Worth resawing your own lumber?

[Dennis Aspö]

Tell me, is it worth it?

I got this big 24" cast iron bandsaw with a strong 3-phase motor. I bought a bandsaw of this class because it was cheap and because I had this desire to never have to buy lumber again. Or at least avoid it as much as possible. The idea was always to resaw my own logs, which I would somehow acquire through various sources over time.

Now I am pretty new to woodworking and I suppose, also very impressionable when someone with more experience tells me something, so I got very deflated when a friend who has worked as a carpenter/joiner/housebuilder told me it's an utter waste of time and money and I should forget the whole idea and just take the logs to a sawmill instead.

I don't think he knew how much that felt like a punch to the gut for me, I've been working towards this for a year, I started planning for it last spring and I am almost reaching the end of this project, or rather its start perhaps. I was just asking him what he thought of buying whole logs from a firewood dealer who had some freshly cut logs and told him what I was gonna do with them.

Tell me something positive here, or the cold hard truth if you must. I have a hard time seeing how it can ever be profitable to do as he says rather than just doing it at home. I consider my own time free btw. Maybe he has a more professional view of it, but I am looking at it from the point of view of a hobbyist and every cent is worth saving and exchanging for work and time on my end, in my opinion.

If he's right though, I might as well sell it and getting a 14" model, or build that woodgears.ca bandsaw, because there's no point to a big bandsaw like this for me otherwise.

[Mike Cutler]

He's wrong!!

While he may have a point about "milling" big logs, because it is a messy, heavy, arduous task, milling small logs is entirely possible. Even if you were not to start with logs, but with with milled lumber that needed to be resized, it would be worth the effort. The more control you can have over the raw material source of a project, the better off you will always be.
If you have the power available to power that saw, put it to work. There is nothing a 14" saw can do that the one you have can't. The opposite is not true.

Build a roller type in feed and out feed table(s), level them to the plane of the saw table, and have at it. ( You do need the correct blade though. ;) )

[Brian Tymchak]

I think this falls under the category of doing what makes you feel good. Hard to put a value on that. Milling logs is something I will never do because of the expense and logistics nightmare it would be for me to do. But it gives you the ability to cut lumber in custom dimensions to fit your needs. You will of course need to figure out how to dry the lumber as well. Maybe a couple years from now you will change your mind, but you will have at least tried it, instead of always wondering about it.

[daryl moses]

Several things to consider regarding if it will be feasible and cost effective. Length of the lumber you require, if you have a ready and cheap supply of logs etc.
I am fortunate that I live on a farm and have an unlimited supply of various species of trees, most of the time I never have to cut down a live tree as it seems that there is always one falling or dying on it's own accord.
That said, if I need short lengths of lumber or bowl blanks I mill them on my bandsaw. If I need anything much over three feet I will take them to a Sawyer or have someone with a portable mill come to me.

[Dennis Aspö]

I should be able to take 8 feet long logs with the space I got for my setup. The plan was to build a knock-down setup that I would put the logs on, and then pull through the saw. There's the matter of a suitable blade too, there's a UK firm making a 1" blade with a TPI of just 1.3 especially for resawing, sounds like it could work.

Access to wood for me is sporadic, I'd have to buy logs from people who sell firewood and try and get good logs, or scrounge wood from people who've had trees fall on their yards. Or just check craigslist, sometimes people want someone to come and chop down and take away trees.

[Jim Matthews]

Your approaches are vastly different.

Your carpenter friend is considering the amount of time spent
as a 'cost' against his profit margin. In that regard, he's right.

Specialization yields products of superior quality for a lower price.

Your approach is personal, and the investment in time is a reward in itself.
When you first reveal that highly figured, unobtainable flitch of lumber
that cannot be found anywhere other than YOUR shop,
you're right and will be vindicated.

Be advised that many of us on this page are North American, and may not understand
Finnish culture, and the regard you hold for your mentor.

Personally, I think you're BOTH right.

The largest logs need to be rendered down to a size you can manage alone, in your shop.

Your mentor will be invaluable in helping you manage your own 'factory'
in a way that will provide the best possible yield.

Have courage, all endeavors such as this will have discouraging moments.

Show us the pictures of what you find, as you begin milling your own.
Great Art requires suffering.

