Riehl board edger

[Southside]

I have a WoodMaster WM4000 - the new 4 head model they came out with last year.  Some lumber is edged twice.  Once when it comes off the saw if it's a flitch to get it close to it's final target size, then everything is edged as it comes our of the kiln.   Basically it's straight lined at that point as I use both blades on the edger and a custom fence so my left side cuts 1/2" off and the right is set to the final width I want, it works slick,  flip the fence out of the way and I have the standard 4" to work a flitch with.  I don't have any issues with lumber moving after edging it given it's dry.  

I think I paid around $1300 for my Kohler with free shipping, brand new, had it shipped to Riehl and he set it up for me.  Personally I would be a bit leery of a cheap CL engine given how most folks treat stuff like that.  

My moulder is on a 70 amp breaker, you also have to allow for a dust collector - and a good sized one, at least 5,000 FPM just to the moulder, so there is another decent amp draw there,  don't even think of just letting the shavings fly out like some do with a planner, you will have a train wreck in no time.  

Does your $12 - $18K include drying?  Moulders do not like green lumber, they really, really, don't like it.  Unless you have an interest in selling finished lumber/flooring/moulding later on I am not sure the numbers would pencil out to set yourself up to do it, just on your house project.  You need to figure in your time, the learning curve, wasted / oops material, tooling - you are not going to do all that on one set of knives, so you are either shipping them out and waiting for them to come back or buying a sharpener to do it yourself, that's another $1,100 ish by the time you have the jigs for the planer and moulder knives.  Plan on probably $450 for each complete set of knives including side cutters.

One more thing - I pre plane, basically skip plane, all of my lumber before it hits the moulder, for the same reason that I edge it, the better the product is going in, the easier and faster it is on the moulder and the better it comes out, so effectively I have 7 surfacings to a finished piece of lumber, all in a linear fashion to reduce labor.  I have basically zero tear out as a result, and I get a free peak at what I thought the best face will actually look like.  You can pre-plane with the moulder, just back the side cutters out of the way, but that means double handling of all the material.  

Not trying to be a downer here, just honest with you.  I do this to make a living, and I honestly very much enjoy running the edger and the moulder, both are great tools, but there is a lot to getting it all dialed in.  Both came plug and play, but that does not mean you are ready for that level the day you fire it up, at least I was not.  There were more than a couple very long days that stretched into the wee hours of the morning.  

Maybe there is an old belt driven type of 4 head out there somewhere that you could hook up to a gas engine, but my gut tells me that if you want to find it you better be looking in the field areas behind old mills that are long gone, and bring along a 55 gallon drum of Blue Creeper to try and get her moving again.    

[Ljohnsaw]

To answer your question about drying - I am air drying.  Thanks for the details.

[Southside]

Are you not going to heat treat and set the pitch as well?

[Ljohnsaw]

I have Red, White and Ponderosa Pines and Incense Cedar.  Out of 7,200 bd-ft cut so far, I only had one sappy board.  It had a pitch pocket that I cut out.  I had one big old tree that I ended up rejecting 2 logs from.  Big knots and oozing pitch, they would just not cut so they will be benches or part of a big bonfire.

[Bpski]

I know this thread is old but was wondering if that edger is still preforming good for any of u guys that are running on for a long period of time.They're pretty reasonably priced as a edger goes.Any feedback would be appriciated before I pull the pin and buy the edger in this thread.thanks

[Southside]

Use it multiple days a week, actually ran it yesterday.   Had Darin make me up a custom, sliding adjustable fence that allows me to use the left set blade to SLR from 1/4" to 3/4" off the board and set the right side to the desired width so basically a double sided SLR with two adjustable sets.  Makes prep coming out of the kiln one pass and done with minimal waste.  Personally I use 3 in 1 oil on all of the sliding components and I get a couple days run before I need to re-oil things.  I would buy another one tomorrow should I need one, they are under priced for the value you get.  

[paul case]

I still have mine and use it every week.

Sometimes we use it for a whole week as we stack up our grade flitches and edge out a semi load all at once which takes a few days.

I retro fitted mine with a 15 hp 3 phase electric motor.

PC

[Bpski]

Thank you for your replies,I don't saw enough to justify needing one right now,however I'm building a new barn next year and going to do board and batten siding so I think it would be pretty nice to have ,but I hate edging on the wm.

