At 78 and retired, your reasons are spot on and exactly why I have a sawmill. They are why I bought the saw mill. I would rather wear out vs rust out.

Hands down one of the most important videos to the public. The problem with many offgrid channels is similar to those home renovation shows. They edit things down to show off the end results and make it seem easy, when really your are seeing 10 minutes of hours of work. Thank you for this video.

I have handled a lot of timber in my time, everything from felling to sawing, stickering, and proper stacking and storing. I found absolutely nothing wrong with your instructions . Newbies would do well to heed your advice. Experience is such a good but sometimes painfull thing.

It is human nature to fall in love with the finishing process and overlooking all the work that surrounds that process, whether we are talking sawmills, gardens, livestock or whatever. In my case it is bee keeping. No folks, it isn’t just keeping bees in a box and getting honey. I’d love to have a sawmill, but being practical I have a commercial rough cut mill about 3 miles away that I buy my lumber from which is frankly cheaper and doesn’t involve going down yet another rabbit hole of time, money and energy commitment. I strongly recommend that before anyone takes on a major thing like a sawmill to go work with someone that already is doing it and take in what is involved.

This is why I love your Channel because of all the new mans info, it saves me a lot of time as I’m buying an sawmill

1:18 I could just walk and look at those perfectly planted trees for hours. So satisfying.

Thanks for being honest, a lot of people get into this not knowing .

This is one of the most useful videos out there

Thanks for all the information man. Its always helpful to hear what didn't go right, instead of showing all the high points. I appreciate it!

Great summary. Thanks for posting. A few observations: stickers between planks should ideally be the same species, sweep off sawdust before stacking planks, mechanics love sawdust cause it’s cheap, a pail under the sawdust discharge makes it easy to empty into a big plastic tote bag your tractor can haul away. You need to build a simple logging arch to pull behind the ATV or tractor. I put an electric winch on mine and can easily haul 20” x 18 ft logs out of the bush up off the ground using a 400cc ATV. The logs stay clean so it’s easy to move them in the summer. A minimal investment to build.

Thanks for sharing. All of your points are worth considering. We processed a 16 footer last night and it takes a lot of time and effort. The reward is what makes it worth it!

The lack of equipment to transport the logs from where I would harvest them to where I would have my mill site is what has kept me from buying a mill for a while now. The information given in this video is priceless! Great job.

I think you made a great job making this video, some things I had considered but not all you mentioned, you gave me plenty to think about. Thank you.

Great video! And thanks for the advice. In the end, you have to do it because you enjoy the whole process and the outdoor work it involves. Sitting behind my computer, I understand it ain't easy but I imagine it's rewarding.

Thank you so much for sharing all of this valuable information. I am in the preliminary stages of getting a sawmill. This video helped me out a LOT. I appreciate your honesty and being humble. I wish you the best. Thanks again.

Great, great tips!!! I fell into the exact same thought and situations! Love having my mill, just things I wish I had thought about.

This was very informative. Hands down the best manual sawmill channel I know of. We are waiting for our WM HM 122 to arrive and can't wait to not do the same mistakes as you did, but find our very own mistakes!

Great video Sandy. I couldn't agree with you more. There are so many little but major things I didn't take into consideration as well. And still find new issues I didn't think of still 4 years later

Great Video, Thank You for your time and effort. You covered a lot and put the process in to perspective.

Excellent video. I’ve been pondering whether buying a sawmill would be economical for my situation and you answered every question I have. Very honest about the multiple pitfalls and lack of planning most of us undertake prior to a substantial purchase. Thanks.

Great video Sandy. Made many of the same mistakes before and after I bought my HM 130 but like you I don't regret one minute of it. Life is for learning. There is nothing like the satisfaction of seeing something you made, no matter what it is. In this part of our life it is lumber. Hard work for sure, but keeping me active and fit in my sixties, outdoors and a little more self reliant than our city cousins. Lol. Keep up the good work

What an absolutely wonderful and highly informative video. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent video. Had a friend run into the exact same problems you did. He bought a Woodmiser. Had to build a shed, get his old tractor running, buy a de-barker, buy a trailer to haul logs, and occasionally rent a bobcat to move the stuff. There was no shortage of walnut, pecan, red & white oak after a hurricane in Virginia. After a while, he had so many board ft of lumber, he had to build a pole barn just to store it. And the saw dust, huge piles of it. It benefited me as a wood worker, he'd let me come over and pick out anything I wanted. Also had a seemingly endless supply of firewood.

