Big J

"In natural state" - translates to "blew over and we'd like someone to pay us to clear it up!" Makes me chuckle!

Well, the firewood is out and it's not really worked that well. It's taken nearly 4 weeks to dry the timber, the moisture content isn't consistent across the batch and it's just too expensive on electricity. Worth a go, however the kiln I have is only suitable for drying sawn timber.

No. Most I've bought is 50 tonnes and I sold 25 tonnes straight off. I only use about 50 tonnes of oak a year in total.

I usually pay £4-5, so between £100 and £130 a tonne. If you spoke to AJ Scotts in Northumberland, they want £15/hf for their best quality butts.

£6 per hoppus foot is £162 a tonne. That is 3 times what you would get for the best quality processor sized oak. I think you might be missing something

56" bar for Stihl 088 please! Don't argue, just make it happen!

It's on a similar classification to forestry equipment and agricultural equipment. The savings that you can make if you are bringing a mill over come with finding something else to put into the container. A couple of manual models for you to sell to offset the shipping. The exchange rate is fantastic at the moment, take advantage of it!

Cook saw are another to consider - good solid mills. Your cheapest entry into hydraulic sawmill is Turner Mills. Their hydraulic model with clamp and turner comes in at £10,000 plus import costs and vat. I very seriously considered them for a while, but they were unable to construct one heavy enough for the big lumps I put on my mill. Nice folk though. The import rate is 2.7%, a container is about £2500 to bring a sawmill across including insurance. Customs clearance costs and delivery is about £5-600, so all in on a £10k sawmill, you'd be talking just under £14k plus VAT. Jonathan

I've seen both (albeit the Lumbermate 2000) personally and they are quite different mills. The 1220 is the smallest of a range of larger saws, the HD36 the largest of a range of small sawmills. I like how solid the track is on the 1220 and that would probably swing it for me. Best to see both in person seeing as they aren't far apart here to visit. Alternatively, trawl the interweb and look at all the myriad of mills on offer in the states. I bet it wouldn't cost that much to get a single mill back. There are over 80 manufacturers of bandsaw mills in North America and the research is quite good fun. Jonathan

I don't have any doubt about the productivity of the Autotrek - the wider band certainly affords a quicker cut rate. The issues (like any mill, they all have their issues) come with very heavy tow weight, limited cut length (16ft if I recall) and high price. That said, for what I do, it would be very good. Saying that, I don't need rapid production speed, I need accuracy and ease of maintenance. The repairs on the LT40 were pretty nasty. It was pretty basic stuff too, just the kind of things that wear out or break on used machines. If I recall, it was things like new guide bearing blocks, complete new Lube (mizer) system, new raise/lower chain, replacement drive shaft when the original one sheared. Part of the problem is that they are damned complicated machines if you don't have a mechanical background, and Woodmizer decided that all maintenance/repair work done by their reps would be chargeable at £50/hr plus VAT. Too much - I'd expect a courtesy mill for that price! Wimmer is the pinnacle of mobile sawmilling as far as I'm concerned. I just need to win that pesky lottery....

I know! Thing is, you never have any idea really what financial state a company is in when you order from it. They'd been making mills for the best part of 20 years, and had sold hundreds of them. All my dealings with them when I bought mine were smooth and professional, and the mill has lived up the reputation. I wish there was a British manufacturer of equivalent mills. I realise that there is the Autotrek, but at £50,000, it's not in the same price range. Jonathan

Well that is a damned shame. Made bloody solid sawmills - just glad that it's such a simple machine with no custom parts. The consensus on the Forestry Forum is that they were too cheap - even with the poor exchange rate I had, I'd be inclined to agree with that. Oh well - I'll just keep cutting with it and enjoy it for what it is. A damned solid mill. Jonathan

Ooh, bugger! Seems to have landed fairly gently at least.

It's not quite as bad as that, particularly with the exchange rate being very favourable at the moment. The Lumbermates do get good reviews, but the few weeks I used one I wasn't impressed. It's mainly the track and chassis - it's so flimsy. Fine I suppose if you are running it static, but no use as a mobile mill. It requires so much support to keep the rails flat (and it's so light) that one slightly heavily loaded log means having to resetup all the jacks. In that price range (and £8k including vat is very good), there are dozens of mills to consider in the US. Trawl the web, read the reviews and compare and contrast. I'd recommend Logmaster (LM1), but then I'm biased. Jonathan

Still got a bit of 1.5 inch stock from that tree too. Lovely stuff.

That's not a bad price for an old LT40, and it is an old one! The new LT40s still have one rail, which isn't ideal, but they can cut good boards. Complicated machines though, even without the extra electrical stuff, and cost a lot to fix when they go wrong. My (newer) LT40 cost me £8 for every machine hour I put on it in maintenance and repair.

In my experience, no other timber varies so much. Vinnie - message sent

That is very dark, almost walnut like. Pretty sure they are Huntingdon elm - Steve (sawyer at Helmdon) identified it and said they were very good examples of them. Looking forward to seeing them sawn!

I would love to hear the conversation between the driver and the inevitable cold calling 'Accident at Work' type companies. Yes that's right, I was driving down the road and a tree fell on my van....not one they'd get every day!

Hi Alec - not actually had that one sawn yet. It's still at Helmdon waiting for a passing lorry that I need to get confirmation on. It's Wheatley Elm from Edinburgh city centre. I'd expect the Huntingdon Elm to have darker heart wood. Vinnie - not received anything yet

I was milling yesterday too. No rain or snow, but the wind is driving me nuts. My barn is orientated so that unfortunately when the wind blows hard from the south west, I get showered. It was so bad the other day that my truck got covered, and it was parked 50m away down wind with two fences in between!

Lots of roundwood elm in the yard at the moment. Mostly Wheatley Elm - dark reddish/orange heart wood with contrasting white sap. This is a board sawn from the same batch. It's about 2ft wide: Get in touch if interested!

Should be fine, though there is a chance of some developing shake - I sometimes find it's brown coloured shake permeating up the old logs. It is dependent on the quality of the butt to start with though.

In the paper Tom - I'll save it for you.