A friend of mine picked up a used bandsaw mill in near new condition. Its a Norland 36 with close to all the options. He has been using it to go through a pile of logs left over from a building project and learning how to use it. He offered to saw up a few logs for me so I picked a big beech and a Popple last week and dropped them. The beech had a big crown so I will get plenty of firewood. The popple has a big crown but expect it will stay in the woods. I sealed up the ends with a wax sealant and let them sit for a few days. We hauled the logs over to his place and had a chance to run a few logs.
The concept is pretty simple but there definitely is lot of moving parts and adjustments to be made. Logs may look straight in the woods but when they are on the "bunks" (the cross rails that hold the log), its a different story. The logs are not cylindrical, they have a taper so the diameter on either end varies so there is slight taper to even a straight log. Add in some slight bows, curves and crooks and they all need to be compensated for in the initial cuts. He has the hydraulic options so there are lot of "degrees of freedom" to learn and there is some slop in the system. What makes things more interesting is that there are a lot of internal stresses in the log so as the log is sliced it tends to curl a bit. Its easy to want to crank out the boards but if we didnt keep an eye on it the changes add up. I think its inevitable that the last board ends up being odd.
Once the four sides are parallel, then it goes quicker. I did get him a box of new blades set up for wet hardwood as he was handed an assortment by the prior owner. He is still figuring out feed rates but 10" wide cuts on wet beech definitely loaded it up a bit. The popple was wider but it definitely chewed through it faster despite being wider. I cut several popple boards but sawed a lot of it into "stickers" Stickers need to be uniform and are used to stack the boards. Ideally they would be dry so I may get some black stains where the boards are stacked but I use what I have. I cut 5/4 which is fine for rough cut wood but expect its real generous for bandsaw cut wood.
I had cut four logs but one stayed at my wood lot as we maxed out the trailer we were using. I don't have a major use currently for the wood so expect it may be awhile before we do the last log. Its wet today but expect its going to be quite a grunt getting the wood into the attic of my garage to stack it. I have dried wood in there over the years and its a pretty good solar kiln. Its got a black asphalt roof with good sun exposure and full soffit vents and vent a ridge along the ridgepole. My guess is I have 2000 pounds of wood I need to load it in the attic and stack it. Give it a few months and its going to be bit lighter.
I have had past experience helping someone who uses a chainsaw mill. Its a totally different experience. The setup for the squaring cuts is a lot more tedious and the process is lot louder with far more sawdust. The mill has a 23 HP Vanguard engine with a quiet muffler. The optional hydraulic pump that runs the hydraulic tools is a lot louder but thankfully its only used occasionally.
Contrary to popular belief, its not a one man operation, yes there are a lot of options to reduce the work but it still takes 2 preferably 3 folks working steady to support the mill. We were cutting hardwood so the feed was slow but my past experience is softwood feeds faster. When we did a load of pine close to 25 years ago two us were busy moving logs into place and then hauling them off the mill and stacking it. The individual who sold this mill appears to be have been doing a lot of solo milling and ended up needing his shoulder to be rebuilt. His prognosis was a year minimum recovery so he sold the mill.
Over the years I have run into several bandsaw mill owners. Some are bought on impulse while many are bought by folks listening to advertising that convinces them that its a good home business. There is also the concept that the owner can rent out sawing service to pay it off. Its all good concepts but many owners end up selling in a few years when they realize its a lot of work. Others soon realize that an entry level mill usually requires too much manual labor and is undersized, they end up selling it and buying a higher end more automated mill. At that point, they stop hauling it around and setting up a fixed location. What started out as a low cost hobby turns into a 20K to 100K investment once someone picks up a kiln and support equipment to increase the value of the lumber produced. In a couple of years I may have a surplus is logs and free time so I may want one but in the meantime I expect I will have access to my friends rig. Used mills do tend to keep their value so the original owners do not lose a lot. FYI there are some low cost hobby mills out there, some are made in the US and several are off shore. The off shore ones are low cost but the quality control is suspect. My guess is setting up takes longer due to greater tolerances.
