Sawyer Sawmill Review by Eric Hughes
Sawyer and Hunter Sawmills
I’d like to take a minute to tell you about my Hud-Son Sawyer sawmill. I picked it up, probably been about six months now. I’ve used it quite a bit. I felt like I’d give it a little justice and tell a little about it. I picked it up at a local co-op, they are a Hud-Son dealer. I talked to them about different mills they offer. I kind of had a price point in mind about 2,000 dollars. This one was a little bit more than that so that worked out pretty well as far as price. So far I’ve been pretty satisfied with it. I really enjoy using it. It’s an experience because when you get it it’s in a big crate and fit in the back of my truck. I had to take it out piece by piece and you have to do all of them assembly. In doing that you get to know every part of the mill because you have to put it all together. This thing is constructed very heavy duty for what it is. The bearings and the shaft are very, very heavy duty. I think it’s an inch and a half shaft, bearings are huge and do a very good job. There is a six year warranty on that so their pretty confident in it. As far as the power it has a 7HP motor in it. It’s done a great job. We’ve had a 17 inch oak cant. One of my buddies cut up with a chainsaw mill and got it square, brought it over, and it cut thru it no problem. Blades are pretty reasonably priced. I buy mine from Timbery. I get a five pack, $12 a blade. They last a pretty good while.
I really enjoy using this mill. It’s productive, it’s been good. The only negatives I’ve had is the track is a little funny. With the aluminum and in three sections. I’ve had a little trouble with the joints, it likes to flex. With a little bit of modification I’ve got it nice and steady so that is good. Also with the loop system I’ve noticed that if you tighten the cap down really, really hard it creates a vaccum kind of like new gas cans that don’t have anyway to release the air so it doesn’t want to let water out. I fixed that by making a little hole and put a little rubber stopper in it. It seems to work fine. The log dogs do a pretty good job. At first you think, man these things are terrible because there coated pretty good with the yellow paint there but once you use them and get a little wear on them they start to slide easier. There actually pretty good to work with. They definately clamp down on the log and if you get in there good it’s not going to go anywhere. I added instead of the sticker they sent with it an aluminum ruler I got at Harbour Freight for 2 dollars. I put it on with zip ties and it seems to do the trick.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes to be outside. Who likes to do anything with wood at all because it’s something to do. There’s 60 acres out where I’m at and I’ve never run out of wood to cut either here or if other people have trees down.There’s always stacks of logs that I never seem to get to.
I’ve also included a video of cutting up a pine log I did earlier today making a pen for the horses. There’s always a project or two that you can get done. So hope you enjoy the video of milling. It’s a lot of work not necessarily something that is easy but it is rewarding. It gets you out, get’s you moving, and I do like that. You will want to have some sort of tractor or skid steer. Something to pick logs up because you would not want to be doing it by hang. That would not be fun. I’ve got a tractor so that helps out a lot. Overall I really enjoy it and hope this helps you if your thinking about buying one. It’s not something you’ll regret. If you use it, you’ll really enjoy it so, Thank you!