Mobile sawmill - pros and cons

[Big J]

Thanks for the recommendation Harvey!

 

Service from Woodmizer thus far has been fine in terms of getting parts to me. Technical support has been a bit patchy thus far and the only truly useful people have been the local rep and the original owner.

 

They are complicated and complex machines. Versatile, but a lot to go wrong. I'll hold onto mine for a year or so and then get something bigger I think.

[delabodge]

Thanks for the recommendation Harvey!

 

Service from Woodmizer thus far has been fine in terms of getting parts to me. Technical support has been a bit patchy thus far and the only truly useful people have been the local rep and the original owner.

 

They are complicated and complex machines. Versatile, but a lot to go wrong. I'll hold onto mine for a year or so and then get something bigger I think.

 

I`ll watch this space BigJ and see what you come up with, whilst my woodmizer has payed for itself, its fiddly, and goes through a fair few blades as I dont have a debarker,,(2k xtra), seems to be a moody bit of kit,,,

[TreeNuts]

So has anyone owned to LogLogic and can they compare it to the Mizer?

[TreeNuts]

I`ll watch this space BigJ and see what you come up with, whilst my woodmizer has payed for itself, its fiddly, and goes through a fair few blades as I dont have a debarker,,(2k xtra), seems to be a moody bit of kit,,,

 

I don't like complicated, I like simple, especially from a maintenance point of view. This is why I'm not convinced about Mizer yet and am looking at alternatives, preferably British manufactured.

[Big J]

You are probably best looking in the US. We just don't have enough manufacturers here. Researching the US and Canada, there are nearly 80 odd different saw manufacturers and they are a whole lot less pricey than here. Here are a few:

 

LogMaster - Logmaster Portable Sawmills|www.logmaster.com

Turner Mills - Home

SAWMILLS - BAKER PRODUCTS - Home

Cook's Saw Manufacturing, LLC

 

They were the best I came across with the exception of the obvious choices of Woodmizer and Timberking

[twmarriott]

i''ve borrowed a trekka saw and it was ok but had its limits, mainly the bands breaking in the gullets, i've used a towed log logic twice and in comparrison to a mizer much better but the blades would be more, i'd also go for the stellite tip so more expensive, and the kit was more expensive than a mizer, £ for £ i would say mizer is better value but if you've the money then i'd have a log logic, if i had the timber and time i'd build a propper mill with a stenner band rack.....vb 54 or similar but not really portable....

[MikeTM150]

Brother in law's got a woodmizer, not sure of the model, but he'd definately describe it as moody...... i've heard the expression "like a woman with bad PMT" mentioned around it on occasion. But as he says, there ain't a lot of choice when you compare £ for £ as the market is sort of limited in the UK. Guess he wouldn't do an awful lot with it compared to some people.

[Big J]

Wider bands certainly appeal but they are costly. That's the beauty of narrow band mills - if you demolish a band on metal, it's £20 to replace.

 

The time that I'm spending on the woodmizer is certainly informing my choice as to what I want to get when I replace it. I do think that I will be as fixated on width of cut as before - I think that 36 inches would suffice. The difficulty with monster boards is that they are difficult to handle, difficult to stack, and 95% of my customers would only rip it up the middle anyway. I would certainly choose a less complicated machine that the woodmizer, with less electrics.

 

Either way, I'm 56 hours into my Woodmizer experience. I intend to keep it for about a year, so it's giving me plenty of time to make up my mind about it's replacement. I might even apply for a grant myself.

 

Jonathan

[Sequoia]

Hi Treenuts,

 

Give me a shout and we can discuss importing something monstrous from America, as Jonathan put it! I run a TimberKing 2000 and it gives me very little trouble. The stack in the backround is the result of 2 days milling Western Red Cedar.

[arbwork]

you can run a slightly wider band on the mizer range inc. the LT40 , i think you may need to fit wider guide rollers, the bands are also thicker in width and I am told cut longer straighter and last long, de barker helps.