Thread: new mobile sawmill, advice and thoughts please

At the end of the day carl if you want to pump out masses of production and have heaps of log over 2ft diametre go the mahoe, none of the others will keep up. If you are often milling specialised timbers that are less than 700mm diameter buy a woodmizer, but if you want something in between buy a lucas or peterson and run the thin kerf blades.

Basically the mahoe is a massive turnover machine, its recovery rates are not as high but it is quick!!! It will turn a 3 ft by 12 ft log into 6x4s in all of about 5 minutes, but the mountain of sawdust would just about keep a loader driver busy as you lose a fair sized kerf each cut.

The bandsaws are somewhat expensive to start with and then you have the down time changing blades and sharpening and setting and you do not get a great deal of cutting out of a blade between sharpens, however the woodmizers and others are fairly easy to operate by what I have seen (if you go the full hydraulic setup) and you will handle anything from a 6 inch stick to about 650 or 700 mm through the throat. You will not turn out as much with these as other mills but it will be very well cut and you do not have a big pile of wasted wood that you are continually wading through. for maximum recovery these will be your best

Then there are the lucasses and petersons with various bells and whistles, which I am sure you have a fair understanding of already.

AND THEN there are the kara sawmills, handle most anything, built tough, and work well but you would be limited a bit by what you could put through them size wise!

Originally Posted by weisyboy

I wont cart logs unless i have to.

i can setup on farm for a week or 2 and cut everything and move on. ill have all the grear tehre. loader, dozer, etc.

there is better money in mobile jobs than cutting stock but its more hastle and more advertising.

More hassle for logistics too you have to either have a semi to cart the loader and the rest of the circus or hire someone to move everything. or you could buy the timberjack I saw the other day and cart the logs home and then do the job at your leisure with the beer fridge at arms reach!!!

to car teh logs. i still have to take the loader skidder on site fell and snig the logs.

so ill have the loader/dozer on site already.

most of teh good logs are a long way from anyware 2-4 hours drive from my home. 1-3 hours from teh mill we are settign up at gympie. carting logs is a dead waste you are carting 50% waste.

we are setting up a fixed mill just north of gympie with an old saw mutch like a kara without all teh hydrolics.

pics will coem as we get it set up.

i need/want a mobile saw for cutting the logs on farm.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

to car teh logs. i still have to take the loader skidder on site fell and snig the logs.

so ill have the loader/dozer on site already.

most of teh good logs are a long way from anyware 2-4 hours drive from my home. 1-3 hours from teh mill we are settign up at gympie. carting logs is a dead waste you are carting 50% waste.

we are setting up a fixed mill just north of gympie with an old saw mutch like a kara without all teh hydrolics.

pics will coem as we get it set up.

i need/want a mobile saw for cutting the logs on farm.

not with a timberjack mate you drop the trees drive around with the timberjack and load them straight on the back, when you are full you drive out. They have a long grab arm and load themselves. one machine does the snigging loading and carting. If you were to set up a larger mill such as a mahoe or something in one spot nearby you could spend a few months in an area, then when you find you are travelling more than an hour or so move the mill!!

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

not with a timberjack mate you drop the trees drive around with the timberjack and load them straight on the back, when you are full you drive out. They have a long grab arm and load themselves. one machine does the snigging loading and carting. If you were to set up a larger mill such as a mahoe or something in one spot nearby you could spend a few months in an area, then when you find you are travelling more than an hour or so move the mill!!

not in the country im workin in mate.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

not in the country im workin in mate.

mate look em up they go more places than your rodeo will even think of going. If I get back up to ballarat this week I will take a photo of one for ya. they are designed to work in really rugged conditions.

I have to agree with you Travis I see those timer Jacks up here in the plantations bloody expencive to buy however. I d love a John Deere skidder but I cant justify it
Its the gear you need to look at if you want to expand and as you become more professional.You ll get plenty of small farmers by just doing the job but when you want access to larger farms they ll only let you on with modern gear for insurence purposes
and also so you can get in an get out faster. Though I hate say it being a kiwi thing you might need to look at the automated Petersons unless Lucas have one now. the only thing I liked about the turbo saw was the blades. I can give you band saw plans but I dont think they are all that great. To watch really good but all those bells an whistles to watch out for are just another thing to go wrong. the simplist saw s on the market today that I ve seen for mataince are the lucas followed by the Peterson.

lot of the places i cut we shoot teh logs to the gully or set up a stationary winch on the crown of the hills.

dozer wont even go in most of thsi country.

Carl given the various difference things you've spoken about, much as I hate to say it... in your particular instance... and in no way softening my personal resolve... also not giving this comment as applied to any other situation... totally dependent upon how well it actually works... maybe... just maybe... you might be better with Turbosaw! There I've said it, although for me, I still think a Lucas will cover all those bases and give the flexibility of taking big, small, whatever sized logs, very low maintenance, very little to go wrong, easy to operate, quick to put a new guy on and get cutting good timber, transport easy, set up in one location just as easy...
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... I take it back, I think I've just sold myself on a Lucas

Originally Posted by weisyboy

lot of the places i cut we shoot teh logs to the gully or set up a stationary winch on the crown of the hills.

dozer wont even go in most of thsi country.

Got any pics Karl??? I'd like to see that. Especially the shooting logs.

cheers
Stopper

its Carl


a picture of a shooting log would just look like a pic of a log on a hill. or if your near the bottom a blur.

i dont normaly take my phone/camera with me when falling as its a long walk in and out and i droped my phone one day. never to be seen again. there is no coverage anyhow.

i can take a pic of one of the blocks im going to be working in the next few months. we will have t shoot this lot. im gunna be out there towards the end of teh week.

next time i have the contractor in with the sttionary ill get a pic. its a mean setup.

still undecided will hopefully get tiem to havea good chat with carl peterson this week and might give lucas a ring and see what they can do for me.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Carl given the various difference things you've spoken about, much as I hate to say it... in your particular instance... and in no way softening my personal resolve... also not giving this comment as applied to any other situation... totally dependent upon how well it actually works... maybe... just maybe... you might be better with Turbosaw! There I've said it, although for me, I still think a Lucas will cover all those bases and give the flexibility of taking big, small, whatever sized logs, very low maintenance, very little to go wrong, easy to operate, quick to put a new guy on and get cutting good timber, transport easy, set up in one location just as easy...
.
.
.
... I take it back, I think I've just sold myself on a Lucas

Why A turbo saw its just a re-engineered mahoe, and who says the re-engineering made it better?
















now that should get a bite or two.....lol

sits back wih a bottle of J&B some hard crusty bread salami an cheese . Either way its going to provide hours of endless dribble But I am interested in the result