[Al Weber]

No where do I see any plans for the moving, lifting, transportation of the said logs. So I am assuming you have some type of equipment to do the heavy lifting? I milled logs from my previous wood lot using a manual portable sawmill and it provided many thousands of feet of usable although not high grade lumber. What I found was that milling was the easy part of the process. The difficult part was moving logs weighing hundreds of pounds by myself. I had two tractors with front loaders and managed to use those for transporting, lifting and otherwise transporting logs and milled lumber and it was an enjoyable venture. However if I would have needed to purchase all the equipment, it would never have been economically viable. However, it was the self satisfaction of the effort that paid off for me. I would only urge caution in your venture as cutting trees on others property is a potentially risky proposition if the liability laws in Finland are anything like those in the US. It is also unlikely you will get any high grade lumber from trees obtained from a firewood dealer. They have likely taken anything of significant value for their own purposes.

But you should feel free to try. You will learn a lot as you proceed and will likely find it an enjoyable endeavor but unlikely a profitable one. Best wishes on your venture.

[Robert Engel]

Its doable, but its also ALOT of hard work.

In the end, I personally would pay a sawyer to do it.

It all really depends on how much you're time is worth and the idea that you did it yourself (which will wear off quickly....how do I know that?)

[Dennis Aspö]

I was considering a heavy duty wheeled dolly of some kind for the logs to roll them onto and then into the shop, then a winch and a setup to move it onto the table. The idea would be to dump them in front of my workshop where I will have a concrete area (just gravel now).

I have felled and cleared a lot of trees and moved them on my own so I got some idea. The place where my house now stands used to be forest, they where mostly pine and spruce and nothing I felt was worth using as anything but firewood, it's heavy but doable. I will unlikely be needing more than 7-8" long planks for my work and that length I should be able to cope on my own, if not I can cut it down with my chainsaw.

Here's my firewood pile behind my house that I made from all those trees, and some of the surplus construction lumber left over that is my main source of wood:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7627/16787201256_b1b280d315_b.jpg

I have lots of pallets and other debris as well...

I am big into reusing and scrounging old stuff, here's a pair of chairs I made from surplus lumber and wall panelling and whatnot:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7756/17158636738_79f5f0f121_b.jpg

Here's also a look into my workshop when it was mid project for those chairs. I had to resaw and plane a lot of ugly wood to get lumber for those chairs. That 8" planer I got for 100 euros and restored, it has really come in handy... I have lots of projects going on right now, resawing is a bit low, I would like a proper DC set up before trying that. I hope to be able to resaw some smaller stock this year at least!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7720/17242105886_0d9fc9d799_b.jpg

The green and blue thing is my homemade shopvac, but the motor (old house vacuum) is too weak to keep up so it's just used for cleanup.

This post turned a bit elaborate.

[Dennis Aspö]

I don't really forsee myself getting large loads of logs and cutting them in a go now that I think about it.

I am thinking more I'll get a couple at time, more or less as it happens, or I find an ad or I just run into someone who has some logs to sell, or a neighbor fells a tree, stuff like that more than an attempt at a commercial operation at home. I figure if I need some wood now in larger quantities, I'd just call the local sawmill and see. But the long term plan is to build up my own warehouse of stock too.

[Chris Monroe]

Looks like you're quite capable of figuring out ways to make it work. I'm sure you'll figure out what works for your setup and goals.

Excellent point above about hobby vs. profession, and the two perspectives yield totally different decisions here.

[Jim Andrew]

When I first bought my MM16, had plans to try cutting a few boards from logs. It did not work well, the logs had a tendency to roll, risking breaking the blade. Was hard to handle a piece 8' long, so decided I would just get a small bandmill. Considered building my own, but found a good deal on a used one, so went with a manufactured unit. Works great, I have about every shed on the farm full of boards now. If you can weld, have mechanical aptitude, consider buying a plan and building your own bandmill. There are 2 homebuilt mills in my neighborhood. The great thing is you lay your log flat on a carriage, and the mill rolls horizontally over the log. So you pick up your board off the top. Look at forestryforum.com, there are lots of guys with homebuilt mills on that forum.

[Mike Wilkins]

Milling small and shorter logs on a bandsaw is not only possible but a great way to rescue small cuts from the firewood pile. That being stated, the size you can put onto the saw table is a major consideration. To keep the logs from rolling and possibly damaging your blade, attach the logs to a plywood platform with lag screws, let one side of the plywood extend over the log, and let this overhang ride against the bandsaw fence. Once you get a flat edge, let this flat ride on the saw table and make your own lumber.