So informative and I was considering buying a saw mill in 6ms to a year. This is definitely a video I needed to see first so I'm prepared. Thank you

Wow, so glad I found you. That's alot to think about and plan for. Thank you so much 💓

So I'm sitting outside having a smoke and for some reason when you started filling the mill up with fuel i felt the sudden need to put out my smoke just incase of fire ahahaha

Absolutely well said. Buying the mill is the easy part. Lots of things to consider, and you’re not alone in your discovery. Thanks for sharing.

Straight and to the point and not a lot of BS I didn’t need. Great channel I look forward to more.

I remember when I bought my Chainsaw Mill 25 years. $700 mill setup and $1200 Stihl Powerhead and I figured I would just crank out lumber.My first slab took me 2 hours to saw. I learned so much in the first year. It wasn’t simply just saw away. Sharpening was the most important lesson, but also learned many of your lessons regarding drying, checking and log prep.

I have seen a couple of the woodmizer mill views and how they demonstrated their product. I don't recall their covering, the for lack of wording, handicaps. They did cover sharpening blades, that I remember and most of all just how to put in a blade or roll a log on the carriage. I think the first thing to do is determine just where the mill is going to set and weather it will affect a neighbor with the noise. I like your remote set up but I do see room for improvements and I am sure for a fact can say your aware or this subject would of never been approached. One nice thing about your whole set up is that its not bolted down to the earth and expensive to move should you have to. Another thing is and this is only my thinking, yours may very a lot from mine. I wouldn't worry about saving every scrap that comes off a mill and saving stuff for wood. Wood is worth a lot and will only increase if things keep going the way they are. In my thinking.... remember its my thinking, I would try to keep the mill on the move to the distance of wood or instead of going to the back and working forward with it coming out to the mill. I would keep the mill exactly like you have it as it seems quite adaptable to any situation but it would be skid able to get it close to what I work on and the wood cut would go into bunks like you have it but when full sled it to the location your going to sell/haul from. Now if you are going to use it all yourself that might not come into play but it needs to be sorted for grade and even though there is little grading in that kind of small timber opposed to no. one clear no. two clear etc. It does need tho to be separated into one inch and two inch... various widths, lengths etc. Even that takes up a lot of space and if done right can be stacked on top of each other if the tractor and its tines can handle the loads on each bunk, never overload as it will come back to bite you hard. Keeping covered, stickered, and air moving through is absolute imperative to success. Another thing that you may have hit on that I never picked up on is whether its part time work or full time work as it is possible to make some money as a hobby but really it needs to go full bore to reach its potential as recovering costs are important too. I wish when I had endless pockets of money I had had a mill like this to fall back on. I have owned the bandsaw mills, the portable circle saw mills and then the big saw mills as well. That Petterson mill I had sawed up wood like a alaskan saw mill, (those are a hard way to make boards) where it mounted in a frame and raised and lowered on logs and would saw logs as big as the truck you saw or a little six inch top of tree. The blade had the motor mounted to it and it flipped on its side or cut downward into the log making each board individual as going down further limited the width of each board. I own and worked for circular saw mills and their best point was making "cants for lumber to be cut from. To me the saw mill to have is a band saw as it has the least curf or waste. The others wasted a board for every two they cut and that is waste. Lucky me had a well drill for deep wells and I could set pilling in the ground so I mounted my mill over a embankment and it let the sawdust fall through the bottom. I had live chains to send the wood down to be "offbeared" into its own piles/bunks. It took more men than one so it would not work for a single man operation. I had the timber, I had the land, and all the equipment needed to do it and the mill handled up to five foot logs in diameter. I could also cut thirty plus foot long logs and so we did production... why don't I still have it..... market changed and I had my neck out too far to hang on till it recovered. I also wasn't incorporated so lost my home, and everything else I owned.... that one really took it out of me for a while. At my peak of operations I had one hundred and thirty men working for me. That time the banks stepped up and offered me a way out to save it all but I was real tired of working seven days a week. I had lost a enormous amount of weight as well. It was changing me into someone I didn't like. I also was in a very small town and when I went down it affected all of the business's in town. Less than a thousand people lived in that whole area and as town goes, about three or four hundred people lived in the town area. I had a store keeper come to me and ask, where do I sign and we will make your mill soluble and offered a large sum of money for capital to work with, hell even the employees begged me not to quit and were willing to put their home on the cuff for me... it was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made or would make. Sorry if I wrote too much as its very personal to me what your doing is what I loved doing. Later Sandy an hope your not too mad for this long comment

Hi Sandy. I just wanted to say thanks for posting all this great content! It really helps out other guys, like myself, who are looking and purchasing a sawmill in the future. Learning a ton from your channel. Thanks for all your tips and knowledge!

