# Got a new toy



## qbilder (Oct 8, 2010)

Here's a new mill I picked up. It's made from the Linn design and saws a full 30", with relative ease I might add. I have been using a small band mill for some time & love the little thing but I was not prepared for the cutting ability of this thing. It was so fast & easy that I felt robbed of the fun of the work involved with milling. I experimented with blades a bit & had a lot of fun with a 2tpi .035" blade. It cut dang near finish clean. The slabs are 3" thick. Took me all of around 30 minutes to load & slab up both 4-5' logs combined. 

I bought the mill with big throat for quarter sawing hard maple that I use in building my pool cues. But I already found another use, as pictured. It's an old cedar that grew in the oldest part of a local cemetery, and is estimated to be the oldest one as it was planted right out in the peak of the hill top and surrounded by the oldest tomb stones that date to the later 1700's. An old man who grew up in the area says it's been standing dead his entire life, which is somewhere in the 70's. He said nobody ever cut it for fear of it falling on a stone. I have been wanting it ever since I got the milling bug a few years ago & finally snatched it up once I got the mill for it. Dry as popcorn but still solid. 

If you ever thought of band milling, it's well worth the effort. I paid $5400 cash for the mill new, picked up personally in MI. It has a 20' bed and a highway rated axle. I hauled it from way up in MI down to NM with several hundreds of miles at 80mph & it towed just fine. I was skeptical at first because of the price but after cutting 3qs sugar maples, 2ps sugar maples, & slabbing two dry cedar logs, i'm more than happy with the money spent. The other mill I was considering was a timberking and it was $7G's without the axle. 











The mill plain cutting maple:


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## Redneck Ont (Oct 8, 2010)

Nice set-up! That cedar you cut looks awesome!

Rep sent.


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## qbilder (Oct 8, 2010)

Two more pics:


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## qbilder (Oct 8, 2010)

Redneck Ont said:


> Nice set-up! That cedar you cut looks awesome!
> 
> Rep sent.



Thanks!!! It's a lot of fun :greenchainsaw:

I might add it smelled like a hamster cage while cutting, but as good as the cedar smells, it tastes like poo!!!!


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## BobL (Oct 8, 2010)

Sweet 

Love those colours.


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## mtngun (Oct 8, 2010)

Beautiful wood. 

Thanks for the review of the Linn mill. Seems like the construction is a little on the light side, but it wouldn't be hard to set it atop a sturdier frame, if that were a concern.


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## Bigrod (Oct 9, 2010)

Nice work, rep your way


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## qbilder (Oct 9, 2010)

mtngun said:


> Beautiful wood.
> 
> Thanks for the review of the Linn mill. Seems like the construction is a little on the light side, but it wouldn't be hard to set it atop a sturdier frame, if that were a concern.



That's one thing I was worried about before I seen it in person. But it's actually pretty heavy. It weighs in around 1200lbs. It's designed to be mounted atop some 4x6 beams, which I haven't done yet. I'm still trying to figure out where I want it & how I want it mounted. So far I have only laid it on the ground without leveling it & it cut straight so i'm thinking it should be fine once it's hard mounted.


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## poorboypaul (Oct 9, 2010)

Nice cedar! Good pics. About 10 minutes ago I just purchased a Big Cat mill off e-bay for $2660 freight included. Will build it myself. Have 2x6 tubing and axle to build trailer for it. Looks like it's heavier duty and requires at least a 13hp motor to run it. Your post just got me more excited for it to get here. Have fun. Post more milling fun photos when ya get the chance.opcorn:


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## gemniii (Oct 9, 2010)

Nice mill!
But I'm confused:


> a highway rated axle.


Where's the trailer/axle?


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## qbilder (Oct 9, 2010)

gemniii said:


> Nice mill!
> But I'm confused:
> Where's the trailer/axle?




It was set off to the side. I jack the frame up & lay pull the axle out to lay the mill down to the ground. I'll get a pic of it assembled.


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## qbilder (Oct 9, 2010)

poorboypaul said:


> Nice cedar! Good pics. About 10 minutes ago I just purchased a Big Cat mill off e-bay for $2660 freight included. Will build it myself. Have 2x6 tubing and axle to build trailer for it. Looks like it's heavier duty and requires at least a 13hp motor to run it. Your post just got me more excited for it to get here. Have fun. Post more milling fun photos when ya get the chance.opcorn:



The big cat mills look real nice. They sure are big. How big is the one you are building? Please post pics as you progress.


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## qbilder (Oct 9, 2010)

Here's a pic of it on the axle:


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## TraditionalTool (Oct 9, 2010)

Nice looking cedar, for sure. Nice mill as well!


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## poorboypaul (Oct 9, 2010)

qbilder said:


> The big cat mills look real nice. They sure are big. How big is the one you are building? Please post pics as you progress.



I am going to put a 20-25 horse motor on it. I have 2 2x6 tubes 20ft long for rails. I've been looking at a lot of mills the last few weeks and I like this one because of it's price and size. It's built much heavier than a lot of others and is affordable for it's size. As soon as I get my taters out of the ground I'll be working on it. Will post photos of the progress.


