Hudson Sawmill Long Term Review and Key Upgrades
That is really unique looking you got These dark lines in it yeah following The the pattern yep Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And we're on a road trip today to test Out another brand of sawmill So if you're new to the channel I'm in The market to buy a sawmill and I've Been traveling around testing out as Many different brands and styles of Sawmill as I can find so that I can make An informed buying decision and Hopefully it's helpful to other people Who are trying to decide which Sawmill They should buy So I'm going about two hours today to Test out a Hudson brand sawmill And this Mill owner did not just buy it As a hobby he also bought it to make Some money with so we might gain some Insight on how successful he's been or Just challenges you might face in buying This type of Mill to make a side income So I think it's going to be a lot of fun And I'll see you out there all right I'm Out here with Ryan and checking out his Sawmill and I'll let you tell them a Little bit about the mill that you have Sure sure I bought this Mill out of New York state from a company called Oscar I'd heard of him you know searching Around I couldn't afford the the awesome Wood Miser like everybody else has got So I had to kind of downgrade and budget
But I needed it to work I needed it to Be a reliable machine I needed to have Good reviews and ratings that's kind of It I picked this one out I don't I don't Have any regrets For any degree in comparison of its Capability it's got all the all the Power in the world it's got all the Capability it's got the wide mouth on it Like I needed it's been a great machine It's been 336 Pro how did you stumble on That model they've got a lot of Different bottles of Sawmill you learn a Lot about uh numbers and capability and You know you also kind of learned that It's not as true as you'd hope it be a 336 to you means oh I'd be able to just Cut a 36 inch slab but in the milling World it's a little bit different we Could set a 36 inch Tree on here cut Four sides off and then have a 32 inch Cant is where they get the 36 number From but are the width of our mouth here Is 32 inches it just is what it is so if You're a slabber you know pay attention To that it's real important if if you're Looking for width to make sure that You're getting the correct measurement Yeah so I started off a lot of people Tell me just get you can get a meal for Three thousand dollars but they're very Small and very limited capability I'm Looking for something that I can afford But that has at least a 30 inch mouth on
It sure wider if possible so yeah this Looks like a good option I definitely uh You know there's a lot a lot more to Just the mouth but you know the engine Selection is a big deal the smaller Mills are awesome for your DIY at home Stuff you see lots of people having lots Of fun with them I was one of those guys I watched him on YouTube I thought dad Gum I'd sure like to have one of those And you know I've done it all I've done The the chainsaw Mills what I started With that is the hardest way folks to Cut wood don't do that I've been doing a Bunches unless you have to uh it's a Great way to it's a great way to get big Slabs it's a great way to waste a lot of Wood but that's where I started I was uh Bound and determined to get into it Somehow or another like I said found These guys they had good ratings they've Got good machines all the equipment is Standard made in America you can get all The parts for it readily available There's nothing about this machine That's proprietary or Oddball and once It's yours you can do anything you want With it so you can add or subtract Whatever accessories you you know you Can dream of So I think what we'll do now is Mill up A log well along the way we'll show you Some modifications he's done and then at The end I want to talk about
Kind of your information about trying to Make a little bit of money with this Absolutely let's do it first thing we Got to do is put a new blade on it Yeah when you run when you run DIY you Don't run your Mill ever as much as you Wish you could so you run into stuff Like you know Rusty chain you know Rusty Blades Get that out of the way it doesn't take Me a few minutes it's a big plus about This machine Works pretty good looked easy getting Them off It's about the best way you could do That yeah I think everyone I've talked To said Just toss it to just toss it but to fold Them Like the pro Nathan from out of the woods recommends Joe main for the saw blades that's where He gets his When you find a good thing guys you Just Go With It Jermaine's the man Um the best part about dealing with him Is he's going to call you by your first Name he's going to get you exactly what You need Very quickly he's not going to screw you Around there's no no mistakes uh the Turbo 7 is the best blade so far out of The package it's like a nice pair of Shoes
