Which saw mill should I buy to ....

[gensetsteve]

Cut up soft wood then feed through my cross cut then through my kindlett. I have a feeling the labour element may kill the job. But my wood supply is not keeping up with demand. The idea I had is spend 2k on a woodmizer or similar if its a disaster back to the drawing board. I need speed not accuracy. we will put planks up to 9x3 through my crosscut. Any advice welcome even if its a bit negative, rather learn cheaply now than expensively later.

[Big J]

£2000 is a very tight budget for a used sawmill. Certainly unlikely you will get a Woodmizer.

 

Firstly, what size of logs are you breaking down? Am I right to assume 9x3 is the desired final size?

 

Speed of production is largely dependent on fast cutting and speed of handling material. Fast cutting is obviously easier with more power, but well maintained blades and good alignment on a 10hp mill will outcut poor blades and alignment on a 50hp mill. Material handling is either done by hydraulics or manual labour. In your price range, you will be limited to manual labour.

 

Have you considered contract hiring a sawmill for log breakdown. You'd be surprised how much they can get through if you are well organised with log arrangement, labour and size of logs.

[Chris Sheppard]

If you could fnd one of these second hand it would probably do what you want.

 

Dragon Double Slabber | Dragon Machinery Double Slabber made in South West Wales

 

Most double slabbers I've seen have been static ones in sawmills - chances are there's one floating about abandonned somewhere that's not been weighed in.

[gensetsteve]

Thanks for your posts Big J and Chris the max size for my kindlet is 6x6x6 but any decent size that can be easily man handled from saw mill to crosscut would be ok. Up cut saw has a 500mm blade and the mouth will take about 12x3 and still drop onto conveyor. So 3x3 4x3 5x2 anything around that really. I have set a low budget incase its not viable and need to move bandsaw on. If I find it works ok or looks viable will sell saw and use experience to purchase better kit in about a month. A good idea about getting a man with a saw mill for the day. I have a good selection of forklifts and a 9x9 metre poly tunnel.

Chris thanks for the link When you mentioned this machine I thought it would be a band saw about 10ft high. That machine looks compact. It looks like it could be set up just to get the slabs of the side of 8in round wood. If I was starting a business from fresh I would probably give it a miss but having 12k in machinery about to become redundant and a good customer base I think its worth fighting for especially as we made the decision to finish the log business last week.

[Chris Sheppard]

To be honest, I'd not seen anything as compact as the one in the link until last night

 

Don't think it would be too difficult to make a twin circular bladed machine with fixed gap - from bit of a read online last night it sounds like there were quite a few homemade ones put together for when pit props were sawn in the woods where they felled (long before I started felling).

[gensetsteve]

I am thinking along the lines of used entry level woodmizer if it pans out in a month or so and the figures stack up buy something with a bit more whizz. I think the double circular would be good if all the timber was the same size but I think I will get stuff from 12" upwards and have the kit to handle it.

[renewablejohn]

Have spotted on the bay Mill offcuts bundled at £35 per tonne. Dont know whether any use but thought of you.

[gensetsteve]

Have spotted on the bay Mill offcuts bundled at £35 per tonne. Dont know whether any use but thought of you.

 

Thanks john will have a look. Been looking into scaffold boards. Its a shame we are so far apart our dust and rejects would be ideal for you.

[renewablejohn]

Thanks john will have a look. Been looking into scaffold boards. Its a shame we are so far apart our dust and rejects would be ideal for you.

 

Had to send the _rap pellet press back to the Italian manufacturer but most disappointing the UK agent has done nothing.