The LumberWorksForums

Hello, just found this sight and thought i'd join up as we are currently in the process of procuring a sawmill as an addition to our woodworking business. I own and operate Appalachian Rustic Furnishings in Wildwood, Ga. We build a line of rustic hickory furniture, mainly for the second home market. I do alot of work with recycled woods, and hope to saw alot of quartered oak for my regular table tops that we offer.We are wanting to ad a bandmill to our operation here as we feel we can have more control over our dimensional lumber quality and price. Please feel free to check out my website at Arfurniture.com. We have been building furniture for going on about 24 years now.
We are looking at the timberking B-2000 or the 1600. anyone have any thoughts on these mills? we already have two Nile dry kilns setup and have been running them for years with no problems. We also have a bobcat with forks that will help with the labor.
If anyone ever gets around the Chattanooga, Tn area, feel free to visit my shop on hwy 11 south in Wildwood, Ga. About 15 minutes south of chattanooga.-Phil

Hey Phil, I looked at some of your furniture. Very nice!! I have made some rustic stuff in the past, but not as nice as your stuff.
As far as band mills go, I think you will find that asking "what band mill is the best" is like asking who makes the best pick-up truck. I think most of the saws out there are all pretty good. Some have features that others don't, but they all seem to get the job done and make pretty nice lumber. It all depends on what you want, and how much you want to spend. I had seriously looked at the TimberKing saws when I was shopping for a saw. The 1600 was what I would have gone with. I have heard nothing but good things about the TK saws. It was just too far above my budget, so I went with a Norwood. I have a Norwood LM2000. I love it, and it does everything that I need it to.
What ever saw you end up going with, I think you will love having one, as I certainly do.

I think you will like the Lumberworks forum. Very nice and unbiased people on here.

Good luck with your saw search, and keep making that beautiful furniture.

Nice to meet you. I enjoy woodworking as well. I hope to see your pics in the future.

Welcome Olhic

I have been to your part of GA and is very nice, actually got in that area when we came down from the Chehaw Mnts there in Ala Bama,, but that said Cooks Saw Manufacturing, in the Dothan Are is way less then a days drive for you,
They build a very heavy duty mill from the MP32 on up, w/ hydrolics, or w/ electric bells and whistles.
Good luck

Thanks for the welcome, looking forward participating in this group. Going to look at a used B-20 this weekend. supposedly all loaded with hydraulics and computer setworks. Hope it works out for us. Ill keep you posted. What im really wanting to get into is Quartersawing oak. Any of you guys have any experince with that? any tips? thanks-Phil

I dont know all of the ends and outs of quarter sawing. I saw 2 sides of the log and on the third I pick what ever size I want my boards to be. I usually stick with 6" to 8" boards to cut down on warp. When I roll again Ijust saw off of the cant. Many of the oaks I have been sawing are 20" or bigger and I get multiple cants. When I saw the cants they naturally give off a lot of quarter sawn boards. I'm sure others can tell you alot more than I just did. But this way gives you a lot of nice quarter sawn boards with out the extra work.

Yes Olhic
I do on ocassion Q-saw red oak,, Sycamore,, some spiecies has no up graded value in Q-sawing,, White Oak has the largest ray or fleck, with most being easily 1 1/2" or greater,, my mother has a very old antique breakfront, and I know it is white oak, because the 5 1/2" drawers on it have the ray's completely across the front, {top to bott}
But all that said, here is the original link I cahsed for that, in the sawmilling section, up near the top,,,http://www.thelumberworksforums.com/training-links-from-felling-and-bucking-to-sawing-methods-t91.html

but here is the link from that link that I actually use,, I print out summa this info from time to time and note book it, to refer back to it,, the other link on q-sawing,, note thereare numerous methods,,

http://www.scottbanbury.com/qsawmethod1.pdf


OK this link is the one where I posted pictures, but as I checked it, the pix didnt come up,, I guess there gone forever,,, but if q-sawing, you want the log to be BIG,, like 24" or more, so the board yield will be 6" or more,,

quarting-sawing-oak-t179.html

That's some pretty handy info. Makes it a lot easier to understand.