Fits real good it does what you need to Do But he's obviously got a cutting Direction on it I wish there was a real easy way to make This happen but right it's kind of Squirrely no matter what These blade guides are not a roller They're just like a nylon or something Or they're Ceramics that's what they are Waiting They're um like like the wood Miser I Was using the other day has a roller it Has Cooks roller guides on it and that Is An upgrade that I'm looking forward to Doing Not that I hate these I don't hate these Guys once you learn how to tune them They're fantastic they work great Um but the roller is just a little bit Less Setup and maintenance and friction to be Honest with you but the issue with the Rollers is they'll build up so you're Trading one thing for another sweep and Clean your blade and it keeps it really Good it's kind of a pain to get set up To the Cook style rollers they will Build up it's kind of the handoff you Know and they run their Mill 40 hours a Week but they are changing out an 80 Roller every three months or something Because they'll actually wear the yeah
The profile of it down yeah and they've Got a what this uses for a blade stop it Their roller has a curb on it so once You hit the back of the stop it's blade Against metal face Okay on these it's played against a Bearing face so once it gets Once the blade comes in to the bearing And hits it to stop that it's traveled Too far towards the engine it hits that Bearing and it kind of has a little Better face to roll on this is our Tensioner Jack bolt here we'll kind of Bring that into uh by hand tension and Then I can start to rotate and make sure That we don't have any really obvious Issues with the system everything's Looking great So then we'll start to come in Hudson recommends 38 Foot pounds I stuck to that recommendation just Because it's simple and easy to remember But we'll just start bringing this in And uh Rotate it to make sure it's not binding For any reason Maybe that's necessary maybe that's not Necessary but When it's your machine you want to make Sure they're in good shape it's like Your babies There's that First thing that really stood out to me
When I was walking around this Mill is The the engine on it is 35 horsepower I Opted for An upgraded Vanguard 35 horse engine Obviously there's not going to be any Shortcomings with this system the only Shortcoming is that when your machine Needs to kind of talk to you and say Its current status like you're pushing Me too hard pushing me too hard you're Bogging my engine down your Blade's Getting worn this 35 horse does not care If you haven't been shopping and Comparing Sawmills for reference you're Cheap like if you're buying the cheapest Meal you can get it's probably got like A seven or a nine horse then those a lot Of times have upgrades to 14 and that Easy board mock walk was the biggest That I've ran and it was a 23 horse Another thing you guys will probably see A lot in the manual Mills they'll have a Boat crank on the side of it and that Essentially will lift your blade system Up and down on a track this one's I Don't know I wouldn't even know how to Say it it's just so much better Makes it really handy Thing I've ran except for that Paul's Wood Miser everything else has been a Hand crank so that's pretty cool yeah And it's just it's a it's a simple System so if it had a problem you could Make repairs those are just pillow block
Bearings and a shaft and a small winch Yep everything about this machine you Can go to your local Granger store or Whatever local industrial supply store And get everything for it it's always Going to be an easy machine to repair And your parts are going to be available All the time that's why I like it Obviously you've got the electric start On a 35 horse Nope do it anyway It's amazing and all his wisdom It says Billy up first So this has the same type of log stop System that the easy Boardwalk where Their both sides are in one piece and He's saying it works well with a cant he Prefers he's got his own that I'll show You in a minute that he's made a solid Stop for when he's doing Live Edge and He's rolling against it Uh she ain't going nowhere now that Ain't going nowhere [Music] Faulted all the way through Yeah that's got a unique look to it So I think we did a pretty good job at The end of the video of listing all the Positives and the negatives that I see About this Sawmill compared to other Brands but one thing we forgot to Mention is that this does not have any System built in for leveling the log He's got blocks underneath it and a
Special Jack that he uses to Center up His pith but a lot of Mills especially In this price range will have some way To manually do that built into the mill I also wanted to add that at the end it Sounds like we're saying the frame of This Mill was not strong enough and had To be reinforced but he made it really Clear to me that that's not the case The additional support he added to the Frame is so he could use his own Leveling system and if he needs to move The mill it's now easier to pick up and Move I'm currently playing this footage At two times speed so this is a small Fairly soft log but it milled the entire Thing in four minutes which is pretty Good as far as I can tell my plan was to Use the second half of this video to Talk about the prospect of earning a Living or at least a side income using This type of mill But just reviewing the Sawmill turned Into a fairly long video and we made a Separate video about things you need to Know to try to make money with this type Of Mill if you're watching this video The day it's published you'll have to Check back tomorrow but for everyone Else I'll put links in the description In the pin comment and even the video Card at the end where you can check out That second video Yeah so what do we need we need to stack
