[AT] Sawmills..now OT

[HaliganBar at aol.com]

My neighbor has a slick little portable sawmill that's powered by a chainsaw 
powerhead (http://www.ripsaw.com/sawmill.html). It's nicer than the Alaskan 
sawmills because of the smaller kerf of the bandsaw blade and it cuts a lot 
faster. They don't give them away but, it is cheaper than one of the bigger mills. 
My neighbor likes woodworking and his garage is at least half full of wood 
he's cut. He figures that this saw has actually saved him money in the 4 years 
that he's owned it. 

Karl


In a message dated 2/1/05 5:32:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, robinson at svs.net 
writes:

<<  This is on topic because my first mill was a homemade circle mill that I 
picked up cheap 
 and I powered it with the PTO on my Farmall S-MTA. It had been built using 
an old heavy 
 hammer mill as a base and an arbor. I still have the first 2" x 4" that I 
sawed with it 
 out of a log from my woods. Not a pretty sight...   ;-)   I sold that mill 
for a little 
 more than I paid for it.
    Then I bought a Kasco band mill new. It would cut a 30" log that was 24'+ 
long. By 
 fudging a little it would cut about 24' 6". I liked it because you worked 
with the log at 
 just above ground level instead of up in the air. I could roll most logs up 
a small ramp 
 (only about 6" high) and onto the bed. It ran with a gas engine and used 
electric drives 
 to raise and lower and for the feed through the log. I don't really regret 
selling it 
 because it sold for reasonably close to what I paid for it new, and I just 
didn't have 
 the time to keep up with everything. I must have used it about 8 years. I 
have often 
 wished for a smaller mill to cut a few boards but I am probably better off 
paying someone 
 else to cut some stuff for me. I have an Amish acquaintance that has a large 
commercial 
 sawmill operation not far from here that I have done some business with. 
Most of the 
 other old sawmill operations are gone from here.  
 
 -- 
 "farmer", Esquire >>