I have only tried this on 4-5 foot long logs, no more than 12" across. Any larger you will need some way to lift them onto the table with both infeed and outfeed support. Good luck and watch those fingers.

[glenn bradley]

I let the local lumber yard do the heavy lifting and buy from them. I also cannot recall the last time I use ANY board that I did not mill myself from some larger source. This should add some credence to your idea of resawing.

I do not start with a log, I live in suburbia and this is impractical. I do stock large material that I make my parts from and a larger bandsaw is an absolute necessity to how I do what I do. A smaller bandsaw is also very nice to have and saves me from changing bands quite as often when I need to do a lightweight task like cut out a rocker or put an arc on an apron or stretcher.

If I built houses I would never mill my own lumber, there's no money in it. Your friend is not wrong, his viewpoint is valid for what he does. He just doesn't do what you plan to do.

[John TenEyck]

I know where you're coming from. There's no one right answer for everyone, but for me I wanted to be able to handle logs up to 2' diameter by myself, and to do it at very low cost. To transport logs I built a log dolly that allows me to pick up and transport a single log by myself.

313010

It hooks up to an ATV or my car. Last Summer I increased it's capacity so I can handle a 32" diameter log now. For milling, I started out with an Alaskan Mill and a Huskvarna 385XP chainsaw.

313011

I milled a lot of lumber with this simple set up; well over 4000 BF. The cut quality is as good as any other method of milling, although you lose more to the kerf.

313012

The advantage of the Alaskan Mill, besides being low cost, is that you can mill the log on the ground, and you can go to the tree if you can't bring the tree to you. I used that setup for 7 or 8 years until I got too old and tired of handling it. Two years ago I built a rolling chainsaw mill and made it large enough to handle a 32" diameter log.

313013

That log just about filled the mill. Of course with the mill I can't mill the log on the ground anymore; it has to be rolled or pulled up onto the mill. Many times I can roll smaller logs alone, and larger ones can be handled by two people, but misshapen logs have to be pulled up. A little creativity gets that job done, too:

313014

Anyway, you can do a lot for not a lot of money, however you chose to go about it. An upright bandsaw would not fit my needs, but it could be OK as long as you don't want to handle large logs. For large diameter or long logs I would think about a horizontal bandsaw mill or something like my chainsaw mill. No matter what route you take, this is what makes it all worthwhile:

313015

John

[Ted Calver]

Assuming you master the logistics of placing the material in position to saw, follow Mike Wilkins excellent advise. Round things roll on the saw and will destroy a blade in a flash unless stabilized, so a very important part of band sawing your own lumber is the jig you use to secure the log so you can slice it and advance to the next cut safely. There are several ways to do this, but for me the simplest is to create a plywood 90 degree angle high/long enough to cradle the log, secure the log to the perpendicular side,which will slide along the fence and the other (bottom) leg becomes a sacrificial sled. Slide the whole thing along the fence to slice a board. Each time you create a board you slice a portion of the bottom of the fence off. You don't have to slice up the whole log this way. You can just cut half, then take it off the jig and use the flat bottom of the log to finish cutting.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sure it's worth it.

Here's a link to me doing it.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?182034-Making-Lumber-on-a-Bandsaw&highlight=sawing+logs

I also made a home made bandsaw mill to make it easier, I don't have to lift the logs, just roll them.

Have fun with your setup............Rod.

[Cody Colston]

It's definitely feasible, especially from a hobbiest standpoint.

I only have a 17" bandsaw and I've milled lots of lumber from short logs on it which I turned into furniture projects. I made my wife and two girls ERC blanket chests from logs I milled on my bandsaw. The logs came from trees off my place when I cleared it for my house. I started by using a shop-built sled to hold the logs while milling but eventually discarded it. Most logs will have a somewhat flat area and I would place it on the table, pop a line on the logs and push it through the saw. The bigger the log, the more stable it is. Once you get a flat side it's a piece of cake. Rolling and destroying a band blade is not nearly the danger some make it out to be. I don't remember ever damaging a band in that fashion. Dirty logs are a much bigger consideration as far as destroying a band.

Be warned, though. Milling lumber from logs on the bandsaw eventually led to a manual band sawmill and a tractor to handle logs/lumber (among other things).

