I haven't even allowed for in my cost estimate, such as tool shed, generator shed, sauna, etc. My milling would be weekends only on our property, and probably all of that will be in the winter.

I'll be looking at white spruce which grows in the area up to about 24" max. In fact a potential down side would be that I can't find enough big trees to mill up my timbers. I'm pretty confident that I could get all the 8"x8"x18' timbers I need, but the 8x10 and 8x12 could be hard to come by. Even if I have to buy the biggest timbers from a local mill, I'd still be ahead costs wise, as long as I don't value my time. :'(

Did I mention that this is a remote property in Alaska? We haul everything in by snowmobile in the winter. Access in the summer is by float plane. So a mill that lends itself to being towed by a snowmobile is a big plus. In fact, the Woodland Mills 722 with a couple of track extensions seems like it would be perfect. Current pricing shows me out the door with some goodies and shipping at just over $3K. I know there are plenty of other options and possibly some good deals to be had in the used market. I've been looking online and the pickings in Alaska are slim.

So what things don't I know about logging and milling that makes this an impractical idea? Winter logging seems like the way to go, but I have no clue about milling when it's 20F or colder. My back of the envelope estimate for the cabin is 7800 board feet of sawn lumber (hope I didn't lose a decimal point). Is it reasonable to expect to mill that over the course of a couple months if milling is limited to maybe 8 hours a week? Or will milling eat up so much of my time, time that could be better spent building a cabin?

I appreciate any input you experienced folks wish to offer. One other thing to mention, this is in a remote area where there is no permit authority. Hence no requirement for graded lumber. I'll be free to use whatever I mill and it's on me to make sure I'm using the right wood for the job.

You all are great sports to stay with me this far. Here's a picture from a moonlit ride on Lake Louise, just a few miles from our property.