MM16 Minimax bandsaw

[Mike Holbrook]

I am starting the search for a bandsaw that I hope to buy this year. I have an old 10 1/2 Inch Inca but it only takes up to 1/2 inch blades. I am on 12 acres with lots of hardwoods, some of which are yearning to acquire a different form and join me indoors. I am thinking about acquiring an Alaskan Mill which I am hoping will allow me to use my chain saw to get something in the neighbor hood of 4-6 feet that I can deal with on a bandsaw.

The Minmax MM16 looks about right to me, but I am just learning. Is my plan feasible with this gear?

[Jim Becker]

Both the Alaskan mill and working logs on a bandsaw represent "real work"!!! A better solution for the woodlot is likely to be having a sawyer with a portable mill come in to make things into boards. You can then air dry the lumber properly (finishing in a kiln if you prefer) without major back-breaking labor.

The MM16 is a wonderful machine...I love mine, but would not consider using it to make boards under normal circumstances; not because the saw will not cut it as it will, but because handling the logs is difficult to do both physically and safely.

[lou sansone]

I agree with jim on the alaskan mill... you will kill yourself that way. I have my own band saw mill and that is the way to go... but it is lot of $$ for it though and you would be better off having someone saw it up for you. expect to pay around 35cents / bd foot maybe a little more or less depending on the quanity of wood and quality of wood. You will need to pile the timber or move them next to the mill. I would only consider buying an alaskan mill for the sole purpose of slabbing really big stuff ( 3 + feet and wider stuff and how often do you find timber that big ? ) , but you end up sinking about 2 grand into the rig. Buy a decent band saw - Itailian saws are really pretty good. I happen to like the 24" laguna. All of these saws seem to come in a variety of sizes. It looks like the price point determines the quality of the saw. When I was looking at the laguna and mm saws it seemed that the 16" laguna was a lot less of a saw than the 24", 28 and I think the 32" saws. It looks like in the 16" range that the mm is pretty good. not sure about larger sizes. It all depends on how much you want to spend.

[Mike Holbrook]

My problem with getting a sawyer is I don't think I have the quantity of trees on the ground to make it worth while. I have some on the ground that I think have been down to long. I was thinking of taking a tree or two at a time, probably nothing large, and cutting them into short logs and then ripping the logs into something small enough that I could deal with it alone. I do have a tractor with a front end loader so I can move and roll logs pretty easy.

I was thinking about a simple chain saw attachment. I have seen some for around $200 that are suppose to be able to saw logs into parts or even boards. But it sounds like I am hearing that even the $2000 Alaskan Sawmill is a great deal of work.

I imagine I could select some trees to take for lumber. I have oak, tons of poplar, beech, birch, gum, hickory, a few black walnut etc. many of them are quite large.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, the sawyers with a portable mill, such as a Woodmizer, specialize in small to medium jobs like you would have. They are very economical to use. (You can see a pictorial on my site from when I had a mill come here...10.5 hours of work, several thousand board feet and $550 which included one $25 blade that got whacked by a nail on the very last log)

Yes, you CAN saw logs into lumber with an Alaskan mill equipped with a chain saw. But you need a hefty chain saw and alot of muscle...it's difficult and dirty work...even for someone in great shape.

[Jim Andrew]

I just load my logs onto a car trailer and take them to the sawyer. He
has a woodmizer, and it takes a very thin cut. Compare the width of a
bandsaw to your chainsaw. Out of a log you would get probably 2 or 3
more boards. More if it is a big log. Your logs that have been down for
some time are probably OK. Walnut lasts for years, only thing we have
trouble with here in Kansas is Ash, as beetles get into it and fill it with holes.
You can check with Woodmizer, they will give you names of people with
their saws in your area. Jim

[Mark J Bachler]

I slabbed all the logs for our log home I built in the 70's with an old mini mill attachment for my Homelight Zip 5 chainsaw took 3 months. Last year I had a woodmiser come in & cut up 4700 bf of lumber. Took 2 days.

Go with the woodmiser.

Really got to watch your toes with the mini mill.

[Mike Holbrook]

I did some checking on a sawyer site once and did not find one. I figure there has to be one somewhere in North Metro Atlanta though. I guess I will give Woodmizer a call. I have been avoiding them because I just know I will get a horrible itch for one of those saws. Alpharetta, the town I am in, was mostly woods but is rapidly becoming a/the center for Atlanta business. There are great hardwoods down all over the place, breaks my heart to see them go to waste.