Most furniture projects rarely require lumber lengths over 5 ft. With a good set-up and the space, a five foot log (and even longer) is manageable on a bandsaw. You will need a way to get the bigger logs lifted but it appears you have that figured out already. As for procuring logs, once the word gets out they will come to you...they do to me. About all that is really necessary is the will to do the considerable work that is required.

Oh, another consideration...the space to store all that lumber. :D

[David Spurr]

If I can figure out how to attach pictures from my phone, I'll show you what I got from a white oak off my inlaws property. I am a hobbyist and feel it is well worth while.

[Dennis Ford]

You can have a lot of fun (and work real hard) doing this. You will have a lot of labor invested in the wood but not much money. I would recommend that any big logs get taken to a sawmill (if you can transport the log, it is not that expensive). There will still be plenty of short / smaller pieces to cut on your bandsaw. The band-saw will soon become a favorite tool; I very much doubt that you will sell it.

[John TenEyck]

I agree with Cody - you shouldn't have to pay for logs if you make it known you are looking for them. I have a friend who's an arborist and I get logs from him occasionally in exchange for helping him. Sometimes, he gives me the whole tree so I get logs and firewood, too. Other logs I get from friends who are having a tree taken down. I've gotten a few by stopping at people's houses when I've seen a tree crew beginning to take down a tree that looks worthwhile. I used to take almost any log I could get but after milling a few thousand BF the work involved smartened me up and now I'm a lot more selective in what I'll invest the time in. My motivation generally is clear furniture grade lumber, so I typically pass on anything but straight, clear logs. The best logs I get generally come from someone's back yard. There's no competition for them either. Timber companies have no interest because of the chance of metal in them, which I've found is often true. But a chain can usually be sharpened even after hitting a nail or two, and even a new one is cheap compared to the value of the lumber I'm getting. Some of these trees yield two or three 8 to 10 ft logs that easily give me 250 BF of lumber, or more. You don't need many of those as a hobbiest to have a good supply of lumber that cost not much more than your time. The log dolly, chainsaw, and mill I showed earlier probably cost me around $2500 all in. Figure 5000 BF of lumber by now and that's pretty cheap wood. And I've milled some species that are just hard to get commercially where I live - black locust, honey locust, red mulberry, and catalpa to name a few.

[Chris Padilla]

Cutting veneers is the main reason I got a large bandsaw plus they are good for ripping large chunks of wood that might cause you pause on a table saw.

You'll find good use for it and it'll go beyond what you thought.

[John K Jordan]

I think practical success depends on the size of the logs and what you use or make to support and guide them through the bandsaw. A wet log can be incredibly heavy - I have had logs I could not even lift with the tractor and had to push them up a ramp onto my sawmill! (Woodmizer LT15) I assume you are talking about much smaller logs.

I very often us my 18" bandsaw to cut up smaller logs sections, up to 12" diameter and maybe 3-4' long, and have resawn 12' boards that were light enough for two people to support and guide. However, most of what I process inside is for relatively small woodturning blanks.

I think a long sled of sorts could be devised to grip and move a heavy log through a stationary bandsaw, perhaps supported by tracks and rollers. It would have to be stout enough to keep the cut perfectly straight, of course. It would be a big job operate. Remember you also need enough space to stack and dry what you cut.

You might look around for a used Woodmizer type bandsawmill. That would be a LOT easier to mill on! My little sawmill will theoretically take up to 28" diameter logs 16" long with manual crank. (18-20" diameter is far easier to work with.) I did buy the mill new, but it has paid for itself around the farm and with occasional lumber and slab sales, and I have a big stock of dry cherry and other boards waiting until I get time to use them.

JKJ

[bill tindall]

Your title says "resaw" , a valid need for a good saw, but your text has nothing to do with resawing and everything to do with operating a nearly worthless saw mill based on a band saw. Odds are you are not far from someone with a small or large saw mill that will saw logs for you. Hence, is was an impractical plan to acquire the means to saw your own logs. Unless you are going to make piddly small stuff you will not be able to saw a log large enough to be useful for much of anything. That said, a large industrial sized and quality and saw is a dandy shop tool for all sorts of woodworking applications. By all means keep it.

That said you will try it anyway. Let us know how long it takes for a log to roll, pinch the blade and create havoc, and with luck no blood. This is such a bad idea in so many ways.

