Big J

That's a bit rough for Oak (which usually takes a reasonably fine finish from a chainsaw mill) but it might be down to practice, or rather lack thereof. Really focus on minimising and small movements or jerks with the mill, maintaining smooth progress through the log. Here is a picture of Oak I've chainsawmilled:

1) Not really, other than rails. 2) No. I'd stick with lorry backs as they are much cheaper. As well as over £600 in insulation, you have all your time in insulating it. 3) Put rails in. You will need something fairly industrial to push the stack in and out. 4) I wouldn't go to 40ft. Better with two 20ft kilns. Consistent airflow would be very tricky to achieve over that length, and you'd need a lot of rails!

I agree a counterbalance would be useful in some instances. 10kg powerhead weight versus no weight on the other end of the bar can result in squint boards. I have always run an 088. I used to have two when I did more chainsaw milling but just have a 2000 model one from my uncle in Germany. It is an excellent milling saw, however once you start using other types of sawmills you realise that it's desperately slow. So I'd say, if you are considering starting chainsaw milling, don't bother with anything smaller. I personally don't have experience of the older milling saws (090/070/076/051) and would like to see them in action. I now run a 50" bar Cannon Superbar (or Woodland Pro, I forget which). I started out with a 36" Stihl bar, which didn't last long. I then did a good while on a 42" bar, but it was slightly too short. I hopped up to a 60" bar, but the flex meant I couldn't cut as accurately as I would have liked, so I opted for 50". I now only use the chainsaw mill if I need to break down large logs for the band mill (like a 15ft long, 40" diameter elm I chainsawmilled on site in Nairn last week - one half on one trailer, the other half on the other trailer. 4 tonnes) or for custom orders (wide boards required) or if the tree cannot be moved or is inaccessible. I've not given up on the idea of a hydraulic chainsawmill, though I've recently been steered towards compact 72V electric motors.

Wimmer are the best, as best as I can tell (and from what I have heard from other people too). They are not cheap though, and a mobile BN110 will set you back £60k. They are just stunning though: Wimmer Sawmills - Zenz Landtechnik GmbH No import duty as far as I'm aware from European sources, and the American imports on sawmills come in at 2.7%. Regarding American mills, there are quite a number of manufacturers of mobile hydraulic mills, though not many run up to the £47k mark. Those that do are usually far too massive to tow on a 3.5t licence, so would require a larger vehicle. An absolutely stunning mill (and I have no idea how much it costs) is the mobile Select Sawmill. I challenge anyone to find a quicker cutting mobile mill! I'd be really intrigued about the price of them. http://www.selectsawmill.com/en/bandsawmill.htm Otherwise I would have recommended a Logmaster LM6 with it's 85hp Cummins diesel and hydraulic drive, but they only exist used now

For the money, it's pretty good value (they are £47k new) but for that money you'd get a pretty good mill imported from the States. The thing about massive throat bandsawmills is that it is indeed very useful for cutting oversized logs, but you have to deal with the massive boards too. Personally, I much prefer halving large logs with the chainsawmill and then resawing on the bandmill. More stability, less back injuries!

I seem to have a very good accountant. Open until 2200 every night this week, able to make a last minute adjustment to the tax return, reasonable on fees and has saved me a lot of money.

Second hand mills are a bit of nightmare unless you have a comprehensive service history, you know the owner very well, or alternatively the mill is very simple and any defects would be apparent. In my mind, that doesn't look like a mill that has done 106 hours. My Logmaster is about up to that now, and it looks pretty much as new. It only takes one momentary lapse of concentration or lack of judgement to do serious damage to a mill. Interestingly, I had serious problems with bands not cutting flat straight out of the box (Dakin Flathers). I reckoned that it was the set which was off, which was confirmed on testing. It wasn't that the set was uneven, but that there was too little set (15 thou). It therefor look very little to cause a wobble. Anyway, I was quite impressed when Andrew from Dakin Flathers came up to my yard (from Leeds) with three bands with different sets and spent a few hours testing them. The best band had the highest set (23 thou) and really ripped along. Additionally, he'd been out to the Logmaster factory last year, and said of all the mobile mills in that price range, he thought that it was the best. Just a damned shame they closed down.

