I Finally Found the Perfect Sawmill… For Me
Hey it's Brock here with Rock Hill Farms And I am really excited today because Finally After all this build up I own a sawmill So if you follow this channel you know That I've been actively searching and Shopping for a sawmill for over a year Almost to the point of being obsessive Because I live in Kansas and I've Traveled to Missouri Oklahoma Tennessee Pennsylvania to run different types of Sawmills I added up in my head that I Ran seven different brands of sawmill And I have a sawmill playlist with 66 Videos in it now admittedly some of Those are just harvesting a log that I'm Going to take to The Sawmill or Something like that But I've really been dialed in on Choosing a sawmill and in this video I Want to tell you why I chose the mill I Did and I want to talk about what that Means now for my channel and maybe even Ask for some advice from you guys on Where I should set this Mill up and the Type of structure I put it in so through This entire process I've been really Consistent in explaining my priorities In order Our width of cut And value for what it cost Then there's a lot of other factors After that but those are top two how big Of a log can I handle at what price
And for me it came down to a pretty much A clear and obvious winner in that Category And I ordered a Woodland Mills hm 130 Max So as you start at the very cheapest Meal you can buy and look at what it's Capable of You're just not going to handle a log of Any size with that Mill and I don't run Across a lot of small trees on my Property So I knew I wasn't getting the most Basic cheat meal then you start going Okay how much more do you have to spend To get something that can handle a Bigger log and I evaluated all all the Way across the market and looked at Every brand And this hm-130 Max has a 30 inch throat On it it's not saying a 30 inch log it Has a 30 inch throat so it can actually Mill a 30 inch Live Edge slab And I've not found anything else That is price comparable to this with That cutting capability So there are plenty of nice Sawmills That can handle the log that wide but The base price for the hm-130 max as of The day of this recording is five Thousand dollars Most of everything I looked at that Could handle the same size log was ten Thousand or twelve thousand dollars and
That's a dramatic price difference Now I've never actually ran the HM 130 Max but I did run the original hm 130 on Two different occasions and I've ran the 126 and I really liked a lot of Different features about those Mills Enough that I can watch videos of the 130 Max and know Everything I need to know about how it's Going to compare to those other two Mills buying the 130 Max for five Thousand dollars it does not have every Feature that I want There are a lot of other optional things That you can add to that Mill but I can Add all of those later I want a power adjustment for the mill Head height But I don't have to get that when I Order it so I can sacrifice on some of The features and maybe add those later But if I can't sacrifice on Cut width I Can't buy a a mill with the 23 inch Throat and they say well later I'll just Widen that it doesn't work that way so I Really I like the idea of being able to Get this base unit and be able to add to It as needed now some other reasons to Choose Woodland Mills they have A spotless reputation for customer Service There are a bunch of Woodland Mills Facebook groups and there are a bunch of Guys running Woodland Mills Sawmills on
YouTube and I couldn't get Anywhere I could not find anywhere where Someone said anything negative about the Woodland Mills customer service and I've Contacted their customer service Multiple times and had several Interactions and they are very Responsive and from everything I can see They're very helpful if you have a Problem with your Mill but if you go on The Woodland Mills website right now They Have a a live feed showing you what Other people are ordering on the site They have a little bubble you can push And it'll pop up a chat and someone will Answer your questions right there and They have a phone number that if you Call you'll get immediate customer Service and in my experience it's Someone who speaks English and knows About Sawmills and you can't Underestimate how valuable that is Next thing is availability some of the Other Sawmills I looked at had some Appealing features and I said I kind of Like this or I kind of like that if I Ordered one today I could have it in a Year Well Maybe they say patience is a virtue Maybe this would be a chance to exercise My patients I want a Mill Lumber today Woodland Mills has
I think all of their models as of the Day of this recording are in stock and Shipping within two weeks I talked about the ability to start off With a base unit and add a lot of Features to it and there really are a Lot of different things you can add and I'm probably going to forget some of Them but you've got the power head that Raises and lowers your Saw Head your Milling head there is a toe board with a Jack where you can level out your log There is a fully integrated trailer so You can take this two jobs they also Sell their own blades and they've got a Blade sharpener and a tooth Setter kit So I'm really excited about my choice of Mills and really at the end of the day After looking at the entirety of The Sawmill Market this was not a difficult Choice for me this was not I decided Quite a while back what I was going to Get but I just kept looking just in case I was missing something Now the next question is I've got a mill That's going to be here any day Where do I put it Because I did not order the mill head Cover Which probably should have went ahead And ordered it but my thought is I'm Just going to always keep this Mill Inside right now I only have one place To do that and that's why I'm in this