[Art Mann]

I'm not quite as negative on the idea as Mr. Tindall but I do agree that you will have a very hard time producing the size and quantity of material needed to build the average furniture project. I have done a little "firewood" sawing on my band saw strictly for box making purposes and it turned out okay but I'm not sure it was worth the effort in the end. If you have a source of wood "on the stump" then hire a person with a portable band saw mill to cut your lumber. He can do more in half a a day than you can do in a month with a measly 3 or 5 hp band saw set up for woodworking purposes.

[Dennis Aspö]

Well yes I am still set on it, but given the comments I guess I've also scaled my ambitions back a bit. I've been thinking about some kind of sled and infeed and outfeed boards that would line up with the slot on the table, then the log would get attached to the sled. The max capacity of my bandsaw is 16", the design of the blade guard robs me of some 2" too. So anything bigger is probably worth taking to the sawmill.

I don't think I would bother working on my own sawmill though if this setup proves inadequate.

[Mike Cutler]

Dennis

Odds are good that you have a much better saw than I do. I only have a single phase, 2HP, 18" Rikon.
I have put 6'+, hickory, ash and walnut logs through it. Some bigger in diameter than the re-saw height of the band saw. I've also put a lot of eastern red cedar logs through the saw. I've run 22' long, rough milled, sitka spruce beams through it to turn into parts to make airplanes and ultra light geodesic water craft.
I have never had a piece of material roll, twist, fall off, or break a blade, or in any way create an unsafe condition, and there most certainly has never been any blood.( That hickory log I referenced weighed over 400lbs.)
Milling on a bandsaw takes a little forethought, but there are countless You tube videos out there on how to do it, and how to make the jigs and fixtures necessary to safely accomplish your goals.

I still say "Go for it", you won't regret it, and if nothing else, you will learn more about how to use a bandsaw, and get more out of one, than most folks do.
A band saw is probably the most under utilized, misunderstood, and avoided machine in wood working. It's also one of the most valuable. Both of my table saws would go before I'd get rid of either of my bandsaws.;)

[Allan Speers]

Dennis, so many replies already and I didn't read them all, so I may be repeating but-

Is milling your own logs cost-effective? Not really. Big PITA. - but it's FUN ! You never know what you're going to get. When you buy lumber at the yard, someone else has probably already snatched the very best pieces. Try quarter-sawing your own white oak log sometime. A coupel of gems that fall out will make it all worthwhile.

--------

BUT FORGET ALL THAT. JUST TAKE LOGS OUT OF THE EQUATION:

If there's one powered tool you almost HAVE to own, it's a bandsaw. There's almost no other way (without an incredible amount of physical work) to make book-matched pieces, or custom veneer. - And even if you're only going to slice an 8" wide board, the bigger wheels mean you can use a thicker blade under higher tension, so you will get better results.

There is just no argument AGAINST owning the biggest bandsaw you can fit in your shop. Once you have it, then milling small logs becomes a real possibility, but it's far from the main reason to go big.

[Joe Cowan]

I bought a Laguna 14" bandsaw with their resaw blade on it a couple of years ago. I had a dry old piece of cedar log that I thought I would experiment with and cut edge off of the 18" long piece of cedar. No problem with such a light price of wood (I thought). I get about half way through, and the price rolled somewhat and the blade made a funny noise. Once I finished, I noticed a wobble in the blade, I could still cut but not as smoothly as before. Long story short, I ended up buying a new blade for the bandsaw. I decided, at that point, that my resawing would be from already milled lumber.

[Roy Harding]

I have a 20" bandsaw I use for resawing, making veneers etc. I occasionally mill logs obtained from local friends and neighbours, but have found that I can't handle much more than 3' or so of a log up to about 14" in diameter. I use the lumber for small boxes, and decorative flourishes on bigger projects. It's not a steady source of lumber for me, but it does let me work with wood that I wouldn't normally purchase.

After trying various methods, I've found that what works best for me is to run the log over my planer until I have a steady, flat surface (maybe 2 - 3" wide) for it to rest on. Then over to the bandsaw, make a single cut to establish a flat edge, then start slicing the thickness you want. Don't forget that the stuff WILL warp/twist/cup as it's drying - so cut it over thick.

Bottom line - would I use my bandsaw to make my own lumber in "useable" lengths (say 6' or longer)? No way - I can't handle that size by myself. But for occasional smaller pieces in species that are unusual, it can be fun.

