Woodland Mills 130- First Sawmill

[Briankinley2004]

I have always wanted a sawmill but always thought they were in the 10 grand plus range. Since being in the lumber business wasn't in the plans I passed on purchasing a mill. One day I discovered you could now get a band mill for as little as 2 grand. I have plans to build another barn and would spend over that on lumber so the search began. I live on 100 acres which is predominately timber. After a lot of searching and comparison it seemed the Woodland 126 was the best fit for me. Knowing one day I would wish I had bought the bigger one I went on and ordered the 130 and came off the extra grand. It arrived just after Christmas. Between work, weather, fishing and hunting I finally cranked the engine yesterday but it got dark before I could saw anything. After church today I loaded 2 small Sweetgum logs that the storm had blown over this summer. I figured if I messed up anything it was a low value log. My plan was to make stickers out of it. The wife helped me and after seeing the beautiful coloring we decided to keep it wide. I know it will probably bend, warp, twist and other curse words but if it does it will become stickers. After that there was plenty of daylight so I fell a 16" pine that had been standing dead for over a year. The top bark had slipped but the first log was solid and made some blue pine. The mill did well except a couple of times the blade quit spinning so I would restart pushing slower. At the end of the day I went to let the tension off the blade and realized I had never applied any when I started cutting. The boards look fine so I guess I didn't hurt anything


Overall the mill seems to be solid. There were a few minor items I had to figure out on my own but for the most part the assembly instructions were well written. All the parts were there except the nuts to hold on the cover latches. So far the thing seems to perform well. My biggest complaint is while there is an owners manual its not really an operators manual. It tells you how to assemble, maintain and troubleshoot the mill. It gives zero instructions on what to do once you start the motor. They have some excellent videos however it is good to have a manual you can refer to so you don't have to try and watch a video while your at the machine. I have ordered the extensions and they are supposed to arrive tomorrow. I have a dead read oak that lightening struck by the pond that will probably be my next victim.

[thecfarm]

It gives zero instructions on what to do once you start the motor.

That's why we are here.  There would be many pages to tell you how to saw. See how many are on here.      I know what you mean.
Welcome to the forum. You will enjoy sawing. The wife will too.

[Briankinley2004]

Yes I am glad I found this site. Don't know how we made it before the internet . I remember going to a Woodmizer demo back in the 80's. A guy had bought one and they advertised the demo locally but it was basically showing him how to use his mill.Marketing and training! Thats when I first had the fever to run a mill. The red barn in the back ground is one I built in the early 90's. All the lumber came off my place and was milled by a portable band mill. I wish I would have watched the guy more but I had to go to my job to pay him.