I need factual opinions on three different mills

cutterboy · June 02, 2012, 06:34:58 PM

grweldon, Welcome. I bought a Norwood mill 11 years ago and I can tell you that the mills are rugged and the people are good and fair to deal with.

The last three years I have been buying my blades from Cooks. The blades are great and so are the people.

Just thought I'd throw that in.

ladylake · June 02, 2012, 06:50:34 PM

As you mentioned price and delivery are important, kinda seems like the Cooks should have the upper hand being close by. Steve

grweldon · June 04, 2012, 12:14:14 PM

Quote from: barbender on June 01, 2012, 02:16:55 PM
The mills you have narrowed it down too all have a decent reputation, but I have to ask why a comparable Woodmizer didn't make the list?

Being a manufacturing engineer, tool designer, machinist, welder and all-around manufacturing kind of guy, the single reason that I did not investigate Wood-Mizer is the fact that they use 2-post carriage supports on the smaller models and single-post carriage supports on the larger models. I am also quite intimate with machine-tool design. If I had chosen to design a sawmill from the ground up, I would have done it differently. I'm sure (positive, actually) the Wood-Mizer line do the jobs they are intended to do. They wouldn't be in business nor have as many satisfied customers if they didn't. I could get in to a debate with the rest of the forum as to what I believe are the weak and strong points of any machine or machine tool. I don't choose to do that.

grweldon · June 04, 2012, 12:19:32 PM

Quote from: petefrombearswamp on June 01, 2012, 07:55:55 PM
Welcome to the forum./
Good luck in choosing a mill. All 3 mfgrs are reputable.
But... "factual opinions" is an oxymoron.

Pete... as soon as I posted that message, I thought just about the oxymoronic nature of the message, but chose to leave it, thinking it would give the keen, critical-thinker something to comment about... Welcome to the club... that is... the keen, critical-thinker club. I founded the club years ago! ;D

grweldon · June 04, 2012, 12:40:43 PM

Howdy again y'all!

My visit with Cook's was a great trip! Billy Gautney of Cook's gave me the 25 cent tour! Very nice fellow, in fact, all 5 people that I interacted with at Cook's were very polite and friendly. The MP-32 mills I looked at were sturdy built and seemed to work as intended. A mill with the carriage electric forward/reverse was not available for me to view, but I'm sure it would have worked flawlessly. I have no major beefs or issues with anything I saw on the mill. I have no doubt it will do exactly what it is intended to do. The MP-32 was a sturdy, well-built mill. They were building a larger AC-36 mill in the shop. That thing was a monster and built like a tank! If I were looking at larger mills, I would certainly consider the AC-36 as one of my possible choices! Thank you to Cook's for gratiously giving me your time!

grweldon · June 04, 2012, 12:46:54 PM

Today I ordered a TimberKing 1440. This was the most expensive of the mills that I was considering and I chose this mill over the other two I was considering for three main reasons. The 1440 uses hydraulics for the head up/down and carriage forward/reverse, it has a manual chain turner instead of using the electric winch to turn logs, and the electric log-loading winch is mounted under the bed to keep from having to remove it after each log. Small things, to be sure, and I know without a doubt the other mills I was considering were good mills that would perform exactly as advertised. We all have preferences in automobiles and tractors and countless other things. In this case TimberKing was my preference. I hope that I can say that a year (or 10) down the road! A sincere thank you to all of the folks I interacted with at all three companies. All were polite, courteous and respectful! Class acts!

mikeb1079 · June 04, 2012, 01:14:45 PM

congrats dude, now the fun starts!!! 8)

Magicman · June 04, 2012, 02:42:46 PM

Quote from: grweldon on June 04, 2012, 12:14:14 PM
I could get in to a debate with the rest of the forum as to what I believe are the weak and strong points of any machine or machine tool. I don't choose to do that.

And I respect that. I also congratulate you on your sawmill choice and wish you the very best with your sawing days ahead. You have many friends here ready and willing to fly to your assistance with any questions that you may have.

grweldon · June 04, 2012, 03:21:49 PM

Quote from: bushhog920 on June 01, 2012, 10:04:25 PM
where you at i live about 1.5 hrs from cooks too in south montgomery

I think I understand that you are asking me where I live?

I could be wrong, but I think the forestry forum shows my location as Autauga County...

Riggs · June 04, 2012, 04:05:02 PM

I have a Norwood, however mine is the ML26. I can't testify to the 34, but I am very happy with mine. Their customer service, both before and after the sale was great.

samandothers · June 04, 2012, 05:51:21 PM

Congrats on making the choice, now let the dust fly! Hope you can pick up or have it delivered soon. Let us know how it goes.

Ga Mtn Man · June 04, 2012, 07:56:20 PM

Welcome to another TK owner. You'll enjoy that mill...it's ruggedly built and easy to work on (and lends itself well to modifications ;)).

grweldon · June 05, 2012, 08:03:29 AM

Quote from: samandothers on June 04, 2012, 05:51:21 PM
Congrats on making the choice, now let the dust fly! Hope you can pick up or have it delivered soon. Let us know how it goes.

Delivery is early to mid July... :'(

grweldon · June 05, 2012, 08:04:44 AM

Quote from: Ga_Mtn_Man on June 04, 2012, 07:56:20 PM
Welcome to another TK owner. You'll enjoy that mill...it's ruggedly built and easy to work on (and lends itself well to modifications ;)).

Modifications! Yeah, that's the ticket! Already thinking about what it might take to convert the chain turner to hydraulic and adding a REAL log loader!

customsawyer · June 05, 2012, 06:59:17 PM

Congrats on the mill purchase. Happy sawing.

Migal · June 05, 2012, 10:57:31 PM

Welcome grweldon 8) My purchase was based on price and location quality I have been happy with my purchase as I'm sure you will be TK was on my list and they were very friendly in the bidding of for my purchase I picked mine due to Location in the end I later have made a purchase of replacement blades and have heard so much here I made two orders from two suppliers yes one arrived the next day before noon the other two weeks later although both purchase's work great so far I just live where I do... 8) 8) 8) yes I failed to mention brands on purpose.. 8) 8) 8) except TK because they are well built as all and they had my second choice and they need to know it was only the location that made me purchase the one I did. ;)