My friend and I have been thinking about buying a sawmill together for a while now. On a whim, I decided to watch some videos this morning on what it would take to get started. This video really gave me a lot to think about. I like how well you articulated your points at a speed that did not drag as some often do. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a video of someone trying to say what they mean when halfway through I already grasped the concept they were trying to relay. I am sure with your talent your channel will continue to thrive

Really enjoyable, also on the learning curve of sawmilling. Learning is also the fun part, at times!

Thank you. Timely, solid, realistic information.

Very well done! One of the better video's I've seen in a while, informative and to the point.

That is so absolutely true Sandy , It does take a bit of work before and after the lumber making For me though I so love doing and taking care of things like this , It's so much fun and enjoyable from start to finish - I am a total outdoorsy (Love working with my hands)

Great information, might I add, once you notice the saw beginning to push harder through the log. It is beneficial to replace the blade sooner than later. Two reasons. It will push easiest with a sharp blade. Once you start pushing hard the blade will want to wonder, cutting wavey lumber. When this is happening there is increased stresses on the blade. If you heat up the blade and it takes a dive, set will be lost. I find if kept sharp there is a lot of service in a blade. If stressed the metal will loose set and develop stress cracks in the gullet shortening the life of the blade.

Well done, still working on my "wood yard" but yeah it's a lot of work! Keep it up, blades sharp!

Great video! I also learned that its best to saw in the fall because drying the lumber in the low humidity of winter forms less mildew on freshly cut boards.

great advice. i learned sawing at my grandfather's mill. His #1 rule was keep the work space safe! so keep it clean, and keep it organized. the very first lesson i learned about sawmills, was why, when and how to sharpen blades. i was teen, that was over 50 yrs ago when my dad and grandfather brought me in to the mill operation. those lessons i learned back then still apply today. the most expensive lesson i learned when I had my own portable mill was the necessity to invest in a reliable metal detector! the machinery has changed, but the sweat equity hasn't.

Great video, I had a sawmill for years And I got rid of the sawdust by selling it to folks with horses. Or just give it away if they come load and haul it. I also washed my logs if they got dirty from skidding. A pressure washer works great and save lots of money. I also used high pressure air if water wasn't available. Clean logs are a must for good milling.

Excellent video! I have only milled hardwood and as you mentioned it does split on the ends when drying and some a lot more than others. Sealing the ends of the boards helps to reduce the amount of splitting/checking by slowing down the rate at which the ends dry out at. Also, placing stickers closer to the ends when stacking helps to reduce splitting/checking. I was surprised when you said that the softwood didn't split, learned something new. I am planning to cut a bunch of softwood and not having to treat the ends will save a lot of time.

When placing the sticks in the lumber, make sure you keep the sticks aligned vertically, straighter lumber. I retired from a major southern yellow pine lumber manufacturer. And you are absolutely correct, lot of labor in making lumber, excellent video..

About to pull the trigger on an hm126. This video shed some light on a couple things that I hadn't given enough consideration. Thanks for taking the time to make me aware.

Really helps to spend time on paper doing a layout for the entire mill area before you set one up, unless you’ve had prior experience. Even better is to watch some videos of other mills, or visit a couple, to get a sense of space needed and traffic patterns. Milling is 20% sawing and 80% everything else. That everything else category is where you need to be efficient and not handle materials more than once or have anything in your way. Drawing it out on paper can help you mentally walk through all the steps and realize how much space you need and where it’s best to have the various piles (logs, lumber, slabs, sawdust).

Great video and an excellent reality check for anyone who may be considering the purchase of a portable sawmill. If I was 20 years younger I would probably go with the sawmill option rather than buy pre-cut lumber. But at 70 years old, I think it's probably a little too much for me. Thanks for the clear, honest, and valuable advice.

Appreciate the advice, you have made a great point about the importance of planning prior to clicking the buy button. Will definitely consider your experiences to this decision. While I thought about this several times over, you hinted on things I didn’t think about.

Great little video mate, recently purchased a bandsaw mill myself. I definitely haven’t spent enough time cutting timber on it yet, but the little I have done have found it to be very rewarding as well.

That was a video I definitely needed to see.

Good stuff. One thing experienced project managers do is to start at the desired end and work backwards, tracking all of the pieces along the way. Works well for any size project or endeavor. While you never catch everything, that way you definitely catch a lot more of it. Sounds like you did look back, after the fact. Lessons learned are still lessons learned. Good on ya for learning and keeping going. Cool to get some tips from you here! Thanks.

I appreciate your honesty and humility about lessons learned. Thanks for sharing them.