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## qbilder (Oct 9, 2010)

poorboypaul said:


> I am going to put a 20-25 horse motor on it. I have 2 2x6 tubes 20ft long for rails. I've been looking at a lot of mills the last few weeks and I like this one because of it's price and size. It's built much heavier than a lot of others and is affordable for it's size. As soon as I get my taters out of the ground I'll be working on it. Will post photos of the progress.



Mine is 16hp & it does fine so far. I might swap out the mechanical clutch with an electrical clutch, though.


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## deeker (Oct 9, 2010)

qb, it looks great!!! Keep the pics coming.

Got to open up a wrc or red juniper here in the next couple of days..

Love the smell, and hate the dust.

Kevin


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## Cmccul8146 (Oct 10, 2010)

qbilder said:


> Mine is 16hp & it does fine so far. I might swap out the mechanical clutch with an electrical clutch, though.





qbilder, The mechanical clutch allows the blade to stop when the engine is idled down. An electrical clutch is magnetic & will stay energized all the time and blade would still turn even at idle speeds. If you do install an electrical clutch, you'll need to put a switch on it to be able to turn the clutch off when you idle down to stop the blade. I have a Hudson Oscar 228 with 18 ft of track and love it. It'll saw up to 28" dia log x 15ft., 4inches long. Just sawed a 28 inch dia x 15 ft. white oak with it. Cut down to a 18 " square cant & then sawed into 6/4 x 18 wide boards for a trailer floor. !8 inch wide white oak was about the limit for what I want to saw. Sawed some 8/4 x 12 longleaf pine afterward with the same blade, that seemed dull on that oak, and the pine cut like butter. I've sawed lots of Eastern Red Cedar & Yellow Poplar,and about 500 BF of Black Walnut with it, I never saw anything under 8 ft. longwith mine, and was wondering why you were sawing your cedar into 4 & 5 ft lengths. Was it already cut into those lenghts when you got it? Much easire to saw a long board into shorter ones than it is to piece short ones together to get long ones. Know you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of your bandmill.


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## qbilder (Oct 10, 2010)

I cut the cedar logs to that length so the logs would fit into the tractor's dump bucket. We were on a cemetery & didn't want to skid a large log over the lawn. With short logs, we could roll them into position for the tractor to reach. 

This mill supposedly will cut a 36" diameter log, and does indeed have a 30" throat opening. But I don't think I could ever push it's limits. If this were oak or maple instead of cedar, i'd have never been able to handle the logs to get them on the mill. I do have some big jobs for it. I have a 24" red oak, 30" cherry, and 20" white oak slated to be cut. I'll get 3-4 10' logs from each of the oaks and possibly 5 from the cherry. I'm excited about it but know it's going to be a task. The bed on this mill is 20ft and will cut 16.5' length. I'm still experimenting with blades, too. I'm gonna try the WM doublehards. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks for the advice on the electric clutch.


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## Cmccul8146 (Oct 10, 2010)

My Hudson came with a WM Doublehard blade & it was a very good blade. I also bought several blades from my dealer that were made from Swedish steel. Don't remember the name of them, but they are 1 1/4 x.041 x 132 " long. Extremely good blade. Will look at them & see if I can find the name of them for you. The last ones I ordered were $29.00 ea.,including shipping.

When I bought my Mill, It came with 12 ft. of track, but I built a 6 ft extension shortly afterward. I just bought the steel to make a 1 piece 20 ft. track to be permanently mounted onto a concrete slab. 

One thing I really like about the Hudson is the blade guides. They support the blade on top & bottom, thus reducing the possibility of the blade diving when cutting wide boards. 

Beautiful cedar you sawed. Black Walnut & Cedar are my favorite woods to saw, but Walnut takes such a long time to air dry. Maybe someday I'll build a small Solar kiln to speed up the process. 

Check out the Woodweb Knowledge Base for lots of useful information on milling, drying .etc. under the Primary Processing heading.


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## TraditionalTool (Oct 11, 2010)

qbilder said:


> I cut the cedar logs to that length so the logs would fit into the tractor's dump bucket. We were on a cemetery & didn't want to skid a large log over the lawn. With short logs, we could roll them into position for the tractor to reach.


I saw the big cross and was wondering, but didn't say anything as I didn't know...some folks have those in their yard...(cemeteries that is).

That is some nice looking cedar, great score! I guess it's fair to say you brought it back from the dead...


qbilder said:


> This mill supposedly will cut a 36" diameter log, and does indeed have a 30" throat opening. But I don't think I could ever push it's limits. If this were oak or maple instead of cedar, i'd have never been able to handle the logs to get them on the mill.


The 18HP engine might have a tough time on some of the harder wood also...but if you take your time you should be ok. A sharp blade is key...the blades seem to go dull faster than most would like...I know they dull faster than I would prefer...


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## Hunt'n'photos (Oct 11, 2010)

Sweet! That looks like a pretty nice setup. I just picked up a chainsaw mill and hope to get anything half that nice! Sure wish we had cedars up here!


