Recent searches
Search options
Good spot for a small sawmill?
Under the five oaks the predecessor planted 40 years ago.
Easy access with the tractor, can pull a log alongside and stack drying lumber in front where the wind ventilates it. Away from the house for noise and dust.
Maybe some point foundations to roll the beam onto. And need to pick a second good beam as the other one supposed to go here crumbled to bits.
The leaves might be a bit annoying in late autumn.
@yngmar Yeah, the leaves look like the only downside I can see from here. You don’t want your drying lumber buried in wet leaves.
@davepolaschek Aye. Although those leaves go pretty much all over the yard anyways. I just bagged those in the yard and composted them while leaving the ones outside :)
@yngmar Right. Just need more bags. Won’t turn into a problem unless you get behind in your fall chores.
@yngmar
Go for it!
Will you do a video of the process?
@Maker_of_Things I'll post pix on Mastodon? That way I don't have to get more camera gear and spend time editing videos 
Plus there's already tons of videos about those Woodland mills things.
@yngmar
That's fair.
I was only saying to Sue, this morning, that it would be good if we had a band saw mill at the community workshop.
There are a lot of nice logs that are just going to rot away, including a lovely huge laburnum that I would really like planked to work on.
We couldn't have one though, We can't even afford the insurance for the group to use any fixed power tooling. Cordless circular saw is fine, but a little drill press is not. 
@Maker_of_Things Ah yes, I remember that from the UK. I was up a stepladder, my head inside a false ceiling, replacing a wifi access point in there when some layabout with tea mug in hand started talking from below about ladder certificates. Working at heights or something. I'd told him to stop bothering the working people and asked if he wanted wifi today or not.
To my own surprise, that shut him up and he never bothered me again :)
Perhaps you can have a stealth sawmill. In camouflage paint!
@yngmar
We have thought about a pit saw, but no one wants to be the under dog!
@Maker_of_Things The obvious solution is to build your own sawmill. Then you can name it whatever you want. You could name it safemill for example.
Honestly, they're pretty undramatic to operate, quite unlike a circular saw in the wrong hands! :)
@yngmar
Yes, this is the thing that is confusing about the insurance.
They feel that it is fine for a 70 year old with Parkinsons to use a powerful cordless circular saw to cut a bit of wood balanced on a chair, but not to use a little hobby sized 100mm band saw (with all the safety guards) that is bolted to a workstation, or a 250W drill press with a 10mm chuck.
It makes no sense in terms of risk.
The first industrial accident I witnessed was a carpenter taking his thumb off with s circular saw!
I was about 7 years old.
@Maker_of_Things I'm very careful with powertools and then end up stabbing myself in the hand real good with a manual tool while deburring some steel instead, or just jamming my hand into somewhere sharp and unseen trying to connect a cooling conduit :-P
Once I cut myself on a poorly designed servers SCSI backplane (sharp metal not folded over) and bled all over the cabling in front of a client, who was torn between "oh god do you need an ambulance" and "will our server still boot?" 
@yngmar
I am forever having little 'accidents' with sharp or rough edges. Often I don't realise until I wonder where that sticky red stuff was coming from!
I have file of photos of random self injuries on legs and hands.
@yngmar I'd give you my sawmill if not for the whole shipping thing. 
I built a drying platform for my lumber. It's basically a 10'x10' deck with 1" gaps between floor planks for air flow. I never got around to covering it, but a few seconds with the backpack blower ever couple days makes short work of the leaves in the autumn. Just don't let them sit on the lumber for too long and you won't have any problems. Or cover your good lumber with flitches.
@aconaway Thanks! Yeah, I probably want a (electric) leaf blower after seeing how useful it is with removing sawdust 
I also have the grain barn that has a nice raised floor for wood storage, but it dries better outside. And the barn is not that long.
@yngmar Electric is the way to go. I have a DeWalt one since I've got nothing but DeWalt tools, but I'm pretty sure they all work the same. Works great on the mill itself, the logs, and the leaves on the planks. 