Hello all, I have been lurking for a while now, just waiting for the solicitors to do their stuff to complete on 15 acres of mixed woodland and meadow in Somerset.
I thought I would stick my nose in on this thread as I used to work in a hardwood sawmill many moons ago.
I think the statement that Peterson put out about their saw being better than a bandsaw as you get straighter cuts is slightly erroneous. The bigger bandsaws use a blade that can be as wide as 3 to 4 inches resulting in a very straight cut.
Plus no matter how straight the cut when you stick and kiln the boards they will warp on drying resulting in the need to plane and thickness.
Most of the Oak seems to go for flooring nowadays and by using a Peterson saw you are limiting the maximum width of a board to 5 to 6 inches and missing out on the more lucrative wide board market where boards of 6 to 9 inches fetch a much higher premium.
Some mills will debark the butts before sawing or pressure wash them but the mill I worked in did neither, just factored in the resharpening costs on the blades.
They were planked on a Tom Forestor bandmill, sticked and air dried for 6 months to a year before Kilning and moved inside for conversion.
A quick profit could often be made with Oak beams, these were sold green, and again you would miss out by using a Peterson mill as the beams are almost always 7 inches square and up.
As I said it's a few years since I worked in the industry but if you would like any advice please ask.
John
