Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Anyone have experience with small band saw mills???

Guys in camp have decided it would be good to get a small band sawmill shipped into camp for projects in the future.

We have been using an alaska mill but reality is, there are only a couple of us in shape to really run that mill to make more than a handful of boards at a time.

One of the guys researched mills and is looking at this mill:

https://woodlandmills.com/product/hm122-portable-sawmill/

One of our restrictions is size and weight as we have to fly this thing into camp.

Suggestions???

Thanks.

I have one similar. You have to push mine through the log, which is no big deal. Main problem I had was keeping the blades sharp. They dull quickly and I never found a way to sharpen them that suited me. I did saw up lumber and build a nice shop but have not used it in a while. I need to, but seem to never have the time. Lots of work to make much lumber, but it can be done. miles

There are several of the local Mennonites who have this type of saw. I gave one of them some cedars that we had cleaned out of a fencerow, and he brought his saw here and sawed them on the spot. Seemed to do a pretty decent job. I believe his saw my have been a little bigger than the one in the ad, but still worked the same.

Friend of mine built one like that from blueprints.

I was amazed at how well he built it, and how well it cut.

He was amazed at how many band saw blades he went through... He'd just changed the blade one day when I was at his ranch, and he was running the next log through, and hit a nail... Some cussin' he did!

He milled enough lumber to finish the inside of a house he was building. That was a pretty good feat in itself, and the mill more than paid for itself after he he was done. I don't think he's used the mill much since, though... Got it out of his system with all that milling.

I want a WoodMizer 35 in the worst way.


If you can find a wood mizer........used or otherwise......go with the wood mizer.

Where are they made?

Why do you prefer them?

Do they have a small version we could reasonably fly into camp?

[img]https://woodmizer.com/Store/Shop/Portable-Sawmills/LT10-Portable-Sawmill[/img]

We have we picked up from harbor freight. Dang thing actually runs and works pretty good.

Limited to 9' length but right now we are cutting siding for a barn we built.

You and me both my friend!!

This. I’ve got many many many hundreds of hours on wood mizers. Shoot me a pm if you want to talk over the pros/cons. Not much of a typer.

I would advise you to buy the automatic blade sharpener. Dirt, nails, fencing, ceramic insulators, rifle slugs, etc will all wreck a blade. My dad ran a wood miser for years. The zing you hear when you hit a nail or barbed wire is unforgettable.

Hud-son Co. makes a small sawmill like this one, made in the USA.

https://www.hud-son.com/product/hunter-sawmill/

Woodland Mills makes a small one, although it's made overseas.

https://woodlandmills.ca/portable-sawmills/

A sharpener is mandatory.

There are a couple woodmizer models on sale on Facebook around here now.