Baker Bandmills

[itsposs]

Getting ready to sink $40000 into a 3638 Blue Streak and heavy duty edger. I d like to hear pro's , cons and thoughts from existing Baker owners  and people with Bandmill experience.

I ve taken the time to research the Woodmizer and Timberking mills as well. But was unsatisfied with their local distribution setups
this is my personal opion and is not ment to detract from their products. 
Being able to deal direct with these companys as most Americans can. Would make purchusing prices  a much easier pill to swallow.

:P awaiting your replys with optimism
   

[Bibbyman]

I don't have any direct experience sawing on Baker mills.  But I know people that have them and have seen many of them saw and they appear to work as advertized.  I know less about their edgers. Baker makes good equipment, is a good company and has good people.  We've even parked a piece of blue equipment in front of our Wood-Mizer.

You've not given us much to work on.  What are your plans?  What are you planning to saw?  Fulltime production,  part time portable/custom, or hobby sawing?

I'm a bit curious about your statement about Wood-Mizer's and TK's distribution setup.  Wood-Mizer has something like 6 or more customer service centers and a number of dealers spread out around the country.  Looks like that would be an assist instead of a liability.   I don't know about how Baker and TimberKing are set up.

http://www.woodmizer.com/us/DealerLocator/USLocations.aspx

[Larry]

Yes, I'm curious also about your distribution statement.

I get next day service from TK and I'm clear down in Arkansas. ;D

[itsposs]

I ll be sawing Australian hard woods For sawing hardwoods with density's of around
850 kg  to 1120 kg a cubic meter (1870 lb. – 2464 lb. a 35.31 ft3 ) I hope I ve converted it properly  i want to run the mill as a full time job.
For us we have to buy our mills  from middle men, or Distributers. So we have advertized price
thats on the .com website usally for US and Canada then supposedly Models to suit our Market.
As most these are trailered units they need to comply to  Australian plus they need to get a application to imoprt form filled out and approved. Some modifaction is required  but not huge amount plus we pay the freight and thats usally on a 40ft container
some cases a high top
so for my order I $100 in fees for import approval $50 each unit as they are trailer mounted   
plus 10% tax
best quote I ve found so far for transport has been $4700 in other quotes its been as high as $7000

So in a nut shell we have to pay alot to bring things pluse we have to pay sales tax on what we spend o/s in this case $40000
$100 import application
$4000 sales tax 
$4700 freight(thats just to nearest port)
$1200 to make products comply with our road rules
  and then theres a duty of either 2%-5%
As you can see thats $10000 to bring the machine in plus the middle mans bit
plus freight from middle mans depot   
Mean while in my container there s room for some smaller mills that the middle man will probly squeeze in  plus blades an accessories. That I am paying the freight on it as well
It doesnt take long to see  counter productive it come s and why Swing mills are so populaer here

[Bibbyman]

Wow!   I didn't know you were "down under"..

What makes a Baker mill more importable than Wood-Mizer or TimberKing?

BTW,  Wood-Mizer has two dealers in Australia.

http://www.woodmizer.com/us/DealerLocator/InternationalDealers.aspx?country=Australia

[r.man]

Not wanting to detract from North American manufacturers but are there no Aussie made bandmills?

[itsposs]

There was but but he died and his family didnt keep the business going they were called Laidlaw bandmills  and they didnt have the automation you guys have.

But back to the question I want to know more about the Blue streaks I know they ve won some production shootouts  does any one want to tell me about them   

[Banjo picker]

itsposs the pallet mill locally has lots of Baker products that they run...I know that they get run long and hard..they have to be a quality product to stand up the treatment they get from use....When I bought my mill it was a toss up between Baker and Cooks..but I went with the Cooks so I have no hands on the help you with...Tim

[BandsawWarrior]

We have a Baker 3642 and it's been a great sawmill!  I would buy it again if I were to do it over.  We also have the baker edger and resaw.  They're simple to use and do their jobs very well.  The bandsaw and edger we've had for 6 years.  They have stood up well to hard work and are build very heavy duty.  Everyone that comes over and sees our band mill can't believe how heavy duty it is compared to other mills they're used to seeing.  I'm sure you would be very pleased with a Baker.       

[Tom_in_Mo.]

If I was going to buy a mill, it would have to be a Baker. I dreamed one time I was a Baker Salesman.

[sgschwend]

Sounds like if you could find a used mill you might save a bundle.

You could also look at Mighty Mite, they have mills down under.  I have even heard of a used Mark IV there.  Meadow Miller (Chris) is who I heard that from.

[itsposs]

Thanks sgschwend
                          Turns out they did have a distributer here but they called it quits as feight and middleman made it pointless
but they will sell direct from their end. An other great thing is their log deck for radial saws.