looking at 7 year old Woodmizer LT15

[Durf700]

made some 20' 6x6's and 12' 6x6's along with some perlings. so far so good!

 

 

[btulloh]

You're rollin' along and lookin' good. 

[Bandmill Bandit]

The virus is advancing quickly and the resulting product is looking very good BUT I'm  afraid you are at least stage 3 and probably terminal already. You should probably inform your wife, at the very least. 

You may also want  to warn her about the probability of sawdust on the sheets on the days your just to beat to hit the shower before you hit the hay.

[doc henderson]

as well as woodchips in your pockets from the chainsaw, and lumber crayons as well, and if you are @Old Greenhorn  a moisture meter or two!

[Old Greenhorn]

ah c'mon Doc, that only happened once, and I got a new meter out of it. 8) I liked the first one that got washed, but this one works pretty good too. I have never to wash a crayon yet even though I always have one in my pocket. But there is yet time. It's a great disease however you cut it.

[YellowHammer]

That's looks great.  Nicely done.  

[Bandmill Bandit]

Memory Loss of what you have in which pocket at the end of the day is symptom of the advancing virus. Best to remove the overalls in the shop BEFORE you go to the house. That solves most of those issues most of the time, unless your wife goes looking for your dirty overalls to fill up a load of your work clothes.

My wife does that BUT she turns em upside down and shakes em out on the floor and then has the nerve to just leave every thing that falls out on the floor UnLESS it cash or change. Theres generally 10 or 15 bucks in the breast pockets (mostly loonies and toonies) from hardware store/Timmies runs and I NEVER get it back. Says thats her tip for cleaning the pockets that she will NOT put her hand into ANY pockets EVER to clean. I still haven't figured out how that works. I just chalk it up to the effects of the virus.  

[Durf700]

Lol... thanks! Finished my 6x6s today.. 14 20' and 14 12'.  Now gotta do a pile of peelings and 2x8s for rafters!! I love it! 

Called woodmizer today and ordered a box of blades and replacement belts also. Looks like NY is closed for businesses until end of month. I should be able to get all my logs milled and maybe start framing up my barn! 

[Durf700]

Ok.. do today I added a few new pullies and made it so my log clamp pulls both ways like YH 's does. Haven't tried on a log yet but it does work as it should in the garage! 

[Durf700]

I ran one of my new woodmizer double hard 10 degree blades today for the first time.  they do cut well..  however after milling a few hours on it I encountered the last backstop!  that new blade still wouldnt cut throught thebackstop any better than the re sharpened ones lol..........  whoops!! 

did about 750 BF today!  still lovin it!

[firefighter ontheside]

I always have a good supply of pencils on my bathroom vanity and sometimes other things like wrenches.  Then after a while my wife makes me take them back outside.

I hate to hit a backstop, especially when I know it's a brand new blade.

[YellowHammer]

Are you doing the clamp or also adding the up/down function?  I built mine with just the in/out traverse and only later added the up/down capability.

The winch clamp with just the in/out is a real time saver and the thing to remember is that it doesn't need a lot of power on the winch button to get a study grip.  So that will save wear and tear on the winch and cables.  You will love the clamp.  I also wired the battery so that it got charged by the engine alternator and never drained a battery.

   

[Durf700]

Are you doing the clamp or also adding the up/down function?  I built mine with just the in/out traverse and only later added the up/down capability.

The winch clamp with just the in/out is a real time saver and the thing to remember is that it doesn't need a lot of power on the winch button to get a study grip.  So that will save wear and tear on the winch and cables.  You will love the clamp.  I also wired the battery so that it got charged by the engine alternator and never drained a battery.

 

just doing the clamp for now.  i'm not familiar with hydraulics much... thought about maybe making a winch powered lift but I dont know..   how did you wire the battery up to the engine alternator when saw head is always moving?  I cut mostly 16'  but have done 14 21' 6x6's.  so I am using most of my 26 and a half foot track.

[Durf700]

I cant imagine milling 16' logs without the extra section of track.  its nice being able to keep the log away from the saw when loading a big log with the tractor and grapple. must be pretty tight for the guys with 3 sections? 

[YellowHammer]

The hydraulics was easy, I bolted a salvaged SearStar hydraulic boat steering ram to the up down clamp.  It's designed to make the boat motor turn left and right so I rotated it where it would extend up and down.  

