First question: I seem to only mill about 200 BF before my blade goes dull - Is this due to excessive blade speed, tension, or is it the mill? I started getting "wavy" boards - time to change the blade ( I figured this out with help from you guys on WWT).
/6810057802_2999a3932d_k-5a3ffd26494ec900361cf40b.jpg "portable sawmill harbor freight")
Spent the afternoon fixing that, and the next day milled some more Ash. This week has been adventurous - I started milling White Ash and snapped one of the cables that raise and lower the carriage. It has given me my share of grief on occasion, but what can I expect for $2k? I finally pulled the trigger on the HF mill 3 years ago when it went on sale and I could use my 25% off coupon on it. I'd been wanting a sawmill for a long time but never could justify the expense for a "mostly" personal use "toy". If I win the lottery, my thinking on all this might change. It's how we got to mortgage- and grid-free. creative thinking, maker attitude, and so on, enable the projects to come forward and get done faster. I know I enjoy reading about both approaches when others do these things!įor our homestead, large capital outlays push projects to the back of the line. Both should get me further down the road.
#Portable sawmill harbor freight free#
either fully paid for via a contractor, self-done with free labor, or something in between with some degree of materials, tools, and labor choices.Ī low-end sawmill will be slow(er), but will cost less a high-end will be fast(er), but will cost more.
I tend to say that there are always choices. Things will definitely go faster on my homestead if I spend thousands to have someone else build my projects, versus me doing it for just materials, tools, and providing free labor I don't know why the "boss" has rejected the former approach each and every time. you've nicely book-ended the extremes for me! Labeling HF as "POS" might be too broad of a brush stroke across all HF items, whereas I have found certain items to be OK for use (hand tools, trailer kits) these have held up well on our homestead. these are what I need jumpstarted, where possible. My labor is free, just need a sawmill kit.īy "kit form", I mean a steel frame already cut and ready to assemble, a bandsaw component, and an engine component. With 40 acres of pine, it seems to make sense to extract value by having a sawmill set up. Many outbuildings on hold, because my preferred building material, wood (timber-framed), isn't on hand. Need large beams 8' to 12' long, of many timber-frame dimensions, which I have trouble finding at big box yards. Need to turn wood on my acreage into usable non-standard lumber wood comes from clearing or blowdown. I try to avoid buying used because it's too easy to buy other people's problems (how well did they treat the equipment, what is broken on it, what is aged or needs replacing, how good am I at catching all this before buying). I most likely won't be buying mid- or high-end, as that would only be possible in the "used" category for our homestead. Still need to fill out mid- and high-end categories above to know where the sawmills fit. change brands to change engines (hf = predator, wm = kohler) Mods: most folks seem to be extending the length, and/or putting it on a trailer. great for homesteaders on a budget, not running the sawmill as a business. low-end: harbor freight, woodland mills, etc.I'm thinking the classes might be breaking down as follows: Slowly getting a feel for the "levels" of sawmills out there. but I don't think I have enough spare body parts to find out if it's good for this homestead. rusty metal going every which way, with engines, chains, hydraulic lines wedged in as well. I couldn't tell if it was the log or my arm that was to be ripped. They pretty much had signs that said "insert arm here, press button to begin ripping". I did look at lots of "lumberjock" and youtube "homebuilt" models (with spinning tires and such). if nothing else, its a $2k entry into sawmill equipment and operations. it's back to my kit-form $2k sawmill.Įven if I have to throw away the (predator) engine, and rework or throw away the bandsaw portion, I think I have a better-built sawmill frame upon which to work engine and bandsaw magic. checking just two states, there was a TimberKing for $11k, and WoodMizers for $25k and 30k. A two-saw requirement (makes sense now) kind of kills that. I was unsure if I wanted rough-sawn for any projects, or if I would go straight to "milled" from the sawmill. Thanks for the tip on the Stihl attachments.
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