New member

[tgabby1968]

Hello FF members- I'm a new member and I'm looking for advice for buying a portable band mill. I plan to use it to produce my own material for building a shop and to have it as a hobby plus an alternative income when I retire in a few years. I know I want a full hydraulic unit for log loading and handling, because I want it to be mobile. Just having a hard time deciding between Timberking or Woodmizer. I've been looking at the TK1600 vs LT40hyd (wide) and the TK2000 vs LT40super(wide) or LT50 (wide).  One thing I'm always concerned about is buyers remorse, not about buying a sawmill but wish I'd bought the other model, brand, size, gas or diesel. I live in Washington state and plan to move to Idaho or Montana when I retire so I'm leaning towards the larger capacity to cut bigger logs. I know from the post I've read through there's alot of brand loyalty, but would appreciate some honest feed back from you?

[sawguy21]

Welcome aboard! There is a wealth of information here so grab a coffee and pull up a stump.

[Southside]

Welcome to the Forum.  The best thing I can think of is to tell you to visit sawyers who have those mills or something pretty dang close, like a non wide. That will give you first hand experience on how they operate, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

I deal with both companies and they are excellent in terms of customer service. Each design has it's plusses and minuses, in the end it's what machine will work best for your set up. 

[WV Sawmiller]

  I can only speak to WM brand but the whole team have been very supportive of my laymen's needs and very patient helping me when I had questions or concerns.  I like the every other year service loop where they stop by and do a complete check up and alignment and related training to me. Their parts are high quality and reasonably priced. They don't use unique parts then gouge you on their parts prices. They are very prompt with their shipping. I used their blades and resharp services and am well pleased with that too. I certainly have no buyer's remorse. I'd love to have a bigger mill with more hp but what I got was what I could afford and it has done all and more I expected of it. 

[Old Greenhorn]

indeed, as Sawguy said, pull up a stump and we'll help you spend your money.
 Seriously though. You've done a good job of roughing out what you want to do and 'where you sit'. I think as this point it come down to the particulars. Hopefully you have read some of the other 'what mill should I pick' threads, there are many. 
 Seems to me like an LT50 is a big big and luxurious for a hobby mill after your shop is built, but to each his own. I am guessing you have other plans in the back of your mind like portable milling or something else perhaps?
 The devil is in the details.. always. You told us what you are thinking over, now maybe tell us what your dream is.
 Either way, it is gonna be a fun ride! 

[Southside]

Should have added that no matter what mill you buy torque is king, and if you plan to be sawing big logs then a diesel really should be a "must have".  Friday I stalled my 55hp turbo diesel in a big, dry, hickory log.  Folks all turned around and looked wondering what "that noise was".  Basically I was sawing too fast, but I was still getting flat lumber as the torque kept the blade speed up until it was simply too much.  With a gas engine I would have known well before then that I was sawing too fast as I would have been bogging the engine.  Also the 55 hp diesel on my Super 70 uses about 1/2 the fuel as the 25 hp gas does on my 35 on a per hour basis, even though lumber output is much higher on the 70.     

[tgabby1968]

Thank you guys for the quick replies.

Old Greenhorn- The biggest baddest mill, with unlimited logs at my disposal and enough off bearers to handle all the lumber.

Southside- I'm meeting a guy with a TK2000 this week. I went to a Timberking meet and greet down in Oakland, Oregon a couple weeks ago. They had a 1600 and a 2200 but was disappointed that I couldn't run one. The 2200 was impressive though. I do plan to contact the WM dealer to find some locals with these mills so I can check them out.

Sawguy21- got lots of stumps, working on burning them up:)

[tgabby1968]

Southside- I agree diesel is the way to go, but with the new tier 4 the cost increase is big $$$, and I'm not sure if you have to use DEF or if they have a particulate filter now. The WMLT40 uses a yanmar 35hp and the TK2000 only uses a 24.8 Kubota, not sure why theres such a HP difference?

[Southside]

No DEF on the tier 4 Yanmars, I bought the last tier 3 as I am not a fan of that at all.  Don't forget about the used market, some pretty low hour mills come up when guys realize this becomes more like work than play.  As far as a meet and greet that is a great way to see a new mill, cutting straight logs, in a non stress environment, sort of a real life promotional video, but the rubber hits the road where a guy has to make $$ running his mill.  Not putting down those type of events as they showcase the best of what a piece of equipment has to offer.  I just think if you are going to make that kind of investment you should understand the whole game.  At the end of the day it's not just the mill, it's the support equipment, the log handling, lumber storage, down stream processing, labor to handle all of that lumber,  buildings to put it all in etc.  That's why I say you need to look at what will work best in your situation and plan for or be open to changes / growth as it happens.  

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, tgabby1968!

[Resonator]

Welcome to the Forum! I wouldn't worry so much about buyers remorse, sawmills generally hold their value and you can sell it and trade up if you need more power. They also have the potential to pay for themselves over time, however it involves lots of sawdust and heavy lifting. 

[thecfarm]

@tgabby1968  welcome to the forum.
Welcome to the forum.
You will be happy with either one.

[Nebraska]

Welcome to the forum.
It's the saw dust and heavy lifting that is the work..Opening up the logs is fun like Gump's box of chocolate. My mill is a manual hobby mill only, (therapy from the day job.) but  it has generated many additional side projects, like clearing out an old cattle loafing shed to it s cement floor. It had 15 year old grass hay small square bales on one end and petrified cow manure, and other farm treasures at the other end. I need an out of the weather place to store good stuff. Yes. it surprised me a little bit about some of the smaller  t.hings I  didnt realize or  hadn't though of,  the volume of stickers was one,  five gallon buckets full don't go very far, sawdust disposal and general mill cleanup is another. If I didn't heat with wood it would be a bigger issue .   Saw dust goes down to the pile I compost yard wastes and animal bedding then into the manure spreader,  slabes are heat..
Good luck I hope you get the biggest baddest mill you can,  that will turn big trees into tables or toothpicks. My vote would be diesel as well. 

[thecfarm]

I almost forgot,you will need to decide on what size cant dog/peavey to get. 

http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=107690.0

[tgabby1968]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome and great advice. Most definitely will need a good peavey, would believe a 60" to work better. I also have an excavator with a thumb that can assist when cutting on my own property. I'm thinking that having a portable mill to do most of my cutting for money at their site, so to bring other machinery there to help with log handling would only be justifiable if they had a lot of timber to cut.

[tgabby1968]

Good news, just bought a Woodmizer LT50 wide with a diesel, get to pick it up on Halloween and go through training.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Congratulations. Send pictures, even of mistakes made so we can skip down memory lane with you. You will like that mill and dealing with the WM team.

[A-z farmer]

Congratulations on the lt 50 purchase.It is a wonderful journey from log to lumber .

[Nebraska]

Don't forget the pictures. Congrats on the putchase.

[Brad_bb]

I have a portable manual mill -Woodmizer LT15go.  I like the portability for when I have to move it (which is about 2-3 time a year).  I personally would not want to do mobile mill jobs.  It's a lot of work to move my mill and all my gear.  A hydraulic mill could be easier with hyd or electric leveling legs.  I'd rather just keep my mill parked at home in my mill shop ( I mill inside).  One real downside to milling outside is wind blowing dust in your face.  That is miserable.  Wind can shift.  I'm sure some guys have worked out a face shield system.  For me, moving the mill is a pain.  The other good part is that the axle/frame raise the mill up higher which I like.  Brings the work up to a better level.