Quonset hut I ordered the mill with one Track extension so my track will be 17 Foot long let's say maybe the whole Thing is 20 foot long this building is 30 foot wide so for today I think the Sawmill is going to sit right about Where I'm standing which is about Probably 15 feet from the end of the Quonset hut so it would take an extreme Amount of wind and rain to blow any Moisture in here And that is a temporary location but the Permanent location is going to be what I'm really excited about I'm going to Build a building specifically to house This Mill and I've spent the last month Just obsessively looking at Sawmill Sheds I'm going to reach out to some of My fellow YouTube guys and look at their Mail sheds and see if I can get some Advice from some of those guys but right Now I'm trying to decide where to put it Because if I'm going to start building This shed ASAP I need to start Leveling out the pad for it and getting Everything set making sure I'm gonna Have drainage around it because I don't Want to be standing in the mud Milling The other thing I didn't mention is I Want to build this pretty good sized Building 100 percent out of wood off of My own Mill Now I already have several big stacks of Lumber in the shop drying and I milled
Those myself even though they weren't Off my Mill so I'll probably use some of That wood but the day that Mill gets set Up I'm going to start processing trees And start getting posts set and we're Going to get this thing put up now let's Take a look at the property and get an Idea for where to put this thing my First thought for a home for the Sawmill Shed is right here My for day one I'm gonna set it up in The Quonset hut and start Milling Lumber There But I'm drawing my lumber In this shop up here primarily I'll Probably dry some in The Sawmill shed But I'm trying to think about workflow And water runoff one consideration to Put it up here is you can't see this Spot from the road and I've got so much Equipment you do have a little bit of Concern about theft and vandalism and Stuff like that But I don't know if that should be an Overriding factor in where I put this Thing Now we are on a hill right here so if my First thought is to put it right here I've built this road around the Quonset Hut where I can bring logs in and a Truck can Circle right where I'm Standing and drive out on that side of The shop or at least at least be able to
Turn around down here and go back out so This spot will be accessible But it's going to require grading This is all super Rocky ground and if I Put it here I'll have to level it out Probably build up one side remove from The other then I'll have to put drainage In around it currently I've got this Massive berm that would stop water from Running down this way trying to decide If I put it here do I remove that berm Or not so we've got the Quonset hut Right here the pond down there and kind Of a flat spot right here it'd take less Work and less Excavating it would be Closer to get logs to it it would be Closer from my workflow To take milled Lumber and get it into The shop But it's going to be visible from the Road so I need to keep it cleaned up at Least I don't want to make an eyesore And I don't know if I want to have Everything I own be visible from the Road if you asked me yesterday where my Building's gonna go I would have set up On the hill you asked me today I'm Thinking right down here the next thing Is what should this building look like Do you want it completely enclosed with Slide open doors Or do you want it completely open so you Can clean out sawdust from the back side Access your log from the back side
Take the mill in and out Feels like the end needs to open if I'm Ever going to have it on a trailer so There's a lot of planning that goes into Setting this building up as of today I'm Thinking about having a solid back wall One solid end wall and then having the Front open and the end open and because The mill is long I'm going to need a Really strong beam That's longer than the mill so that I Can take the mill in and out that Direction Really is a lot to think about the truth Is I've had a passion for Milling for a Long time my grandpa had a sawmill when I was a little kid And one of those big round circular Mills and something about that story and Just the connection to my family having A history and woodworking I'm just drawn to sawing Lumber got a Lot to figure out but it's time to get Started on it we've got a few days that Are dry I'm going to be able to finish Up my projects down here by the pond and By the driveway and then we're going to Start Getting this sucker set up You guys mostly know how YouTube works And that a lot of times channels like Mine especially as they get bigger start To get a lot of free product and you're Probably wondering if this was a free
Sawmill the answer is no it was not a Free Sawmill but I did contact Woodland Mills and I said I'm going to make a lot Of videos about it would you like to Work with me and they have offered me a Good deal on the mill And I'll take it because this is the Product I already want now I'm not being Paid by them and I'm not being told what To say but I am working with Woodland Mills so pumped anyway I appreciate you Taking time to watch this video I'll put Links on the screen to a couple more of Our videos And I'll see you next time
