Sawmills: circular vs bandsaw

[Outa Square]

Currently, i have a supply of cedar and popular that i am working through and i haven't a need for more lumber, although i want some but for now the need side of me is suppressing the wants; however after reading the post in the thread about milling out a tree, I was wondering what is the advantages/disadvantages to circular vs band saw mills.

 

[Rob]

I would think less waste, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Travis Porter]

JMTCW, but the bandsaw mill has a narrower kerf in most instances so less waste. One negative I have had in the past with some bandsaw mills is the blade is too narrow and the boards end up being "wavy". The blade hits a knot and glances upwards or downwards. A wider blade or slower feed rate would resolve this, at least I think it would. Blade size on a circular mill is a limiting factor in log size. Since you only get to use a little less than half of the diameter it would take a BIG blade to cut a 24" diameter log. A Blade of 50" diameter is not something you see on portable mills. I tend to believe only big stationary commercial/industrial sawyers have big circular mills, but I don't know for sure.

 

[CarvedTones]

I think there is another upside to the bandmill and that is because it has a narrower kerf and the cutting surface is dead vertical instead of an arc, it is removing a lot less wood per linear foot and should require less power to cut at the same speed. this is reasoning and not experience though.

 

[jerrye]

I've wondered the same thing myself, and found this article helpful.

 

[DaveO]

In addition to less waste, size of cut, and cost of blade repair I think a band mill is better because it leaves shallower marks on the face of the board. The large teeth on a circular mill tend to really leave their mark in the face of the wood often requiring more stock removal to get a good smooth face. This isn't a problem when you start with extra thick rough lumber, but if it's cut a 1" rough it might be hard to get 3/4" out of it. I have seen stock come off a band mill that only needed a little sanding to get a smooth face.
MTCW,
Dave

 

[LittleJohn_NC]

Wide bandsaws or narrow bandsaws? I work on both. For one man sawmills I vote for narrow bandsaws.
Band saws waving action what we call a snake is from many things such as tooth space ,over feeding, over stain or under stained saw. Different types of wood play into this also. Take ash when sawing it turns to power want stay in the gullet of the saw you have to saw slower to let the saw pull the saw dust out. White oak is about the same as ash. Poplar sawdust looks like small chips and will pack tighter in the gullet there fore you can feed it faster.
Hitting knots is always a problem . Band saws are for ripping. As your ripping along you hit a knot . You go from ripping to cross cutting the saw trys to run with the grain it will run out of the cut or run into the cut. It pays to slow down when you come knots you can wrack saw fast in a knot.
I like the woodmizer HD 40 dose what it was design for cutting logs into lumber.
Here one of the saws we use at work 40ft long .078 thick 10 inches wide. We feed 12inch of cut in red oak at 400ft a min. Now thats ripping. :gar-Bi