Hotanvil Forge

Sawmill page













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I just picked up a portable sawmill so decided to add a page to my site.It arrived the other day in a steel framed crate.The other evening I opened it up and began moving it into the garage.I got it from Harbor Freight and so far am surprised to see it is a pretty rugged lookin setup and it for sure aint light by any means.Moving the saw head alone was almost more than I could handle.I will have to make up some sort of lift so I can  set the sawhead down onto the main uprights of the carriage when I get it assembled.I also need to find some replacement blades for it.I know I can find them cheaper than the 39 bucks a piece that Harbor wants. I will put up pic's of the progress of my milling as I go. Enjoy.
I have been using the mill for a little while now and I can see some modifications will be in order for this winter.The small tank for water is pretty useless for any length of time.It needs to be refilled all the time so I will add on to the frame that holds to saw head to make the frame work a bit more solid and to be able to hold a much larger tank for water.I think the added weight of the frame and tank will make the carriage ride much smoother on the track and take some of the wobble out of things that the original carriage frame has now. I have also discovered that this is one tough little machine.I sawed a small log the other evening from an old apple tree.Apple wood is VERY hard and dense wood.She buzzed right through with no problem.Some very nice lookin wood to.




























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The sawmill as it sits in the crate

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All the other parts.More pics coming :-)

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it lays on a wood frame of 4x4s

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some nice looking poplar

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From a very old hemlock log that was dead and downed for years

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Its bigger than the capacity of my mill.Its all boards now.

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pile of boards just over 12" wide

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Needed a way to move the logs. So I built this

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I can take them right up to the mill and drop them.

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The sawdust is now close to 6" deep

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Pulley from a garage door and a come-along

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3/8 bolt head cut off and bent to 90 for chain hooks

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seems to lift and turn fine.






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The thing weighs a ton.I layed it down on a wagon to move it

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Getting the bed set up

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Poplar logs.

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poplar log in the middle of being cut up

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poplar log ready to get milled into boards

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I rolled that thing onto the bed by myself.

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This is what I found inside this huge log.

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It needed some color.

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all scrounged except for the trailer coupler thats new.

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Just got done hauling a few logs out of the woods

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I forged these from a couple of trailer leaf srings

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the pile is getting bigger

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The start of my log lift