Question
There have been numerous bandsaw woes discussed here, such as diving blades, sharpening problems, alignment problems and poor customer support.
Other than log dogs for small logs and a couple things that the manufacturer fixed right away, I don't recall many woes for swing or multi-blade mills. This may be due to bandsaws significantly outnumbering the others, or is it because other mills are less complex and easier to maintain?
We have all read the posts on which is best, but for those of us still trying to make up our mind which way to go, a little honest feedback on maintenance, repairs or problems from swing and multi-blade owners would be appreciated.
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From contributor C:
The only woe that I can think of - I am not sure it is even one - is finding a local and credible "Saw Doctor" to handle re-tipping and occasional re-tensioning for my blades. Other swing owners have been a great help. There seems to be a large discrepancy in talent and expected compensation of the people in the blade business. If I could find a person more local to me for emergencies (a metallic blade collision disaster) I would not require more than 2 blades in inventory... in light of this, my metal detector is my best friend in preventing down time.
I do not regret purchasing a swing mill over a band mill for the types of custom milling that I am contracted for. It has far exceeded my expectations.
The frame is sturdy and stands up to a lot of use. I am not an expert by any means. I can tell you that the big ones are a lot more fun. The small ones seem to take more energy. This is from moving the "rails" up and down between each log. We use an industrial backhoe/loader with a 5,000 lb. lift capacity to make moving larger logs easier, but you still have to move the rails up to get the log under them or the carriage and one rail off.
I have never seen a Petersen mill in action, so I can't say anything about their mill. I will say that there is a lot of sawdust at the end of the day. However, the thickness and width of the board stays the same for the length of the board, unless you strike metal, and I don't mean gold. The cost of blades is more than a typical bandsaw blade but they last longer without striking metal. When the tips are gone, they can be retensioned and retipped. We have had blades retensioned and retipped 8 times and they are still cutting fine. As long as you watch what you are doing, a blade will keep its tension before it will need to be retipped. The problem of retipping is finding a good sawblade man that can do a quality job with both aspects and can return the blade in a reasonable amount of time. When you do find one, they seem to be 3 states away.
The decision is still on how much you have to spend, your log size and what widths you want. With Lucas, you can always buy a slabber attachment, though.
If I had logs that were 28 inches or bigger all the time I would sell my bandmill and get a swinger. It's all about what *you* need to cut and what logs you will have available. Don't let technicalities cloud your judgment - get what will work best for your situation. I'd say hire a swingblade guy and you will know what is best by the end of the day.
Much like a "mud saw" on a bandmill, when the circular blade is rotating on a swingblade mill, in either direction of travel, the blade first enters the wood in the heart of the log and then exits the log through the bark. The only contact with mud and dirt is as the blade leaves the log - it is not dragged through the cut as on chainsaw mills and bandmills *without* debarkers/mud saws. Typically, the sawdust helps cushion the blade from harsh impact with the dirt/mud. A swingblade is its own built-in mud saw. Yes, the blade dulls sooner than in clean logs. But it is resharpened in 5 minutes on the mill with no dollars outlaid. Having said this, I still prefer clean logs and charge more for custom sawing dirty ones.
Just as I thought. Nobody packs their swingsaws in, and nobody packs their bandmills in. You all drive in with your saw, unless someone delivers logs to you.
Is there a difference in setup time? My neighbor next parcel over bought a swing mill at 69, and he thinks it's fine. Now at 72, he still thinks it's fine. He cuts from his own logs, and has a little tractor to pull stuff around. Now my neighbor's situation is more like a stationery mill, in that Jack basically only uses it one place, and brings his logs to it. I expect that most readers, however, will be bringing their mill to the log(s), as it were.
So given that Jack's situation is the exception, generally, you will be transporting your "portable" mill to the jobsite. Once there, how long does it take to engage your mill into the wood? Is that important? Depends on what you want to do with it. Jack mills for his own needs, and personal pleasure. He is not doing 40" oaks where a swingmill is indicated, but then he bought it because it was locally available as a stocked item. If WM was stocked here, he may have chosen differently. So does marketing and availability have impact on your decision? Probably. It did for Jack. It does for swingmills too. One company started it, and spurned its own competitor. Yep, they do it "down under" just like "we" do it up here.
Now I could pick up a brand new swingmill 10 minutes away, but I will be building my own bandmill. What I want, nobody makes.
Comment from contributor A:
I have had a Lucas swing mill for three years and have sawn up to 5000 board feet a day with only one helper keeping a steady pace.
My biggest problem has been adjustments, which no one else seems to have, so maybe it's just my rig. I have to adjust it regularly, though. I also have not been able to find a blade person, however I have only gone through two blades in three years and am still using the last (third) blade, supplied when I bought it, so at $40 to $60 a blade, I guess I can't kick a lot.
The other problem is that I'm limited in the width - 8.5 inches - that I can produce. There is another blade that will allow 9 1/4 inch... basically a 10 inch board that is slightly thicker in kerf, however. I get around this by flattening the top of a log and then slabing it with my old Alaskan sawmill. It works very well and gives me larger slabs when I want them, and then through them through my 18 inch Wood Master planer molder/sander.
I had bandmills out to cut for me, and stripping bark off large tress is a very dificult job when you have 50,000 board foot minimum you need cut. Even when the sawyer put a debarker on his machine, I had to spray down logs with a high power washer to insure blades weren't damaged. I have only once run into a fence insulator/nail in a tree from my 70 acre wood lot and that was a learning experience! I no longer saw the first 3 feet of any urban tree or tree along any fence row and road. That has seemed to make the difference for me. I can pack my 825 in my 1/2 ton pickup and pack it in anywhere with only 10 minutes setup/tear down time.
I have had several disk operations, so I cannot lift anything heavy, however this mill is not heavy and I can operate it alone for short periods and my 75 year old nieghbor out-cuts me! So as everyone says, it's what you want and if you want to pay for automation with high priced highdraulics.
