Milling

In 2003 we purchased our first portable sawmill.  The brand that we chose is called a Lucas Mill.  The Lucas Mill is an Australian brand of circular sawmill. It is what is commonly called a "swing blade" sawmill. We chose the Lucas Mill for several reasons.

Prior to purchasing the Lucas Mill, we had other local sawyers mill our wood. The Wood Mizer sawmills are very popular in our area, but they are limited in the capacity of the size of log that they can saw. I believe that a 36" diameter log is the biggest log that a Wood Mizer sawmill can handle. Any larger in diameter and the logs need to be ripped lengthwise with a chainsaw before they can be milled. We have had to rip quite a few large logs to have them milled with the Wood Mizer sawmill. This is not the case with the Lucas Mill.

The largest log that we have milled with our Lucas Mill is approximately 5' (60") in diameter! The Lucas Mill is different because the log does not have to be lifted up onto the sawmill. The log is milled at ground level, from the top down. Also another benefit of the Lucas Mill is that it can make very wide slabs. Last year, we milled some salvaged old growth redwood slabs that were 4' wide (48") by 8" thick and 20' long! The maximum width capacity of the slabbing attachemnt is 60" wide! We have milled some California black walnut slabs that have just barely squeezed through the slabbing cutter head. The walnut slabs were probably 57"-58" wide at their widest point. Slab widths like these are not possible with one of the readily available Wood Mizer sawmills. We believe that it would be poor stewerdship to cut enormous logs into dimensional lumber.

We are currently in the discussion process with a sawmill manufacturing company from the South called Cooke. As you can see, we also run a welding / fabricating business called Noah's Arc Welding and Fabrication. We are very seriously looking into becoming the West Coast manufacturer / distributor for Cooke Sawmills. Because of our interest in maximizing our yield from our logs, we have been doing some research into owning a bandsaw mill. There are times when it is advantageous to have both a Lucas Mill for breaking down large logs into cants and having a bandsaw for resawing the cants for high grading or better yield. Any way, we discovered a brand of sawmill called Cooke who we are very impressed by. They have a different style of headrig / bandsaw carrage than the Wood Mizer sawmills do. There is more support to the frame which holds the motor / bandwheels / blade guides and the like. The Wood Mizer sawmill uses what is called a cantalevered or "F" style head rig / bandsaw carrage. In the Wood Mizer, this can lead to excessive vibration and thus wavey lumber (which I have seen all too often). Cooke also uses precission ground bandwheels and adjustable guide rollers which effectively eliminate any blade chatter or "running out". The Cooke Company has also patented a unique bandsaw blade which can cut faster and stay sharper than any of the other readily available bandsaw blades. These are called the "Super Sharp" bandsaw blades. One plesant byproduct of the Cooke Bandsaw blades is that they remove up to 90% of the sawdust from the sawn lumber. This is an annoying byproduct of wood that has been sawn with a Wood Mizer sawmill. The fine sawdust sticks to the lumber and it has to be brushed off with a broom or power washer to get it all off. We know this from having to do it, first hand experience and it is a pain! This is not an issue at all with the Lucas Mill except when making slabs and even then, it comes off quite easily. 

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