Great video. In 1996 I cut the logs, and air stacked the lumber 3 years before we built our house. Total of a little more than 7,000 board feet. I paid a man .27 cents a board foot to mill my lumber. Two years ago I had some nice saw logs left over from a timber sale that would not make a full truck load. The driver wasn’t going to haul 4 logs to the mill and I didn’t blame him. I found a sawyer who charged .28 cents a foot. He was in Woodmizer’s one million board feet club and very experienced. Both times it was well worth it to me to have the lumber milled. I have some beautiful #1 20’ 2X12 yellow pine in my barn and the rest we milled into 2x6x8’ and 10’. New subscriber. Thanks.

wow, you've opened my eyes - thank you for this video I feel all smart & proud when I take apart a nice shipping pallet and rip & plane the pieces - ha ha

A tip for keeping a clean blade...don't use diesel or soap, messy, I used both in the past, but now use 100% Pure D-Limonene Citrus Orange Oil Extract Best Natural Solvent Extracted from Orange Peels (Citrus Cleaner Degreaser & Deodorizer)

Maaaan ....you really save my money and time....i was thinking soooo much to buy a mill machine, of course i never think how much more work is behind the machine.......thx again!!!

Thank you for the honest conversation on the realities of this hobby/activity. I appreciate the advice and things to consider before leaping into what is in reality a big commitment

Did someone actually put a thumbs down? Wow, I don’t get that. Great info Sandy-appreciate your honesty. 👍👍

One thing I learned was if your going to harvest a tree that has some bugs it’s best to use as thin boards, I put one 6x6 post with wood boring grubs in my stack and they transferred into the surrounding posts. Very frustrating but if caught early a little compressed air and insect spray seams to do the trick.

IV been thinking and Decided to build my own home. Your Info is spot on. You live your learn lol. Good luck

Hey Sandy, What another enjoyable video. I love your honesty when talking about your experiences. Very humbling. Keep up the amazing videos. I look forward to watching them. Stay safe.

I don’t know how much time you have, and this is just a suggestion. Saw dust is used in growing mushrooms, and the area you have is idea for growing mushrooms. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you could bag it and sell it too growers in your area, and help with some of your costs.

Sawmill is on order, so this is great info Sandy, and will help me prep for its arrival. Thanks!

One of the best if not the best and most informative video I have watched. I just bought a WM Sawmill (10-12 week wait). Through my research I have planned for much of what was talked about. A couple of things I did not: Waste process (I was just going to cut into logs for heat but did not think through the entire process) and sawdust (I did not consider the volume but will plan for space to give my skid steer access). A 6 STAR video on a scale of 1-5. Great job - thank you. QUESTION: What log diameter does your mill handle, and what length? (I chose to err on the conservative side and ordered a 30” diameter and got the extension to handle up to a 16’ -17’ log., and a trailer even though I plan for it to be stationary most of the time a trailer offered some options and ordering it with the machine it will be designed to handle the extended length.)) -- Again, great video!

Absolutely awesome video. So informative and easy to understand. Thank you so much for giving us that detailed overview.

I've run a mill for 23 years now and I went through all the same problems as you in the beginning. I'm still learning how to be efficient, how to move , stack, unstack, plane and sell 10's of thousands of pounds of lumber and waste without crippling my body. Milling is not for sissies. I still love milling and building with the glorious lumber and timbers I saw. Really informational video. thank you. P.s. get yourself a forklift that can pick at least 6,000 pounds.

Being at the point of getting my own mill, this piece was hugely helpful, thanks!

Very good points you make and gives one a lot to think about. You mentioned some things I hadn't thought of as well.

Matt, you are performing a great service. Your videos are good information & honest. I’m 74 & through your experience you are a wise young man. Thanks for sharing honestly & freely. You have a good perspective on things, ThanksJohn E

I don't think you mentioned this, but here's a couple more tips on drying: be sure your stickers are not green as they can cause staining on the boards. Secondly, placing your stickers as close as possible to the end of each layer (flush to the ends) should prevent checking. From what I've experienced, checking usually ends at the first sticker.

Great video. Look before you leap, as the old saying goes.

I too am looking into purchasing a saw mill for my 15 acres of heavily wooded land. I'm happy I discovered your channel which will make my decision easier. Knowing well in advance of what you're getting into is very important. As my Dad used to say, "Learn, Plan and Do" . At his moment in time I'm still in the learning phase. One of the things I need to learn more about is what species of timber I have on my property before proceeding. It's one thing knowing you have fir trees but exactly what species of fir and pine is important Thanks for sharing your expertise and advice. Cheers!

