The 40 acre deer refuge 2024

[mallardsx2]

Hopefully these ones don't get poached. Season closed Sunday.

A ton of bucks from last season that made it through got poached or hit on the road.

 

[Lou (Louis)]

Where? Roughly. Not asking for the specific spot

 

[mallardsx2]

Georgia.

 

[mallardsx2]

 

[mallardsx2]

 

[mallardsx2]

Black walnut I cut down 4 years ago and I finally got it on the mill.

I cleaned up around the mill and had quite a slab fire today.

 

[buckbull]

A few questions.
1. How do you like that mill? Would you buy it again? Dislikes?
2. Are you still happy mounting it on posts instead of a concrete slab?

 

[mallardsx2]

A few questions.
1. How do you like that mill? Would you buy it again? Dislikes?
2. Are you still happy mounting it on posts instead of a concrete slab?

1. How do you like that mill? Would you buy it again? Dislikes?
The mill is great, and the customer service is great. Yes, I would buy it again. It is a good value for the money, has plenty of power, and has electric start. I do wish it had a pressure gauge for blade tension adjustment.....I use a torque wrench and it works ok, but a hydraulic pressure gauge would be better/faster (minor complaint there...) Is it a woodmizer? No. But for a hobbyist (at half the price), it is a great mill.

2. Are you still happy mounting it on posts instead of a concrete slab?
I am super happy mounting it high on the posts. It saves my back big time. I cut on the mill and slide the heavy stuff onto my loading rack for re-sawing. It works great...I will likely concrete a slab around everything as soon as I get my roof over the mill. I would NOT recommend leaving a mill at ground level. It would kill your back lifting those slabs on and off. Some of those fact cuts weight 2X as much as me. I like to use gravity whenever I can to get those out of my way.

Couple more things:

-I would never consider buying a sawmill if I didn't have a tractor though. Loading logs without a tractor or something with pallet forks would be an epic dangerous disaster. Sawmilling is /can be a very physical activity. Know that going into it.

-I WILL upgrade to the power head lift this year at some point though. If I had that power head lift and a digital readout, I would increase output at least 50%.

-If I didn't have good access to logs, I would NEVER get a sawmill. I don't pay anything for my logs. They either come from my FIL's or my place and they don't cost me anything. If I had to pay for logs, simply put, I wouldn't have a sawmill.

-If I didn't have good way to get rid of the slabs/scrap, I would NEVER get a sawmill. There is a LOT of mess.

-Do yourself a favor and buy the blade sharpener and the tooth setter and a 10 pack of blades. It's nice to always have a sharp blade to throw on without having to deal with someone sharpening them for you. You will pay for that sharpener quicker than you think. I switch blades frequently, sharp blades make the process so much more enjoyable, and you end up with a better product.

Hope that helps.

 

[buckbull]

Thanks mallard. Me and the BIL were talking about milling some of the oak and walnut on our place. I initially priced out a grand berg mill since we both have stihl power heads greater than the recommended 80cc. By the time I priced everything out we were over $1000. At that point I think a mill makes more sense.

 

[RICMIC]

There are quite a few small sawmills in my area of NE Minnesota, and many of them get rid of much of their slabwood by selling them as bundles for campfire wood. Two on my road to town even have an honor system setup that appears to work well enough since they have been out there for the last few summers seasons. I suspect that this doesn't appeal to locals much, but tourists don't have much other options.

 

[mallardsx2]

There are quite a few small sawmills in my area of NE Minnesota, and many of them get rid of much of their slabwood by selling them as bundles for campfire wood. Two on my road to town even have an honor system setup that appears to work well enough since they have been out there for the last few summers seasons. I suspect that this doesn't appeal to locals much, but tourists don't have much other options.

We had considered doing something like that but where I live, there are not many campgrounds or tourists. I'm starting to burn it at the same time I am cutting it so it doesn't build up so fast.

I wish I had a mechanized way of cutting it into firewood lengths and sell it. That would be great. A lot of it is oak.

 

[RICMIC]

Location, location, location. It is generally illegal to transport firewood out of the state or even region due to an attempt to slow "invasive species" spread. It's too late in many cases though well intended.