Wanted: A beginner hobby bandsaw mill that wants to marry my Kohler 8.5hp !

[BackwoodsUSA]

Hi all. I joined the forum today and am glad to be a part of a this terrific group.  Here's my story ... I live on 40 acres of woods in northern Wisconsin.  I currently make my lumber with a lumbermate chainsaw mill and like the hardwork, but hate the waste and hardship on my Husky. My brother gifted me with a Kohler 8.5hp Command Pro motor as a gesture for letting him deer hunt on my property, with the caveat however that I use it on a small bandsaw mill. I was touched by his gesture, and am currently searching for a hobby bandsaw mill where I can use his motor.  The guys at Woodmizer are willing to deduct $300 off an LT10 w/out a motor, but at $3,600 w/out shipping, it's more than I can part with.  The Hudson Homesteader HFE21 is perfectly fine, but they are only deducting $150 and I'm still looking at close to $3,000 ... I really have a budget of about $2,500 not-to-exceed .. anyway, I'll get to my question ... is anyone familar with good honest guys in the midwest that fabricate small hobby mills that could use my Kohler 8.5hp ? I'm thinking of a place like like Burg in Oregon  http://www.burgbandsawmills.com/index.html but closer to my beloved Wisconsin.  I'm very low maintenance and don't mind manual work or a slower machine ... just something that my brother and I can putz around with to cut some boards with the timber I have on my property.  Thanks so much for your input. 

[hunterbuild]

 I have the Harbor Freight saw. I got it for around $1700 with a coupon. I have cut a lot of logs with it. See my older posts. Keep your motor or switch it out. 

[Jimmy Mc]

I too have a Harbor Frieght mill. I love it. It is on sale  right now for $1999, with the 25% off coupon it is only $1499 plus shipping. Shipping will be less than $100. You will not be able to beat that anywhere. If for some reason you wear the engine out your engine will bolt right on.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, BackwoodsUSA.   8)

[BackwoodsUSA]

Thanks hunterbuild and Jimmy Mc for the tip on Harbor Freight.  I wasn't even aware they sold a bandsaw mill ... I will check it out.  I have HF table saw and it works just fine for me.

Magicman, thanks for the welcome!  I enjoy reading your posts, as well as others.  Glad to be here and part of this forum.

[Bill Gaiche]

Welcome aboard. Good luck with your mill purchase. Any mill is better than no mill at all. bg

[Happycamper]

Backwoods,
  You have come to the right place for help and information. A year ago I bought a new LT10 mizer with the 10 Hp engine on it, and it did OK as long as I went slowly through the log. This past summer I put a new 12.5 HP on the mill and the difference is like day and night. You can not have too much power but you can have to little power and with a used engine you just don't know what life there is in it plus it is to small for the job in my opinion. With the larger engine it does not work as hard or burn the fuel that an underpowered motor will. At least 10HP in excellent condition is needed to give you satisfaction cutting instead of frustration cutting.
                                                          Jim

[thecfarm]

BackwoodsUSA,welcome ro the forum. You have got the bug bad, No cure for it until you are sawing lumber with a new mill.  ;D Look for that 25% off coupon if you buy a Harbor Freight.

[york]

The motor you plan on using would be ideal for a wood splitter project-it is too small for a band mill-save your money and take a long hard look at the EZ Boardwalk.....

albert

[36 coupe]

Check out the Linn lumber mill in Oregon.They sell complete mills or parts.I know many have built their on mills but it is a major job.My mill has 13 hp, would not want anything smaller.I wasted 5 years thinking about building a mill.

[StimW]

I just bought the HF Mill. With coupon, freight, sales tax my total came to $1607.
It now comes with a 280cc engine. Honda rates a 270cc engine at 9 hp and the HF engine is a Knock-off Honda so it might be 9 1/2 or 10 hp.
I'm going to make a post about it with pics but I am STILL trying to figure out how pics work on this site.  :( 
I have been posting pics online for about 20 years and this site is the most confusing/difficult that I have ever found!
I am impressed with the HF mill, it is very well made.

[thecfarm]

StimW,yes,pictures posting may seem confusing,but not many red "X"s on this site. Pictures have to be put into a gallery on this site. Than the pictures are posted from there. This way the pictures will always be there.
This is how to upload pictures to your gallery
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,61788.0.html

[Magicman]

StimW.  You have the pictures in your gallery.  Click the picture that you want to post and then scroll down and click the bubble that says "Insert image in post".  Then OK, and the picture's address will be in your post.  You can click the "Preview" button to view your post before actually posting.

[21incher]

Welcome to the forum Backwoods. I purchased the Hudson HFE-21 as a demo unit ( 5 cuts) and saved some money. You may want to contact them to see if they have any demos available that come with a warranty. I only have a 7 hp and it cuts 21 inch ash maple and walnut fine. I use a .035 blade and think when you go to a thicker blade you need a bigger engine.

