4 DIY Sawmill Hacks to Improve Your Milling

Tricks to make your bandsaw mill experience easier

Looking for ways to cut lumber more effectively, or just improve your experience while using your portable sawmill? 

Plenty of sawyers in the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group use DIY techniques to improve their setups, and by following their lead you too can cut logs like a pro.

So what are some trips to make sure you make less waste, mill more efficiently and improve your sawmill setup? Here are four tips to help you out.

What do you need to get started with a portable sawmill?

Before we get to the sawmill hacks, let's discuss the essentials your sawmill should have to make things easier for you.

Your own mill should have:

• • An easy way of loading logs: If you don't own a forklift, a winch kit and ramp may be helpful, or building a log loading station.

  • Clear walkways: Ensure you can walk around the perimeter of your sawmill easily. Clean up any errant debris or sawdust that might interfere with your mill's accessibility.

  • Easy on-hand tools: If you're setup in a sawmill shed, have tools like your cant hooks to minimize travel, or utilize a 2.5' cant hook that easily fits between the bunks on your sawmill track.

What accessories would make sawmilling easier?

Additional accessories can upgrade our bandsaw mill and make it easier to use, thus reducing your workload to let you spend more time milling.

Some optional accessories you may want to consider include:

• • Power Head: This add-on replaces the crank handle for raising and lowering the saw head, allowing you to move it with the push of a button, saving you time and effort. Great for sawyers who mill many thousands of board feet and want to save time.

  • PRO Log Support: Featuring a patented design for one-handed operation and a roller to make rolling large logs easier, this support can make long days on the mill easier.

  • PRO Log Bunk: This multi-functional bunk replaces a stock bunk on your sawmill and is equipped with rollers to make rolling logs and positioning logs and cants easier. Another excellent time saver and a great manual alternative to expensive hydraulic upgrades.

Remember to ensure an accessory's compatibility with your sawmill before purchasing.

What are the best tricks for improving my portable sawmilling?

So what are some easy, great hacks that you can do, whether you're just preparing to make your first cut or you're a seasoned sawyer?

Here are some great pieces of advice from real sawyers who you can learn from:

Foldable Sticker Mat

Courtesy Zach B. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Zach's invention is novel, and can help speed up time when stacking and stickering lumber.

When you're stacking your slabs or dimensional lumber, it's best practice to put some thin pieces of wood, or "stickers," between the boards. This allows air to flow between the boards, speeding up drying time and reducing the chances of mold.

Zach's solution for speedy stickering is to use strips of fabric to create a sheet of stickers, which can be easily deployed when stacking your boards. It's an inventive solution that can be used in a lot of different situations, great for anyone who dries their own lumber and is looking for time saving techniques.

Blade Bins

Courtesy Tom M. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Having a place for easy blade storage can help improve your ergonomics, so grabbing a blade is simple and quick for fast blade replacement. Keeping blades sorted is also part of routine maintenance that improves efficiency and reduces downtime.

Oftentimes sawyers will have their blades hanging from a peg or wall-mount in their workshop or sawmill shed. That's not a bad way to do things, but an unfolded blade takes up a lot of valuable real estate.

Tom's solution is to fold the blades and store them in reused plastic barrels. You could hang these from the beams in your workshop or on the wall like Tom has done.

This is a great way to handle things, and you can even have a bin for dull blades that need sharpening or blades you need to replace. During blade changes, check and reapply oil on related moving parts to reduce heat and prevent resin buildup. A sharp blade is crucial for straight, fast cuts, which makes organized storage and quick swaps even more valuable.

Round-Cutting Jig

Courtesy Joel M. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Ever wonder how sawyers mill rounds on their portable sawmill when logs normally fit length-wise?

While there's a few different solutions, Joel's round-cutting jig is a great way to mill vertical timbers into cookies.

Some sawyers will even make angled jigs for cutting ovals too, keeping a consistent cutting angle for better control.

The great thing about these jigs is they fit into your existing sawmill track, and can easily lift out and be stored when not in use. These types of mods are really popular with sawmill owners because it doesn't require modifying the machinery itself, just building additional functionality into the existing track. Adding a Power Head can complement custom jigs by giving you more precise board thickness measurements.

Mods that mount to the frame of your sawmill, that don't interfere with the wheels or any other parts, can be a great way to homebrew additional features into your mill.

Custom Dust Chute Add-Ons

Courtesy Kenny D. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Sawdust is a reality of milling, and the more you mill, the more sawdust you'll produce.

But how do you deal with all that sawdust? Lots of sawyers come up with different solutions. Some landowners just sweep it up when it starts to build up, while others come up with their own ideas.

Kenny's solution involves a 3D printed add-on that attaches to the mill's dust chute and has a hook for hanging a bucket. The sawdust then shoots out from the chute into the bucket for easy disposal.

There's a couple different ways you could do it. Some sawyers use bags rather than buckets, but the idea is the same: coming up with something that can help carry your sawdust for easy removal.

What hacks can you come up with for your portable sawmill?

There are plenty of other ideas sawyers have come up with that you could try, or you could try coming up with your own inventive solutions to common problems.

Some ideas you could start with include:

• • If harvesting trees and hauling them to your sawmill track is onerous, you could try making a lifted log ramp to make getting logs to your sawmill easier.

  • What do you do with sawmill blades with broken teeth? Some sawyers save the blades and use the metal for making knives or other tools. What could your blades become?

  • Accessories like the Power Head can speed up your milling process, so think about what other add-ons or upgrades might improve your milling time.

  • What tools do you need on hand when milling? If you need a chainsaw for cutting your logs while milling, consider adding chainsaw holders or other convenient mounts for your tools in your shed or work area.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are there any tricks for making posts or beams on a portable sawmill?

A: If you're aiming for specific dimensions from your cant then you may want to draw out the final shape you want on the end of the log, to visualize the final product and so you can plan around the dimensions you want. Some sawyers also use lasers to project their cuts onto the log too.

Q: I'm planning on milling lumber for a cabin or house, what are some tips for doing that?

A: If you're doing dovetail cabins or timber framing them coming up with a jig for the joinery can dramatically speed up your processes, especially if you're using your sawmill for cutting parts of the joinery. There are plenty of timberframe-specific guides online which can help you.