Being locked in the suburbs of Northern Virginia my options for a sawmill seemed pretty slim or so I thought until I found the right size saw. While certainly not able to compete with bigger mills, it gives me what I was looking for in portability and performance.
I just got back from a week on the family farm in the Adirondacks of northern New York. It was my first chance to use my Lumber Smith and portable track kit. I carried the entire set-up including my log cradles and ramps in the back of my Ford Expedition with room to spare. Set up was a breeze, the track kit leveled easily and stayed that way without any adjustments for two days of sawing.
My Dad chose a nice straight American Elm, said if it could handle that it could handle anything. We dropped the tree and bucked it up for our trial run. Our results were great, we cut everything from 1/4 to 3/4 to 5/4 boards over two days. The saw worked wonderfully and cut very consistently producing straight boards without any significant variation in thickness end-to-end. The next log loaded easily; simply take down the saw, removed the near side track, flip the center cross member onto its side, put the ramps in place on the cradles and rolled the next log onto the cradles. It didn't take two minutes to be back ready to mill.
All-in-all, it's going to do the job for me feeding my Shopsmith with boards and blanks for turning. There is plenty of free short wood in the metro DC area with all our recent storms. I've got more pictures in my gallery.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21788/2954/LS9.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21788/2954/LS_Second_cut_2.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21788/2954/LS12.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21788/2954/LS3.JPG)
That's a neat mill you have there redleg. Looks like it does a fine job.
8)
that is a neat set up redleg. the pics prove it can handle the elm. congrats on your new mill . pc
Now, that's portability. :)
Neat little mill. Doesn't it give you a sense of freedom to cut your own lumber?
Don
Nice mill!
That'll keep your hobby going!
redleg,
all sawmills should come with this disclaimer,
sawing wood is dangerous but adictive,symptoms of addiction are;
driving to town solely for more gas just to cut another board.
carrying sawdust in your pockets.
itching on the back of your neck.
adding blade kerf to everything including but not limited to: electric bill,log length,checkbook balance and phone numbers.
thinking about sawing more lumber on the way to the house after sawing all day.
looking at a tree and trying to figure how many bd ft is in it while driving.
sneezing and then having to wait for the dust to settle.
ect.
pc
I thought I might add the specs for my ultra-portable mill in case anyone was curious...
* Sawmill Weight 68 Pounds, Motor Weight 27.5 Pounds, Total Weight 105 Pounds
* Motor Type 5.5 Horsepower Honda with 6:1 Gear Reduction
* Blades 93 1/4 inches by 1.25 wide. 1.3 teeth per inch. .045 of an inch thick.
* Feed System - Manual
* Length of Cut - Unlimited
* Maximum Log Capacity - 24" Logs
My track kit is 12 feet long allowing for an 8 foot log. You can add another 6 foot section to get to 18 feet enabling a 12 foot log. If you don't want/need to be portable, you can build the track out of wood as long as you need. Here's the link to their web site: http://www.lumbersmith.com
RedLeg, I have never seen one of those before. Thanks for showing us!
I noticed that other replies said neat, and that is the exact word than came to me also. What a neat hobby mill that is filling a nitch in the woodworking industry. Thanks for showing and demonstrating it. ;)
I bet that you can saw up more wood with that mill than the shopsmith can keep up with 8).
Its nice that there are mills to fit almost all needs. Can you cut siding or shingles by lowering one side more than the other every other cut?
I don't see why not, you lower each side of the saw independently with the hand crank lifting kit for each successive cut. I placed adhesive steel measuring tapes on two sides of each leg to allow for setting the saw height whether on the track or on the ground (the V-track requires an height off-set against the flat track).
Do you get wavy cuts? About how long does a cut take?
Quote from: RedLeg on August 23, 2010, 11:21:53 PMBeing locked in the suburbs of Northern Virginia
:o :o :o :o :o I am so sorry!
Quote from: tyb525 on August 24, 2010, 10:55:41 PM
Do you get wavy cuts? About how long does a cut take?
Well it truely is a "manual" mill. It wasn't designed to set speed records but my experiences was that by applying consistent force throughout the cut that it made the cut without any trouble and cut straight, non-wavy boards. We've had other sawyers on the farm cutting lumber so I was able to compare my boards to others stacked on the farm and I felt that they measured up to those produced by bigger mills.
The logs in the pictures were a little less than 8 feet long American Elm so they were quite hard but I think each pass was less that 1 minute to make. Species of tree would probably be the deciding factor in speed per cut along with blade sharpness.
Yeah, no reason that it would cut wavy unless something was wrong with the setup. If the band is sharp, correct tension. running true and you don't force it, then it should cut straight, with the speed limited by the horsepower.
Price of a mill like that is down with a decent quality workshop band or table saw, and if you just want to saw up a couple of logs on a Saturday afternoon.. whats not to like. Some folk spend more on a new TV than that mill costs. Heck, even dragging the logs to some one with a bigger mill is probably more work than rolling then onto those bunks and sawing them up.
If the logs I get given were 18" dia I could find a use for that mill. But last log I sawed up was ~50", so yeah, right tool for the job. ;)
Ian
That looks like a great hobby bandsaw, and as long as it cuts true who cares about the speed? I know when I first started milling I used a chainsaw mill that took about 3 min/cut, and I was happy even then.
Redleg,
I also have a LumberSmith mill. I bought it in Dec of 09 and because of 'issues' I wasn't able to do much more than set it up.
I really like it and dealing with Eddy is a treat!
Ed in Missouri!
Quote from: Ianab on August 25, 2010, 08:19:51 AM
...
Hi Ian, I'm trying to contact other people in New Zealand who have purchased and used a Lumber Smith portable mill. Was hoping you might know some, cheers, John (Pelorus Sounds)
Now that'll cure sawdust fever! Nice mill. smiley_thumbsup
Congrads on the new mill! I almost bought a Lumber Smith. I had way too many logs to cut and now I have a mill I realize people are giving me logs I don't have time for yet. lol
And now I have fallen victim to the Sawdust Bug. I am guilty of :
Quote from: paul case on August 24, 2010, 12:23:41 PM
I agree with Paul ;D
all sawmills should come with this disclaimer,
sawing wood is dangerous but adictive,symptoms of addiction are;
driving to town solely for more gas just to cut another board.
carrying sawdust in your pockets.
itching on the back of your neck.
adding blade kerf to everything including but not limited to: electric bill,log length,checkbook balance and phone numbers.
thinking about sawing more lumber on the way to the house after sawing all day.
looking at a tree and trying to figure how many bd ft is in it while driving.
sneezing and then having to wait for the dust to settle.
ect.
pc
He got his new mill 2 years ago, EZ. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;D
Yup, the milling bug has bit another. I started with the LumberSmith and Eddie is a great guy to work with. Then I upgraded! It is a great small portable mill. The flooring I cut for my shed floor looks great. Thanks for posting!