Comments

1. 
   redpen | Apr 25, 2015 06:51am | #1

   Not sure what " few years means "
   What's payback,period and cost reality / assumptions on wood type , quantity , value assigned to fuel and labour .?
   Love the idea but few years ! Give us a break .

2. 
   patrickmacrae | Apr 25, 2015 08:33am | #2

   I don't own a mill, but have had trees on my property milled. It's a great way to reduce lumber costs. Michael will quickly discover that the kiln he's built is woefully too small, though. It's amazing how much wood can come from a few trees! I wouldn't get my wood any other way.

3. 
   slayframe | Apr 25, 2015 09:53am | #3

   I purchesed a norwood lumber mate in 2000. I now have many thousand board feet stashed in three barns I n addition to the second floor of my shop. Milling your own lumber is extremely satisfying and addictive. I live in the Amish country here in pa. So there are many drying kilns that dry my lumber at a very reasonable cost.

   Dswoodshed.com

4. 
   Capt45 | Apr 25, 2015 12:23pm | #4

   Apparently you (redpen) haven't purchased any Walnut lumber lately. In my area "rough sawn" Walnut sells for over $5/bdft with thicker lumber (2-3") going for north of $10 bdft. So, if Michael was sawing a 10' length of 2' in diameter Walnut a week, he would have his investment back in less than a month, two months at the outside.

5. 
   Waterflogger | Apr 25, 2015 01:07pm | #5

   This is a seductive avocation. I have two years intermittent experience with a >$1500 Lumber Smith that I'm using to mill timbers for my yet-to-be-built off-grid post-and-beam workshop. It's so much fun that I find myself fantasizing about live-edge slabs, cants and board-and-batten siding . . .

6. 
   Brist | Apr 25, 2015 03:30pm | #6

   I live about an hour away from Mr Fortune and have the exact same mill. I have mounted it on a trailer to do portable milling. I milled only 4-5 logs and got approx. 300 bd/ft of black cherry and maple last winter (2013-14) At an average cost of $4.00 per bd ft that's $1200.00. Minus the $150 I spent for the logs and fuel and labour adding another 50 bucks, I got a third of my money back from only 5 logs. And as mentioned in the article I had a blast doing it. Can't wait to see what furniture it turns into.

7. 
   Dwelty | Apr 26, 2015 08:01pm | #7

   The first time I ever saw a bandsaw mill in action was in 2004. I made a promise to myself that I would own one someday. And then I found plans to build one on the internet. I began a long process of buying parts here and there when I had a few extra dollars (meanwhile putting two kids through college, keeping my business doors open and various other fund-draining activities). Then two years ago I finally started welding, building, rebuilding and testing. Today I am proud to say I have a working bandsaw mill that does an excellent job of turning logs into timber. My friends ask how much time and money I have in it. If you count the hours I've spent building and the cost of time and material, I certainly could have bought and paid for a really nice mill. But I have the satisfaction of knowing I did it. And yes, it is addicting to saw open a log and see the wonderous grain God created on the inside!

8. 
   tablesawyer | Apr 28, 2015 07:58pm | #8

   Sawing your own lumber is addictive indeed. I hire a local sawyer with a portable mill to cut trees on my PA plot. My $200 solar kiln holds about 450 bf. I can easily dry 2000 bf in a year and have not bought a board in a store for 10 years. No matter how much I have spent, it was repaid in enjoyment revealing what lies beneath the bark of a log. Hauling logs is the most expensive part, an aspect that pains me when I see logs that could be had for nothing but still cost too much to have hauled for milling.

9. 
   AsaC | May 01, 2015 05:26pm | #9

   How quickly the machine pays for itself depends on how much wood you use. As a working pro, Fortune builds constantly, so his payoff will come quicker. Of course, there is the joy of expanding your woodworking journey to include the log-to-lumber leg. There is something amazing about starting with the tree itself, and taking it all the way through to that last coat of shellac.