When I began to mill, I quickly learned that if I wanted to make good wages from portable sawmilling I needed to have high production and charge by the board foot instead of by the hour. With my LT70 and EG200 twin blade edger I usually average $200+ per hour charging 35 - 40 cents per board foot. The study found, for example, that nearly half of the people buying a portable sawmill were replacing another mill because, “My previous sawmill had limited production capacity and I needed a more productive sawmill.” Another important finding of the study was that nearly 1 out of 3 mill owners might have intended to use their mill mostly for hobby use but, by the time they’d had the mill for awhile they ended up earning all or part of their income with the machine. It’s inevitable. Start milling a few sticks for your own use and pretty soon people will start showing up and asking, “Hey, can you do that for me?”Īnother element to consider is cost and production over the long term instead of the short. Research done at Auburn University a few years ago showed me some important things anyone looking to buy a sawmill should consider. I started with that old circle mill because it didn’t cost me anything beyond milling a few boards in trade but for most of us, cost is important once the decision to purchase is made. But don’t make the mistake of thinking cost is all-important. I’ve seen plenty of my fellow sawmill owners regret the emphasis they put on the initial cost of their mill without considering other things that are just as important over the long term.Īn important question to ask before signing on the dotted line is, “What do I intend to use this mill for and, beyond that, what am I likely to use this mill for?” Today, about five million or more board feet later, I’ve learned a little about what you should and should not consider when choosing a sawmill. It didn’t take long operating it to realize portable band sawmilling was clearly the superior option for me.

Ask me. I almost made the common choice of going non-hydraulic when I bought my first Wood-Mizer.Īctually my first mill was an old “portable” circle sawmill a friend had stored “out behind the barn. The CookieMizer eliminates the need to inefficiently make a temporary jig each time there is a need to cut wood cookies on a sawmill.It’s easier to decide you need a sawmill than it is to make good choices about the sawmill you eventually buy. The unique clamping system allows for final cuts within 1-½-inches of the base in order to produce the most cookies possible out of each log round.

Once the log round is secured, the sawmill head travels as normal and the blade cuts through the log to produce wood cookies with each pass at the desired height. The CookieMizer attaches directly to a sawmill bed and uses one adjustable and one fixed clamp to secure log rounds in an upright position it can be used with log rounds up to 20 inches in diameter. The patent-pending CookieMizer is the first sawmill attachment of its kind and joins the Wood-Mizer range of other popular sawmill attachments that make it possible to produce wood shingles, siding, posts, beams, and more. Wood-Mizer introduces the CookieMizer clamping jig for safely and efficiently sawing wood ‘cookies’ - slices of wood from a log round - with a portable sawmill.

Wood mizer portable sawmill