[Art Mann]

Well yes I am still set on it, but given the comments I guess I've also scaled my ambitions back a bit. I've been thinking about some kind of sled and infeed and outfeed boards that would line up with the slot on the table, then the log would get attached to the sled. The max capacity of my bandsaw is 16", the design of the blade guard robs me of some 2" too. So anything bigger is probably worth taking to the sawmill.

I don't think I would bother working on my own sawmill though if this setup proves inadequate.

I have seen several plans published for making a sled to turn firewood into lumber. I have also seen a commercial sled that is designed for the purpose. Here is a link to a video of a very elaborate setup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WItDzkTk-2s

It might give you some ideas.

[Gene Waara]

Hi Dennis,

Kuinka voit? Don't be discouraged. It appears that this is a hobby for you, same as myself. You've already received some great advice. I will just add that you need to do whatever allows you to enjoy woodworking. If you try to put a dollar to what you do versus what you get you will find the need to try another hobby. Personally, I buy rough lumber and have a jointer and planer to size it as necessary. If I had to cut trees, mill lumber, and sticker to dry, much of the pleasure would be drained before I could ever even make a cut. Give it a try - worst case is you ultimately buy rough lumber and sell the saw. Even then, the experience you gain will be invaluable as you progress through the hobby and you will be giving others advice. Good luck and have fun!

[Rod Sheridan]

Well yes I am still set on it, but given the comments I guess I've also scaled my ambitions back a bit. I've been thinking about some kind of sled and infeed and outfeed boards that would line up with the slot on the table, then the log would get attached to the sled. The max capacity of my bandsaw is 16", the design of the blade guard robs me of some 2" too. So anything bigger is probably worth taking to the sawmill.

I don't think I would bother working on my own sawmill though if this setup proves inadequate.

Hi Denis, did you look at the link I provided?

I sawed 18 to 22 inch logs on my band saw with only an 11" depth of cut.

Large logs are easily split in half with wedges and then sawn on a medium sized band saw..............Regards, Rod.

[Dennis Aspö]

I missed your link but looking at it now, looks a lot like what I got planned in my head from an initial glance.

[Cody Colston]

Hmmm. Lots of negative comments regarding sawing logs on a bandsaw. I wonder just how many of the naysayers have actually done it?

I do agree that a band sawmill is a better tool for sawing logs. Even without log-handling equipment it is a great tool for producing one's own lumber and a used manual mill would not cost a lot more than a large bandsaw. Before I got a tractor & loader, I would parbuckle logs onto my utility trailer using a Harbor Freight battery-powered winch. Offloading consisted of placing the trailer beside the mill, chaining a log to a tree and driving out from underneath it. A hand winch on the mill and ramps worked well to get the log onto the mill bunks. I still use the winch for logs that are too heavy for my 30 hp tractor to lift.

Hauling logs to a sawyer with a band sawmill is also cost effective if they are good logs. I started sawing on my bandsaw, progressed to taking logs to a local sawyer and then to getting my own sawmill. It's all a lot of work but like someone else said, it's FUN!

Go ahead and use a bandsaw to saw logs. Find out for yourself if it's right for you. Even if it isn't, you will still have the bandsaw which is a valuable tool in a woodshop and you will learn a bit about sawing. There's nothing like opening up a log. Sometimes it's disappointing, often it is spectacular and it's always exciting. You will see color in species like Walnut that the majority of woodworkers have never seen because it doesn't last long...literally minutes, but it's a marvel to see.

[John K Jordan]

... Before I got a tractor & loader, I would parbuckle logs onto my utility trailer using a Harbor Freight battery-powered winch. Offloading consisted of placing the trailer beside the mill, chaining a log to a tree and driving out from underneath it. ...

Been there. The worst was a load of big logs on my gooseneck trailer that I couldn't unload with the tractor because I had hauled it to the site to load the logs onto the trailer! A couple of times I used a second trailer to ferry the tractor back and forth. Ack. Not long afterwards I bought a used bobcat so there was always one piece of equipment at home.

(btw, one nice way to load without equipment is wrap loops of chain around the log and roll it up some I-beam ramps by pulling the chain from the other side if the trailer with a vehicle. I've done that a lot.)

