I am looking for a sawmill and an Woodmizer LT-40 just became available in my area for 8k. I looked around to see if this was a good deal and I saw that there were companies selling similar sized mills for 8k-10k new. This woodmizer is looking a bit rusty, but the hours are fairly low (1500). Do you all have any suggestions on a quality mill for under 10k?
Here is what I need:
I have about 80 acres of hardwoods available with some bigger oaks and hickories. Thus I would need a 30" or so cutting capacity.
I have a bigger front end loader to move and position logs.
I will need a trailor package.
I will be cutting timbers for timberframing application (8x8, 8x12) that sort of thing.
I wont be running the mill 5 days a week or anything.
I just need a good mill that is not too fancy, but there seems to be 50 companies out there with 1000 products. Give me your 2 cents and I'd appreciate it.
Give that Woodmizer a real good look-over, and be prepared to buy it if you don't see any major problems. Nobody is selling a new mill that comes anywhere close to it, for that kind of money.
I've seen that mill you are talking about on ebay. I also am looking for a mill. I've must have reviewed 20 different companies and makes of mills. I think I will be purchasing a T.A.Schmid mill from upper state New York. For about $7500.00 I can purchase a mill with these specifications. 36" diameter with a 20 foot lenght, I think the actual cut length is 16 feet. With a 20HP Honda. Upon reviewing there specifications I believe for under $10k you can purchase the mill you require. I'm including freight in my $7500.00. PM me if you want to discuss this further.
http://www.taschmid.com/
At the risk of starting a war(that happens whenever you say one mill is better than another). I would say a WM in good condition is better than many new mills. I started with a Norwood. It was a very good quality, well built mill and it cut straight lumber. When I decided to do a longer term high volum of sawing, I moved up to a WM LT30. It is a much heavier built mill and even being manual, it has features that make the job much easier. Hydraulics would make it even better.
IMHO!!!!!!
You will get plenty of WM kudos, so for me to chime in there would be redundant.
When I was looking for particular mill, one in the 10 grand range (more than I wanted to spend) that I almost went over budget for, was one that Baker offers.
Their 18HD is a permanent trailer model, with 30" diameter and 20.5' length capability.
Give Cooks mills a look , their no heaver built fram out there.........
get a nice setup for under 10...............
what is a new lucas or peterson run? A swing mill might be worth thinking about as well.
Welcome to the forum walexander.I looked at a few myself and dreamed about a few others.I bet I looked for 20 years before I bought one.I would not be to concerned about rust,within reason.Just like a older car,it will have some rust on it.It set outside it's whole life probaly.If you do go look at it,make sure it can saw good lumber.I myself would not have a clue where to look for any problems.
That LT40 is a lot of mill for under 10K. I run a LT40 manual everyday and it will produce plenty of quality lumber in a day. Seeing that you have a loader you can get away without hydraulics easier. I turn most of my logs with a peavey, but if they are a real back breaker the winch turner does the same thing as the hydraulic one, only slower. The part I envy the most on the hyd. units is the two plane clamp. I don't know what the other mills you are looking at look like, but not working on the ground is a big plus.
Dave
I'd say that mizer is the way to go, even if it needs some work. I bought a used LT40 manual several year ago. It's worth more now than what I paid for it. Another thing to consider is upgrades. Try adding hydraulics to any of the manual saws. It's a snap on the mizer. I did my own for a material cost of just over $600, thats log turner, log holder, and 1 toe roller. Parts and support from woodmizer are quite reasonable, and most parts can be obtained locally if you are so inclined.
There is a guy in Alaska called Gene Pool who makes a band mill for just under $ 4000.00 US, he has made over 130 of them to date, they are very good, and they will compete with any of the branded names around, well worth a look at, if you are interesed PM me and I will send you some pictures of mine.
His name is Gene Pool? Man thats funny. Id like to check his stuff out. I'll PM you.
:D :D :D Sounds like he otter be running a fertility clinic, don't it? ;D
Have you looked at this web site. Lots of used Sawmills for sale here.
http://www.sawmill-exchange.com/
What year is the LT40 and what engine is on it? Any other options like Debarker or Lod Deck Package. Blade Maintenance package BMP extra blades etc. Parts are available for all Makes and models right back to the 1st mill ever built. Wood-Mizer also has a Orange book price guide and we can give you the current value price. You might want to ask the owner for his customer # and serial # to make sure it is not a hot :o machine.
