I have been an end user of lumber for a long time and want to get into the milling end of things for a timber frame project. I was thinking of buying a moble demensions 128 for cutting the spruce and hem fur tembers. Am I on the right track? Any good books or advice on drying? Kiln buliding?
Thanks in advance,
Richard
Hi Newbe
Welcome to the forum, this is THE book on portable sawmilling and life in general ;)
Several members have mobile dimension saws and swear by them. I'm sure they will post some advise for you :D I run a Swingblade mill and like the MDs the small circle mills are excellent for cutting dimension lumber out of softwood logs.
As for advice... just have a good read.. and ask some more questions.
Ian
Welcome to the forum!!!
I own and operate a mobile dimension model 12. Good saw, good company. I would think that a model 128 would be perfect for cutting beams. I think you can cut up to a 8X12 in one pass.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Thanks for the replys
okie I think to get an 8x12 in 1 pass I would need to go to the 30" edger blade.
Ian how do you like your swing blade? how may HP are you running? How large of cant can you cut?
Thanks
Richard
Hi Newbe
I love my mill :D
My Peterson is an older model powered by a big chainsaw powerhead (A Stihl 090). I think thats about 8 hp. It is an 8 inch cut model, so cutting up to 8x8 is easy, and 8x16 with double cutting, also relatively easily. With the lower power the 8" cuts are a bit slow and I've found it quicker to make 2 4" passes.
I dont have a permanant milling site so the portability is a real plus, and the versatility of being able to cut big logs, small logs, tough logs, ugly logs...etc
This page is some pictures of our milling expeditions.
http://www.geocities.com/~ianab/sawmill/sawmill.htm
Ian
Hi Ianab
Really enjoyed the Great pictures... Good camera... I would like to see a peterson mill in operation... The slab is especially interesting as how it was cut... I guess you just cut away everything else and thats what you have left?
What about that volcano in the back ground, are their any active ones there?
Nice projects that you build...
Thanks, Jerry
Hi Jerry
Yes... sawing the big slabs is like carving a dugout canoe... cut away everything thats not a canoe ;) :D
The volcano is Mt Egmont (or Mt Taranaki ), and it's a 'dormant' volvano. We are just hoping it stays that way ::) It last erupted about 400 years ago I believe, and is expected to blow again sometime. Other mountains about 60 miles away are much more active and I've seen them erupt several times over the years.
Here is some web cameras that keep an eye on things. White Island is the most active, it's just steaming away at the moment.
http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcanocam.html