A slab would be nice but not necessary. I do not have a slab but when I build a shed for my mill I plan to put one in it. If you are not planning to use a slab I would recommend the leveling feet. I makes it very easy to make periodic adjustments if the mill goes out of level. Welcome to the forum. You will love the mill and want to quit your day job to play/work on it full time :D :D

Hi R6: As said above , not necessary but I think worth while // --keeps everything level and makes cleaning up much easier //. I had extra cement from a house job so poured mine 4' x20' and a 4'x4' for the plane.- would have been nice to get the walk way also // JP

Thats a 14\" plank showing so 5 1/2 ft would do it-6' even better - having the plane on a pad is v-good --wish the pad was longer to pick up a steady rest 5-6' out // JP

:D I have a slab, thats 4' X 20' with a walk way thats 4' wide. I would alot rather have wood to walk on than concrete. Concrete is rough on the back. My walk way is built about 2' off the ground, allowing the boards to flex a little making for less shock when walking. Works great in my world. 8)

I would have to agree with the woodbutcher about the wood walkway. I don't have a mill yet but are planning on purchasing one very soon, and have plans to set up alot like his with a wood walkway. I have a cabinet shop with a cement floor and it creates havoc with my knees, legs, and back after working on the cement floor all day.

Also, I am new to the sawmilling thing and would like some tips on drying the wood. I live in utah where we have mostly pine, cedar, maple.
Any good ideas and pics to help me get started would be appreciated

I would have to agree with the woodbutcher about the wood walkway. I don't have a mill yet but are planning on purchasing one very soon, and have plans to set up alot like his with a wood walkway. I have a cabinet shop with a cement floor and it creates havoc with my knees, legs, and back after working on the cement floor all day.

Also, I am new to the sawmilling thing and would like some tips on drying the wood. I live in utah where we have mostly pine, cedar, maple.
Any good ideas and pics to help me get started would be appreciated

jdwoods, where about it Utah????

I live in Salem. By Provo.

I own the LM2000 and cut lots of the local stuff.

Kevin Davis

Hey Deeker,

I live in Delta ......... about 90 miles south, southwest of you. Out in the desert. I go right past Salem on 15 a couple of times a week.

As hot as we get here in the summer I suppose the wood will dry out pretty fast. I mainly build log furniture, carve bears, and a few kitchens, but am really excited to add the ability to make my own lumber and also how it will make log furniture so much easier to build. Ripping logs with a chainsaw is quite time consuming.

Unfortunately trees aren't quite so readily available as they are back east. I guess I need to take a trip back there and get me some different types of wood to work with.

Back to the whole slab thing. remember this is coming from someone that has never seen one of these things other than in videos!!!!!

Do you load the logs from the operator side or can they be loaded from the back side? If they can load from the back side then why not build up the slab to the level of the bed so that you could just roll the log straight across onto the saw. You probably all thought of this already.

I need to get a look at one of these in motion so that I can get things ready for when mine gets here

You could raise the bed jdwoods but you'd be rolling your logs threw a pile of sawdust . I load mine from the other side to most with a removeable log deck for cleaning out the saw dust.

Bill

Bill do you have any pics of how you have it set up

Here's my set-up some probably think is backwards.

Bill

Great pics and mill set up. Mine is not that fancy of a set up, yet.

Jdwoods, contact me via e-mail on your way through. Give you and idea of the mill, and the logs avaliable. I have no trouble finding good logs here in utah. Not huge but good ones. Just found two Black Cherry that are over sixty five feet tall. Not to far from where I live.

We have lots of English and black Walnut.

Kevin

801-472-4567

Hey Kevin,

I guess I just haven't spent enough time looking around for diff speicies of wood in Ut. Most of what I have used for my log furniture is just pine and cedar. Anything else I have pretty much had to resort to the lumber yards. It would be great to find some other good hardwoods to work with locally.

Would you mind if I was to stop by some time and have a look at your sawmill so I could have a little better idea of what it is that I am purchasing. Maybe you could give me some tips on the machine and on some good places to get some diff wood

I am excited to find someone locally that knows about the sawmills and look forward to meeting you. Besides you must be a great guy, you use stihl chainsaws.

Thanks for the info. I will give you a call sometime when I am passing through and have a extra few min.

Jared

Has anyone used just footings and piers? I have tricky spot and can't get enough concrete to it to pour a slab. Right now it's on railway ties but that's not working out well as I hoped it would.

R6,
Where are you in WV? I'm on a job in Craigsville,will probably be there a coupla years.

I don't see why anyone couldn't dig holes below the frost line, (4' here) stand up "cut off" treated RR ties in the holes level on top. (cut end up) Then nail a PT board across the top "side to side" and sit the mill on them. I've thought of doing that myself many times, as i don't have a milling shed either.

If i pour a slab, i'm laying short PT 2x4's on the flat by the mill. Then i'm sawing out 2x6 lumber to nail to them to walk on. That way the concrete wouldn't be killing my back and feet. I can pick it up with the tractor once in a while to clean under it.

Robert

Hi Bill: That is a beautiful setup // If I had seen it befor setting mine up I may well have gone that way // JP

Hey R^,lem me know directions,or how to contact ya. Wife 'n daughter are taking me back on the 6th,stay for a few days after they leave,I'm all free.
Bill Got to agree wif JP ,nice setup. How ya keep the logs from overrunning the mill with the log deck set like that? Ought to make offbearing eaiser though.

Thank you for the compliments fellas. Dail I just have a couple 4x4 blocks cut on 45 degrees I wedge under the leading log to hold them back. I took ideas from a no. of mills I looked at incorperated some of them. The size of the building was determined by the ammount of trusses I was able to get a deal on set up the saw then added as the brain storms struck.

Bill

I dug 10 holes 4 foot deep for footing/piers for the mill but after a few hours they filled up about a foot deep of water. I was thinking of using concrete but its not really an area I know much about. Anyone have any ideas about how to address my water problem?

Paul: You can still pour concrete into your footing excavations. Use a 'form' of some type (wooden box or sono tube) placed into the holes; place a little gravel at the base of each form and add the concrete mixture. The concrete will displace the water in the form and harden. It will cure slower but that's not a problem. If you're able to keep the tops of your forms relatively level with each other, using a string or lazer level, it will make the levelling of the piers much easier later. Good luck; Gerry B.

Hey Bill, just wanted to say I appreciate the good photos you took. I am in the planning stages for a similar building, geared for 1 person commercial sawing, and its nice to see a setup like yours that is thought out and purpose built. I'm tired of working in the rain, so the new mill site will get a building. :)

One thing I am contemplating is if I want a log table like what you have or if I should just continue to load directly onto the mill with the tractor. How does your table work for you? I find I am often trying to squeeze a 16' long log onto the mill, with only a few inches at the end to spare because I am only running a single extension. I'm wondering if the table would be a bit of a problem in that it would be hard to reposition long logs lengthwise so that they didn't either smack the saw or stick out past the last bunk when you rolled them on?

What part of the province are you in?

Regards,
CS

wow! now thats a nice set bump Bill!