Marty
I`d look at a Cooks Saw mill. cooksaw.com For under 10k they offer a heavy, well built mill. I`m saving my pennies , soon I`ll be able to order a Cook`s MP-32 ..I can`t wait. I like the WM LT-40 manual mill too but I feel the Cooks offers a great value with the MP-32
I'd build a pit saw, put it behind walls and charge $5 a head to watch me use it for 10 minutes. :D
History exibit!! ;D
Tom wants to build a pit saw so the Baker Boys can't come tow it off on him.... :D
Captain
Not unless they climbed the frame. If they grabbed hold of it on the ground, I'd put them to work. :D :D
You know, I think I would be willing to pay the $5 to watch Tom work a pit saw for 10 minutes. :D 8)
Is that where the term "this (insert your noun here) is the pits" came from??
Captain, I bet it is. It is indeed where the mechanical term"pitman arm" comes from.
"any place of pain and turmoil"
we'll find a way to tow. :D Did you all know that Tom has guards that crawl at night?
we seen one at clark's fish house that had 20 rattlers and a button. :-\
I've got a rusty old '91 model lt40 hd thats been a great machine. I think the only thing I have replaced on it are some hyd seals, for the toe boards and blade tensioner, a new chain for the blade guide arm and some bearings on the feed system. I'd recommend used W/M for the price . But in all fairness I havent run any other mills.
Oh yeah, it cuts very true lumber.
I passed on the LT-40. After talking to the owner and reading awhile on the forum I decided I was in over my head on buying a used one. I just don't know enough about sawmills to go kick the tires of one that is getting on 15 yrs old. I've been looking at a bunch ov new ones and every time I narrow it down I find out about another one. Here's what I've got.
Cooks - Located 250 miles away and looks like a strong mill. Don't much like Kohler engines though.
TASchmid - Nice looking mill, highly recommended, about 1000 miles away I guess. Strange how they offer an additional frame under thier standard frame. Hard to say it is worth it or not unless you were looking right at em.
Southern Bandsaw - A Yanmar diesel and 36" cut, 24' track are awesome...have to call for price...may not be too awesome.
Mister Sawmill - Good looker, good price. 24 horse honda. Anybody ever use one?
Baker 18 HD - Reputable mill company, honda engine.
Logmaster - Looks like a really strong frame. Pretty far away.
About all of these are within $1000 of eachother in some shape or form. 8k-9k is where most of these things live. Now I've got to slug through the numbers and hopefully get some reccomendations from you all. Ya'll have been a ton of help so far and this is an extremely useful forum because the peole who use it have plenty of personal experience.
Have you looked at the WM LT 15? It is very well built and a proven performer. It is also well within your price range. With a partner, you can saw over 1000 bd-ft in a day. I have been very pleased with mine.....
It seems that on paper the mills I am looking at are more comparable to a LT-28. THis mill is around 12k. And I still don't get some of the goodies the others have for 9k. The LT-15 would probably be fine for most applications I would use it for but I will have the occasional 32" oak that I want to make 18' cants out of. I am getting into timberframing, and want my mill to be able to handle these sizes and lengths.
Good point. The LT 15 cannot handle anything over about 27".
A mill that would allow you to work up off the ground would be nice for your aches and pains :'(
I just scanned back up and I didn't notice why you had ruled out a swing blade. You could get a Lucas 613 for the money you are talking. A 618 would not be much over. You could pick up used for well under what you are speaking. Is there a reason that you don't want a swinger? Smaller logs ???
I will need some bigger beams cut out of logs. Possible some 8x12. My limited knowledge on swing mills is that they cannot do larger dimensions.
You can get a Lucas swing mill that will cut up to 8 inches in one pass, a Peterson swing mill up to 10 inches in one pass, but if you do a double cut, they can cut twice those amounts. A double cut is cutting down one side of a log with the blade in the horizontal position, then coming back up the other side with a second cut that matches up with the first. The result then is up to 16 inches in the horizontal with the largest Lucas swing mill and up to 20 inches with the Peterson.
The way this turns out then is that you can routinely cut at the maximum depth of 8" or 10" and do the occasional double cut to make 16" or 20" without much trouble.
A swinger is worth considering.
IMHO,
Jim
take a look at the LT28, it's a pretty nice machine from what I've seen.
the woodmizer frame is something to brag about :) 8)
I got talked into hydraulics, though. And i'm sure glad that I did get talked into them!
