Total of our experience-Sawmilling

Marvin69 · February 26, 2020, 07:59:14 PM

I have 10 years cutting my own lumber. Grew up in Oregon working in a Georgia Pacific sawmill for 3 years, coos head timber company sawmill for 3 years. Then off to the military. 30 years later I finally got to cut lumber myself. Love it.

thecfarm · February 27, 2020, 08:16:14 AM

Marvin69.welcome to the forum.
Looks like a chainsaw mill you got there?
What do you use the lumber for?

RSteiner · July 06, 2020, 08:15:06 AM

Started sawing with a Mobile Dimension Saw in the mid-1980's. Did custom sawing on the weekends, sawed out lumber for my own use, and sold some lumber. The mill was new in 1979, we were the second owners, it was getting a little tired so it didn't get used for a couple of years. Every year the mice would get into the engine during the winter and make a mess.

This spring someone approached me asking if I wanted to sell the mill, it was kinda like asking if I wanted to sell an old friend, but I agreed. Then the thought of not being able to convert a nice log into lumber struck and my wife said why don't you get one of those band saw mills you are always looking at. So, late this spring a
Wood-Mizer LT15 with power feed arrived in the driveway.

The transition from a circular saw with edgers to a band mill without edgers has been interesting. I like to ability to saw a board wider than 12". I'm still getting educated about what blade to use in different woods and what to add to the water for lube and cooling but I'm getting along.

Randy

Tacotodd · July 06, 2020, 04:54:19 PM

Happy birthday Randy!

handhewn · December 08, 2020, 06:50:14 PM

Started on 60" circular (late 70s) for 20 yrs., Mobile Dimension for several more, Wood Mizer for several more, so round to 25 yrs. making my living at making sawdust. Sawing here and there on the side for many more. Now that I am "Retired", I'm getting the 60" going again.

wkf94025 · January 08, 2022, 01:02:19 PM

One year into this passion, beginning with a Lucas 7-23 swing arm purchased in early 2021. (The day before I was about to purchase a WM band saw, I discovered swing arm, and never looked back.) I won't repeat what I posted here yesterday about my background. Perhaps worth mentioning that I'm now in this biz/hobby/addiction due to the CSU Wildfire that incinerated most of my coastal Santa Cruz County ~4 acres in August 2020. House survived, but shop and everything else gone. A few months later I stumbled on free Doug Fir logs, some old growth, in the nearby state park, killed by the fire. That lured me in to milling, which lured me in to an F350 crew cab dually Powerstroke 7.3, a skidsteer, dump trailer, drying (solar DIY at the moment, though considering a Nyle L200M), which then lured me into a Minimax CU300 and an assortment of great woodworking machines. Still married despite my unchecked addiction, though it helps we live an hour from the mill/shop operations.

Fascinated by the fact that 1/3 of the survey respondees are like me, ~1 year in. How many wash out? How many still going strong?

Tim · January 09, 2022, 11:50:23 AM

Quote from: wkf94025 on January 08, 2022, 01:02:19 PMHow many still going strong?

Well, I've been schlepping around long enough that I had to change my answer in to polls from 25 to 30 years... If that helps you with part of an answer to that question

Quote from: wkf94025 on January 08, 2022, 01:02:19 PMStill married despite my unchecked addiction,

Man... my wife and I know the pain that can be in that stress... I'm sorry to hear about the major set back that you folks suffered with the fire.

wkf94025 · January 13, 2022, 01:57:25 AM

Quote from: Tim on January 09, 2022, 11:50:23 AMMan... my wife and I know the pain that can be in that stress... I'm sorry to hear about the major set back that you folks suffered with the fire.

Thanks Tim. I did not lose the house, and it wasn't my primary residence in the first place, so my pain is minimal compared to the ~1,000 wildfire families here in Santa Cruz County, and the thousands more throughout the West. Most of the pain in my case is suffered by my insurance company. I get a new shop, and a chance to improve on the design and materials from Shop v1.0 in 1991. My neighbors on the other hand are personally suffering through loss of their home, and in many cases, are under-insured, uninsured, and/or lack proper entitlements to what they had built in the first place. Unhappy place for sure.

OlJarhead · May 26, 2022, 06:00:36 PM

Don't know if I ever answered this but if I did was a long while back!

So I now have 11 years on a bandsaw and some time before that on a csm ;) Thanks to FF too!