80" bar chainsaw mill?

[Bill Dufour]

I saw this on c-list near me. 80 inch bar seems big enough they should have switched to bandsaw.of course here in the west the big trees will all be softwoods.
No power to move the wood around. Not sure if the head has to be pushed or if it, at least, pulls itself along the cut.
Bill D.
'https://goldcountry.craigslist.org/tls/d/tuolumne-sawmill/6817782962.html

[Jared Sankovich]

I saw this on c-list near me. 80 inch bar seems big enough they should have switched to bandsaw.of course here in the west the big trees will all be softwoods.
No power to move the wood around. Not sure if the head has to be pushed or if it, at least, pulls itself along the cut.
Bill D.

'https://goldcountry.craigslist.org/tls/d/tuolumne-sawmill/6817782962.html]

Its a lucas slab mill, relatively popular setup. The mill can be carried into remote locations and setup around the tree to be cut.

There is at least one local to me, just for larger slabs

[Richard Coers]

All manual, has to be pushed. With the Briggs and Stratton is has more torque than the chainsaw mills. Wonderful setup!

[scott lipscomb]

The great thing about a Lucas is that you can bring the mill to the tree. As you pointed out, Bill, this looks like a good set up for large, west coast trees like Redwood and Doug fir, where it may be common to have large diameter trees. I dropped a 4' diameter df at my place that was 12' long and I couldn't even drag it with my tracked skid loader. My friends Lucas was the ticket (wasn't the slobber, but the swing blade). Took about 3 hours to setup and about 45 minutes to mill.

[kent wardecke]

8.5 hours, barely used. Either they bought it with a specific project in mind or plans went awry. What's the MSRP on that mill?

[Bill Space]

8.5 hours, barely used. Either they bought it with a specific project in mind or plans went awry. What's the MSRP on that mill?

The add says the engine has 8.5 hours on it. Perhaps a replacement engine for one that failed after long hours of use?

I suppose the new price of a similar unit for comparison might indicate which it might be...

[Jeff Heath]

The Lucas mill in the ad is what Lucas calls a dedicated slabbing mill. They come in two sizes, and this is the smaller one. They also make them able to cut 9' wide slabs.

A friend has the Lucas 1030, which is their swing mill, and he also has the slabbing attachment. that way, he can cut dimensional lumber with it, up to 20" wide (double cut), or he can put the slabber attachment on (rides on the same track with a dedicated carriage), and he cuts a lot of slabs with it.

As stated, swing mills are excellent mills, if you have access to a lot of very large logs. Setting up the mill in strange, difficult-to-reach locations is it's biggest benefit, and you can set the mill up around the log, and you don't need to have the ability to pick up a huge 8000 lb. white oak log. My buddy built a trailer for his Lucas, and he drags it behind an atv, which allows him to get way back in the woods where a pickup truck would never go. He uses the same trailer to haul the lumber out. He also has a milling attachment for his mill, which allows him to flatten large slabs. It's like a router sled on steroids.

$9500 for a mill with only 8.5 hours is a really good deal on one of these, assuming that's the original engine. You will spend a lot of money on ripping chains, and a sharpener for them.

I'm pricing out the steel and supplies to build my own dedicated slabbing band mill, and just materials bill is around $10K, including a motor, with me doing all the fabrication work. If this Lucas slabber wasn't so far away, I'd give it a serious look. Slabs have become my number one seller off the mill. They sell like hot cakes and sausage in a lumberjack camp.