Bandsaw Mill

[Wendelspanswick]

Every now and then I search the net for bandsaw mills, came across this one today:
http://woodlandmills.co.uk
It's a UK website with prices in Sterling but I think it's an American company. Pricing looks good but whether that includes import duties and vat I am unsure. It does say free shipping though.
The video is informative and for a smallish bandmill it looks impressive.

[oldclaypaws]

The Woodland Mills Bandsaw is demonstrated by an American on the video for the USA market but its Chinese made. It'll do the job but you might struggle to get parts. They're not well established in the UK. They are distributed by a Swedish company but haven't as yet taken off here. Frankly IMO it looks rather tinny, you gets what you pay for. 9.5HP Engine.

An interesting direct alternative is the Timbery M100. (Link below) The company was bought by Woodmizer and they are made by them in the USA as an entry level budget bandsaw. Surprisingly, they are a similar price to the Woodland Mills, I think from memory £2750 + vat. They are available from Woodmizer UK in Kent, they have a demo model set up there and no issue getting the parts. Apparently the speed doesn't break records as its not the pokiest engine but the quality of timber produced is very good. I was speaking to Woodmizer last week. The next step up if you didnt have leccy available and wanted a petrol job, which is far better build quality and retains value well in case you ever wanted to sell it would be a Woodmizer LT15, a manual entry model. Decent 18hp Kohler engine. Again cheap at £5,600 odd + juice for what it can do.

Timberley M100;

https://youtu.be/ghu3l6mE4jg

Woodmizer LT15

https://youtu.be/-6vfq0etuFA

[Toby Allen]

Or you could buy my mill which is for sale in the classifieds section.

[Wendelspanswick]

Or you could buy my mill which is for sale in the classifieds section.

Sadly I am guessing that because it's an LT40, even 2nd hand, it's going to be out of my price range.
Just out of interest roughly what sort of price are you looking for?

[Toby Allen]

Here's a link to it on Ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WoodMizer-Ban ... 419b6fd655


To be honest (I'm not trying to sell you my mill), it's usually more cost effective to get something second hand that is big enough for the job rather than a new 'entry level' machine and overworking it. They really do need to keep the material costs down to be competitive on price which means thin metal and cheap bearings.

Also consider if getting someone in with a mobile mill is more appropriate. Obviously it doesn't give you the flexibility or freedom of using your own mill. But for the cost of a cheap mill, plus blades, fuel, wear and tear on a small machine you can get quite a few days with a contractor with a faster machine.

[oldclaypaws]

The CONFOR thread seems to be morphing into bandsaws, so I've resurrected this one.

I'll shortly have my barn finished, which is designed to accommodate a sawmill, tractor, and a considerable amount of planked oak.

I've looked at all the planking options and am weighing up the alternatives. I already have an Alaskan with a Stihl 880, which is the cheap and portable option, but that's very hard work and has a big and wasteful kerf, so its not the most efficient choice. Looks like I'll have the agreeable arrangement of having a large commercial bandsaw on loan for some time, housed in my barn. The owner currently has it in storage and needs somewhere to house it for a few months until he has his own place set up during relocation. Rather usefully he's also an experienced sawyer and is happy to show me the ropes in exchange for free storage of his mill, an agreeable arrangement.

The lower price of the Timbery 100 and the backup of woodmizer makes it an attractive option. In my case, I need to look carefully at the max cuts as I have quite chunky trees, typically over 30". I'm likely to go for the trickier option of trying to do genuine quarter sawing on my oak, which involves a lot of turning on the mill. As such handling the logs and moving them is as much of a consideration as the mill itself and I'm also in the market for tractors.

[Wendelspanswick]

I spent ages looking at various sawmills, not quite sure which one to go for. I really liked the Trak Met saw, made in Poland, but they only do an electric version so I finally decided to test the water by buying a Woodlands Mill HM126, got in just before the price rise caused by the fall in the value of Sterling.

It arrived 10 days after ordering, I haven't set it up yet as too busy doing the barn but the build quality looks very good.
I will update when it's set up and put through its paces.

As normal this x*¥£$#@ forum can't handle pictures! I've tried rotating the picture before uploading and it still sticks them in upside down, the other 2 forums I use don't have this problem.

[boxerman]

Usually works fine for me.......

[Rankinswood]

Hi Wendelspanswick,

You have my attention upside down or otherwise.

The Woodland Mills saw is the one that I identified for use in my own woodland to make floor planks, wall siding and shingles for the barn that I am currently constructing in my woodland under permitted development permission.

Please keep posting more photos together with details of your experience gained with same.

I am about to buy a trailer and so :-

Q. - What are the dimensions and weight of the cardboard box (+ contents).

Regards

Rankinswood

[Wendelspanswick]

That's a similar reason to why I have bought my mill!
The mill in its packaging is 2.1m long, 1m high, 0.7m wide and weighs 370kg.
It was delivered by DHL on a curtain side lorry with a tail lift but the way it was loaded onto the lorry meant the driver couldn't get the pallet truck underneath it, we had to get the farm next door to unload it from the curtain side with their forklift.