The Forestry Forum

My Father-in-law has been asking questions about swing mills (particularly Lucas). Are any of you swing mill owners anywhere near Pulaski, NY (north of Syracuse)? If so, would you mind him stopping by some time?

John Mc

I have a Norwood 2000 and Swing Mill (Peterson) but  Not in PA to Demo it.  I can answer question's and offer my Honest Opinion.

If you care to PM me or call me (850) 547 4580 (Bonifay, FL) I will tell you A to Z. I really like the swing mill and they are the best answer for a small operation. They cut both directions, less blade maint., you can cut 3 to 5 days and do nothing to the blade (don't hit metal). The carbide tipped blades are sharpened saw and takes about ten minutes.

Once you learn the mill, about a week, you can cut (nearly) finished size lumber. You will not need to process it to a finished size (rough lumber), just allow for drying (about 1/16" per side) reduction.

arbakerjr@hotmail.com

Not much of a response, I guess there might not be one near you.  You could use sawmill finder and look at the mills in your area that way.  Other forums have them too.

Certainly you can see owner videos, there of plenty of them on Youtube.

Lucas and Peterson both make portable swing mills.  Hudson is now the USA rep (I think) for Perterson.  Bailey's is for Lucas.  But there has been a large negative change in the exchange rate.  The US dollar is down 40%, that is a big changes something like $6,000 increase for a $15,000 mill.

Thanks for the info, guys.

He's coming up to visit for the holidays. I'll pass it along then.

I also found a section on Bailey's web site about people willing to do demo's of their Lucas mills. One of them is in Liverpool NY (Syracuse suburb)... probably only 1/2 hour from my F-I-L's place.

John Mc