For decades we’ve been talking about getting a sawmill. It makes sense with all the trees we have here. I (Russ) always thought that if I ever stopped doing the garbage business that I would like to work with wood and probably build more cabins. A sawmill has always made sense to harvest our own timber with and convert it into usable products.
Some time back I got a Mini-Mill chain saw attachment made by Granberg and have sawn logs into boards with that. Even used some of it in the log cabin last year.
I practiced on some rough bug eaten logs and determined I really like making boards and usable lumber out of trees.
For years I’ve contemplated whether to get a band sawmill or a circular saw mill. I’ve researched in depth all the pro’s and cons of each type. In a perfect world I’d definitely have a circular saw mill, but band sawmills seems to be a little more beginner friendly, they are very simple and easy to operate. I even considered building my own and there are tons of do-it-yourselfers out there who have done that and there are internet groups devoted just for these kind of guys making their own builds. It’s definitely intriguing especially when you consider the cost of these machines which seem to be getting higher in price all the time. Even used mills are fetching a healthy price tag these days. I assume it’s been the high price of lumber driving up the cost of new and used sawmills with more and more people willing to mill their own lumber rather than pay the retail outlets all that money.
Wood-Mizer is one of the most popular brand band sawmills on the market. Looking at the prices of new machines you quickly find out out they don’t give these things away. Fully automatic top of the line Wood-Mizers top out over $80,000! So used ones have been on my radar for some time now. But used mills seem to be running slightly under the cost of new so nothing really has really jumped out at me. In the last year I’ve been seeing used band sawmills running between $20,000 and $30,000 and up. Way out of our budget!
Once you do a little looking there are tons of companies making band sawmills, Wood-Mizer has plenty of competition. Just a casual look you see Norwood, Timberking, Hud-Son, Woodland Mills, Valee, Cooks Saw and even Harbor Freight has one. There are many more than what’s listed here.
More recently I finally found a used Hud-Son band sawmill priced very reasonably down by Manitowoc in Wisconsin, but the weather got too dicey for driving with freezing rain and it was sold before I could get there. Maybe I should have made an offer sight unseen, but who knows. It’s a very competitive market right now and guys are coming out of the “wood work” pun intended to buy used sawmills!
But after many months of searching we finally found a band sawmill not too far from us south of Wausau and made a deal to buy it. The brand is Timbery model M100 an entry level sawmill. Elliott the man who owns it has a thriving furniture business and uses the saw to cut his own lumber for the products he makes. The only reason he is selling it is because he’s moving out of state. He has a couple more jobs to complete with it and he will delivery and set it up for us next month in May sometime.
The one we are getting is similar to the one in these pictures but ours has a 5 hp electric motor instead of a gas powered engine. I decided that I wanted electric so that I can run it in a building and not worry about exhaust fumes.
Currently our Timbery has enough track to cut a 16′ foot log, we ordered another section so that I can cut a 20′ foot log. That’s so when and if we build another cabin I can cut logs that long for the structure.
Elliott has been using it outdoors for 5 years and covers it with a tarp when not in use. He has it mounted on timbers but we plan to pour a slab for it and use the saw to mill boards for a building for it to be in.
10 years ago we had built a pole structure that was used as a road side vegetable stand. We harvested logs from our property. This is the same type of building that we will put up for the sawmill. But are planning to have a fully enclosed structure not just a lean-to like the picture of the farmstand.
We are planning to build this in stages. First get the slab poured for the sawmill which is coming soon. Then put up a lean-to style shelter like the old farmstand. Then completely make it into a monitor style barn housing the sawmill, and us while turning trees into lumber.
This year we had the most snow on record in our area and where we wanted to put the sawmill just happened to be where my dad and I piled a winters worth of snow from the driveways. It took a good part of a day just to push back all that snow so the area could start drying out.
I started removing the top soil so we can pour a slab. The building will be 35′ x 40′ and will be built in sections.
The top soil went deep at least a foot in places and there was a lot of clay underneath also, which is unusual because most places around the property it’s pure sand and rocks. There were however no shortage of rocks at this site!
We had about 3 days of wonderful weather for this work but then progress stalled out because we reverted back to winter.
April 30th we got socked with 6-8 inches of heavy wet snow and we were plunged into winter conditions once again which was a shock after experiencing several days in the uppers 70’s.
Once the weather cleared we got back at it hauling sand to replace the top soil that I dug out. We have a hill that we have been taking sand from for many years and my 81 year old dad offered to help by running the machine and loading me while I ran back and forth with the 1 ton dump truck. It took just over 50 loads to get the building site leveled out.
The site is now graded out and ready to start setting up the concrete forms. We had considered hiring a contractor to pour the slab but I think if I break it up into 10′ foot sections I can handle doing this myself. Also friends that live down the road said they would be glad to help with the pour so that is the next step in our sawmill adventure!
In the mean time just today May 2, 2023 the sawmill got delivered.
With the purchase price of this band sawmill it comes with some extra’s, a laser which mounts on the saw which helps for positioning the log, a Woodland Mills automatic blade sharpener, a tooth setter and around 100+ blades, some new, some used but sharpened and some that need to be sharpened.
Elliott the man we got the saw from showed me how to use the blade sharpener and tooth setter before he left.
It was a lot of of fun learning how to set up the blade sharpener and after Elliott left I finished sharpening this blade. But it was pretty cold today and spitting snow on and off so after finishing this blade I went in.
Part of the sale of this sawmill includes Elliot the seller helping me to set up the mill, so he plans to come back when I’m ready to help set it up and show me how to run it. However after getting warmed up in the house I was just itching to do something with the sawmill so I went out and put together the heavy steel tracks that it rides on.
This is a temporary site until we get the slab poured. My intension is to use the sawmill to cut the wood for the building which will house the mill so the sooner we get cutting the better.
By dusk tonight I pretty much got the rails put together. There are a few more parts to put on and I need to get it leveled up and anchored to the concrete slabs. It is sitting on two concrete slabs. Now we have had these slabs since the day we poured the concrete for the log cabin. We purposely ordered more concrete for the cabin than what we needed so we’d be sure to have enough and my dad and I made forms to pour the extra cement in. We have been using these slabs for different things these past couple decades.
Well that’s about all we have so far about our sawmill journey. When we actually get it up and running we will probably make another post about that and will be making updates about the progress of the new building. I personally feel like a little kid with a new toy! This is going to be way better than running a chain saw mill, though I expect to still use my chain saw mini mill for different things in the future.
Until Next Time
Log Cabin Homestead 