# Harbor freight sawmill



## mesupra (Dec 6, 2014)

Had a chance to get some milling done last night and today. Not a great day for it.
35 degrees and raining most of the day. It's now mounted on blocks on a concrete pad. Making it much easier to keep level.
Best 1500 I have ever spent. Coupe more days it should be paid off.


----------



## mesupra (Dec 6, 2014)




----------



## mesupra (Dec 6, 2014)

That pile is just a small piece of what I've been able to do so far . Is great fun very rewarding


----------



## El Quachito (Dec 6, 2014)

Glad to see it's worth the money. Thanks for posting.


----------



## CWME (Dec 7, 2014)

Been looking at those to get started with the bandsaw mills. Was the $1500 including shipping?


----------



## SDB777 (Dec 7, 2014)

Do you move the mill inside when you're not using it? Or are you shoveling all that snow?

Guessing you're using those top waste pieces in a 'smoke dragon'?



Nice stack!





Scott (have fun) B


----------



## bluesportster02 (Dec 7, 2014)

they are showing $1900 now. looks like a good unit. ratings are very good on it


----------



## mesupra (Dec 7, 2014)

I paid 1510 shipped. Now they don't allow use of a 25 percent of coupon I think it's still a good deal for anything under 2000 dollars and shoveling snow to go to work is a way of life in Maine. Next year it will be under cover.


----------



## Polish hammer (Jan 29, 2019)

I know this is very old but curious if your still running this mill and if so how it’s held up since now there$2000 be nice to hear some longevity on the 


mesupra said:


> I paid 1510 shipped. Now they don't allow use of a 25 percent of coupon I think it's still a good deal for anything under 2000 dollars and shoveling snow to go to work is a way of life in Maine. Next year it will be under cover. View attachment 384854
> View attachment 384855


----------



## mesupra (Jan 29, 2019)

I have since sold it and purchased a Hudson Farmboss. Not Crazy about the Hudson design and some features but its a much larger mill and portable. The HF mill was holding up fine and was a very basic design, not much to go wrong and very easy to maintain. Had way more issues getting our Hudson to cut worth a **** comparatively. Given there have been a few dozen small mills that have made it to market since I have purchased my HF mills all using the same basic design I would think you can find a used one relatively easy. There are days (cutting sub 16" 8' material) I wish I still had the little mill kicking around).


----------



## Polish hammer (Jan 29, 2019)

Good to know so for entry level putsy projects be a good starter mill I’m assuming you ran a bunch of board ft through it to justify getting bigger one do you cut for personal stuff or others also n that justified bigger mill?


----------



## DSW (Jan 29, 2019)

I know a while back there was a fella on youtube who was running one and he made all kinds of videos and used his regularly. Was one of those homestead type of guys I believe.


----------



## sonny580 (Jan 30, 2019)

Mine is a Timber-Tuff mill. It's made on the same order as the HF unit, except Timber-Tuff is made heavier. Still a great unit for regular use. It would depend on what size your main flow logs are. Around here we only get the smaller logs, 18" and under. Still get some great lumber from them! I have been pleased with mine and this is starting my third year with it. thanks; sonny580


----------



## ChoppyChoppy (Jan 30, 2019)

18" is a good sized saw log. We run an LT40 Woodmizer and typically don't run stuff much larger than around that.


----------



## Polish hammer (Jan 30, 2019)

My neighbor has an lt40 every bell n whistle all hydraulic sweet rig. I know he would do anything I asked with a couple dollars n my help but I had a young lady steal my car this past fall as I was pulling in my driveway with my truck, long story short I rammed my car with my truck into my house causing damage to the siding and my truck and my car lol but I have to replace siding and I love lap siding.. that said I would love to mill it off my land to put on my house. I know this mill isn’t much but it’s joy of knowing I did it for the crafts and few projects I’d like to do......... that being said I ordered it today after a few
Months of searching for a used rig I decided to try it and ordered one tonight


----------



## DSW (Jan 31, 2019)

That's a hell of a story.


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 8, 2019)

Set to be delivered Monday! Hoping it’ll be decent !


