My SawMill

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I decided to purchase a Hud-Son Homesteader 21. The decision point was they are located in Utica NY, which is only a couple of hours from me, and there a re a few dealers even closer. Its an upgrade to my Alaskan Mill, which has served me well, but its getting a little rugged on this aging body.

I am impressed with the 6.5 hp motor. I was a little concerned, but it seems to pull its weight. I can understand why you’d want a much bigger motor if you wanted to try and make a profit sawing logs; I am not.

Its much faster than my Alaskan mill

Dislikes.

The runners are a little flimsy. They work, and this isn’t a bash, just be ready with a solid, flat sub base. To be clear, I understand I bought a $2500 mill, so I expected to need to add a base.

When it arrived the shutoff for the blade lubricant would not shut off. They just mailed me a new one.

I would recommend you buy a torque wrench if you don’t own one. It makes setting the blade tension a lot easier. 35 pounds is what’s recommended. Unless you have an idea how tight 35 pounds really is, a torque wrench it the way to go.

If you don’t own a cant hook, buy one.

Note the I beams it is setting on. This worked well, but they were just a bit to short. I have two more, so we’ll take care of that problem.

My neighbor stopped by with 6 logs in the back of his truck. 3 poplar and 3 red oak. One of each was 19”. The mill is only rated for 21”, so I figured this would be a good test.

It cut the poplar fantastic. The oak made it work, but it went through without any issues. I made a bunch of very nice 1” x 10” x 10” boards.

I decided to make a permanent track for the mill out of a couple I beams I had laying around. This is way overkill, but I had no other use for this steel, and I wanted to be able to cut more than the 10’ that came stock with my mill. I can not cut just under 20’

I still have the original track should I want to roam with the mill.

The original blade didn’t stay sharp very long. It may have been my fault, so I’m not suggesting it was a bad blade. I’ve learned since to do a much better job cleaning off the logs. That said, I ordered a 10 pack of blades from Cook. They are a little heavier, cheaper, and I’m still one my first one, and they seem to work very well.