Looking for advice on a machine to cut large slabs

[oakiemac]

Finding more and more of a market for large live edged slabs. I can cut one per log on my current mill but I'd like to be able to cut more so I have thought getting a dedicated slabber (Lucas or Peterson) or a large manual band mill or a chainsaw mill.
Each seems to have advantages and disadvantages but I'm currently looking more at the band mill idea because I could also use it as a regular mill to supplament my current circle mill by using it as a resaw and just cutting cants with the circle mill. Only problem is that most manual band mills only cut 26-30" max. I have found the ex board walk and linn lumber mills make a bigger manual mill with 36-40" log cap. for around $7K which is about half price for a Lucas ded. slabber.
Anyone currently cutting slabs with ideas and options?

[Sawdust Lover]

I cut slabs on a Timberking 2000 which will cut up to 32". I too would like a dedacated slaber but most people are happy with the 30" slabs. When they get larger then that you better have help to handle them or the equipment. I really work the 2000 cutting that wide even with a new blade. And then you need a good place to store them so people can see them without having to move 300lb slabs around.

[paul case]

EZ boardwalk will do a good job for ya. It will swallow 40'' I think and cuts 36'' between the guides. The bed on it is robust enough to put up with the weight of big logs. I wish I had one  again to slab some big logs that have showed up on my doorstep.

PC

[shelbycharger400]

I built my slabber, widest I can run is 27-28 in , but sofar its been only a 24 in wide.
Pictures are in my gallery. I have done some upgrades, including an automatic tensioner today.  It seems it gets REAL grabby with running home-made Hyperskip, surface finish isnt as nice as it was with pair of teeth, modified tooth into raker for 5 , then pair of teeth.
Overall a slabber is the cheapest to build and maintain, You can run belt drive/ electric clutches off the motor to a jackshaft then to a bar. At some point the weakest link gives.  Now with the auto tensioner on it, no longer the belt slips and smokes, it cuts a small bit faster than my old chain setup, but push too hard and clutch gives.
Don't get me wrong, it will cut fairly ok, I was cutting cottonwood slabs at 15 in wide, that stuff is gummy.  I also use felling wedges to keep the kerf open, I dont have a splitter on it like the big boys slabbers... YET.  Its not too bad on fuel considering, Its a bit more than 1 gal / hr but im using all or nearly all of the 17 hp it has. I do like the electric clutch on mine, with the chain not spinning all the time but im not shure it can handle more than a 36 in bar with modified chain.  It definately didnt like a full set before!   Last to note, I do hobby milling, but the chains just seeeeem to last a long time. Just a light touch up on the grinder just taking dust off the teeth and its ready again. Im into my 2nd chain this year, its bout 1/2 left. The first one was prematurely ruined, first by me with a dremel before I bought a grinder, I did get some use for a few hundred board feet,  then 3 drywall screws and a nail finished it off.  These chains still cut even when theirs only an 1/8 in tooth their. The drywall screws were cut off, the nail broke the teeth off..lol

Moving slabs that are 18-20 in wide and 9 feet long are HEAVY!  My 2 wheel dolly is bent from moving logs and slabs! 800lb capacity , yea right, it bent on a 400-500 lb red cedar log.

Everyones home built slabbers are similar but slightly different in a few ways. Their is a few here that have them. It dose what it needs to do for the $. 

IM planning on building one that will hold a 5 foot bar, but it can use a 7 to 8 footer.
Its going to be direct drive!

Any questions or need pictures Im more than happy to help out.

[oakiemac]

Thanks for the replies. Shelbycharger, you slabber looks really good but my time is booked solid almost every day so I can't imagine making the time to build something from scratch. But it looks like you did a super good job on it. I need to get something and be able to go with it immediately.

I can move slabs around with my 6klb forklift or bobcat, so moving them is not a problem but storage is always a problem. I think drying them would be a huge issue, especially with splitting down the middle.
The EZ boardwalk does look like a decent mill for the money. Nothing fancy but I dont need any bells or whistles.

[sigidi]

oakiemac, anyway you can adjust your existing setup to drive a slabbing attachment? or what about goin with a smaller lucas like a 6-18 with a slabbing attachemnt this will give you the flexibility of breaking down big logs into cants for the bandmill as well as being able to do about 50" natural edge slabs...

