Quality vs. price???

[slowzuki]

Bibbyman, I believe the word they would use to describe your car here would be Pimpmobile! 8) 8) Sweet black!

Nope. Not even close :D


94 Buick Roadmaster with every option.

[VA-Sawyer]

Bibby,
You really have a good thread going here.

Levi's vs. JC Penny jeans.... no contest, the Levi's will last about three times as long for me. I don't even buy JC penny ones anymore. Maybe I need to. Have they gotten better lately ?

New Chevy vs. Used Caddy.  I guess you could say I bought the later. I got an '88 WM LT40 HD for about 1/2 the price of a new one. I had to do a fair amount of work on it, and spent some money on parts. It is a much better mill now than when it left the factory as it has most of the factory suggested upgrades. Still, it doesn't have some of the things I want, like roller toeboards and the new style clamp. The real reason for my going this route was the ability to recover almost all my investment if the business doesn't work out. It would be almost impossible to do that if I had bought new.

Good Lumber vs. Shoddy.  It is easy to produce shoddy boards on my mill. Just leave a blade on long after it gets dull, let sawdust and woodchips build up between the cant and the bedrails or dogs, stick your head where the sun don't shine and then crank the feed speed up so high the engine bogs down. You can bet that there won't a straight or square edge in sight.  Then again, it isn't all that hard to produce good lumber on my mill either. I feel that the operator is about 95% of product quality. It's more than just wanting a good job. You have to get into it enough to understand what is causing the problem and how to fix it. Part of that is hands on experience, but it also take some study time in the books as well.

Orange vs. Brand X  Bandsaw.  I bought Orange this time. I will look the field over next time as well but, I will be suprised if I find something that seems better than Orange.

VA-Sawyer

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Coin in the purse is the limiting factor alot of the time.  My father-in-law is a good man and a good hand with equipment.  He spent years in the oil fields and will buy the cheapest tool there is for every job and cuss the whole time using it.  One day while working on his tractor I went down to the shop and got my air tools and he noticed a differance most quick on how the job went.  Now he is buying better tools and taking better care of them while getting more work done.  I often buy lowgrade tools for jobs where most any thing will work and there is a good chance I will not need it more then once.  But things I depend on to make my living or keep me safe I get the best I can afford that is of good quality and serviceable.
  After many years in the Army I came to realize that the things that I defended my country with and my own person was made by the lowest bidder. ??? ???  You have to give our service men and women extra credit.
ARKANSAWYER

[luke]

One of the things that makes me a believer about a sawmill is, when a sawmill is ran in the shootout and or timber shows. If I had a cheaper sawmill to "sale" I would make sure that I took it to the shoot out and paul bunyan shows to promote it. That's what makes potential customers believe that the mill is a good one. When the potential customers see it run, see the production rates ,at like the shoot out and price tags, then people can make their choices.

I have a stanley contractor's grade tape measure that I bought at Lowes. But I have done carpentry work for 15 years so my thinking is different from someone who may only need to do 1 carpentry job.

Luke

[Ianab]

Way I figure it is if you cant afford the $20k machine, go and spend $10k on a second hand one, cos if it's built properly it will still be a good machine (well maybe after a few wear and tear parts are replaced)
The $20k machine will be the one that is still worth $10k after a few years use... the $15k one will have been thrown on the trash heap in disgust.
So even for the original purchaser, one had a machine that did 3 years good service and is still worth something, the other lost $15k  >:(

[Bibbyman]

A friend in my area and former customer "got the bug" to buy a sawmill early last winter.  He languished over what model mill to get for a couple of months (But he knew what color it was going to be).  Then he languished over new vs. used.  He decided he'd look for a late model used LT40HDG25.  I got him in contact with Sawmill Exchange,  TMS, etc. He found a couple and talked a deal on them.  He even decided he was going to buy one but when he called back,  it had been sold.  So,  like a lot of us,  he decided if he was going to pay most of a new price for a mill out of warrantee, he may as well get a new one with the options he wanted.  That he did.  Picked up his new LT40HDG25 a couple of weeks ago.

That's pretty much what happed to us back in 94 when I went looking at mills.  Talked to three WM owners and they'd all sell their mills – at the price they paid for them – and,  I'd have to give them the money first then wait until their new mill cam in.  We too bought a new mill.

Now here in a few months (or weeks) when all the mills go up in price because of the steel shortage,  that two year old mill at 2002 new price is going to look a lot better.

[oldsaw]

If you are talking about a mill, it doesn't take more than a few cut corners to cost you a few days of milling.  How much did you save?  I grew up on a farm and know the value of equipment that works when you need it, and does it right.

