Picking Your First Portable Sawmill

Picking your first portable sawmill is an exciting event.  After all, there are a lot of wonderful things that you can do with a portable sawmill, up to and including running your own full-time business as a sawyer.  However, it's not always easy to pick out the perfect sawmill.  So, here are some tips that may help.

Start by knowing what you will be cutting.  If you intend to cut lumber that comes from trees on your own property, go out and measure some of the trees.  Get an idea of how tall they are and how big around they are.  If you are dealing with relatively small trees, a small bandsaw mill will do.  If not, you may need to invest in a larger model.

Next, think about your personal goals.  Are you trying to cut lumber for a few small projects for yourself and neighbors?  Are you trying to go into business as a sawyer permanently?  If the former, you can get a small sawmill.  If the latter, you need a larger machine.

For speed, durability and longevity, you can't beat a fully hydraulic portable sawmill.  So, if you are concerned about production sawing (cutting X amount of board feet per hour) you really should get a hydraulic model.  The best are the ones that also come with a fully hydraulic log lifter.

Of course, you may need to start off with an inexpensive model at first, but you still have options.  If you want to compare prices on some of the best portable sawmills, just go to www.cookssaw.com.