Wide band horizontal mill on a budget

[windymiller78]

Probably been covered before but say with a budget of 10-15k where would i get a wide band horizontal mill? just missed a trekka saw, maybe after a 2nd hand forester/ tom sawyer but maybe out of price range, having tried a woodmizer decied narrow isn't up to the large/ wide through and through capability i'm after of over 1.2 mtr

[arboriculturist]

Why so wide. have you a specific demand for wide dimensional timber or just for milling slabs of specific timbers ?

[windymiller78]

depends, bit of both in that the day job timber frame and building conservation/ restoration means large dims odd shapes, wind braces cruck frames etc, and most of the trees i tend to get are ex farm/ hedge / parkland stuff big and wide., i can source small section stuff, but large air dried bits are getting hard to find, i have the shed space so may as well saw and that way can control quality my self, we've an antique rack bench which i've used for 20 years or so but want something that looses less kerf, and i haven't got to cleve before putting on the table, would rather have something rail mounted as  i could lay 30 odd feet of them and it would allow me to literally saw anything up...

 

[topchippyles]

Seriously large saw to cut 1200 mm wide slabs that is for sure so looking at a peterson type mill on your budget.

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by topchippyles

[bilke_user]

Widest slab from a "wide" option Woodmizer, before you go to their industrial mills,  is 90cm and that's on the LT15, it is limited to a 1m max diameter due to it being non cantilevered.
The Industrial WM1000 is a bit wider than what you are looking for and it carries a hefty price tag well in excess of your budget, not often they come up for sale used and when they do they tend to hold their value well


Surely for slabbing you would be looking at a slabbing mill such as an Alaskan or similar or a Peterson/Lucas with a slabbing attachment (not cheap).

If you happen to find a Tom Sawyer I don't think your budget would cover a barn find one needing possibly as much again spending on it to bring it into good working order.

I'm sure there are others on here who use Alaskan type mills and they'd no doubt tell you that a 2" or 4" slab at 1.2m wide and 3m long is a lot of  wood to be handling.  I find it bad enough cutting 26" wide slabs at 4", even with all the fancy hydraulics on the mill to assist

 

[windymiller78]

handling a meter plus 3,4 5 and 6 inch slab isn't an issue, neither is the shed for it to go in, tbh i don't mind one needing work providing its worth the agro and tbh wasn't wanting fancy hydraulics on a mill, i'm un familiar with peterson, i was trying to avoid any chainsaw or lucas type mills purely as they make too much sawdust. i suppose the question is if every one is saying i'll not get a forester or tom sawyer for the money... how much are they and where would i find one? and what other wide band mills are there? i'm not interested in a flimsy woodmizer having used one be ok in douglas but not wide oak. here's the sized stuff i'm used to cutting...

 

[Squaredy]

36 minutes ago, windymiller78 said:

handling a meter plus 3,4 5 and 6 inch slab isn't an issue, neither is the shed for it to go in, tbh i don't mind one needing work providing its worth the agro and tbh wasn't wanting fancy hydraulics on a mill, i'm un familiar with peterson, i was trying to avoid any chainsaw or lucas type mills purely as they make too much sawdust. i suppose the question is if every one is saying i'll not get a forester or tom sawyer for the money... how much are they and where would i find one? and what other wide band mills are there? i'm not interested in a flimsy woodmizer having used one be ok in douglas but not wide oak. here's the sized stuff i'm used to cutting...

 

Forester 150 may come up every now and then.  Will cost you probably £10,000 plus, and in my experience no better than a woodmizer except in theory it can cut up to 1.2m wide.  And this will be a 40 year old machine, with all the possible wear and damage that entails.  Each blade will set you back £200 to £300 and £60 to sharpen.  I saw one of these in action a few years ago and it couldn't cut 2 foot wide larch straight.  The highly experienced sawyer changed blades after every other cut - it was ridiculous.

 

A few people in the USA do wide mills - look up Cooks and even wider is Hudson Oscar.  The latter do one which will apparently cut five foot wide.  You won't get to see one in this country though, so you would be ordering it from the USA and hoping that it would perform as you would expect.

 

Unless you need to cut hundreds of tons per year I would save your cash and use a chainsaw mill.  Yes it is slow and creates lots of sawdust; but it is simple, cheap and portable.  It will be many years before you get your money back in saved sawdust from a narrow kerf bandsaw...

[Rough Hewn]

Get an 881 and an 80” panther[emoji106]

[bilke_user]

Good place to get advice on Forestor mills is a group on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/624322064843413

Have a look on the UK Woodmizer users group on Facebook too, there's a lad there who bought and did up a Tom Sawyer, he'd be a good start to get advice from.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2331771573750718
Adan Sutton is here, https://www.facebook.com/adam.sutton.127

 

Genuinely though, if you are needing large slabs cut would it not be more cost effective to take the wood to a static mill that has that capability?

[topchippyles]

11 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Forester 150 may come up every now and then.  Will cost you probably £10,000 plus, and in my experience no better than a woodmizer except in theory it can cut up to 1.2m wide.  And this will be a 40 year old machine, with all the possible wear and damage that entails.  Each blade will set you back £200 to £300 and £60 to sharpen.  I saw one of these in action a few years ago and it couldn't cut 2 foot wide larch straight.  The highly experienced sawyer changed blades after every other cut - it was ridiculous.

 

A few people in the USA do wide mills - look up Cooks and even wider is Hudson Oscar.  The latter do one which will apparently cut five foot wide.  You won't get to see one in this country though, so you would be ordering it from the USA and hoping that it would perform as you would expect.

 

Unless you need to cut hundreds of tons per year I would save your cash and use a chainsaw mill.  Yes it is slow and creates lots of sawdust; but it is simple, cheap and portable.  It will be many years before you get your money back in saved sawdust from a narrow kerf bandsaw...

What was that wide slab mill you bought a while back gav ? Peterson ?