Another great video Sandy. You produce, act, edit and present a great story.

Superb video! Completely agree with the other comments as well...most channels skip over all of the extremely hard work that goes into getting the log to the mill. New subscriber here and also new to milling, currently waiting for a chainsaw mill to arrive and get started. Thank you for taking the time to take us along on your journey, very much appreciated. Blessings.

Awesome update Sandy! Your right all the work is processing the timber’s to get to the mill.... and the clean up...oh wow the cleanup lol. Nice work Sandy!

What an excellent video!!! I am considering getting a mill for the sole reason of constructing a small hunting cabin, that I built myself from the forest on my own property. I think it would be a very rewarding experience. Thank you for such an informational video that does put more than just the mill in the perspective.

Well done! Myself and a couple friends are currently looking at getting a portable mill and most of what you said is what was on my mind especially what was said at the end regarding the manual labour part. Haha I’m excited. I love building things whether it’s with metal or wood. Creating something from raw materials is fantastic to me. Happy Sawyering!

learned more about milling in the first 10 minutes of the first video of yours that i've ever watched.....then all the others i've watched combined. nice to hear info about the 100s of other things one needs to consider, besides just which type of saw to buy. i subbed. thanks!

Excellent vid and honest check on the reality of owning and operating a sawmill. Having the exact same thing.

Hey Sandy......I agree completely on the golf cart.......best thing that I ever bought! Better than any ATV.....just sit and go. I drive mine everywhere in the snow/mud/hills. I put small (stock tire size) knobby tires on the rear at first (made a huge difference)......but couldn't steer in mud/snow/ice......then I put the same knobby tires on the front. Others are surprised as to where I can go with it. Thanks for the video. 👍

Thanks for the video, i made the decision to buy one after watching one of your earlier videos and its something for me and the mrs. not for a buisness. good therapy, easy on the brain and i enjoy every aspect. enjoy the videos. keep them coming.

This is hands down the best 20 minutes I have spent my time on in a long while. Immediate Sub!

Ive worked with a portable sawmill ...Great advise...You nailed it.

Excellent and very informative video with commonsense to forefront. The little things we don't give a lot of thought to, you drove home like a wedge and I thank you for bringing them to mind. What I gleaned, is one should formulate a plan that mitigates most of the pitfalls prior to taking possession of a sawmill, I know I will, thank you for the video and great advice.

Morning Sandy. Great overview of the many, many aspects of milling most folks don't realize. Very satisfying to do it, but there is a lot more work involved than most folks realize. One suggestion - my neighbour uses a power washer on his logs before running it through the mill to remove the debris/soil for the same reason you mentioned - the dirt/sand dulls the blades quickly. Another important thing is that leaving big piles of sawdust hanging around in the middle of summer has a a high risk of igniting in the dry heat. Great summary - thanks for sharing it! Cheers!

Great information. I learned all these same lessons myself the hard way.

Perfect! Thanks for the information. Having built several full scale industrial saw mills I know the importance of logistics maintenance repair upkeep and dealing with small non money making items such as clean up etc etc gobble a lot of time cash and for some is a full time job. A much needed item of consideration. It’s not all gravy. Lol

What a great video. I don't have a sawmill or land but do allot of woodworking and I sure can appreciate the hard work involved by the people getting my wood for all my projects.

Wow! This is one of he best instructional videos I have ever watched. Thank you so much.

Super helpful video. Thank you for making and sharing this!

This video was awesome. THANK you for the info. It will help me with my decision and how to plan for my mill.

Great video. It makes so much sense. I almost hit the "Pay Now" button. Thanks for talking me down.

I just got mine delivered this past Friday and am getting ready to assemble. Should be fun

I don’t comment very often but is one of the best videos I’ve seen in a very long time. Excellent job and thanks for sharing.

thanks for the video friend. I needed this video more then I knew.

Great video. You clearly speak from experience. This was very educational and helpful!

Great information and has given me food for thought. Thanks for putting this video out there.

Wonderfully informative, honest, clear and concise. Thank you.

Good points! Nothing is ever as easy as it looks 👍🏻👍🏻

Thank you for sharing your experience! I think about buying a bandsaw mill for processing larch. At the time I have a chain sawmill M7 of logosol with a MS660 chain saw. It consumes a lot of fuel, a single cut on a 5m log seems to take a neverending noisy long time and after two cuts the chain must be sharpened or replaced despite a water cooling. These facts scream for a more efficient bandsaw. Thank you for your hints to be considered. Greetz from Switzerland, Peter

Awesome video. You got yourself a subscriber. I love hearing the cold hard truth but you backed it up with what you did about it.