Buying a Sawmill

[VA-Sawyer]

If you are cutting Oak that thin, then I would say you did good on building that saw. I have cut strips around .035" thick with about .005" variation along the length, and yes you could see light through them pretty good. I've tried thinner cuts, but they want to rip or split somewhere along the length cause of the grain. Those cuts are easy in Beech, Sycamore or Yellow Popular and quite hard to do in Hemlock.
I did some work with a guy that had a Hudson mill. The customer said he "wasn't sawing boards, but was making 'totem poles'". I kid you not, the 2 x stuff varied from about 3/4" to about 3" in thickness, sometimes in about 6" of length!
Rick

 

[chaikwa]

If you are cutting Oak that thin, then I would say you did good on building that saw.

Yes, oak. I've done that in ash and maple too.

I did some work with a guy that had a Hudson mill. The customer said he "wasn't sawing boards, but was making 'totem poles'". I kid you not, the 2 x stuff varied from about 3/4" to about 3" in thickness, sometimes in about 6" of length! Rick

The only time I've had that happen is when I've sawn cottonwood or tulip poplar and the cant warps as I'm cutting it. The tension in that junk is unreal sometimes. But the variation has never been over 1/2" over 10 or so feet.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Just try to cut a strip of Oak 1/16" thick ,12" wide, and 16' long. I haven't seen any mill except a Woodmizer that can do it easily.
Rick

My Norwood Lumbermate 2000 does it easily, no matter how long the log is,

If anyones Lumbermate won't also do it, all that mill needs is some adjusting to dial it in.

Rob

 

[qbilder]

My Norwood Lumbermate 2000 does it easily, no matter how long the log is,

If anyones Lumbermate won't also do it, all that mill needs is some adjusting to dial it in.

Rob

Any band mill with a sharp blade that is parallel to the track can easily cut 1/16" veneer, regardless of brand model or make. It's not a question of "IF", but of "WHY"? Aside from very rare, precious, impossible to buy woods like a big birds eye hickory burl, there's no practical purpose for cutting so thin. Getting veneer from a band sawmill requires a drum or belt sander capable of sub-1/16" operation, and time. Aside from the very special pieces of wood, it would be much more cost effective to buy veneer that was cut on a peeler & requires no further processing.

 

[chaikwa]

Any band mill with a sharp blade that is parallel to the track can easily cut 1/16" veneer, regardless of brand model or make.

Yes, and that is the key; "parallel to the track". I've seen one or two manufactured mills that are so far out it isn't funny. And even more home made units that can't even get close. Time and care need to be put into anything where there's an expectation of perfection, and a lot of people either 'don't get it' or are too impatient to try.

... there's no practical purpose for cutting so thin.

I disagree. I do it all the time for a very good reason; I WANT to! But aside from that, it tells me that things are working the way I designed and expect them to. If they aren't, I can correct it before I end up with a lot of wavy lumber.

 

[Talltom]

I hope you're flipping the cant 180 degrees before your test cut, otherwise you're only measuring blade run-out. A saw with little run-out will cut a thin slice of uniform thickness from a cant just cut on the same face whether it's parallel to the bed or not. Making a thin cut will actually make it harder to tell if the mill is cutting straight, since you can't check for twist in such a thin piece. If you flip the cant, you will see double the amount of variation and it will show in the thickness. A good way to check for a straight cut along the length of the mill is to edge two boards at the same time and butt the sawn edges - again, you will see twice the actual variation.

 

[qbilder]

Yes, and that is the key; "parallel to the track". I've seen one or two manufactured mills that are so far out it isn't funny. And even more home made units that can't even get close. Time and care need to be put into anything where there's an expectation of perfection, and a lot of people either 'don't get it' or are too impatient to try.

I disagree. I do it all the time for a very good reason; I WANT to! But aside from that, it tells me that things are working the way I designed and expect them to. If they aren't, I can correct it before I end up with a lot of wavy lumber.

The saw doesn't know how thick the board is. It either cuts straight or it doesn't. I guess I just don't understand why you'd need to cut a veneer to assure yourself the mill is cutting straight lumber. Just look at the lumber.

The only sawmills I know of that can't cut 1/16" veneer is the big circle mills, and that's only because the cut pattern itself is 1/16" deep.

 

[chaikwa]

I hope you're flipping the cant 180 degrees before your test cut...

Yes, I am. You've seen a picture of me, haven't you? I can assure you, I'm not really as stoopid as I look. REALLY!

The saw doesn't know how thick the board is. It either cuts straight or it doesn't. I guess I just don't understand why you'd need to cut a veneer to assure yourself the mill is cutting straight lumber. Just look at the lumber.

Yes, just look at the lumber... that could be thicker in the middle than on the ends. Or thicker on one side than the other. I'd rather find out something's amiss on a 1/16" thick board than on a 2" board. But like I said, I also do it because I want to. And can.

I've seen a few mills that can't cut a 1/16" slice no matter what you do to them. Heck, some of them have trouble keeping in spec on a 1" board.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It's not a question of "IF", but of "WHY"? Aside from very rare, precious, impossible to buy woods like a big birds eye hickory burl, there's no practical purpose for cutting so thin.

I do it because a customer ask me to do it, i don't care if it's "practical" or not. It's their logs, why should i care how they want them milled? It all pays the same...

Also, i have a friend who sometimes comes over and helps me, he likes to scroolsaw, so sometimes he ask me if i'll mill him some thin stock, so why not? It seems like a good deal for both of us to me.

Rob

 

[qbilder]

I do it because a customer ask me to do it, i don't care if it's "practical" or not. It's their logs, why should i care how they want them milled? It all pays the same...

Also, i have a friend who sometimes comes over and helps me, he likes to scroolsaw, so sometimes he ask me if i'll mill him some thin stock, so why not? It seems like a good deal for both of us to me.

Rob

Customer orders are the very meaning of "practical". It makes you money.