planer/moulder

[Barnie]

Do any of you guys have a planer/moulder that you use to make siding,t & g flooring etc: as a sidline business.

I'm interested in buying one but would like to know if its worth it.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Do any of you guys have a planer/moulder that you use to make siding,t & g flooring etc: as a sidline business.

I'm interested in buying one but would like to know if its worth it.

Only YOU can figure out if it's worth it, as each area of the country is different in what is already available in their area. Are there now folks making custom moulding in YOUR area???

You need to do some research of what's already available and at what price, where YOU live.

Rob

 

[rarefish383]

If you just cut standard sizes and standard woods you probably won't be able to compete. If you do wide boards and rare woods, maybe you can do something. My cousin and I went to a Log Home Show in Balt a few years ago. There was an Amish family there selling flooring up to 12" wide and a lot of people were looking, don't know if they were selling. On a wide floor board like that they cut relief grooves on the bottom to help keep it from warping. Good luck, Joe.

 

[Bill G]

I have some experience in this area. About 12 years ago my brother and I started making trim as a sideline business. We did casing and base. It went very well and was very profitable as a sideline business. We were able to upgrade equipment and really build a nice line of tools. That is because I looked at it from the aspect of building the quality of equipment in the shop and not as a way to support my family. That comes after you have the equipment and the client base. We never did get into the flooring and siding though. I will tell you that you want to start on a very small scale and upgrade to larger and better equipment as needed. You can start out running a Belsaw 12" molder and a table saw. Then upgrade as allowed. You will find that you will want a dedicated planer and dedicated molder so that changeovers are kept to a minimum. If it goes well then you should look into a old Smithway XL 2x6 4 head molder. That will allow you to increase production greatly. You do not need a 5 or 7 head Weinig. Now if you are really wanting to do flooring then I think you want to look at a big shaper for the T&G work unless you are going with a 4 head molder.

Bill