I have a very large oak on the ground, less than a year, think it got hit by lightning so not sure about it, but it is a beautiful log. My buddy has a big trailer, mines kinda small, we have talked about trying to get it and some others sawed up. I don't think I can lift even smaller logs from that oak with my 30 horse Kabota though.

Is there a reason to cut logs in 8 ft & over lengths? I was thinking 4 if I did it maybe 6 if I got someone else to do it.

But, but this post is about the MM16 :)

So what do all you people use bandsaws for if you do not resaw logs & lumber with them? Maybe you do resaw but from much smaller pieces? I would think that my little Inca with a 1/2 inch Woodslicer could do some of that. My builder buddy is suppose to go pick up a Powermatic 14" BS this week. I guess I will have to try it out. He got the itch using my little Inca. It just really irritates me when he goes & gets a tool thats bigger than mine :)

[lou sansone]

mike

go to woodweb sawing and drying forum and ask about sawyers in your area. You should get some bites. If you have 12 acres of woods then go through part of it and pick out some of the best looking trees and harvest them. An "average" tree should yield somewhere between 100 and 150 bd feet. Sawyers do not like the trees covered with muck and mud, stones and junk so keep them clean if you can. BTW I am a sawyer, but do not make house calls.

Most wood, with the exception of walnut should be freshly cut if possible just prior to sawing. If you have some real prized trees then cut them and end seal them to prevent end check. Again... do yourself a favor and spend a few hours looking at the web site I recommended. You will become well educated in all of this.

IRT using your band saw to make logs into lumber, I wouldn't do it. It will crap up your saw in a hurry, especially if you are sawing through bark and such. As far as resawing is concerned I personally use it to make "thin stock " from 4/4 and thicker material. Bottom line is that it pretty hard to dry green wood thinner than 1" thick. Most of it tends to distort pretty badly, so folks dry the lumber in 1" thick or thicker thicknesses and then if they need thin stock for what ever reason ( drawers are one of the most frequent ) then they resaw it. Also, for processing thick stock in the 3 to 6 " range it is much safer to "rip" on the band saw then the table saw ( I have a 16" table saw that I would not like to rip a 4" thick plank on - forget using a 10" unisaw)

hope this helps

have fun and be safe
lou

[Michael Sloan]

Hi Mike,

I am mid process in doing exactly what you are asking about. I had a nice 20 inch cherry tree blown down in a recent storm that I cut into six foot sections, and sealed with anchor seal this last weekend.

I am supposed to be receiving an Alaska "small log" saw mill ($139) via UPS on Friday, which I expect to use to turn the lumber into slabs, (probably 4 to 6 inch slabs). The Alaska "small log" saw mill fits my current chainsaw (Stihl 290), but I expect to be a bit under powered and undersized for some of the work. I will use the mill to create slabs that I (with a helper) can safely manage on the bandsaw, and also so that I am working with flat surfaces, (and no bark). I will then resaw the slabs into 5/4, 9/4, and some 11/4 lumber on my MM16.

By the way, the MM16 is great, and should work very well for resawing the slabs. Would be nice if the table were a bit bigger (like an mm 24 or mm 32) I will need to add some supporting infeed and outfeed tables for the slabs.

Looking at those trunks is a bit daunting, so we'll see how it goes. If I planned on doing a lot of this, I would probably get a different and bigger mill. I am planning on wasting a few boards that a good sawyer with the right equipment would not, in order to increase my personal comfort level and safety margins.

I'll let you know how it works.

Mike

[Paul B. Cresti]

Mike,
As a multiple MM owner I can vouch for the machine quality and accuracy. I have a small business and I rely on my machines. You can not go wrong with the MM bandsaws, I do not care what anyone else says they ARE the MOST HEAVY duty Italian bansaws built. In what you want to do with it you might want to wait on the new MM16 as it is even more heavy and bigger motor, you can never have too much power ;) plus the resaw capacity on it will be 16". You may even want to consider a bigger saw MM20 or MM24 in order to have a larger table. Either way you will need auxillary supports in order to saw your logs plus will need to make a resaw sled of some type. Check out the Yahoo MiniMax group, one of the members made a resaw sled for his MM16.