SawMill Set Up Opinions?!

Neighbor has announced that he is buying a saw mill. He wants one for himself, but is older, and doesn't have chain saws / tractors / or a lot of man hours to mill his own wood, so that is where I come in.

Basically, he is buying the saw, and I am putting it together, and milling wood with him, and I get to use it for myself whenever I want to!

We talked about it, and it will be stored at my house (he lives about 1/2 mile away, but has little room). I THOUGHT at first that I would pour some footings somewhere, and make a little roof for it, and that is where it would be, but the more I have thought about it... The more I think I want to put it on a trailer. . . .

Bear with me here, but this is what I am thinking.

The unit is about 10 feet long, and is only capable of cutting 8 foot logs (but I think I can add onto the tracks in the future). I want to take a wagon running gear, and just simply set the saw right on it! I want to put it ALL the way on the RIGHT side of the wagon, then put decking/flooring on the left side, so that the operator of the mill can walk along with it ON the trailer, with plenty of room on the left side, which the tractor operator is setting logs on from the right side of the trailer.

I think this is a pretty simple idea, and will work well. The mills totally weight is a little shy of 1000 lbs, so I could build it on the wagon, or build it in the shop and set it on the wagon with the back hoe.

Anyways, my QUESTION:

My wagon running gear pivots when on uneven ground, so, will that hurt the mill? Also, I assume the mill has to be PERFECTLY flat/level, and I could see that being a royal pain on a wagon like that? Plus, I really need to keep me wagon for HAULING the logs, so, what are your thoughts on me putting it on an old truck frame or something? Like, have the rear axle of the truck a roller, and then a hitch on the front? A nice rigid frame, etc? PLUS, it would be long enough, that I could add onto it in the future!

Putting it on a wagon sounds good and all but i think your better option is to set it up on level ground with plenty of working space around it. Remember it will be his and not yours so if you go to the expense of pouring a pad and all one day he might want it back at his place.

I assume from what you have said about the mill that it is a bandsaw mil. If not then disregard everything else I say. We bought a Turner mill in 2007 and I have used it to build a few buildings as well as sawn up enough hardwood lumber to sell a few thousand dollars worth per year for the last several years. I decided that setting the mill right on the ground was the best option for our situation. That makes it easy to roll logs onto the mill but it means more bending over to pick up the boards. If you do set the mill up on an axle I would keep it so you walk along the ground to save the bending over. This will also save having to jump up and down all of the time like you would if you were walking on the wagon. For the first 8 months we had the mill it was outside, then it moved under the wing of a new building where it is in a 10' wide bay. This enables the mill to discharge sawdust onto a 3' wide floor on one side of the mill and I walk on the outer 4' on the other side of the mill. Being under a roof is nice because I can stay relatively drier when cutting on wet days. I still have to go outside to throw the slabs on the cradle and cut them up, and sometimes to carry away the boards if they are not going in the loft of the building, but milling is a great rainy day job. The wing the mill sits under is open on one side and one end so the exhaust can escape pretty well. I will attach a link to an old thread that has some pictures of the building where our mill lives in case the pictures are of any interest.
Zach
A long time ago....

Sorry, I forgot your question. RIgid and dead straight are both important parts of sawmill support. Most trailer models I have seen have several adjustable jacks to level the bed on uneven ground. My ground model has 8 adjustable feet that sit on 4 bunks. You need to design it so it will not 'give' when you put a ton or more of log on it. If the tracks the head runs on are not straight the boards will not be straight either.
Zach

If you pour a pad and eventually put up a building, make sure there could be a future use for it if the sawing ends.
Having it on a trailer would be inconvenient to have to climb up and down all the time.

I would say the more stable it is the straighter the boards will be. Straight and uniform boards is really nice if you want to plane them and make something nice from them.

Bryce, what type of mill? Mine is an old circular mill and I would not put it on a trailer. Mine is set on big locust posts in the ground with 2 switch ties under it where the husk frame is. It has to be steady and strong to withstand the shocks of rolling logs on it.
Pictures of it would help us.
Richard in NW SC

I have a Woodmizer LT-40 that I have used to saw over 1.5 million board-ft. It's very portable and very accurate. In fact, it is so accurate I often challenge the customer to measure the lumber produced and see if there is any variation. The cannot find any variation with a tape measure, it just isn't accurate enough. From what I see of the mill, it will be just as accurate after the next 1.5 million board-feet.

I've done a lot of custom sawing at the customer's site with my mill. From the time I unhook my F150 pickup from the hitch until I am ready to load the first log can be as short as 2 minutes. Yep, two minutes. When the last log is finished and the lumber stacked and counted, it takes less than 5 minutes to be hitched up and on the road.

I know that what I'm telling you about is much higher priced than what you are describing but it turns a nightmare of a system into a pleasure and is very safe too. I did most of my sawing with no helper which makes one less person to look out for. From the operator's station you can barely reach the band so you aren't likely to get your fingers cut off. The biggest injury I suffered in the 12 years I used the mill was when I pulled a small log off the pile and it landed on my foot. It hurt, but I sawed the rest of the day and the next several jobs because it did no lasting damage.

