# WoodMizer sale going on now!



## TraditionalTool (Feb 11, 2010)

WoodMizer has a sale going on right now, you can save $1705 until April 30th. For an extra $500 you can get the 25HP Kohler engine on it, and one of the nice things about the LT-28 is that you can get the power feed option at a later date if you like. Looks like a good value, I must admit, had I not got my LumberMate recently I might have considered it. BTW, WoodMizer also offers a power feed option for the LT-15, along with the 25HP engine option and that's not a bad looking sawmill, IMO.

(linky pic)





You can get more info from the online store at this link. (or click on the sale pic above)


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## gr8scott72 (Feb 11, 2010)

They also have the best website of any of the mill manufacturers imo.


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 11, 2010)

gr8scott72 said:


> They also have the best website of any of the mill manufacturers imo.


The one key point I have to give WoodMizer is that they really offer more options for all of their mills. More engine options, and more accessories, just more options of all types in general. Power Feed for the LT-15 as a case in point, Norwood doesn't even offer a Power Feed option, I wish they did.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with my LumberMate, but the price was one of the compelling reasons I bought it. It has the power I need and can cut a decent length log with the 30 foot bed. And I can extend it for longer logs in the future. The price made it a very compelling purchase.

But you are spot on about their website, they have an online configurator and have all the pricing online, opposed to most of the others that require you to call to get pricing or make it difficult to figure out.

Norwood offers a price list which can be downloaded in PDF format, LogMaster does have some stuff but it is not clear, but their brochure includes all pricing. Cooks has most online and offer some package discounts. These are just some examples.

I think in general one needs to decide which sawmills they like, and go with the company, the service and support are important for most people, and no denying that WoodMizer offers great service and support with more distributors than any other single vendor. A very professional outfit for certain.


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 11, 2010)

A person can spend a whole day looking at all the shiny orange stuff on the WM website. Lots of eye candy there.

Tool, don't sell your Norwood short before you run it and start to see the advantage of not having electric feed on a 20HP mill.


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## oldsaw (Feb 11, 2010)

I walked away from the "Spring Expo" in MO a couple of months back. I found out that a WM mill costs $40,000. Yeah, there was some other stuff there, but to watch a big one in action with someone who knew how to run it....wow.

I had a buddy that used to work for Audi and he borrowed the original V8 sedan for that weekend because he knew I'd love it. So we went for a "spirited" ride and at the end I didn't say anything. I was literally trying to figure out how I could get the $54,000 together to buy one. It was kind of like that.


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 11, 2010)

oldsaw said:


> I walked away from the "Spring Expo" in MO a couple of months back. I found out that a WM mill costs $40,000. Yeah, there was some other stuff there, but to watch a big one in action with someone who knew how to run it....wow.
> 
> I had a buddy that used to work for Audi and he borrowed the original V8 sedan for that weekend because he knew I'd love it. So we went for a "spirited" ride and at the end I didn't say anything. I was literally trying to figure out how I could get the $54,000 together to buy one. It was kind of like that.



I sure know what you mean. Makes a persons priorities seem a little more clear all of a sudden doesn't it 

I know this thread was started because woodmizer has a sale on, but has anyone else noticed that they ALWAYS have a sale on


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## Freehand (Feb 11, 2010)

These guys are always having a sale too.....I get TONS of junk mail from them.....

http://www.timberking.com/sawmills.htm


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 11, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> A person can spend a whole day looking at all the shiny orange stuff on the WM website. Lots of eye candy there.
> 
> Tool, don't sell your Norwood short before you run it and start to see the advantage of not having electric feed on a 20HP mill.


Coal, I'm not selling the LumberMate short by any means, it's a great sawmill, IMO. I was just pointing out that WoodMizer has a more complete offering with all the options. I think I could retrofit a power feed if I wanted, but I don't believe the LumberMate needs it, you are a case in point as you mill with yours all the time and probably mill more than I will.

Just that WoodMizer seems to have a better business sense than some of the other companies, and the option offerings show that.

My needs are fairly unique for log home building and to have hardwoods to build furniture and other woodworking with (some of what will go in my log home;-).

Do I think the power feed is needed? Nah...Would I like to have it? maybe...Is it live or die for...Nah...

Honestly, before a power feed I would get a sharpener and setter.


