I was reading some material on circular sawmills such as the timberking/belsaw M-14 and later M-16. Also looked at some photos from an older Ireland mill made in new york.

One guys mentioned that he wanted to cut lumber like the olde timers did but could not push himself to getting a pit saw. So the compromise was a circular sawmill with a 46 inch blade.

After looking at these, I have to say I like th simple design. You can even hook up your tractor's PTO to drive this thing or install an automobile engine.

But they also said these mills cut massively faster than a bandmill and most blades have some form of insert tooth called an IP. Bandmills have to have the blade resharpened every two hours in the log. The circulars have to have a bit filing done on 36 teeth about the same time. The new carbide tooth design on some circular blades can also motor themselves through most types of nails.

And it seems pretty cool to run this thing. Carriages going back and forth and setworks being racheted and headblocks moving in and out. And for portability, lets get real. Most sawyers want to charge about an hours or so just to move the mill and set it up. Then, many do not have hydraulics which helps in getting the logs into the mill. Tractors with fork bars work wonders here.

Often, most folks would rather schelp the logs to the saw than hire the saw to setup on their property if you do this quite a bit and the logs owners have to pay for the setup. I really dont have time to cruise the neighborhood with a band mill looking for work. So I would prefer them to bring me the logs. So I am not sure how valuable it is to being able to move this thing quickly.

So are there any of you out there with a circular sawmill? What have been your experiences with these things? Any ideas of where to find hunnkin cicular saw blades on the cheap?