[Nomad]

     Oakiemac, sounds like you're pretty busy.  In that case a CSM won't do the job for you.  They do work okay, but they're slow and very labor intensive.  Since you've already got a MD, I'd suggest a dedicated slabber in the larger sizes.  I don't know about Peterson, but the larger Lucas slabber will cut about 60".  And of course, it'll be ready to use the day you get it.

[oklalogdog]

Nomad: "In that case a CSM won't do the job for you."

I thought the Lucas Slabber was basically a large CSM.

[Peder McElroy]

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2746&pid=83434#top_display_mediahttp://www.forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2746&pid=83444#top_display_mediahttp://www.forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2746&pid=83912#top_display_media
This is the setup I built foe my Lucas 618.

[sigidi]

Nomad: "In that case a CSM won't do the job for you."

I thought the Lucas Slabber was basically a large CSM.

oklalogdog, it could easily be said the Lucas slabber is a CSM, but there are some differences. Things I see different are the setup is much easier as the bar hangs above the log and doesn't rely on fixing some kind of guide system to the log, biggest CS you gonna get is about 100cc, my EFI model 10 pushes the slabber with 747cc, CSM you are bent over, down in the sawdust next to the CS all day, Lucas slabber you are standing upright walkin along, CSM uses a guide in reference to the face just cut, Lucas slabber uses its own index system independant of the last face and a day on a CSM I doubt would produce 1/3 the slabs as a day on the Lucas slabber ;)

[shelbycharger400]

like with all mills , if you know what your doin, you will have days you make more money than your day job, sometimes many times over even with a home built mill.
Then you will have hours of fist clenched battling a new profound issue  :D
From what I can tell, it dosnt matter if you only have 1500 into a mill or 40,000, YOU will have a problem some point in time, it will Cost you something.

Seems a lot of the hobby works want just about anything in 1 inch.
The people who want mantles want slab style that is 10-14 in wide and 3 to 4 in thick or 1/2 and 3/4 log style
Park/garden bench people want that 14-16 in wide.

Thats what I have found out here. I have only had one call this year that wanted something larger, but didn't want to wait a few days for me to get a log here.

Some other strange news to fill in the blanks is, some want it custom sawn to size then ask Is it going to be dry in a few weeks  :     Fastest I had anything dry was erc when it was 90 -100 all day this summer, a 1 in thick was dry in about a week or 2.  a 2 to 3 in thick took best part of 2-3 months just to be surface dry less than 10 percent.

My mill is a " prototype" to best describe it, I have over 3 years into it, but only took summer of last year to make it. April of this year to June I had issues !  I didn't get to make decent boards ect until about July and I still have a few things to work out.
I received quite a bit of help here sorting out some solutions.  To put a time frame on it would be tough, I work full time and was going to school 2 to 3 nights a week, and have my kids on the weekends.

If I had to rebuild this mill, Had all the equipment and materials I could have another one done in a weekend.  It dose what it needs to but im not happy with it and I know I could make it look better than it is. It will be redone sometime in the future with lighter and nicer construction and materials.   If you had a few hours here and their I can give you measurements on stuff. I built this thing from pictures off the internet with very little drawings .

[Nomad]

Nomad: "In that case a CSM won't do the job for you."

I thought the Lucas Slabber was basically a large CSM.

     Oklalogdog, Sigidi beat me to it.  When I mentioned CSM, I was talking about something like an Alaskan type CSM.  Useful in it's own right, but not in a production setting.  Sigidi was talking along the same lines.

[oakiemac]

Sigidi, the Lucas with slabber attachment or the dedicated slabber is definately an option but it has 2 draw backs. 1) cost. this is the most expensive option I have found but I think it would produce the slabs easiest and at 50" it is the biggest. 2) I don't have a real need for a swing blade type mill since I have an MD which is a lot like a swing blade just not quite as portable.
The CSM would be the cheapest but I think also the most work and I think the power head would be under powered even with the biggest chainsaw.
The bandsaw idea seems the most logical at this point because it would then perform double duty and it is cheaper the Lucas by about half. Anyone using a bandsaw mill to cut slabs?
I have also thought of trying to fab something to use the MD setworks but this might be difficult and I'm back to my ever present lack of time issues.