In the meantime my friend ends up with a lot of slab wood for firewood. It dries quick and burns quick but the price is right.
The concept is pretty simple but there definitely is lot of moving parts and adjustments to be made. Logs may look straight in the woods but when they are on the "bunks" (the cross rails that hold the log), its a different story. The logs are not cylindrical, they have a taper so the diameter on either end varies so there is slight taper to even a straight log. Add in some slight bows, curves and crooks and they all need to be compensated for in the initial cuts. He has the hydraulic options so there are lot of "degrees of freedom" to learn and there is some slop in the system. What makes things more interesting is that there are a lot of internal stresses in the log so as the log is sliced it tends to curl a bit. Its easy to want to crank out the boards but if we didnt keep an eye on it the changes add up. I think its inevitable that the last board ends up being odd.
Once the four sides are parallel, then it goes quicker. I did get him a box of new blades set up for wet hardwood as he was handed an assortment by the prior owner. He is still figuring out feed rates but 10" wide cuts on wet beech definitely loaded it up a bit. The popple was wider but it definitely chewed through it faster despite being wider. I cut several popple boards but sawed a lot of it into "stickers" Stickers need to be uniform and are used to stack the boards. Ideally they would be dry so I may get some black stains where the boards are stacked but I use what I have. I cut 5/4 which is fine for rough cut wood but expect its real generous for bandsaw cut wood.
I had cut four logs but one stayed at my wood lot as we maxed out the trailer we were using. I don't have a major use currently for the wood so expect it may be awhile before we do the last log. Its wet today but expect its going to be quite a grunt getting the wood into the attic of my garage to stack it. I have dried wood in there over the years and its a pretty good solar kiln. Its got a black asphalt roof with good sun exposure and full soffit vents and vent a ridge along the ridgepole. My guess is I have 2000 pounds of wood I need to load it in the attic and stack it. Give it a few months and its going to be bit lighter.
I have had past experience helping someone who uses a chainsaw mill. Its a totally different experience. The setup for the squaring cuts is a lot more tedious and the process is lot louder with far more sawdust. The mill has a 23 HP Vanguard engine with a quiet muffler. The optional hydraulic pump that runs the hydraulic tools is a lot louder but thankfully its only used occasionally.
Contrary to popular belief, its not a one man operation, yes there are a lot of options to reduce the work but it still takes 2 preferably 3 folks working steady to support the mill. We were cutting hardwood so the feed was slow but my past experience is softwood feeds faster. When we did a load of pine close to 25 years ago two us were busy moving logs into place and then hauling them off the mill and stacking it. The individual who sold this mill appears to be have been doing a lot of solo milling and ended up needing his shoulder to be rebuilt. His prognosis was a year minimum recovery so he sold the mill.
Over the years I have run into several bandsaw mill owners. Some are bought on impulse while many are bought by folks listening to advertising that convinces them that its a good home business. There is also the concept that the owner can rent out sawing service to pay it off. Its all good concepts but many owners end up selling in a few years when they realize its a lot of work. Others soon realize that an entry level mill usually requires too much manual labor and is undersized, they end up selling it and buying a higher end more automated mill. At that point, they stop hauling it around and setting up a fixed location. What started out as a low cost hobby turns into a 20K to 100K investment once someone picks up a kiln and support equipment to increase the value of the lumber produced. In a couple of years I may have a surplus is logs and free time so I may want one but in the meantime I expect I will have access to my friends rig. Used mills do tend to keep their value so the original owners do not lose a lot. FYI there are some low cost hobby mills out there, some are made in the US and several are off shore. The off shore ones are low cost but the quality control is suspect. My guess is setting up takes longer due to greater tolerances.
In the meantime my friend ends up with a lot of slab wood for firewood. It dries quick and burns quick but the price is right.
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