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 11, 2010)

freehandslabber said:


> These guys are always having a sale too.....I get TONS of junk mail from them.....
> 
> http://www.timberking.com/sawmills.htm


What's odd though is that there is no mention of the sale on their website, and there are no prices, just request a quote.


Coalsmoke said:


> I know this thread was started because woodmizer has a sale on, but has anyone else noticed that they ALWAYS have a sale on


I sure haven't noticed that over the past 4-5 months I've been looking for a sawmill, this is the first sale since a spring sale last year, AFAIK. Not a bad sale for the LT-28, IMO. The one company I have noticed a LOT of sales with is Burg, up in Oregon. They have had 3 or 4 sales since I've been looking.


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 11, 2010)

freehandslabber said:


> These guys are always having a sale too.....I get TONS of junk mail from them.....
> 
> http://www.timberking.com/sawmills.htm



I agree, they sure send a lot of emails

Tool, if you watch the Woodmizer promotions list, you'll see that they put around 5 of their models on sale for 4-6 weeks on an almost constant revolving basis. I do think though that they are very good at being in business and would be very successful regardless of their mill specifics. Maybe Norwood should take notes and not change their machine lineup to one that few people want without being in a very strong economy. I wonder if the LM2000 will be back in half a year as an "optional" machine.

As for the power feeds, I think they are great on the higher HP mills.


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## Ted J (Feb 11, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Coal, I'm not selling the LumberMate short by any means, it's a great sawmill, IMO. I was just pointing out that WoodMizer has a more complete offering with all the options. I think I could retrofit a power feed if I wanted, but I don't believe the LumberMate needs it, you are a case in point as you mill with yours all the time and probably mill more than I will.
> 
> Just that WoodMizer seems to have a better business sense than some of the other companies, and the option offerings show that.
> 
> ...



When I bought the LT-15 I also got the power feed option for it!

I can't tell you how it works though, I haven't put it on yet...!?

I was waiting until I moved the mill under the cover before I put it on, which should be real soon if the weather would cooperate, and now that I'm back to working 40 hrs a week instead of 60's, it should be sooner!

Ted


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 11, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> Tool, if you watch the Woodmizer promotions list, you'll see that they put around 5 of their models on sale for 4-6 weeks on an almost constant revolving basis. I do think though that they are very good at being in business and would be very successful regardless of their mill specifics. Maybe Norwood should take notes and not change their machine lineup to one that few people want without being in a very strong economy. I wonder if the LM2000 will be back in half a year as an "optional" machine.
> 
> As for the power feeds, I think they are great on the higher HP mills.


Power feed is good IMO as it produces a more consistent cut. The LT-15 rope feed is better than manual, IMO, but small point. I think many of the small mills would do fine for me, and the lack of a power feed won't make me loose sleep on the LumberMate. It is not as if any one is that much better, IMO, if you think so your really trying to fool yourself.


Ted J said:


> When I bought the LT-15 I also got the power feed option for it!
> 
> I can't tell you how it works though, I haven't put it on yet...!?
> 
> I was waiting until I moved the mill under the cover before I put it on, which should be real soon if the weather would cooperate, and now that I'm back to working 40 hrs a week instead of 60's, it should be sooner!


Lucky for you to be working so much!:drool:

Let us know how the power feed works when you get it setup.


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 12, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Power feed is good IMO as it produces a more consistent cut. The LT-15 rope feed is better than manual, IMO, but small point. I think many of the small mills would do fine for me, and the lack of a power feed won't make me loose sleep on the LumberMate. It is not as if any one is that much better, IMO, if you think so your really trying to fool yourself.
> 
> Lucky for you to be working so much!:drool:
> 
> Let us know how the power feed works when you get it setup.



Tool, I mean this respectfully, but you need to log a few thou board feet on your new mill and then it will be apparent that in fact the opposite is true. With these smaller HP mills you NEED the feed rate to be variable to get high production AND quality. Its real easy to push these smaller mills to the point that the blade falls out of its optimum speed and starts to produce low value product. Knots, grain patterns, taper in the log, etc. all factor in here. That is why you will see a lot of the smaller mills running at a lower feed rate then what they actually could be sawing at with an experienced operator manually feeding it. Wood is rarely uniform, and some species will really be more of a handful than others in terms of optimum feed rates.

In the larger HP ranges, power feed becomes a necessity.


