Why I prefer to mill SMALLER logs on the sawmill 

Another great video

A friend of mine who lost half of one arm (at the elbow) weighs 165 and life has given Len challenges. He asked me to give him a hand (no pun intended) to get some logs sided up for his mill that he made from parts, him and his lady are poor. His smile will make you smile even when your not wanting to. I saw what he was up against and asked him if he would give me a hand instead and so it be. We welded on his mill a stand from underneath that was no more than a short piece of pipe that would take another inside and be of size and had a round top so that it followed the contour of most logs kinda. inside that was just a bunch of rolls so any thing setting on it would roll easy. You stepped on the lever and it raised it up above the log deck a couple inches. Now you could turn the log real easy and then let off the lever and the log sat back down on the saw deck where moving a bit was lots easier and he is still using it. He is not one for charity and it will make you his enemy if you give him anything so he carved me my table. No one is in a hurry. It works slick and he runs a three point on 8N tractor that has to be hand cranked and does know a lot about using lines and pulleys as his whole house that he built works that way

Congratulations on having 50K+ subscribers now Troy! I always look forward to your next video. May God continue to bless you and your family.

I use a 4ft farm jack with a 6 ft nylon choker rigged from the bottom to turn the large logs on my lt15

you do what your comfortable doing with what you have on hand.

Your thoughts mirror mine. I'm not a mill owner now. But if I ever get one I won't be milling any log larger than what the manufacturer recommends.

And interesting

Hank Hamilton suggested your channel. Nice Video. Fun to watch. Will have to look at another one.

Hi Troy I have a cheaper suggestion for turning those big logs that will make life easier. Pick up a hand crank winch and mount it on a piece of 2 inch box tubing. Fasten a standard loop that will accept your box tubing onto the outside center of the log bed. So that you can take the winch on and off when needed. Attach a peavy hook to end of cable or strap wrap it over log peavy will grab the log and you can easily turn big logs with the winch. You could do this easy for under $150 maybe less. Pending cost of a peavy hook. Those winches are very inexpensive at Wal-Mart or harborfreight. As for getting those big logs onto mill by using the winch you can easily roll them with the winch up a set of skids. Just run cable over log and hook into the mill crank winch and log will roll right up the skids onto mill little to no lifting. Makes the job much more doable for a one man operation. Best part it's a cheap upgrade and not difficult to do. I started out logging by hand so I learned alot of tricks to get things done.

Really good outlook

Very nice discussion, and I really appreciate your insights on that. 👏👏 One particular point that you brought up was mentioning tractor horsepower. To be accurate, tractor engine horsepower has little to do with lifting capabilities. For example, in the Kubota standard L series of tractors, the smallest, which is just under 25 horsepower, can lift exactly as much as the largest which is 37.5 horsepower. The hydraulic system is exactly the same among that range and they all have the same lift capacity.

I was going to suggest a handcrank to load logs but your Norwood is set up differently than my Woodland mills hm122 so that won't work but I understand completely about having the kids around the mill

Excellent video ! !!

Well they do make forks that mount on or in the bucket. What about those ramps and boat winch you see on other mills ? But what I see as a cheap and easy fix get a second log clamp where you can mount as far apart on bucket and pick log up even and pick up your mill and move it over some more to where you can turn tractor better and line up straighter with the mill.

If you want to see big logs being milled you should see Matt Cremona, who hand built his own huge sawmill and trailer.

Smart. A man's gotta know his limitations... Clint Eastwood

You can lift more by also (free of charge) remove your bucket. That will give you 100 plus pounds more of lifting capacity since the load will be closer to the tractor and it won't have the bucket weight on it. You can't have your Apple pie and eat it too.

Best use for a log like that is a beam.Like a floor joist. You only need one flat for a timber. you use a set size and chainsaw down the end. to whatever 7 inches, whatever your perimeter height is. Good pine you can cut for trim boards., like on a barn.You are better off with forks.and back ballast. You can make a back weight easily. You could use a brow too. you put your log on the brow and roll it onto the mill. You wont hit the mill or throw it off that way. I put my mill on a concrete pad. I never trailed it anywhere. It came in and went out. The only two times i used the trailer part. A waste of $$ my opinion.

Very helpful silly comments!!

Hello friend love your channel. Your tractor it's plenty big enough to lift big logs onto the bed. I know you don't want to spend money but I don't think you have to. just put your heaviest 3pt implement on. If that's not enough weight just build a 3pt platform out of junk and stack rocks or concrete junk on it. Put short sides on it to keep stuff bouncing out. If you got junk iron laying around somewhere it'll only cost you 3pt pins. If you don't start with a cheap drawbar made for 3pt hitch and weld a chunk of channel or pipe from the center up to connect your center link. Then build a box on that. You could use gas co junk pipe laying around for the box supports then make sides and bottom out of milled lumber. Then put anything heavy in it. I don't imagining it taking too long to make and then tractor won't be so tippy when lifting bigger logs: ) I got beet juice in my tires which helps but when lifting real heavy things I use a rack I built to carry tools on the 3pt but just throw junk on it for weight. Hope this helps

You have perfectly illustrated the challenges in milling bigger logs with a manual bandsaw mill. Needing support equipment to load and manipulate the logs as you're milling. If you are typically sawing dimensional lumber, I believe a swingblade style sawmill (Peterson, Lucas, Brand X) would be better. They handle the big logs much better as there is no log turning involved.

Good job , I was going to suggest that your helper/ better half become a log turner until you talked about the dangers of it so scratch that and I’m now suggesting that your helper aka better half become the Sawyer and you become the log turner . Lol

Troy its amazing you can get that many boards out of a small log. I know you keep track of all kinds of stuff, How about a report on board feet per hour on small logs,big logs. How’s your fruit trees doing?

Just a thought and consideration for your tractor and you are probably aware of it-have your rear tires filled with winter grade windshield washer fluid. It works well and does not compromise your rims like calcium chloride liquid does.

I grew up working with my dad using his old circle saw mill. He hated big diameter logs. It was hard on him and his mill..

Smaller logs also make since if you're just a one person operation running out of your backyard because you can get the lumber to your customers quicker...

Do you have water in your back tires on the tractor?

Talking about expense, even 5k for a saw mill is a killer. But I can see the reason to spend more for hydraulic log turners

Add a winch and boom similar to what Woodland Mills uses on their atv logging trailer. You can then use tongs to help turn your logs. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3Tu4E7UnQCM.html

Large logs no mater how careful you are beat up your equipment more

So wish the wife would have been there to pick on ya for the "8 inches to play with" part....

If skip part of a video they or great but I do like a democrat ads