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## TraditionalTool (Oct 11, 2010)

Hunt'n'photos said:


> Sweet! That looks like a pretty nice setup. I just picked up a chainsaw mill and hope to get anything half that nice! Sure wish we had cedars up here!


No whining from Alaska, don't you have the ability to get a permit for a given number of trees per year. Seems a friend of mine up there does that and can get about 25 trees per year. He moves them on the river.

That seems like a pretty decent deal...that's a lot of wood for 1 year, IMO...cause you can get another 25 next year...


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## Hunt'n'photos (Oct 11, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> No whining from Alaska, don't you have the ability to get a permit for a given number of trees per year. Seems a friend of mine up there does that and can get about 25 trees per year. He moves them on the river.
> 
> That seems like a pretty decent deal...that's a lot of wood for 1 year, IMO...cause you can get another 25 next year...



LMAO!!! No whinin' from me! I havent looked into the permit yet. I have enough private land that I have been working on thinning and clearing that I havent needed it yet. But we have no hardwood up here like you guys in the lower 48 and no cedar, but we use a ton of cedar for the inside of our sauna's and cabins! Most of it comes from Russia. The best firewood we have is birch.


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## Alaskat (Oct 11, 2010)

Southeast has yellow cedar. Kachemak Cooperage in anchorage uses it in their saunas and hot tubs. You will find birch fun to work with and the abundance of spruce.I had a mobile dimensional sawmill and several CS mills. I built a timberframe from the beetle kill spruce using mahogany splines and purple heart pegs all mortise and tenon and some half lap dovetail knee braces. Good to see another from ak on forum.


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## Brmorgan (Oct 11, 2010)

Alaskat said:


> Southeast has yellow cedar. Kachemak Cooperage in anchorage uses it in their saunas and hot tubs. You will find birch fun to work with and the abundance of spruce.I had a mobile dimensional sawmill and several CS mills. I built a timberframe from the beetle kill spruce using mahogany splines and purple heart pegs all mortise and tenon and some half lap dovetail knee braces. Good to see another from ak on forum.



Yep, lots of Yellow Cedar up that way, and Western Red Cedar well into the Panhandle as well. The stuff in this thread is actually Juniper (and nice Juniper at that!), but everyone in the SW states seem to call it Cedar, so I guess it's a regional thing.


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## qbilder (Oct 11, 2010)

Brmorgan said:


> Yep, lots of Yellow Cedar up that way, and Western Red Cedar well into the Panhandle as well. The stuff in this thread is actually Juniper (and nice Juniper at that!), but everyone in the SW states seem to call it Cedar, so I guess it's a regional thing.



We have juniper here in NM & it's completely different than the eastern red cedar. The cedar I cut was in Ohio. I'm sure the two trees are related to an extent but they are clearly different species.


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## qbilder (Oct 11, 2010)

Alaskat said:


> Southeast has yellow cedar. Kachemak Cooperage in anchorage uses it in their saunas and hot tubs. You will find birch fun to work with and the abundance of spruce.I had a mobile dimensional sawmill and several CS mills. I built a timberframe from the beetle kill spruce using mahogany splines and purple heart pegs all mortise and tenon and some half lap dovetail knee braces. Good to see another from ak on forum.




Wow!!! It's really cool to see folks from AK on here. I used to live in AK, am married to an Eskimo. She retires from the military in a year or so & we plan to come back up there. There is one tree that I know of that's pretty hard. I used to cut them in Whittier along the coast. They grow out of the coastal banks & are only exposed to cutting during low tide. It's an evergreen that doesn't get all that large but is always swirly & figured. I have no idea what it is, never could find out. But it's as hard as any oak or maple, and pretty heavy even when dry. Grain looks like some kind of swirly spruce but with a red tint. Pretty stuff.


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## TraditionalTool (Oct 11, 2010)

Hunt'n'photos said:


> LMAO!!! No whinin' from me! I havent looked into the permit yet. I have enough private land that I have been working on thinning and clearing that I havent needed it yet. But we have no hardwood up here like you guys in the lower 48 and no cedar, but we use a ton of cedar for the inside of our sauna's and cabins! Most of it comes from Russia. The best firewood we have is birch.


What's wrong with softwood? I'm building with it...using Eastern White Pine. Sides are done on a band mill.


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## Hunt'n'photos (Oct 11, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> What's wrong with softwood? I'm building with it...using Eastern White Pine. Sides are done on a band mill.



Nothing wrong with building with it! But for heating it leaves lots to be desired. Thank goodness there is lots of birch around our cabin!

That looks like a really cool project! Keep us posted on your progress!


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## TraditionalTool (Oct 13, 2010)

Hunt'n'photos said:


> Nothing wrong with building with it! But for heating it leaves lots to be desired.


Give a man a couple cord of wood and he'll stay warm for a winter...give him a home and he'll stay warm for many years...not my fault your burning what you could build with...


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## Hunt'n'photos (Oct 13, 2010)

Touche'


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