Good bye woodmizer hello Timberking

[OliB]

Thank you all for very informative and interesting debate.

 

A few people express dissatisfaction with woodmizers cantilever head, especially on older models. But others seem to find it cuts very well with good setup and manitenance. Perhaps the issue is that it's difficult to get a proper set up, but sticklers for perfection do well.

 

In the mean time I spoke to a guy in Alabama, with a fantastic Alabama trawl, last night selling a Logmaster LM-4 with 52hp CAT diesel head. at $42500 dollars with all attachments including a debarker and 6foot by 3 foot blade sharpener its sounds fantastic, and only 50 hrs on it, basically new, but a bit too much of a stretch for me, as the comparison is a new Woodmizer at £24k including all hydraulics and trailer and shingle/lapsider.

 

Other option is a new Timberking 1600 at £22k plus extra for lapsider. Sadly lacking setworks, but otherwise comparable to a woodmizer.

[Big J]

Agreed but if your blade and guides are aligned correctly you'll cut straight single or twinned

 

Agreed, to a point. The fact of the matter is that you can, with minimal physical effort take the cantilevered end of a Woodmizer head in your hand and wobble it. I had an LT40, the track rollers were properly adjusted and this was the case. You cannot do this with my present mill. That start point means you just don't have to pay as much attention to fine tuning on a day to day basis and you can get on with the business of cutting.

[Coed y Cardi]

Agreed, to a point. The fact of the matter is that you can, with minimal physical effort take the cantilevered end of a Woodmizer head in your hand and wobble it. I had an LT40, the track rollers were properly adjusted and this was the case. You cannot do this with my present mill. That start point means you just don't have to pay as much attention to fine tuning on a day to day basis and you can get on with the business of cutting.

 

I'll second that!

But I must admit I do like to look a the nice new shiny Woodmizers at the APF!!

[OliB]

Well, having spoken to Matt the timberking dealer in the U.K., it sounds like the 1600, for the money, can't do what the the 2000 or Lt 40 can do, in terms of log handling.

 

I think my main options are 2000 or Lt 40, and the 2000 is currently beyond my price range. Woodmizer have made me a great offer on the Lt 40, so I think I'm going to place the order. They can also deliver in 8 weeks rather than timberkings 12 weeks, and much of the funding for the mill is coming from the budget for building a new house, which needs timber sooner rather than later.

 

I'm not realistically going to scrape together the extra £7000 to make the step up from Lt 40 to 2000, so considering my first budget was for a Norwood mill I think I'm going to be very happy with the lt40, so long as i take care with setup. Woodmizer have thousands of happy customers, so even if the cantilever head isn't to everyone's satisfaction, I hope it will be to mine.

 

Thanks again for all the input!

[Copford sawmill sussex]

It might just be our mills but I can't recall the mast ever being a problem as in rocking a wonky cut etc but this is only my experience with them. And ours is static which might factor?