Wallee's Milling Thread

[Wallee]

Man that's some pretty lumber and I'm tickled to death that everything is working out for you

thanks! Yeah we have been blessed this first few months. Word is spreading about the mill and calls coming in. I need a few more 2500 BF orders! Was a lot of work but payday was well worth it. Still learning the milling curve. Figuring out my mill has been fun. Sometimes frustrating lol. I had it dive once today in a pretty straight cant, and my diagnosis was to tighten the blade ever so much, like a 1/2" turn if that much and it went back to doing right. I did have a board or two that was slightly thicker on a end or what not, my guess was maybe that was stress?!

[beenthere]

Wallee
Taking your pics with the volume button down doesn't work with your iphone?  They show up sideways, just FYI.

[mesquite buckeye]

How do you keep your truck from falling off that cliff. ;D

[Wallee]

Wallee
Taking your pics with the volume button down doesn't work with your iphone?  They show up sideways, just FYI.

Huh? They appear in the correct orientation to me on my phone.

How do you keep your truck from falling off that cliff. ;D

What cliff? Lol

[Magicman]

Huh? They appear in the correct orientation to me on my phone.

Look at your above Reply #224 from your PC and then you will know.   ;D

[4x4American]

They are straight from my phone too

[beenthere]

 :D
We can tell...

[Wallee]

Huh? They appear in the correct orientation to me on my phone.

Look at your above Reply #224 from your PC and then you will know.   ;D

I noticed some are wrong from pc to phone? Why

[beenthere]

Wallee
Here is a clue, and a fix when taking pics. 

http://iphonephotographyschool.com/iphone-photos-upside-down/

Tis why I asked the question in post 226   ;)

You can fix them by going to your gallery (might need to be in a PC) and clicking the pic, then clicking on the "Crop and rotate" button underneath it. Rotate them and click "save". They will be correct but you may have to re-paste them in your modified post.

[Darrel]

It wasn't too long ago that they were wondering how the logs stayed on my mill, it was the same exact thing. 

[Wallee]

Well the father in law to the 2500bf order just called in a 4000bf order! Time to fire up the ole lt15 after Christmas!! Really excited about staying busy, lt15 is trying to pay itself off early!

[Magicman]

Yup, you will be cruising the For Sale board.   ;D

[Wallee]

Yup, you will be cruising the For Sale board.   ;D

Ha ha I am dying for a upgrade now! I would love some hydraulics. Question I have is, would an lt35hd be a big enough upgrade? How much faster is the lt35 vs. the lt15 on cut speed? Theses are pretty important questions to me because the lt15 is not a problem in the sense of hydraulics.... I have 2 good helpers who are always with me when sawing. The slowest portion for me is mill head speed, once I have a cant to spec, it would definitely be nicer to be able to push the mill head faster thus increasing my production. Now hydraulics would be very nice because I would be able to probably saw faster without having to stop other and coordinate them with the cant hooks and what not. plus the hyd clamp would be awesome!

[WDH]

Set it up with the power feed.  That will increase your cutting speed. 

I believe that the LT35 has a smaller throat diameter than the LT40.

[Magicman]

I understand the logs that you get and will potentially get.  The LT35 has to be a good sawmill, personally I would skip over it.  I would set my sights on the LT40 SuperHydraulic.

[tmarch]

With my manual mill the time that the blade is actually in the wood cutting is short compared to the stopped time loading, turning and positioning the logs or cants. 

[Wallee]

Set it up with the power feed.  That will increase your cutting speed. 

I believe that the LT35 has a smaller throat diameter than the LT40.

I have the power feed option. Its nice, would have the lt15 without it. However it would be better if woodmizer would have went with a chain rather than a rope. It tends to need adjustment from time to time. Less lately after most of the stretch has came out of the rope. Still I think it would have been better if they would have used the set up like the simpleset works and chain system used on the lt35 manual. Now lets talk hp, how much more cutting speed is offer by say going with the upgraded engine options with wm mills. Like for example would anything have been gained in cutting speed by going with the 16.8 diesel engine over the 19hp gas on the lt15?

