Timberking or Woodmizer or other?

[4x4American]

yup

 

[4x4American]

Waiting to hear back

 

[Mike Van]

Not brand specific, but my advice would be try to find a mill that used standard parts, rather than having to call the mfg. every time you need something. Things like computerized setworks may sound cool, but the way these machines are out in the weather & getting logs banged around on them, anything fragile is sure to fail. When it does, are you out of work till it's fixed? Expensive? Probably. Two other things you'll need are a sharpener & setter, you can't make good lumber with crappy blades. I bought a used Cooks Catclaw ffrom them years ago, pretty much worth it's weight in gold. Cooks setter too, bought used from a guy on FF.

 

[4x4American]

Thanks Mike.

 

[John brayshaw]

OK I know this is like asking chevy or ford, Stihl or Husqvarna, ect ect.

I am getting to the point where I am ready to take the next step to a bandmill and I am looking at a timberking 1600. The things that I like about it are the 32" cutting width and relitivly low cost compared to full sized mills. I have milled with a friend on his LT 70 and after you engaged the clutch you have to wait for a couple seconds for the cutting head to stop wobbling. That is probably because the band was high above the deck cutting a large tree but what the heck.

I am hoping to get some real feedback from people who have hopfully run both or seen both. Either way chim in on the good bad and ugly.

Here on the west coast all I see is Woodmizer but from the videos I have seen of TK in action I like what I see.

I’ve been running Wood-Mizer’s for 20+ years I’ve had three different Woodmiser’s I’ve had two LT 40s and one LT 40 super remote hydraulic.
I’m on their 1 million board foot club and on their pro sawyer network here on the East Coast. I am at timber framer. I would recommend Woodmiser for board cutting only. If you’re looking to cut a Lotta beams you’ll be better served with a four post machine. The Woodmiser requires 3 to 4 different points of adjustment For you be able to cut a “square” cant or beam. Cutting boards however —if the blade is positioned at one point or wrong it’ll cut the boards evenly going down although the edges of your boards might be beveled.
It takes a lot of fussing to get that bed to Blade Square with the cantilevered head —you have to offset the cantilever head by an eighth of an inch on the outside To maintain a square cut to the bed. Also you have to make sure your guide roller is set properly as well as your cantilevered head underneath the machine.
The big one is the side dogs. They constantly go out of square from the push of the center moving dog. There’s just so many things to keep tuned to keep that beam Square. As time goes on you will find that it’s nearly impossible to keep this or any of their canterleaveted machines square when cutting beams. At about 5 to 800 hours a lot of your switches will start to go on the machine. You will also start to blow fuses and selonoids. The paint on the machine will start to fade within two years and your machine will look like it’s 20 years old from a cheap paint job “rust bucket”. My first and last Woodmizer machines caught on fire one at 14 hours the other one at 800 hours. They “Woodmizer” were there to take care of me though and brought me a new machine on the first fire one. The second one all the electronics burnt and I was never able to ever get the set works going again without paying 3900 bucks to them for an upgrade. Just about every motor ,solenoid ,fuse you name it —will break down on that mill Within 1000 hours. The one thing that I will give Wood-Mizer credit for is their customer service And technical support. They are second to none when it comes to fixing your machine with you on the phone which I do quite often with them. Doug H. that works there Is about the best customer service employee you will find.If you do post and beam or timber frame houses or need something perfectly square the Wood-Mizer is not for you you’re better off of the four post machine. If your cutting thousands of feet of 1 inch or 5/4 boards for barn siding then the Wood-Mizer is ideal.
Another big thing to watch out for is the selection on engines. If you have a Lambordini Engine, Kabota engine, Onan engine, catapillar engine Or anything but a Yanmar or Kohler engine You’re likely to be **** out of luck for parts as they make parts obsolete from engines they don’t carry anymore!! They also do it with models they don’t make anymore you can’t find Parts or get parts from them —you’ll have to have them fabricated or ???? somewhere else the true skinny!

 

[mountainlake]

John Sure is nice to hear a good honest report. Some WM owner are like a cult and claim they never break down. WM did come out with a 4 post mill but as with a lot of companys they have cheapened them up to make more money right now until their reputation is shot. Steve

 

[BigOakAdot]

Has anyone ever used a hud-son mill? I see them they are made in New York which isn't far from me in Philly.

Like a lot of you, I'm getting close to wanting to buy a bandmill on a tight budget. Would like something that can do around a 30" cut that's under 10k. Can't decide between Norwood, timber king, and Hudson....

 

[mountainlake]

I've seen Hudson mills at farm show, look built a little light. I'd check out a EZ Boardwalk 40 . large capacity and owners like them a lot. Around $8000 or so. Steve

 

[BigOakAdot]

Wow that is some serious width for 8 grand. I may be order one of those very very soon.

 

[mountainlake]

Yeah I agree I’m kind of bummed to write that but you’re right it is a cult. They’ve gotten so big they forgot about the individual the finance department is terrible I just sold my super remote and bought the timber king 2000 picking it up next Saturday in New York I’m pumped look at their website under TimberKing advantage pretty interesting stuff it’s sWaded me

John After you get your mill post on here, there are couple of things to check on the TK 2000. Nothing serious. Steve