Last Friday, we took a trip way up to the northwestern corner of the state to pick up our new portable bandsaw mill so we can saw our own lumber for our new barn. We’ll be needing a lot of boards for the hayloft floor, the feed room and milk room, not to mention the outside siding! Buying it at the lumberyard made our wallets scream!
Will researched bandsaw mills for a long, long time before we made our choice of a Hud-son mill, an Oscar 121. Not only did he like many features of the saw, when compared to others on the market, but friends of ours have this saw and have reported good service and years of good sawing.
We called the area representative and reserved our mill. Then we borrowed David’s pickup, which gets better gas mileage than ours, and drove four hours to pick up our mill. We were as excited as expectant parents, we’ve been wanting a mill for such a long time! Years, in fact. It seemed that something always came up that kept us from getting one. Money, usually!
We’re really happy with the overall construction and ease of operation for such an economical mill. Will had it set up the next day and began learning to use it. After a couple of operator malfunctions (like missing reading the part of the directions that indicates the mill is shipped with the blade loose) he soon got the hang of it and began turning out very acceptable boards. I was so excited. I couldn’t believe that the saw cut so quickly! It cuts about as fast as you can walk the blade through the log. After cutting boards and planks with a chainsaw, it seemed like a miracle! What a great addition to our homestead and one more step toward self-reliance! — Jackie
A neighbor has this exact same mill and it’s great.
I was able to turn some not-too-great front-yard spruce trees into a chicken coop.
The cash they save, and can make, is invaluable.
Congrats! Now lets see some build progress :-)
What a great savings tool for you!
I am sure you will find it invaluable. We bought a woodmizer 5 years ago. Not only did we cut all the timber for our house but I built a solar kiln and have been selling a lot as well. Planked and machined timber brings a far greater revenue than firewood or fence poles. I have to say ours has paid for itself several times over. The only thing I would say I also bought a metal detector after losing three blades on buried metal spikes! Though from hackles location I shouldn’t think that is too much of concern.
Comments are closed.