----------



## mesupra (Feb 8, 2019)

I would not hesitate to buy another or most any other brand of mill out there. There are so many various mill's out there. I really like the looks of the entry level wood mizers. Also there is a maine made mill Thomas. If you don't mind a drive I think they are well worth the price. The Thomas mills are simple solid and perform really well. Couple pop up every year on clist, most don't last hours for nearly new prices.


----------



## DSW (Feb 8, 2019)

I've been around the wood mizer's quite a bit and I think they're a good product. Their sales reflect that as well.

I'm not sure how they compare to others because I don't have any experience with other brands.


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 11, 2019)

It arrived more stout then I expected won’t have together for awhile guna make extensions before even taking home(from work).. rails are .300 so just under 5/16 thick I expected 1/4” happy there.. no damage in shipping only question is says 301 cc in flyer says 7hp but if you buy just predator motor alone a 301cc is 8hp? I don’t care a whole lot cuz it’s small would be nice to if had the option to jump to the 13hp but oh well.. paint seems good would like to know what color it actually is to paint new extensions or powder coat.. time will tell on everything else


----------



## mesupra (Feb 11, 2019)

Glad to see you got a mill. The little 301cc motor is more then enough power. Ifnyou find yourself pushing hard change the blade. I had a 11 and 13hp motor ready to go but never needed it. I would recommend running the motor for about 3 minutes varying the throttle greatly the n immediately changing the oil, gets rid of the majority of the contaminates quickly. I'm my searching I was unable to find the exact dimension angle iron, I was going to use just equal length stock the same dimension as the short aide however I just called harbor freight feed them a line of bull **** and demanded they sell me another set of rails and cross member. However waiting around kinda sucks. I also found that I rarely used the extension as I ran out of log diameter capacity before length, but that's not always the case esp. With my current mill I mill almost all 16'. Messing around with 8' seems like a waste of time.


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 12, 2019)

So with the just stock bed how long can you mill? What did they charge you for extra rails?


----------



## mesupra (Feb 12, 2019)

This was a while ago but I want to say you can mill out to about 9'6". I believe I paid around 250 for the extra rails. I then bought 2 pieces of 20' flat stock and mounted them to the sides of the entire bed to stiffen things up. It really was a slick little unit. What was the price shipped?


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 12, 2019)

$1991 to my work ( loading dock) originally 1999 but was 200 off with tax n shipping brought it to the $1991


----------



## mesupra (Feb 12, 2019)

That's still a steal in my opinion. With good wood that mill can pay for itself in 3 easy days by yourself.


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 12, 2019)

Did you mount it to timbers pilings or would you recommend getting an axle and minty it for moving.. I wouldn’t move it off the property just around the trails or wood area so no suspension.. I can get extensions to add 4 feet for $70 and I’d add all holes and machine to exactly what the stock size is so I think I’ll go that route.. only bad thing is that will put me at just over 13ft which I can’t see ever needing but I’m sure I’ll want more once I got it setup


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 12, 2019)

And also I need to learn about blade degrees (new thread) or what do you think or recommend for manual mill and all around good blade..


----------



## Franny K (Feb 12, 2019)

What is it, 1 1/4 blade 19 inch band wheels?


----------



## Polish hammer (Feb 13, 2019)

That’s what it is


Franny K said:


> What is it, 1 1/4 blade 19 inch band wheels?


----------



## Franny K (Feb 13, 2019)

The best choice for a new blade to recommend is the Lenox chip sweep which I get from Spectrum Supply. The shipping seems a bit much but test out different numbers and see what works. It is unlikely to find someone to sharpen them. You can order any length with no extra charge or wait. The Wood Meizer double hard 0.045 4 degree are pretty good for hard wood. If you have clear as in knot free it is not as important. Plenty of stuff to search up on the internet about this topic.

I have read the logic is less hp should have closer together teeth. Once I ordered from three places on the same day, Timberking got here the fastest, I think a cubic box of five or six blades for only $20 shipping, the lower cost one of their choices and quite good in my estimation.


----------