If I take a look in my "toolbox", most of my tools are of very good quality.  I have a few "clinkers" that I usually buy for situations where the tool may become "sacrificial" or is almost certain to get lost.  I have a couple of cheap adjustable wrenches that passed my "in store test" and won't be used for heavy work.  However, I won't buy a crappy screwdriver.  That is a world of heartache waiting to happen.  Blowing half a day to go back to the shop to drill out and remove a screw just isn't worth it.  Besides, a good screwdriver makes a great pry bar (I have't poked my eye out yet) and a cheap one doesn't.  The only no-brand power tool I have is a 4" angle head grinder from Harbor Freight that I bought for occasional use, but have used and abused the stuffings out of and it still works great.  Not bad for $12.  Otherwise you see the usual suspects (PC, Bosch, DeWalt, Sears, etc).  My last purchase was a used Stihl 066.  Admittedly, you aren't going to find a 100cc "off-brand" chainsaw, but I wasn't willing to compromise even if there was.  I bought used  good one when I couldn't afford a new good one.

I guess I fit your profile, Bibby.

[Percy]

Good thread ;D
 Of course there is no one way, if there was, everyone would have a Woodmizer......JUST KIDDING..... :D :D :D.......Everything has prettywell been said and, all I can add is that the older I get, the wiser my choices seems to be...OR...Im turning into an arrogant old fool(seen lotsa them yup) :D :D

[woodbeard]

Levi's are all made in overseas now. They are no longer any better than JC penny, or any discount jeans.

[FeltzE]

Now this is a slanted and emotional poll...

The warrantee is about useless on most of the equipment we buy because most failures are out of the warantee period.

Paint isn't Much better, My machine is getting kinda faded. So what it's 6 yrs old. and that ain't nothing compared to the older circle mills that you can't kill.

I am not too impressed with all the "tech" involved when I called and wanted to upgrade to a newer capabilitiy only to find I would have to buy an entire new machine to get the part I wanted...NOW THATS MARKETING...!

Good Steel properly fit and welded, Adjustable where needed. With good bearings these machines should last a lifetime not 5 or 10 yrs. I just had to weld a turner arm that was improperly welded from the factory, I just didn't get the pressure right on it for 6 yrs when the weld popped off cleanly down what otherwise looked like a fine weld. (It's welded right now) just needs some fresh orange paint.

If I had a nickle for every time someone tripped over the tire they put right in the way... I'd have a new blade or two too. (so much for safety) didn't paint the axle safety yellow either.

Actually The only trend I see in what people want portable sawmilling is what ever is comming next year.

As always, My opinion is to pay for the capabilities not the brand name. Look at the needs, options, capabilities,  then matrix the appropriate machine vs your budget.

Eric

[RevCant]

Interesting pole, not one really worth a statictian's minute.  Ya might say its a bit biased.  Of course, one will pick the first option.  But that's not the story, not even close.  Everyone buys at their tolerance level.  I buy new sawmills.  I've owned four of them.  Warrantees are great and if you have an orange machine that you are pushing day in and day out, you'll need it.  I used to be on a first name basis with my UPS driver and the parts guy in Hannibal NY.

I've got the swing mill now.  Came with a warrantee I'll probably never use, one because I can ususally get what I need quicker over the counter, and two because there's just not much that goes wrong.  HOWEVER - watch your warrantee wording.  Peterson says 2 years on the FRAME.  Come to find out, they only warrant the transmission for 6 months.  Of course, they don't publish this.  You have to have problems before they let you know its out of warrantee.  Fortunately, my situation wasn't fatal and I figured out the problem without the promised parts that they didn't send.  In the end, no big deal - right? :

[Bibbyman]

I guess I could have set the poll up "upside down" – that is,  start out with a barebones mill and add to it until some point where the price/value is too much.

The numbers were grossly rounded for simplicity sake.  The example could have been about any product or service for that matter.  I happened to pick bandmills because I've heard people say; "I don't need a mill that good." and to me it's like saying; "Give me the tough steak,  I like to chew."  

I had no hidden agenda or subliminal message in making this post.  And I didn't know what to expect or what I expected to get out of it.  I'm just glad we had a good conversation.  

Thanks to all.

[isawlogs]

When I started looking at buing a mill back ikn 93 .  The first thing my dad said to me is *  If your going to buy something like this ... get something to work with not work on....*   Dat's what I did
  i don't beleive in cutting corners , and I hate having to do something over because it was not done wright the first time around I'm a firm beleiver in that you get what you paye for ...