Still had the issue of wandering bands, more commonly associated with narrower band mills. My experience of running a 2 inch band (much smaller than an Autotrek, but bigger than WM) is that unless the alignment and band set are perfect, it will cut worse. That said, the alignment isn't hard to get right and the bands should be good from the box (though haven't been for me of late). Get a good band on a good alignment and it just cuts beautifully. I was cutting 15 inch diameter lime (soft, I know) 9 foot in 15 seconds the other day. Jonathan

I believe that You Call That Big has one. Certainly a different size of mill. I did speak to a chap fairly locally who has one and he didn't seem too happy with his. They are £47k new, and at that price I'd probably buy something German.

I have to say that the title of this thread is deeply misleading. I expected something entirely different. My wife even offered to contribute!

Good luck with the sawmill, and indeed the Management! Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Awful firewood, but if it helps you out, I'll take it all for free if you can get it to roadside. I just like to help other Arbtalkers out like that!

Classical/romantic mainly. Nothing earlier than Beethoven though. Love Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov. Also some punk, ska, funk and indeed any music that is genuinely good. Cannot bear modern pop culture.

Correct. My 2" bands run at 6000psi, whereas the 1.25" bands I used to run on the LT40 run at 2300psi.

Wider bands will be a bit more expensive, but 1.5" bands are easy to source. They will cut flatter, so are well worth going for. For instance, my LM2 was standard with a 1.25" band, but I upped that to 2". It means that the bands cost about 2.5 times as much, but they cut far better, so the economy is gained there. When considering band mills, it's worth looking at the size of the band wheels. A larger wheel will mean that you can run a thicker band (not wider, but thicker steel) and a thicker band will stay sharp far longer. I typically get three times as much cutting on the 2" 0.055" bands as I would have done on the standard 1.25" Woodmizer bands. Jonathan

I tend to charge £16 to £24 a cubic foot for oak. £16 for fencing grade, £24 for quarter sawn.

Not had any official tests (though did have a blood test relating to it once), though have spoken to the GP about it in the past, and he seems to concur. If I am completely sedentary for a sustained period (4 days or more), I find my metabolic rate returns to something approaching normal. Any physical activity causes not only an increased temporary calorific usage, but a sustained increased base metabolic rate. So for a period of a couple or three days, I will consume more food and produce considerably more heat, even when inactive. My body is just tremendously inefficient at day to day operation in this climate. I need to live in Lapland, though I suspect that might even be a bit warm!

Don't bother with the EZ rail - it's not very good. A strong ladder is better. If the oaks you are dealing with are a fair size, you want to step up to an MS880 and 48" bar ideally. You'll just be cursing the lack of power and throat on an MS660 and 36".

I'm 4000 to 5000 kcal a day usually. Only 2500 kcal so far today, though I haven't done that much. I have a high base metabolic rate (results in excessive heat production when physically active) and I'm tall and relatively heavy (6ft 8" and 100kg). I'd say you'd need more than 2600kcal, but everyone is different. Jonathan

You could always buy band wheels from the States.

In those instances, please get in touch and I'll collect them!

Front to back horizontal baffle, yes. I'm sat in my office right now with it tidking over. 22c with the door ajar and it doesn't use much wood at all. Jonathan

I've got the Bonnie from Champion Stove Company in my office at work and it's a cracking little stove: Champion Stove Company It's so good that I've decided to commission a monster stove for the house (our Bullerjan, as good as it is, just isn't quite large enough). Martin Champion builds all the stoves himself, the quality is excellent and the price superb. The 7kw Lightning, with the 'starburst' pattern glass door is £285. Being a British chap with a small business, I like to support other British chaps with small businesses. Jonathan

Like this? Tencate Toptex Silage Cover,Firewood Covers, Woodchip Cover, Compost Cover and Crop Cover Flexible Lining Products Good suggestion too - perhaps better suited to keeping rain off the sides than the top as would it let water through if it was pooling? Jonathan

Thanks for all the suggestion guys. I hadn't thought of lorry curtain sides, but it definitely sounds like the way to go. I was going to ratchet strap it on, so the wind shouldn't shift it.