Are portable manual bandmills worth it?....

[SteveA]

I've got the bones of a very basic Alaskan Mill but not got to use it yet, looking forwards to it though.

 

Is what this guy says about portable manual bandmills fairly accurate?

 

Is it a better plan to hire in hydraulic portable bandmills with an experienced operator on a day rate?....

 

cheers, steve

 

[ame]

[/ame]

[se7enthdevil]

if you have a whole parcel of trees to convert into boards then yes it is...

 

if you have one log that can be handled fairly easily and you are happy to get used to your mill then probably not.

[Old Lands]

Having spent 6/7 years in the past helping work a manual bandsaw mill in the same colour orange there is little that he says that I would disagree with. Great for occasional milling or for specific jobs, and if you are fit or have help/machinery, anything more serious or for big logs then there are better ways of doing it.

[Big J]

Hydraulics make a bandsaw. You might be able to keep up in terms of cut rate with a manual mill, but every movement of the log is manual and you won't be able to keep that up for long without flagging. To put it into perspective:

 

My best day on an hydraulic bandmill in terms of log count is 82 western red cedar logs, 3m long, average 11 inch diameter. Every log is clamped, cut, rolled, clamped, cut, rolled, clamped, cut, rolled, clamped and then finally cut. So assuming that you have a cylindrical with no taper (taper means toe boards, also hydraulic) you have a minimum of 7 hydraulic movements. Realistically, very few logs are without taper and the toe boards are almost always used. This brings us up to 9 hydraulic actions. Now with a hydraulic mill, this is all done in a flash with levers (no sweat broken). With a manual mill, assuming an throughput of 82 logs, you have a total of 738 times that you will have to manually move or clamp the logs. No human being could do that in a day, and this is where manual mills fall down. The total of 738 assumes that the log is not rolled initially when first loaded to the mill (which to be honest, most are, so a total of 820 movements is more realistic).

 

In short, if you are doing a spot of milling for yourself now and again, a manual mill is worth it. If you are planning to do any more than that, buy an hydraulic mill or hire a mobile sawmill in.

[Blaisey]

I must say I have come to the same conclusion. Ive been watching his YouTube channel for a while now makes me laugh and he dose some cool projects.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

 

Is what this guy says about portable manual bandmills fairly accurate?

 

 

"out to lunch", "smoking crack" etc are pretty spot on (if aspiring to making a living from it)

 

[SteveA]

Thanks all.

Good to hear all your thoughts & knowledge.

Makes it easier for us to make the decision to hire somebody in when it comes to it....

 

cheers, Steve

[gobbypunk]

Hi Guys the good thing about the Norwood Mills is that you can add hydraulics at a later stage if you need to or if you just dont have the money in the first place

cheers Mark

[Big J]

Hi Guys the good thing about the Norwood Mills is that you can add hydraulics at a later stage if you need to or if you just dont have the money in the first place

cheers Mark

 

A fully hydraulic Norwood is Woodmizer LT40 money without any of the rigidity or production speed. Not to be advised!

[john432]

I'm glad that I bought a Peterson. For a part time mill on a limited budjet arn't swing blade mills hard to beat? more so for large trunks that need a telehandler to move. Milled 15"x 5" x 20' beams for a barn a few days ago.they were heavy enough to slide onto the pallet forks once milled ,never mind trying to turn the whole trunk 90 degrees.