[Bpski]

One more question,is the motor direct drive to the edger blades or is there some sort of slip clutch or idler pulley to engage the blades.thank you guys again for your feed back

[Southside]

Direct drive to the blades and power feed. You will never want to edge on your mill again after running an edger.

[paul case]

The motor has a belt / pulley between it and the blade shaft. Another belt from that to a gearbox runs the power feed. No slip clutch. 


PC

[gwdwood]

Hello - to all on this post, this is 3 years old  - I am in the market for an edger and was wondering if there were any updates on the edgers discussed - be great to know after a few years of BF how they were working, what you would have done differently, or configured differently
thanks

[YellowHammer]

Are considering others besides a Riehl?

[gwdwood]

Are considering others besides a Riehl?

I am looking at Riehl, Baker, WM and Thomas  - just starting to investigate - trying to get a sense of pros and cons of the different models.  So far I like the Baker (like you have) but it is a big investment.  

[Bruno of NH]

Don't let cost make you choose one .
Wait and save for one you like .

[WDH]

Check out Cooks too.  

[YellowHammer]

Don't let cost make you choose one .
Wait and save for one you like .

DanG right.  Excellent advice.
Get the one you want that best fits your needs the first time, or you will be getting it the second time around.

[longtime lurker]

This morning a guy called me discussing some equipment he was looking for, and said to me you got to crawl before you can walk.
My response was if you only buy equipment that will help you crawl, you'll be forever on your knees.

You buy equipment to make money, not buy equipment to save it. In my experience the right machine is always a stretch, and always pays itself off first. 

[customsawyer]

I will say this about edgers. I have had Morgan, 2 Cooks, WoodMizer and now a Baker. There are things about each machine that I liked and there are things that I don't like about each one.

[YellowHammer]

The main thing is that each edger brand and model is different, but they all do a few things no matter what brand or model. 

At a minimum, an edger should cut straight and be easy to use.  It should "want" to cut straight, with a minimum of user effort.  

It should be designed to last for decades, should clear chips easily, and not need fiddling or adjusting for very long periods of time.  The blades should be easy to change, but should last for a very long time.   

It should be able to run a variety of materials and thicknesses at a reasonable speed.  As with most machines, horsepower is king.   

It should be a benefit to the user's operation, should make things easier, and should fall under the category of "take steps to save steps."

A good edger is almost "too easy" and when we edge for customers real time, we bring in their wood on a pallet at the front of the edger, they park their vehicle at the tail of the edger out-feed staging table, and we edge as fast as they can load the boards.  In this case, our edger makes us money because we charge an edging fee, as do most lumber companies.  

 Here is a link to an edging video we made a little while ago.  The min thing is to notice how easy edging should be, how I'm not having to hold or guide the boards to keep them straight, and how little effort it is.  We had this edger running at a moderate speed, simply because that's where I like to run it, based on how fast I want to feed it.  Also, blade life increases as the board feed rate slows down.  It will go about 80 feet per second through 3" thick red oak, but I don't run it there.  

https://youtu.be/I6acPMhADwk

    

[moodnacreek]

I have seen the Riehl edger. It is light and really small but well made and a proven design. What most guys who talk here need is not affordable. There is no limit to edgers, the bigger the better. The more feed rolls the better. The bigger the mandrel the better, like 3" plus. A hydrostatic variable feed and cross chains or some very easy way to position boards and then of course a tailer to drop the sticks and take away the boards. $$$

[boonesyard]

I'm going through the same conundrum. It's time to add an edger and I've been looking at all the makes. Semi portable is good, gas or diesel driven will be required, a huge capacity commercial machine will not be necessary. Cooks, Baker, Woodmizer, Reihl, been looking at them for some time. Finding a good used machine right now is just not gonna happen, been watching for quit a while. I landed on new, but every manufacturer is WAY out on delivery, middle to end of next year. Also, in my wee little brain, I'm thinkin that with the amount of mills (and probably edgers) that have been sold in the last 18 months, there might be some good buys on fresh used stuff in about the same time frame.

I know it's tuff to speculate, but with the supply chain the way it is, some of that is required say_what. Like a good mill, buy once/cry once.