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## Cowboy Billy (Feb 12, 2010)

Good points Coal Smoke

My Dad and Uncle went in on a woodmizer with a 25hp koler and electric power feed. The potentiometer is messed up so it does not feed smooth. My brother was using it set up so he pushed it slightly down hill and used the power feed to back it up. When I planed the wood he cut it fed easily through my little ridgid 12" planer. My brother said it worked out good for him as when he hit a spot with a lot of knots he could slow it down and speed it up when it cut smooth.

I had a friend cut some spruce with his LT 40? with a diesel and hyd power feed. When I tried to plane it it was constantly getting hung up on knots and thick spots in the board.

Billy


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 12, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> Tool, I mean this respectfully, but you need to log a few thou board feet on your new mill and then it will be apparent that in fact the opposite is true. With these smaller HP mills you NEED the feed rate to be variable to get high production AND quality. Its real easy to push these smaller mills to the point that the blade falls out of its optimum speed and starts to produce low value product. Knots, grain patterns, taper in the log, etc. all factor in here. That is why you will see a lot of the smaller mills running at a lower feed rate then what they actually could be sawing at with an experienced operator manually feeding it. Wood is rarely uniform, and some species will really be more of a handful than others in terms of optimum feed rates.
> 
> In the larger HP ranges, power feed becomes a necessity.


Coal,

No disrespect taken, and I hope you don't take this to be that way as it is meant to be respectful in the same regard.

First of all, I will not be doing production work in most cases on my sawmill. I bought the sawmill to mill material for building my house, garage, BBQ building, etc...and I believe what I got will do me fine.

You have 1 year logged on your mill, and I'm sure that helps you understand that one mill pretty well, but there are folks that have many hours logged on all types of mills, and the craftsman/mentor who I'm working with is one such person, he's owned 5 or 6 mills in his life and has tens of thousands of logs racked up with hundreds of custom handcrafted log homes to back it up (some of the finest in the industry). Albeit, the work is different, he sells off a lot of milled timber from his yard on a regular basis. He didn't need to have a millwright come out and set his mill up for him, he adjusts and sets it up all the time, since a bump with the loader will knock it out of wack.

By saying that small mills cannot gain from power feed is really fooling yourself. There are a lot of factors which determine that, and the feed rate is only one of them. The wood, grain, knots, moisture content will all come into play in how one can feed the cut. Power feed has a control for that very reason, that you can speed it up and slow it down. Ted's LT-15 only has the 15HP engine on it, but I believe it will still be able to take advantage of the power feed, even if he needs to slow it down, and it will boost his productivity from where it is by manually cranking the rope/handle. I know that right about now you are thinking I'm full of poo, since you have so much more experience on the LumberMate than I do, and so be it. This is not really rocket science and I do have quite a few board feet under my belt on my vertical band saw and table saw at home, so it's not as if I am totally new to cutting wood. In fact, I would be willing to bet that although I don't have as much time on a LumberMate as yourself, I probably have many more hours logged in working wood both with hand and power tools, and there is even a possibility I understand grain direction and wood movement better than you do as I have studied that for more than a year.

I'm a firm believer that there is no one better sawmill in the smaller ones, most all of them fill a purpose as the others do, and most all of them can perform well for most situations that people like you, me, Ted, and others will use them in. It's really not an either or, and there are situations where power feed will definitely make sense. I could use one of 6 different sawmills and do adequate work for my needs, and I think that you could as well. Again, it's not an either or situation.


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 12, 2010)

Not sure where to start on that post, so I won't. I've obviously been wasting my time :deadhorse:


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 12, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> Not sure where to start on that post, so I won't. I've obviously been wasting my time :deadhorse:


That's your way of saying that you took my comments to be disrespectful.

I could care less if you did, to be honest, because I am always honest.

I laughed pretty good when I read your comments below:



Coalsmoke said:


> One thing you keep forgetting is you can't compare a LM2000 with a LT15. The LM2000, with a big engine, falls right inbetween the LT28 and LT40 manual in terms of performance. If you run a LT15 you'll quickly come aware that it is not on the same field as the norwood. It is however and excellent hobby mill. The truth is that the Norwood has very close production speeds to the LT40 manual, but doesn't have the electric feed works.


