Getting Started Guide

Sawing your own timber appeals to many different people. Woodworking hobbyists, sawmill business owners, farmers, home builders are just a few of the many different people that buy a sawmill. Many are compelled to buy their own mill after seeing one for the first time, and don't come from a timber producing background. This section is to help get your familiar with portable sawmills, the lingo used in the industry, and how easy it is to get sawing your own timber, no matter what your background.

A Portable Sawmill: How it works
Making timber with a portable sawmill is simple. Pass a bandsaw blade through a log from end to end a few times, and the result is boards! Wood-Mizer founders Don Laskowski and Dan Tekulve came up with this brilliantly simple method way back in 1982, and basically, it hasn't changed much since. The simple design was perfectly suited for easy transportation. Instead of bringing logs to your mill, you can take your sawmill to the logs. This flexibility is what makes the portable sawmill so popular for custom sawing businesses.

Setting up a Portable Sawmill

Drive to the logs.
The sawmill tows like any trailer with most small Utility/4WD.

Disconnect hitch.
A 50mm ball is used for most Wood-Mizer mills.

Rough level.
Wood-Mizer's unique mills do not have to be 100% level.

Load logs.
Load logs onto mill with cant hooks, hydraulic arms, or with a tractor.

Saw!
Wood-Mizer mills only take minutes to set up and start sawing!

How do you turn a log into timber?

The first cuts are made across the top of the log.

Flip log 180° onto the flat side and saw.

Rotate log 90°. Clamp a flat side of the log against the side supports to cut the third side.

Saw the last side to square the log into a four-sided cant.

Rotate the log several times while sawing to produce the maximum amount of timber.

Edge boards by standing a number of boards up and sawing the rough edge off.