[Magicman]

The way your sawing business is growing plus the potential for further growth, I would hate to see you have to upgrade a second time.  I regularly get calls from the Starkville area.  Matter of fact, I have one scheduled there for after the first of the year.

[Wallee]

The way your sawing business is growing plus the potential for further growth, I would hate to see you have to upgrade a second time.  I regularly get calls from the Starkville area.  Matter of fact, I have one scheduled there for after the first of the year.

that is very true! I'm just scared to get in over my head in debt ya know?

[plowboyswr]

I understand the logs that you get and will potentially get.  The LT35 has to be a good sawmill, personally I would skip over it.  I would set my sights on the LT40 SuperHydraulic.

The way your sawing business is growing plus the potential for further growth, I would hate to see you have to upgrade a second time.  I regularly get calls from the Starkville area.  Matter of fact, I have one scheduled there for after the first of the year.

lot of knowledge and wisdom there.    if I remember correctly another member he advised to use their current mill to pay for the new one. If the jobs line up enough you will be able to upgrade in a short time.

[4x4American]

There's a diesel 40super for sale in the for sale section up in spooner wisconsin, asking price is like $14k or something.  Seems like a good deal.

[Wallee]

I understand the logs that you get and will potentially get.  The LT35 has to be a good sawmill, personally I would skip over it.  I would set my sights on the LT40 SuperHydraulic.

The way your sawing business is growing plus the potential for further growth, I would hate to see you have to upgrade a second time.  I regularly get calls from the Starkville area.  Matter of fact, I have one scheduled there for after the first of the year.

lot of knowledge and wisdom there.    if I remember correctly another member he advised to use their current mill to pay for the new one. If the jobs line up enough you will be able to upgrade in a short time.

What are the perks of a 40 over a 35?

[Magicman]

LINK  Four more inches of log diameter, and a much larger engine option.  Of course you start tacking on the $$$ with the options, but bells and whistles do much more than make noise.  I would seriously shop for a used sawmill, but I realize that few are available.  They also hold their value quite well.  I would be very hesitant to sell mine for what I paid for it used 14 years ago.

There are two LT40 SuperHydraulic mills listed in the For Sale Board, and you could also look at Forum Sponsor "Sawmill Exchange".

[Verticaltrx]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think you'd see much improvement in productivity with an LT35 w/ 16.8 diesel vs your current setup. FYI, the cutting head is basically the same on the LT15/LT28/LT35, only difference is the bed and the options. If you plan on staying stationary I think the LT15 is a fine mill for an operation like yours.

I'd look at the way your operation/layout is setup to increase productivity before spending more money on a larger mill, especially if you aren't paying cash for your upgrade. Now that
I have power feed on my mill and can easily average 250bf/hr, by myself, including stacking and stickering. With a good helper, good logs, and a few more improvements to my mill area layout I think I could do over 300bf/hr pretty easy. That's sawing a mix of framing lumber and 1" siding, generally between 10-16' long. Lest we forget that the LT15 is capable of huge production numbers (IIRC it was close to 900bf/hr with an edger at the latest sawmill shootout), but it does take an extremely efficient layout, operator, and helper(s).

[Wallee]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think you'd see much improvement in productivity with an LT35 w/ 16.8 diesel vs your current setup. FYI, the cutting head is basically the same on the LT15/LT28/LT35, only difference is the bed and the options. If you plan on staying stationary I think the LT15 is a fine mill for an operation like yours.

I'd look at the way your operation/layout is setup to increase productivity before spending more money on a larger mill, especially if you aren't paying cash for your upgrade. Now that
I have power feed on my mill and can easily average 250bf/hr, by myself, including stacking and stickering. With a good helper, good logs, and a few more improvements to my mill area layout I think I could do over 300bf/hr pretty easy. That's sawing a mix of framing lumber and 1" siding, generally between 10-16' long. Lest we forget that the LT15 is capable of huge production numbers (IIRC it was close to 900bf/hr with an edger at the latest sawmill shootout), but it does take an extremely efficient layout, operator, and helper(s).

I think by paying cash and adding a edger I could up the production quite a bit. However the turning capabilities of the lt35hd and the roller toe boards for taking cants off the mill would be quite nice.