[Freedom6178]

I just looked the HF mill is on sale and I have a coupon code for 25% off..12453896.. Is $1499. Not including shipping.. Hope this helps. But others know more than I. It did get good reviews on their site..

[StimW]

StimW,yes,pictures posting may seem confusing,but not many red "X"s on this site. Pictures have to be put into a gallery on this site. Than the pictures are posted from there. This way the pictures will always be there.
This is how to upload pictures to your gallery
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,61788.0.html

I found that site and managed to post one gallery after only one hour of trying! The videos are too blurry for me to see what they are clicking on.

[StimW]

StimW.  You have the pictures in your gallery.  Click the picture that you want to post and then scroll down and click the bubble that says "Insert image in post".  Then OK, and the picture's address will be in your post.  You can click the "Preview" button to view your post before actually posting.

I tried to attach pics but couldn't figure it out. Somehow I ended up with two sets of gallery pics.  ??? I tried to delete one set and both pics left.

[BackwoodsUSA]

I pulled the trigger on the HF mill ... with the 25% coupon, how I could I pass up a total of ~ $1,600 including freight and 5% WI sales tax? It may have its draw-backs, but compared to the Lumbermate chainsaw mill I've been using?!  I'm looking forward to venturing into the world of bandsaw milling.  I'm assuming I will be severely hooked (I already am at just the thought of sawing up my blackcherry, sugar maple, black ash, white spruce, white cedar, quacking aspen and balsam fir logs), and am excited to know I can always upgrade. 

Thanks again to everyone who provided advice.  I appreciate your time and help.

[StimW]

If you click on the little camera under my information it will take you to my pics of the Mill.
It comes well packed in a crate and lots of cardboard.
It is very well made and the only thing I can find fault with is the bed length. It will only cut a 9' plus board.
I am building a trailer for moving it and making a bed extension so I can do at least 16' boards.

[thecfarm]

StimW,Magicman noticed that you had a gallery all set up. I missed that.  :-[   Forget the link than.Magicman posted how to get them out of your album to a post. I have it here too. Same thing as Magicman did. They both work.


I like to go to whatever post or start a new topic first to include a picture.Go to your gallery,it will open in a new window.Click onto your album,then click onto whatever picture you want,it will get bigger,than scroll down a little to find,Insert Image In Post,click onto that,click Yes and that is it. Some have to copy/paste the link to work.I like to hit the enter key at least once or twice to move the picture down away from what I am typing. The enter key really helps to leave some white space if posting more than one picture. Somewheres I think it says to add 10,000 to your user number or something like that to make a clickable icon to your gallery under your user name. Use the preview button to see how it looks and modify it if needed.

[Ianab]

Once you have the image in the gallery, call up that image and scroll down to the place that says

Or if that doesn't work, copy and paste the code below into your post window where you want your image to appear.

You will see some code like this.

Code Select Expand

[img]https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/35730/SAW_MILL_021.jpg[/img]

Simply copy and paste that into your post, and you get.


This will work for ANY browser or computer combination 

Ian

[hunterbuild]

 

  I found some 20+ foot long 3x3 angle iron and made my own tracks. I can cut 18' now, and can add more if I want. The track that comes with it is not standard off the shelf angle. Also be prepared to have the saw back ordered, be patient it will come and will be worth the wait. 

[Jimmy Mc]

I pulled the trigger on the HF mill ... with the 25% coupon, how I could I pass up a total of ~ $1,600 including freight and 5% WI sales tax? It may have its draw-backs, but compared to the Lumbermate chainsaw mill I've been using?!  I'm looking forward to venturing into the world of bandsaw milling.  I'm assuming I will be severely hooked (I already am at just the thought of sawing up my blackcherry, sugar maple, black ash, white spruce, white cedar, quacking aspen and balsam fir logs), and am excited to know I can always upgrade. 

Thanks again to everyone who provided advice.  I appreciate your time and help.

That didn't take long to make up your mind. There are a couple of things you can do when you put your saw together that will make your life easier.
1. take the head lift assy. apart and clean the grease out of it and replace it with some good grease. I used red wheel bearing grease and a lot of it. It has worked flawless. they come with too little and poor grease.
2. remove the throttle cable and throw it away. go to walmart or anywhere and get a brake cable for a bicycle and install it. the cable that comes with it will have rust at the point it enters the housing and will fail soon.
3. You are going to need blades, the ones that  come with it are not the best, good blades make all the difference in sawing.
4. break the engine in right. They are great engines and will run a long time with no problems.

There are a lot of mods guys are doing to their mills, to make them more to their liking. but just these four things will get you sawing without any trouble. You will find the things you want to improve or change to suit your needs as time goes on.
Happy sawing

[BackwoodsUSA]

Thanks for the tips, JimmyMC, I really appreciate it.  I'm looking forward to playing around and having some fun sawing up some lumber ... AND, putting away my chainsaw lumber mill jig and just using it for what it was intended for ... making firewood.

[Freedom6178]

Congrats on your new mill.