Do I want a sawmill?

Robert Owens · November 09, 2014, 07:18:24 PM

I really like the different views that everyone has on this forum and I am able to learn from all of you. I enjoy the aspect of sawing lumber and cutting the material I need for whatever project I am currently working on. I guess that comes from my 20 years as a shop teacher. Now as an administrator at a middle school I need to saw lumber for therapy after a long day of dealing with all the issues related to middle school students. The ideas shared on here are entertaining, educational, and inspirational. Thanks to everyone for their views, it's what keeps me coming back day after day to see what's new.

mad murdock · November 10, 2014, 05:33:48 PM

Great post and very good thread Alligator!! I think you should go fer it. I don't have much else to contribute at the moment so I will stay tuned!! smiley_deadheaders_buddy

Alligator · November 10, 2014, 11:39:57 PM

Quote from: mad murdock on November 10, 2014, 05:33:48 PM
Great post and very good thread Alligator!! I think you should go fer it. I don't have much else to contribute at the moment so I will stay tuned!!

If all goes right I probably will. It will have to be stationary. There is a little sash gang, made in the Ukraine I got my eye on (my wife is Ukrainian). Only problem with it is it cuts in "micky meters" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92_3G7v8CqE They call it a Pellaroma (I guess that's Ukrainian for gang saw) I'm 3 to 4 years away from the sawmill part. I have to get my shop / barn where I can work on something. If I made I portable I would have to put it on a 53' lowboy. I have got to wind up my IT courier before I jump into another retirement one. I am lucky and unlucky that working remotely has become so easy. "lucky" I use to have to stay at the job site and work until 8 or 10. "unlucky" now I can /sometimes have to work from my recliner until 8 to 10. :-\

Thanks for watching
Alligator

Jisgren · November 11, 2014, 01:53:55 PM

What about a hybrid? Buy a manual mill like the LT15 wide now. This will get you sawing, but it still has a lot of opportunity to tinker - add a debarker, make your own hydraulics, etc. you could even build it such that once you want to make your own mill, you unbolt and sell the LT15.

Alligator · April 04, 2021, 07:10:31 PM

Well, I retired in November. Sold the lathe. Built the fish scaler, sold it. I finished the barn. My psoriatic arthritis has voted against a sawmill. But, my young neighbor bought the LT35. So, if I get an itch to get some turpentine on my hands I can go down there.

firefighter ontheside · April 04, 2021, 07:14:58 PM

Well, that's a bummer that you will not be getting the sawmill, but you have a nice barn to cover other toys, which I assume you have.

Alligator · April 04, 2021, 07:29:09 PM

samandothers · April 04, 2021, 07:39:48 PM

With a barn like that why have a house! ;D

Alligator · April 04, 2021, 07:49:20 PM

Quote from: firefighter ontheside on April 04, 2021, 07:14:58 PM
Well, that's a bummer that you will not be getting the sawmill, but you have a nice barn to cover other toys, which I assume you have.

Yeah, but I've had a sawmill. Time to conquer new challenges. I never learned to wield as good as I wanted. Got my eye on a plasma cutting table. I have just acquired the major components for a remote controlled dust collection system. I have the loader off the tractor, waiting for a water pump. I smoked the MB on my 3D printer, have the parts to rebuild it. My wife's above ground pool blew out in the fall. I just got finished demoing it in preparation for a new one. I'm proud I retired.
The 12' wing on the right is my computer repair shop. The wing on the left is my mechanical repair shop. (build stuff shop) I'm going to dedicate the back left corner of the main barn to plasma cutting wielding and fabrication.

Alligator · April 04, 2021, 07:51:11 PM

Quote from: samandothers on April 04, 2021, 07:39:48 PM
With a barn like that why have a house! ;D

It's my hide out (dog house)

thecfarm · April 04, 2021, 08:25:40 PM

Can I come hide with you? ;D

Ohioian · April 04, 2021, 09:00:25 PM

Alligator
Wish you lived closer to me here in northeastern Ohio. Youngens do not understand that with age comes wisdom and as we get older we want to do what makes us warm and fuzzy but for some of us what brings us a sense of pride is that we made something that makes everyone's life better.
I got a sawmill to cut wood that would otherwise go to waste and make something that would have a lasting effect.
We do what we do because it makes sense to us.
After doing what we need to do for our family we need to do what satisfies our soul

Brob1969 · April 04, 2021, 10:52:34 PM

Thanks for the follow-up.
I do like the way your barn turned out!

Alligator · April 05, 2021, 01:59:51 PM

Quote from: thecfarm on April 04, 2021, 08:25:40 PM
Can I come hide with you? ;D

Any time! It only accommodates 2.😂 That futon lets out to a 12" memory foam queen. Sleeps pretty good. I take my naps out there. It's quite.

Alligator · April 05, 2021, 02:18:49 PM

A couple of construction pictures of the computer shop sub floor. and stuff. I wanted a wood floor in the part I was going to spend the most time in. Better on the joints.

longtime lurker · April 07, 2021, 07:40:03 AM

If "retirement" is ideally about being able to do the things you want to do - looks like you got it figured.

slider · April 07, 2021, 03:49:24 PM

Alligator nice shop. I have enjoyed reading this old post.

Alligator · April 07, 2021, 04:29:37 PM

Quote from: slider on April 07, 2021, 03:49:24 PM
Alligator nice shop. I have enjoyed reading this old post.

Thanks. It's the product of about 7 years of on and off work and planning and figuring out. It was my father's horse barn. He retired and started raising and breeding Tennessee Walking horses in 1990. So it served him in his retirement and now it is serving me in mine. I left a few of the original 6x6 post visible in the main part of the barn just to remind me of him and who built it.

Alligator · April 07, 2021, 06:49:22 PM

I haven't posted much of the main barn interior or mechanical shop. I just started moving ang organizing stuff from my little 12'x24' barn. I still have stuff scattered. But here are some current pictures.

My 2000 F150. I bought in 2007 when gas was $4 a gal. for 4K with 86K miles. It now has 120K. Don't see a need to buy a new one.

The area I'm standing in to take that pic is going to be the wielding/cutting area. I'm going to line the walls 12' from the corner both ways with corrugated metal to cut down on the fire risk. Also there is an exterior door for my big floor fan to blow cool (as it gets) air from outside.

Tool room and build stuff side.

I've almost had to fight a couple of people who borrowed that 60' cable hanging there. They borrow it and don't want to give it back.

The toolbox on the left is a dedicated drilling stuff box. About 10 years I bought 40 lbs. of drill bits on Ebay from tooth picks to 1.5" for $40, from 12" down.

That's the progress. Still 100 things that need to go in their place. Another 100 that I haven't figured out where their place is. and another 100 in the little barn

Walnut Beast · April 08, 2021, 06:26:02 AM

Nice shop. Even if you wanted a new sawmill you couldn't get one. I noticed TK mills are not available for delivery till 2022 and prices keep going up

WV Sawmiller · April 08, 2021, 10:33:58 AM

That is an embarrassingly clean shop! Looks good.

Alligator · April 10, 2021, 11:39:30 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on April 08, 2021, 10:33:58 AM
That is an embarrassingly clean shop! Looks good.

I just had the cleaning crew run over it last week. I am trying hard to not let it turn into the disaster area my little barn turned into. It's *DanG near a toxic waste dump. I out grew it and kept throwing stuff in it. Now I'm having to pull stuff out covered in spider webs and clean it piece by piece.