# HF Sawmill or Hudson Sawyer sawmill?



## Reilly (May 15, 2017)

Ok gents I need some serious help with this decision. I am in the market for an entry level bandsaw mill and have narrowed it to these two and am having a heckuva time deciding. Both are right about the same price. Any actual real world experience with either of these is great appreciated!


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## kimosawboy (May 15, 2017)

If they are ballpark priced, go with the Hudson as you can deal with real people if any problems occur.. Not to sure about HF guarantee/warranty, dollars to donuts they will not help you other than referring you to a Chinese link.


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## SeMoTony (May 15, 2017)

Reilly said:


> Ok gents I need some serious help with this decision. I am in the market for an entry level bandsaw mill and have narrowed it to these two and am having a heckuva time deciding. Both are right about the same price. Any actual real world experience with either of these is great appreciated!


Mechanic work , welding may be in your future with a HF, from what I have read. That is to bring everything into alignment before a log is placed/clamped in place. If I think of HF unit I pick up a HF chisel bought online long ago that never had or will hold an edge


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## Reilly (May 15, 2017)

SeMoTony said:


> Mechanic work , welding may be in your future with a HF, from what I have read. That is to bring everything into alignment before a log is placed/clamped in place. If I think of HF unit I pick up a HF chisel bought online long ago that never had or will hold an edge



Luckily I'm an auto tech and so mechanical work and fabrication don't freak me out. LOL.... I have decided to order the Hud-Son. Now I suck at the waiting portion of ordering new stuff lol.


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## BIG JAKE (May 19, 2017)

Reilly said:


> Luckily I'm an auto tech and so mechanical work and fabrication don't freak me out. LOL.... I have decided to order the Hud-Son. Now I suck at the waiting portion of ordering new stuff lol.


Good choice Reilly you're going to love it


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## Reilly (May 19, 2017)

BIG JAKE said:


> Good choice Reilly you're going to love it



I think I will. I was hoping to order it yesterday, but looks like I have to wait until Monday now. Bummer!


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## Reilly (Jun 4, 2017)

Ok, so I got the Sawyer mill on Thursday.. I instantly got an "uh oh" feeling when I seen the box. Now this obviously wasn't a Hud-son issue, but the shipping company. Once I got the box opened I knew I was in for a long weekend lol...Let me give all of a small background of mine. I'm a 20 year GM and Toyota tech and I also dabble in custom machine work, so I'm not afraid much of mechanical work. I decided to build this setup on a trailer as I plan on taking the whole set up into my woods and processing the wood right there. The railing went easy. Now, I had watched the assembly video 3 times before even opening the box, plus read the assembly instructions twice. I will tell you it took me 9 hours to assemble the mill head unit to a ready to cut state. While watching the video I realize that I was under the assumption that you pretty much just bolt this thing together and make some measurements and go. Wrong! Every single piece of the mill had to be assembled, adjusted, readjusted.... It was a nightmare. I was very happy when by 9:30 pm Saturday night I was ready to set the mill on the rails. Early Sunday morning I got up, double checked everything, loaded up a log and off I went. All my frustrations were instantly gone when I had gone through my first log in less than 5 minutes. This thing is amazing! I ended up doing 9 logs total today in less than 3 hours. Most of the time spent is loading the logs. I am very happy with this mill and I hope it stays that way for many years to come!


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## 30DaysTDY (Jul 31, 2017)

Reilly said:


> Ok, so I got the Sawyer mill on Thursday.. I instantly got an "uh oh" feeling when I seen the box. Now this obviously wasn't a Hud-son issue, but the shipping company. Once I got the box opened I knew I was in for a long weekend lol...Let me give all of a small background of mine. I'm a 20 year GM and Toyota tech and I also dabble in custom machine work, so I'm not afraid much of mechanical work. I decided to build this setup on a trailer as I plan on taking the whole set up into my woods and processing the wood right there. The railing went easy. Now, I had watched the assembly video 3 times before even opening the box, plus read the assembly instructions twice. I will tell you it took me 9 hours to assemble the mill head unit to a ready to cut state. While watching the video I realize that I was under the assumption that you pretty much just bolt this thing together and make some measurements and go. Wrong! Every single piece of the mill had to be assembled, adjusted, readjusted.... It was a nightmare. I was very happy when by 9:30 pm Saturday night I was ready to set the mill on the rails. Early Sunday morning I got up, double checked everything, loaded up a log and off I went. All my frustrations were instantly gone when I had gone through my first log in less than 5 minutes. This thing is amazing! I ended up doing 9 logs total today in less than 3 hours. Most of the time spent is loading the logs. I am very happy with this mill and I hope it stays that way for many years to come!



Congratulations and thanks for posting your comments and pictures! If it took you 9 hours, I won't beat myself up for taking longer to set one up! 

I'm expecting mine to arrive this week, and I plan to set it up on a trailer as you have done. Have you thought about putting jacks and level bubbles on each corner of the trailer to set up on uneven sites? Did you level it somehow for your first run?


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