I bought the mill in question. After 3 months of research I dont think that you will find that much mill with that kind of hours for that price. I leave Sunday at 4:00am for a 7 hour drive to pick it up. I feel like a 10 year old kid at Christmas, I cant wait. After speaking the owner I didnt feel like I could go wrong with the woodmizer. Has anyone pulled a lt40 that far before, if so how did it do. I have a trailer large enough to put it on but if it will pull fine there would be no reason to pull a trailer down there. The owner has a bunch of sharp blades that he is going to let me have with it. I will take some photos and report back Sunday night.
Oh yea the motor is a Onan motor, made by Cummins. Love Cummins, you can always count on a Cummins,
Farm Hand,
I pulled mine home about 250 miles with no problems. Need to make sure the lights work before you leave. Mine trails well.
Ron
Good Luck Farm Hand. By all accounts that was a good deal. For me it was one of those instances where you start looking and find something right off the bat that looks good...but you just don't know if you've looked enough. I think that mill started its life in NC so its on its way home!
Well, I imagine, given your needs, your list of possibilities have by now narrowed somewhat.
Don't know that makes it any easier, though. ;D
Have you talked to any of them you had listed about building/modifying to your specific needs?
I sent you a PM on your email with my phone numbers. Call me when you have time.
Tcsmpsi,
I have talked to a few people over the phone, checked out a ton of websites. They pretty much all can get me a mill like I want for about the same price. I guess I'm going to make a spreadsheat with prices and pros and cons. I hate to buy one just because it is $300 cheaper. The problem is that they aren't comparing apples to apples...but they are pretty darn close to it. Maybe its time to get a blindfold and a dart.
Farm Hand,
You lucky dog I think you are going to be very happy. I don't own any orange but if they are half as good as every owner says they are you are in luck. A lot of mills stay in one place. If that is the case take a few minutes to pull the tires, hubs and bearings. Give the bearings a quick once over and grease them up just so they don't give you a fit on the ride home. Just takes a few minutes per side and may save a few hours in the rest stop somewhere.
Congratulations,
Ledlie
Farm Hand,
The first post in this thread will give you an idea how well the mills travel.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=22170.0
We had the mill behind the truck for probly 99% of those miles. :)
But then it also comes down to what size vehical you are towing with. ;)
Furby I thought I had everyone beat until I read your post. :) I drove 850 miles to upstate New York to get my mill.
We drove 750 miles to Tennessee Tech to get a 60 year old Table saw. But what a saw she be. :)
i think that if I only had 10,000 to spend and had to get a mill for that price, it would be a swinger. Having owned a manaul mill before my current one, turning big logs gets old fast.
Quote from: walexander on January 25, 2007, 09:14:42 AM
I will need some bigger beams cut out of logs. Possible some 8x12. My limited knowledge on swing mills is that they cannot do larger dimensions.
With a bit of lateral thinking you can.
Although you dont usually move the log when sawing with a swinger, there is nothing that says you cant ;D
My mill will let me 'easily' cut an 8x16" beam. I say 'easily' because moving it off the mill after I cut it wouldn't be easy without a forklift or similar. If for some crazy reason I needed bigger (or you only have a 6" cut swingblade) you can allways square up the top of the log, then roll it over and saw from the other side. Just saw away everything thats not a beam! OK, you have to roll the log over, but you have to do that on a bandmill anyway. ;)
There are many ways to skin a cat :D
Cheers
Ian
you could also build a live log deck to turn logs right where they lay if you needed to do it often it would be worth it.
8) i bought a lt 40 hydraulic for 4,000 and spent 500 fixing it up cleaned up woodmizer blade sharpener and sold on e bay 1,250 the good lord takes care of us hillbellies :D :D
Quote from: Polly on January 27, 2007, 07:31:46 PM
8) i bought a lt 40 hydraulic for 4,000 and spent 500 fixing it up cleaned up woodmizer blade sharpener and sold on e bay 1,250 the good lord takes care of us hillbellies :D :D
Okay, I've got to ask. You bought a mill for $4,000, spent another $500 to fix it up then sold it on E-bay for $1,250? What did I miss?
Jim
I think the sharpener was what was sold. ;)
8) right a man from penn. bought it he got a bargen it had not been used mutch i figured 1,200 would sharpen a lot of blades we both got a bargen ::) ::)
No Jim, you're right.... Polly just works for the government. ;)
Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that I did make it home at 12:00am. The Woodmizer was everything he said it was and more. The trip on the other hand was not as good. It has been a very long day and 924.3 miles later im at home safe. I will tell the story when I wake up.
Good nite
Congrats, Farm Hand! 8) 8) 8) Now go saw some logs.(take that however you wish. ;D )