Look for a used Woodmizer. They are very difficult to damage and you can replace most wear parts with a simple tool box and a hydraulic jack to help support the head if you need to replace a bearing. Try to find on with full hydraulics, your back and legs will thank you many time over.

I would opt for the truck frame, unless it is much higher than the wagon would be.
In either case if it is on rubber wheels you will need jacks on the corners to stabilize
it.

JMHO

Hi Bryce,

It sounds like you are really excited about this saw mill! One thing is not clear to me, or maybe I just missed it: Are you going into a partnership with your neighbor, or will you work for him as an employee?

Just a partnership really. It is something that we both want/need. He has the money, I have the time, equipment, and trees!

It is a small bandsaw.

To be honest, it is from Harbor Freight!!

I know I know, every one rags on them, as do I, but if you look it up, and read the reviews, everything is REALLY positive on the saw, and there are some people that have cut a L O T of wood with one, with really no trouble at all?!

From factory, it can cut up to a 20" log, and a max of 8 feet long. Looking at it, I think I can extend the rails so that it will cut 12 or 14 footers...

Well, with my trailer plan, there would be one guy running the saw, and he would just stay up there! I would be running the tractor moving logs / cut lumber, and would be setting the logs up there, and going for the next one, while Fred was milling. Wouldn't be much up and down, unless I was by myself...

Thats why I am kind of leaning towards a truck frame/trailer. From something big. Like a 2 ton truck!

If I bolt the mill down to the frame somehow, I think it would be very rigid, it would be level and solid both ways ON the trailer, even if the trailer was NOT level.

Then I am thinking 4 heavy duty jacks, one on each corner for leveling... I think I can make it work, but it might take a little work...

Here are some videos on the Harbor Freight sawmill.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=habour+freight+sawmill

(quoted from post at 19:11:39 12/11/15) I assume from what you have said about the mill that it is a bandsaw mil. If not then disregard everything else I say. We bought a Turner mill in 2007 and I have used it to build a few buildings as well as sawn up enough hardwood lumber to sell a few thousand dollars worth per year for the last several years. I decided that setting the mill right on the ground was the best option for our situation. That makes it easy to roll logs onto the mill but it means more bending over to pick up the boards. If you do set the mill up on an axle I would keep it so you walk along the ground to save the bending over. This will also save having to jump up and down all of the time like you would if you were walking on the wagon. For the first 8 months we had the mill it was outside, then it moved under the wing of a new building where it is in a 10' wide bay. This enables the mill to discharge sawdust onto a 3' wide floor on one side of the mill and I walk on the outer 4' on the other side of the mill. Being under a roof is nice because I can stay relatively drier when cutting on wet days. I still have to go outside to throw the slabs on the cradle and cut them up, and sometimes to carry away the boards if they are not going in the loft of the building, but milling is a great rainy day job. The wing the mill sits under is open on one side and one end so the exhaust can escape pretty well. I will attach a link to an old thread that has some pictures of the building where our mill lives in case the pictures are of any interest.
Zach
A long time ago....

Click to expand...

I totally agree with Zachary on the mill being setup under cover on the ground on a solid level base. The only thing my neighbor did differently with his Lynn Sawmill was, his is on a 6" concrete base and the saw dust exits out of the building. That being said if you chose to make it Mobil, a trailer axle which could be installed and removed to lower it down for cutting IMHO would be the best option as you stated a wagon would twist the frame and you do not want that... Additional things to consider if you raise it up 2' in height is as most mills require hand cranking to raise and lower the cutting head, if it is on the top of the mill as is the Lynn mill it would be impossible to reach from the ground of course if you have powered head that point is mute, but the additional height also makes loading and turning logs harder.
The other important thing whether portable or stationary is to make sure the wind is at your back, eating saw dust is not fun :lol: :lol: . I also suggest you google a site called "The Forestry Forum" it has much information, you will find interesting concerning how its member have set up their sawmills as well as a host of sawing problems they have encountered and solutions to them. Good luck and happy sawing !!

Partnerships could get tricky. Who foots the bill (and blame) when it breaks ?
In today's society everything is tougher to deal with. First words out of anyone's mouth is I'm suing.

I've been around/worked quite a few portable mills (bandsaw type) and stationary pre-god ones (railway ties and 'side' lumber). The key to success is LEVEL and SOLID both ways. If you keep that in mind, a roof of any kind is a bonus, AND, removal/disposal/clearing of the sawdust is maybe the third most important thing. HTH - Have Phun !

Bryce.. Don,t spend a lot of time or money on the HF mill. Yes it works and for how long depends on how much you use it. I have owned mils for 40 + years and am now on my 4th woodmizer. I would be like all the others forget the wagon idea and if you go trailer get it as low as you can and do something like trailer jacks to do the leveling and holding it steady.

Another thing that just came to mind, is to make sure someone is carrying plenty of liability insurance! Also make sure the insurance company knows this is a partnership!

I have had 2 Woodmizers over the years & I don't think you could get hurt with one as long as you use a little common sense.

As the smart guy said "Common sense Ain't so common now days"

I agree with you. I also had 2 woodmizers the last was the LT40 with the hydraulics on it. If Bruce would ever run one for a day or two, He wouldn't even look at that HF one. I made good money with that mill and got a good price for it when I sold it. I think that HF one will be a waste of time & money & will have no resale value.