Again, I will point out there are a lot of factors, and you can't ever take them all for granted. The LumberMate bed is nowhere near the sturdiness of the LT-28 or LT-40. They are not in the same class. The LumberMate is in the same class as the LT-15 which also offers a 25HP engine option. One day you will learn Grasshopper...there is more than one way to skin a cat...


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## Ted J (Feb 12, 2010)

I have noticed in the little that I have milled, since I'm using the rope crank, that the crank will slip if there does happen to be a bind or maybe a knot..... In other words the crank will "free spin" if you try to crank it too fast, or faster than the blade will cut.

Does that make sense or am I just babbling? :monkey:

Now if was geared or chain driven with a sprocket it wouldn't be able to slip or slow down in the cut and I guess it would bog down the motor or throw the blade off track.


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 12, 2010)

Ted J said:


> I have noticed in the little that I have milled, since I'm using the rope crank, that the crank will slip if there does happen to be a bind or maybe a knot..... In other words the crank will "free spin" if you try to crank it too fast, or faster than the blade will cut.
> 
> Does that make sense or am I just babbling? :monkey:
> 
> Now if was geared or chain driven with a sprocket it wouldn't be able to slip or slow down in the cut and I guess it would bog down the motor or throw the blade off track.


Ted,

No, I don't think your babbling...

What I'm not clear on is what the power feed option on the LT15 requires or includes, since it retrofits on the existing LT15 per the video at this link. Do you know if the power feed unit completely replaces the existing rope feed? Or does it just power the handle of said rope feed?

As I have stated, I think there are various factors in adapting power feed and/or using it. Cowboy Billy mentioned a bad potentiometer, but that would be the component I would think would be key to being able to adjust the feed rate.


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## Ted J (Feb 12, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Ted,
> 
> No, I don't think your babbling...
> 
> ...



No, it doesn't replace the rope, just the handle where you crank. In order to drive the mill down the track using the crank. you squeeze the lever on the handle and it engages to lock the handle as you crank it. If you don't engage the lever the handle will free spin, it doesn't spin unless you engage the lever.

as you will see in the pics, the power drive unit replaces the handle and the rope remains.

















It's clear as mud now isn't it? 
Ted


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 12, 2010)

Yes, that is exactly what I thought it did. This makes sense to me, and should still do the same with the power feed as it does with the manual handle, that being as you suggested that it would spin free if you hit a big knot. In essence the feed rate should be able to allow one to dial in on the right feed for a given log/species.


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## Ted J (Feb 12, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Yes, that is exactly what I thought it did. This makes sense to me, and should still do the same with the power feed as it does with the manual handle, that being as you suggested that it would spin free if you hit a big knot. In essence the feed rate should be able to allow one to dial in on the right feed for a given log/species.



On the hand crank, the rope is wrapped around the roller twice but still has the ablity to slip. I guess If I were to wrap it around one more time it could "lessen" the slip.

According to the power feed directions it is on the roller as you see in the scans above.

PS: without looking. I believe the power feeder engages the same as the hand crank. When power is applied it locks the crank to turn the pulley untill you power it down at the end of the cut and it disengages it and the pulley can freewheel, so if I "was" energetic I could pull the sawhead back using the push bar instead of the power feed., like that will happen after I put it on.....!!! hahaha


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 16, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> Not sure where to start on that post, so I won't. I've obviously been wasting my time :deadhorse:



It's amazing how much owning and SAWING a few thousand feet YOURSELF will change all the rambleings you did "before" you gained that experience.

Norwood already offered power feed, no one bought it, because not only was it not necessary, it was a detriment. They soon took it off the market, and had to damn near give away the ones they had in stock to get rid of them.

Rob


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## TraditionalTool (Feb 16, 2010)

Sawyer Rob said:


> Norwood already offered power feed, no one bought it, because not only was it not necessary, it was a detriment. They soon took it off the market, and had to damn near give away the ones they had in stock to get rid of them.


Rob,

How much were they selling it for? I'm not sure I would buy one for my mill, but I still think power feed is a good idea.

Aren't you using the JP Teele Set Cut Dial on your mill? How does that work?


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## Coalsmoke (Feb 17, 2010)

Rob, how is that glass house coming along?


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 17, 2010)

Coalsmoke said:


> Rob, how is that glass house coming along?



Hey, speaking of "rambleing", look who has shown up... ha ha ha

Rob


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