# Need advice on making my own mini-sawmill



## chamoruboy (Jun 5, 2007)

I recently bought some property and cleared an area so now I have some cedar and doug fir logs that I want to mill for my own personal use. I don't have thousands to spend on a portable sawmill and I don't want to use a chainsaw type saw mill. I want to make my own bandsaw mini-sawmill.

Any advice? I've seen a few home-made sawmills on the web and I would like to hear from some people who have actually built their own.

Thanks


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## oscorner (Aug 7, 2006)

GOOD LUCK! Building one will be quite a challenge and a time consuming project, from what I've seen on the net.  Tony has had great success with his chainsaw mill, why are you wanting a bandsaw mill? I mean if you are to build your own, it seems a chainsaw mill would be easier.


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## chamoruboy (Jun 5, 2007)

Yeah, the chainsaw route would be significantly easier but a bandsaw would make less waste and produce a cleaner cut.

I have a pretty good idea how I want to proceed but I want to hear from people who have "valuable lessons" that they learned during their process. Things that most people wouldn't think about beforehand. We all learn from our mistakes, I know I have. So learning from other peoples' mistakes/experiences is best when you don't have a ton of cash to make your own mistakes!!!


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

I just looked this up. You should read this, & maybe you'll change your mind.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Dicik:
Those comments are a fair assesment of the reality of building a complex machine in your back yard.
There's literally thousands of hours of experience and 25 years of manufacturing behind Woodmizer for instance.

I'm not sure that the savings of home built are a set off for all that.

p.s. the resale value of home built is next to nill.

Bob


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## Takeshi (Jul 10, 2007)

Hi
I enjoy hobby sawmill to use waste log. 
I enjoy making small projects with those lumber.

http://www.nt.sakura.ne.jp/~garakuta/wood/english/esawmil/sawmill.html

and I think chainsaw is basic tool for hobby sawmill


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Hi Takeshi:
That's a fine set up you have for making boards from logs. 
I quite like the use of the window to slide the logs to your bandsaw.
Lovely country you live in and you are very lucky to be able to find good wood to work with.
The biggest concern over here with using a chainsaw mill is that you loose quite abit of valuable timber with the kerf of the chainsaw.
With a decent bandsaw the kerf is very small .

Please post some of your projects.

Regards
Bob


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## Wooder (Dec 9, 2006)

I own a Turner Mill. It is as basic bandmil. I wouldn't dream of taking the time to try and build it. Considering what it would take to build one, there are some very reasonable ones on the market like this…
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200320459_200320459

For the backyard hobbist seems quite reasonable. Unless you already had everything to build one, seems it would cost the same in the end.

2 cents worth.

Jimmy


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## chuckyb (Oct 25, 2011)

Here is the answer and it has been tested to work and is the cheapest with the best capacity for width and length. You can benefit from my experience in searching for the holy grail of hand made sawmills. Go to the link^^^


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

There's a guy wrote a book on designing and building band saws:

http://www.falbergsawz.com/book/book.html

The bandsaw is a critical part of it - you could take an existing bandsaw
and modify it to have a larger capacity or you could build a saw from
parts.

The other part of a bandmill is your mechanism for moving the saw through
the wood.

I haven't built one but I've studied the designs some and my conclusion
is that if you are keen on welding and building this sort of thing, go
for it and have fun, but if you want to just cut your lumber, buy 
a used brand-name mill and resell when you are done. Home-built
mills don't have very good resell value.

Personally I find the swingblade mills the most appealing, but there's not
much out in the way of designs meant for self-building.

No matter what you do, you'll be getting into an area of woodworking
that certainly has a learning curve - with the heat and all that you'll
be dealing with, sawmilling has more of a metallurgical component than
shop woodworking with dry lumber.


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