Then I plumbed in an old hydraulic dump trailer power pack, so when I hit the "Dump" or bed up button, which would normally raise the bed, it would cause the boat steering ram to extend.  When I hit the down button, it made the boat steering ram descend.  Very easy.

Instant 2 plane clamp.  

You could probably even just use the boat steering wheel to move the steering ram up and down.  That would be simple and very cool.  The boat steering wheel is a gear pump, no electricity needed.  Just take the steering wheel, the two hydraulic lines and the steering ram off an old boat and bolt it in.  

[Durf700]

hydraulics intimidate me!!  or I would definately tackle it. 

I am up to about 250 16' 2x4's..  just started my 2x8's and 2x6's today.  hope to bang out a bunch tomorrow!! starting to look like a lumber yard!!

[Bandmill Bandit]

Durf don't let hydraulic scare you! They are actually quite simple AND there is lots of experience on the forum that can help you with questions as you wade into it.

GO FOR IT!!

[Durf700]

maybe... I will think about the hydraulics... would be better to just have santa clause drop off a new LT 35 or 40 full hydraulic!!! 

told my nephew today if he wants to run it full time I might invest into one.  but thats a big decision I will have to make.. I did find a nice one on craigslist search for 19k that was only 2 or 3 years old. looked real clean... that starts to get tempting..

I better get a few more thousand board feet under my belt first.  I figure so far since I started about  2 weeks ago.. I've done about 3,000 board feet or so.  weather has been bad , been running the mill if its not raining out though as much as I can.

[Durf700]

I've been getting several people now asking for some lumber..  I have done several small orders for 1x6's and 1x8's...  nice little orders for 50 dollars or so.  then I did a nice order for 100 1x6x 12's for a friend the other day.  I can see where you can make a nice side income with a sawmill.  I have turned away multiple larger orders that I just dont have the time for also.

i'm gonna saw 2 10x6x14' beams for someone tomorrow.  the only thing I cut is my Hemlock. 

what are you guys in the north east getting per board foot for 1" boards and then for beams and 2" boards?

thanks!!

[Durf700]

so I added up my board footage for my first month of milling!!  I milled about 15 total days.. most days about 6 hours maybe..  for my barn framing it added up to 7,800 board feet for the framing and perlings. I then added up what I have sold which is around 1,000 board feet.. so not bad for my first month! 

total: 8,700 board feet on my used LT 15!!  very very happy with this used mill! I used a total of 11 blades during that.  just picked up 8 blades that my local amish sawyer sharpened for me @ 6 dollars each!! now time to set some poles!  I even took the day yesterday to buck up my remaining logs and move them so I can string some lines for the poles.  that should save me alot of time when I'm ready to mill some more having some 10', 12' and 16' logs ready to go! 



 

 

 

 

[Magicman]

Wow Sir, those pictures bring on a smile. 

[trimguy]

Looking good.

[Durf700]

people just keep wanting to purchase more lumber!!!  its really nice to have a hobby that I enjoy and a way to make a nice chunk of money when I have some free time on my hands!  this week alone I've sold 990.00 dollars worth of lumber from my own hemlock trees.  yes, its definitely work, but the tractor with grapple, the power feed option and my winch powered log turner really save on alot of carrying and lifting.  I gotta say that grapple option is worth its weight in gold! I paid around 1300  for it shipped and dont know what I would do without it.  I just purchased it when I started milling.  log turner is a must also if you want to turn big logs.  I've milled alot of 20 to 24inch diameter logs that are between 16 feet long up to 21 feet long and dont even want to think about trying to spin them by hand alone.

I've always wanted a way to generate some extra play money ..  and now I can do that and stay in shape at the same time! I think I lost 15 pounds this last 4 weeks!

i'm around 11 to 12,000 board feet produced so far between my barn build and sold lumber..  pretty sweet hobby guys!  Looks like I will be going back to my desk job around the middle of May with COVID starting to slow down... but at least it looks like I found my retirement job when the time comes many years from now. 

Hell..  if the business keeps coming in I may look at hydraulic mills so I can keep up on my day off!  I have been super happy if I get close to 1,000 board feet in a days work with my LT 15 with a helper..  A hydraulic mill would probably make that possible on my own??