So I have one of the harbor freight central Machinery sawmills, I didn't buy it with the intention to make a living off it I bought it to assist in my log Furniture business but I have a problem.
My dad brought over 5 good sized poplar logs from a tree he brought over and I sawed out 290 bf of 1" boards most averaging 10+- Inches in width.
I am addicted, I wish I had the ability to get a bigger nicer mill
Not really sure where I was heading with this post lol but there's something about turning something that a year ago I would of turned into firewood into beautiful boards that makes me want more.
If I attached the photo correctly you can see both the sawmill and behind the log bed is the poplar boards.
Yup, now I want a wind powered sawmill ;D
That would be pretty sweet but not windy enough where I live lol
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Rusticcreations.
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Sorry the bed is in front of everything lol. Only photo I have at the moment.
Very nice job on the bed.I'm betting most sawyers don't still own the mill they started with.We all start with what we can afford and see where the sawdust takes us.You are surrounded by good timber in Maine as well as a lot of sawmills.
Keep up the good work.
That bed deserves front and center. Congrats on your craftsmanship. 8)
Beautiful bed.
I am on my third mill :).
Thank you for the compliments on the bed it's always nice to hear positive things
I think my second and present mill will out last me. And it sure does keep me active.
Still on the first, bought in 06/2004 and still going strong .(LM 2000). That bed is a fine piece of work !
Quote from: WDH on May 11, 2016, 07:27:47 AM
Beautiful bed.
I am on my third mill :).
x2 on the bed. Real nice.
I still have mill #4 and #6 for me.
Be careful not to get any sawdust on any of your children or they may get the sawing bug too.
PC
The bed is really nice, I would think those would sell fast.
If you decide to get a bigger mill, the small loss that you take selling your present mill was money spent getting up the learning curve (and well worth it IMO).
Next year,first of May,Bangor will have thier woods expo. Lots of choices to see thier. I mean,IF you are looking to upgrade. ;) ;)
Since I built my mill and I have never touched a real mill I dont think I ever will.
I'm very happy with what I got and as long as I don't try something better then
I wont miss it.
Not being picky,but what is a "real" mill. Kinda like "normal". What some might call normal is something that I might not want to be around or do. ;D And something that I call normal others would have a fit about.
Ray, you ain't normal. Anybody who won't eat grits ain't normal.
WDH, you ain't normal. Anybody who eat grits ain't normal. :D :D
The Yin and the Yang :D :D.
No yong??? ;D
If the Earth was not balanced North and South, it would spin off into the eternal abyss :).
Great job on the log bed and the stack of boards look professional sawn. Keep in mind a bigger and better sawmill will take alot of time away from your rustic building creation skills. There are unlimited ways you can make your mill work for you. It will pay for itself quickly with your carpenter skills. You have something alot of carpenters don't have and that's a mill.
I got my first mill this year and of course I wanted to go big but the budget wouldn't handle it so I wound up spending just under $5k for a Woodland Mills HM126. I am as hooked as the rest of you. I can see this mill lasting a few years, but I want a much larger one as soon as possible so I can slab much wider trees. For now this is the perfect mill for me.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/42088/TXReds5.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1462068255)
You have a very usable setup.
I had to look up Elmo on the map and I see that I have passed your way many many times over the years. move_it
I have some experience here.
I started out with a m-14 belsaw circle saw. I used it some, enough to see it could be very dangerous and I didn't want my kids around it. I sold it and bought a EZ Boardwalk Model 40 new. Very good saw and I used it a lot. I could easily make a good sideline income with it and it was built heavy. I really miss being able to saw 36'' wide. I was able to get a contract to saw 3x4 cants at a nice profit and they wanted more than I could log and saw per week. I upgraded to a used 94 WM LT40hd. Then 2 years later I bought another 94 WM LT40hd. 2 years or so later I bought a '13 LT40 hd. Sold one of the 94's.
Yeah that's 5 mills in 9 years. I made money with or on each one.
I liked them all. However the need for greater production and ease of use was behind each upgrade.
My advice- get a mill you can afford. Use it to see if this is for you. If it works out you may need to upgrade. PC
^^ that is the same advice that I used in buying my mill. I also have the HF mill. Do I think I will get a bigger mill in the future, yep but I figured that I needed to start somewhere. Been working on the tractor so I haven't touched the mill for the last couple of weeks but the bug is there.
very nice!