This onto there now or this is going Home with you brother oh cool This is the one you made in your video It's really cool wood not good for a Whole bunch it's seasoned well And what what kind of what kind of log Is that Here we go This weekend Now what would you what would your Expectation that most people are going To use this right here for Um it's our Bootery boards wall hangers Uh name plates you know displays company Names Um to put it on top of your table and Just have something there make cutting Boards uh you could pour some shallow Epoxy style because I'm collecting Lumber and then I'm deciding what to do With it afterwards all right That is really unique looking got these Dark lines in it yeah following the the Pattern yep so the way I do this is at Some point you're going to see a video Where I make something out of this wood And then go back to where we cut it Very cool looking So my thoughts on watching him run that Once is outside of a fully hydraulic Mill this was the fastest and most Convenient because he's got power up and Power down it's also Um very simple little thumb lever to
Engage and disengage as opposed to like A big bar so he was just walking right Through this and it's in the category of Mills I've been leaning towards which is More of custom Mills is what I think of It when you see these wider openings Without costing a fortune yeah most of Your homestead models are going to be a Little bit smaller than that a little Bit smaller engine maybe a single Cylinder guys don't get discouraged get The mill that you can afford and start Milling you're going to have so much fun That's all I can say like I said before I started with a chainsaw Mill I've done It all just the suckiest way you can do It and I'm still doing it and it's just Because it's fun I agree with that like If I didn't Mill with the chainsaw first I wouldn't know if I still want to keep Messing with this or not that's how you Find out that's how you find out yeah Now I just gave my thoughts on the Things I like about this and I think There's a lot to like about this but Having used it for quite a while now can You tell us a few things that you don't Like or that you had to upgrade to make Them better yeah I feel like these Swinging logarms are pretty standard They work really good for a lot of Different things but as you guys saw in The video we get through that log pretty Quick right but part of the process
That goes fast is hung up by something That goes slow and it kind of boils down To dealing with these These Arms that Just kind of do whatever they want to do They don't stay up a lot of times you're Rolling up against this this Face of the arm here Um and you need two of them to stand up So that you can roll that log up against This you're needing to spin it in place And these will fall down out of you They're just kind of a pain in the butt So what I did I went down to the local Uh auto parts store I got a long Receiver for for a pickup truck Basically split it in half and weld it To the frame here and I've got me a Couple of these little drops and bars You know if I'm just doing a regular Cant and I just need something to hold Still here but still keep my 90 degrees Which is really important you're not Rolling that log up and cutting Triangles instead of squares this works Really good we've got these longer Options for a larger level and this is Basically just to put in place when you Let a log free onto your Mill bed Sometimes there's nothing stopping it From falling off of this side whenever I've compared in the past two Styles one Style being the double pivot arms with The clamp on that pivot and the other Style is those Square tubes he's got it
Where he's got both he can use whichever He wants and then you've reinforced this Trailer and gave it the ability to Easily raise up and down also right Um all your Mill manufacturers are Probably going to offer you guys some Sort of a trailer option or axle option For your trailer I couldn't afford that So I just bought the standard Mill with The 21 foot tractor three three seven Foot sections here the split is here and Here where we're standing is actually Where the mill was and originally it was Essentially standing on telephone poles Just shortly out of the ground so held It all still later on I wanted it to be A little more manageable I want to move It if I want to move it I want it I want It to be a little more useful in Different situations so I built the Frame for it basically just looked Looked at what the trailer Essentials Are and what they made up of it and I Built to that basic eyeball spec of what I saw that they offered Um so I built the frame for it and then I went to the local uh Trailer Supply Company here in town I bought four ten Thousand pound Jacks for the big Trailers with the drop foots and then These right here are 7 500 pound but uh I opted to flip uh have these rotatable Or or removable because you don't Necessarily need them all the time but
When you do get something it is good to Have that support the frame is pretty Substantial but when you get enough Weight across a big span like this it Can sag in the middle in your middle Kind of you know go in and out of that Situation so it's just for support if You don't need them you can take them Off so the frame works really good it's Very Stout it's just a design that I Pulled out you know from what I saw well I think it's a great Mill and I Appreciate you taking time to show it to Me Batman And I appreciate you guys taking time to Watch put links on the screen to more of Our videos we'll see you next time
