Shanemac

That's good to hear, quartersawn seemed like a lot of hassle! Friends have used secret nailed siberian larch on properties and had problems such as yours with movement and the groove shrinking back past the tongue - they resorted to face nailing to try and limit it. I hoped chestnut might be more stable. Thank you both for your help.

Hi, I'm quite the novice with regards to milling in general having only got my mill a few weeks ago, so I apologise if these are silly questions. We're in the early stages of building a house and have a reasonable quantity of exterior timber cladding to do. We have lots of Sweet chestnut on the farm which I hoped to use for the cladding, once air dried and t&g profiled(by third party). My questions are; What size should I cut the boards, allowing for planing/moulding etc and limiting movement once fixed etc? I was going to cut 150 x 25. Some say if doing t&g, finished face should be no wider than 120mm excluding tongue and groove but not sure if thats correct? Should the boards be quartersawn or does it not really matter? Should the order of events be, Mill - Dry(to what moisture level)?- Mould for t&g then ready for use? Many thanks

Thanks for your reply. I think I read in another thread that you had the bigger tts-800? I'm assuming that was electric drive? Was that purchased before they appointed an agent in Hereford?

Thanks everyone for their input, and experiences with different mills. My reservations with wood-mizers was the cantilever head, (although that's mostly listening to others opinions as I've never actually seen it in person) and as far as I can see they don't actually have a very big log capacity in the lt20/40 range? I did think about an lt15 wide version, which doesn't use the cantilever design but the petrol option was an additional £3,000+ if I remember correctly. No hydraulics available either. But I'll certainly give them further consideration. Have 30+ acres of mostly hardwood and some larch on the farm and an 8t swing shovel to extract the wood, and potentially load a sawmill but clearly not as good as a telehandler etc for that job. Although I'm no professional, it will have quite a bit of work to do. No 3 phase so either engine or generator powered. I am drawn to the trakmet as it just looks and sounds like a good solid piece of kit. Having not seen many machines in the flesh, does anyone know how straightforward it would be to replace an electric motor with a petrol or diesel engine? Generally speaking, is the price the price with sawmill dealers/manufacturers or is there room for negotiation?

I'm in Cornwall, so a few hours?

Thanks for your reply. What was your opinion of the Trak-met you used? And in comparison to wood-mizer for example? I spoke to him briefly a week or two ago and got a price list, 16 week lead time roughly. Budget would be as little as possible, realistic, but I'd rather buy the right machine first time around. Although I'm only expecting to use it for home use really there would be a fair bit of work for it. Second hand would be good but don't see much around.

Looks a good set up and obviously works well for you. Do you get much flex in the bed? Interestingly I noticed that the b1001 with the trailer came in at under 750kg as its unbraked. In comparison the trakmet standard ttp-600 with no hydraulics and no trailer comes in at 1,250kg! There must be a lot of steel in it.

Thanks for your reply. Someone relatively local kindly showed me around their b1001 last week and it does seem like a well made machine, in my limited experience. Cut well and easy to use. The prospect of manually handling big logs all day put me off slightly though. I couldn't see any other handling options other than winch, ramps etc? Thanks. Why would electric log handling be better than hydraulic in your opinion?

Hi, this is my first post but have been reading the forums for a while to gain useful opinions and advice. I'm basically looking for a bandsaw mill that will accommodate up to around 90cm log, preferably have hydraulic handling and have the option to run off a petrol or diesel engine. I have my own 8t swing shovel but hydraulic log handling looks like a worthwhile option. Being mobile would be beneficial but I expect I could implement those modifications myself. The Trak-met ttp-600 premium looks like a good solid machine, and they do a petrol version but just wondered if anyone had any experience with them? I understand there is a dealership in Hereford, but people have voiced concerns over parts backup etc? Or would I be better looking at a different machine? I looked at logosol but no hydraulic handling as of yet. I should add that I'm an amateur, and it's primary use would be milling mostly hardwoods on the farm. Many thanks