swing blade sawmill in action Missoula, Montana

http://www.permies.com

Mark Vander Meer explains his business model of running a sawmill in Missoula, Montana. It's a swing blade mill. Mark explains how a swing blade sawmill is better than a bandsaw sawmill. This one is a "Brand X" - made just up the road from missoula, in the swan valley.

Mark can move the mill to anywhere, but he already has tracks set up in Missoula, Arlee and in the Swan Valley. By using this mill, the strategy becomes milling logs where they are dropped - hauling dry timber is a lot easier than hauling wet logs. Some of the wood that Mark mills is from urban lots in Missoula.

This video demonstrates cutting several boards with a swing blade sawmill.

Mark explains how the sawmill business is just a small slice of his ecological land management company. He also explains how the most popular aspect of using his wood is on off grid building projects: sheds, barns and cabins.

This wood is available at the Missoula Home ReSource store.

The swing blade sawmill makes a horizontal cut while being pushed forward, is then rotated 90 degrees and then makes a vertical cut while being pulled backward - leaving a piece of lumber behind after the second cut. The round blade has five teeth and can be sharpened in about 90 seconds. It also leave a much more accurate surface than the bandsaw variety of sawmill.

Mark says that they cut about 65,000 board feet per year.

paul wheaton permaculture

Music by Jimmy Pardo

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• sawmill
• woodland
• management
• missoula
• montana
• eco
• green
• organic
• permaculture
• saw
• mill
• wood
• portable
• lumber
• logs

[meatloafzombie]

Wow is that under the Higgins St. bridge? Very cool setup!

[paulwheaton12]

@meatloafzombie scott st bridge

[yellowajah]

I might have missed it, but is the idea that you haul the mill to the site of the cut trees and mill them there, store them under temporary on location shelters and go back to haul the boards, which are now cut and dry, at a later date?

[paulwheaton12]

@yellowajah yup!

[savagenomore]

I would love to have that mill...

[ThePolysyllabist]

smart

[HuntsTimbersinc]

Are you still in same location?

[2323mariela]

how do u create that???????

[504hustler1]

Nice...

[Clybrad1]

Thank you Paul! Very cool

[Mikdeelo]

damn! Why didn;t I think of that?? ;D

Sweet business model!

[jeffty19]

great! ! ! !