Used Sawmill For Sale - Craigslist Near Wisconsin (2024)

FAQs

Is owning a portable sawmill worth it? ›

A Rewarding Side Hustle and Family Project

Whether you're new to woodworking or an experienced sawyer, a portable sawmill can be a rewarding way to use the gifts your land gives you, turning the wood you find into home goods, a new toolshed, or any number of projects that catch your interest.

Appreciate that about 75% of a sawmill's costs are the logs, so if you can get cheap, high quality logs, you have a better chance. But even then, the lower grades of lumber have little positive profit potential today.

Generally, it costs 5-10% more to have your lumber milled on-site. It is also cheaper to by 2 x 4's from a big box store than it is to have them milled. So if you are more concerned with quantity over quality, saw milling may not be for you.

This sawmill is built here in the USA in our hometown of Barneveld, NY. Some people just cannot reason with the extra expense for the very high priced sawmills on the market.

The ease of use, amazing versatility and the machine's portability all make Peterson's swingblade the best portable sawmill available.

Blades should be changed at least every two hours of operation while many sawmill professionals change their blades even more frequently, often up to 6 times per day.

In general there are 2 ways: air drying and kiln drying. If you have the space & time air drying works well. For 1" thick boards it will take 6 or 9 months to air dry the wood before it is usable. If you need the wood sooner than that or are thinking about thicker pieces, kiln drying the wood is something to consider.

Sawdust gets sold to farmers for bedding. Pine mills that kiln-dry and plane their lumber sell the planer shavings to horse people for bedding. Slabs made from the first cuts off a debarked log get run through a chipper along with edges and other discards, and the chips are sold to paper companies.

The most critical tool is obviously a chainsaw. In the world of chainsaw milling, the more powerful the saw the better. You can mill with a smaller saw; however, it's going to be really slow. On average, it takes me about 10-15 minutes to make one cut using my saw, based on the size logs that I typically cut.

By the Board Foot

This pricing method gives you the ability to make the greatest return in a day, but potentially exposes you to the lowest returns as well. Pricing varies by species and location but ranges from $0.25 to $0.50 per board foot of sawn lumber.

How long does fresh milled wood take to dry? ›

Some of these terms (i.e. growth rings) might sound foreign but fear not. There are some easy ways to tell the different cuts of lumber apart. Plain sawn lumber, also known as flat sawn lumber, is the most affordable lumber, and thus, it's the most common.

The Biggest Sawmills in the US

Georgia-Pacific. West Fraser.

Wood-Mizer is a sawmill manufacturer that also produces sawmill blades. Modern manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis and Batesville, Indiana USA and Kolo, Poland guarantee maximum quality at an affordable price anywhere in the world.

Unlike the Woodland Made in China, Harbor Freight Made in China, Frontier by Norwood Made in China, and Timber Tuff Made in China portable sawmills, Hud-Son Forest Equipment is Built in the USA by American hands.

Your mill could pay for itself

“I've been doing a ton of milling, and most of it has been actually for [other] people,” says Logan Wittmer from Woodsmith Magazine, “The mill has pretty much paid for itself at this point, in six months, which has been amazing.” Logan's experience is common for many sawyers.

When you first get a sawmill, the primary ways to make money are selling lumber or cutting for people. However, cutting for people is kind of tricky, because you'll want to have some experience before you start doing that. If you're cutting by the board foot and you take your time it doesn't really matter too much.

If you do not need a large-scale sawmill, there's absolutely no need to spend more money on one and you would be better off with a chainsaw mill. Moreover, these sawmills are often very long-lasting and durable, which means that it would be a good investment and won't have to be replaced that often.

With a portable sawmill, you can repurpose lumber from your land for personal projects like a barn or outbuilding. Repurposing lumber is an eco-friendly way to turn discarded pieces into valuable furniture, decorations, or gifts.