I very much agree about the joys of sawmilling. Not only to see the colors and figure, but to have the ability to decide on the spot how best to cut up a log as you see what is inside - quarter sawn, slabs, mantels, beams, wide boards, turning chunks, stickers? And there are always surprises, like the unusual amazing figure in one big cedar log or the beautiful log with 50% rot inside or the logs the guy told me were oak which revealed a rainbow of sweet gum color on the first cut. Makes me want to go cut some logs just thinking about it!

One thing perhaps worth mentioning - some small sawyers will saw logs for "free", taking a share of the wood in trade. I won't saw for money, but my deal on shares is he hauls the logs and stays to help, 50/50; I haul or he doesn't help, he gets less. This is a great way to get custom milled lumber at little or no cost.

JKJ

[James White]

The below link may be helpful. Scroll down to log weight and enter the species, diameter and length to get a weight estimate. For example a 6' length of an 18" diameter red oak log will be nearly 700 lbs. That is why some are saying this idea is not practical. However if you limit your expectations to material for smaller projects, it can be very practical. It all depends on the amount of work you want to put into the milling portion of your woodworking projects.

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=toolbox

[Phil Thien]

I know where you're coming from. There's no one right answer for everyone, but for me I wanted to be able to handle logs up to 2' diameter by myself, and to do it at very low cost. To transport logs I built a log dolly that allows me to pick up and transport a single log by myself.

John

What you accomplish never ceases to amaze me.

[Dennis Aspö]

I don't think I will ever get to see a walnut log being sawn in my life. They don't grow this far north as I am. It's pine and spruce that stand for the majority of woods in Finland, then our best furniture hardwood which is slow grown artic birch, it's harder & stronger than oak, good thing it's so common or we would have no proper hardwood of our own to work with... Traditional joiners benches are made from birch and I will make a small roubo style one some day in birch.

In the southernmost part of Finland I think you might find oaks naturally growing, otherwise they tend to found mostly in southern sweden. In addition to those trees we got aspen, rowan trees, two types of alder, a not so hard maple variant. European ash is only found in the southernmost parts of finland but in 1937 a local botanist planted a small forest of ash trees near the city of Vasa which is close to where I live. Don't think they want anyone to cut those down however. I wonder if I should try and plant an ash tree in my yard...

[ryan paulsen]

If the logs are too big or if you're worried about rolling, break the logs down with your chainsaw first. You should able to quarter some pretty big logs and be able to handle them with your setup. Much easier to work where the log is than to move the log. Could even get an Alaskan mill or Beam Machine to keep your chainsaw cuts straight.

[Cody Colston]

If the logs are too big or if you're worried about rolling, break the logs down with your chainsaw first.

Good point. I only have a Stihl 290 chainsaw with a 20" bar but I've ripped some pretty large Oak (~28" dbh) with it when QS'ing. That would also give a flat face to rest on the BS table, making a sled unnecessary.

There is a member here who is also on the Forestry Forum. He's posted pics over there of a friend slicing a ~34" diameter Oak log freehand with a Stihl 460. The guy doesn't even pop a chalk line but starts in the center of the pith and exits in the center of the pith. The faces looked as smooth as if he had used an Alaskan mill. Amazing.

[Scott DelPorte]

I did this before and it worked pretty well. I quartered a 30" dia log "freehand" with a regular 20" chainsaw, then cut the quartered sections into boards on my 24" bandsaw. Since the bar was shorter than the log diameter, I had to saw it from both sides of the log to split it.

It was a lot of work, mostly because of the weight of the sections, but as others have said it is satisfying cutting your own stock from logs.

[Jim Becker]

There are practical considerations to milling your own lumber using the type of machine you have available to you...and material handling is the key. While a big old bandsaw like that has good power and heigh capacity, it was not designed for sawing "logs", at least in the sense of handling longer material. If you want to create boards for smaller projects, that's certainly possible with jigs and additional material support for safety (assuming you have a way of lifting the material...logs are heavy, heavy, heavy...) but it's not practical, or safe, to try and mill the bigger stuff. That's what band-mills are for. (Woodmizer or similar) Or milling systems that use chainsaws with a ripping blade.

But even so, I wouldn't sell that big saw for a 14" unit...the heavy casting brings precision that's unavailable on any typical 14" bandsaw.

[Tony Zona]

I saw a small portable bandsaw once for logs. It was powered by a chainsaw power unit. I cannot locate it now.

Do they still exist? If so, where?