The Forestry Forum

So begins the story of one very lucky person who won a Skillmill at the Mystery Creek Fieldays in June this year.

To give the story full credit, I will begin on day one.

Here the Peterson crew have lined up their very first batch of Skillmills, which they plan to use for the Skillmill competition.

Here's a closer look at this new machine - still wet with thawed frost....Misty Creek it should be...

Well Jake starts the front one up, and the crowd gathers. The sign that says "from $3900" seems to confuse people a bit. "I thought sawmills started at $11000??".

Entry to the public was free - all one had to do was saw a single board, and they were entered into the draw. Here's Claire Watene stepping forward to give it a go. Darnz (in red) is training her.

Jake proudly sawing away...until we give him a hint and start sending entrants his way too....

...better post this before I lose it...more coming...

OK, OK, we're ready for the next installment.  Who was it?  Was it me? ;D

Well I wasn't at mystery creek so I bet it wasn't me. :(

Sue Billings gives the Skillmill a go....and another member of the public carefully inspects his sawn board.

Thelma (72) and Barry Vowles (74), even give it a blast. Thelma is very proud of herself indeed!

Over the next 3 days, over 776 people saw a board on the Skillmill. The queues to saw a board, get longer and longer. At times all three units are going, just to keep up! We have to load more logs every evening.

But we knock off early on the third day - we've are eager to find out if the Skillmill has won anything in the Equipment Awards. Here's the Peterson crew enjoying a drink, and waiting for news at the awards ceremony.
Fingers crossed!!

Gimme' a break - I need a toilet and coffee break before the next marathon post!!

Oh my gosh - Jake did it again! A brand new award to add to the stack...actually, there is now more timber in the Skillmill pile, than the big mill piles.

Jake doing the right thing and replying to our cat-calls of "speech, speech!"

But back to the point - sawing. Here Jake sets up a square cant between his new EZ-Dogs, to saw a fancy star shape.

The public are very curious. At the end of the day, Jake has a stack of weatherboards leaning on the front fence, plus a bunch of other fancy shapes too. I'll just have to build a playhouse at some stage...

OK, back to the point. Who won the Skillmill???   Right, go back to the earlier posts - see if you can spot the lady in red and grey jacket in two different pictures....

  8) I see her! I see her! Do I get a mill too?   ;D  ;D

Fantastic display - go they come with a gas motor as well?

We grab Gary from the Waikato Times tent, to come do the draw.

And the winner IS......


Sue Billing from New Plymouth!

Next post marathon, we find out more about Sue. How many women do you know of, that go to a major trade show with an unlimited budget, and what will Sue do with a Skillmill?? I heard mention of an oil-rig somewhere in there....

Oh, and I just wanted to say that you guys can get a chance to win the very first Skillmill to the USA later this year, if you happen across one of the stops on our roadshow...details to be posted.

Sprucegum, a 5KVA generator was running 2 of them at the show.

Electric will let you toy around in your shed without annoying the neighbour. Not to mention the fuel savings?

A 4KVA generator should have no problems running it (maybe even a 3.5, depending on its start up capacity)

where and when can we get some info on this ?????

I sure enjoyed the pictures although it does not look much like the winter I am used to. :D :D You really stirred up interest in the mill, it is an intriguing unit.

Kerris, are you and/or Jake coming up for the U.S. roadshow this year?  I'd sure like to meet either or both of you.  I hope the roadshow includes the Moultrie, Ga. show in October. :)

Here's the link:  Skillmill (http://www.skillmill.com/)

Nice page, but how much????

Stew

Joel That's pretty good I work for them and didn't have that link.  I'm gona call the boss (wife) and complain :D

Radar  Third picture first post $3900 is what it says.  I hope that 's right, for that price I know what to ask for for Christmas. :D :D :D

Joelmar you jumped the gun for me there...still adding stuff to that website (the American version)...and our RCs certainly deserved first info...but the good thing is you lit a fire under all of us in the office - you should see the scrambling to get correct info on that website now!! Give us a few days to get some video footage up there too.

The official US release will be on our Sep/Oct roadshow. Prices to be confirmed then, but I'm pretty sure it will be around the $3900 USD + state sales taxes if any. Thats from your nearest stocking point. We plan to have lots of dealers for these, so you can get them just about anywhere. Spec page will be on the website when I post it.

And I thought we'd get a breather from the New Zealand rush, before the American one. Hah! From the firepan into the fire. Gimme all ya got.

Oh yeah, DanG there will definitely be one of us over there. I hate flying, so might be Jake....will see.

Sorry!!!     ;D
 
Joel

Hey just to let you all know there are some video clips on the Skillmill website now...for a sneak preview.

This machine will be the ultimated for all those tiny logs you guys call "normal", and we call a pain in the a____.

Official release date in the USA will be end of September. I'll keep you posted on shows.

www.skillmill.com (http://www.skillmill.com)

A while back (around the time I joined I think) someone was looking for "testers" for a new mill.  Was this that mill?  I always wondered what became of that project.  It's been in my head for a long time now.  I remember needing someone from New Zealand (was it?) to run it for a while, I think.

 
Yep twoodward15, it was exactly that same mill - what a great memory!
But I'm sorry if I can't still give you that offer  :D
How about a nice new one thats been fully tested?? Available in the US in November.... ;D