Price Comparison of Top Portable Sawmills | Woodmizer Hud-Son Timber King Vallee Woodland Mills

[Music] guys welcome back to song with Sandy today I'm gonna take you through all the different brands that are available to you if you're looking to buy a portable sawmill despite the fact that I own a Woodland Mills portable sawmill that does not mean there are other brands that are out there that might fit your needs better than this one so I'm gonna do my attempt at a comprehensive comparison between all those brands and hopefully when you guys leave here today you get a good idea as to what options are available to you and you might even get some ideas as to options you didn't know what's available to you so hold on appreciate everyone being here and let's go all right guys what you're seeing in front of you is a spreadsheet with a variety of brand names across the top the brands that I'm gonna talk about represent portable sawmills that will cut approximately 28 inch to 33 and a half inch log diameters those brands include Norwood woodland Mills frontier wood-mizer Kooks Hudson Valley and timber King now just below the names are the model names these model names are not the only models that are produced by these manufacturers if you go to each of these websites you will find typically a whole bunch of models that you can choose from I chose models that in my opinion were fairly close in terms of features to one another and so just take this with a grain of salt as you're reading through this understand that there are models lesser and higher under most of these manufacturers that you can go and investigate yourself now just a disclaimer to start here I compiled all the information here to the best of my knowledge I I got the information from each of these manufacturers websites as of the date that I obtained it that was approximately the start of March 2020 as of that date this information should be fairly accurate however do not take this as the that's the number one source of information please go and talk to the manufacturer individually and get accurate up-to-date information but for you before you decide on one mil or the other so first and foremost right across the top here we have the log diameters now you're gonna see a variety of log diameters and you can read them for yourself the smallest log diameter here is for the wood-mizer the lt15 start portable sawmill that's a 28 inches the largest is the timber King twelve twenty at thirty three and a half inches let's just have a quick look at what that lt15 start sawmill looks like from wood-mizer's so you can see it here what Mizer has a very good reputation and they actually sell a huge variety of portable sawmills and accessories so this is just one of their models if we were to compare that to the thirty three and a half inch log diameter up attempt our King 1220 you can see why that diameter so big just look at the overall opening size here log lights so this is gonna vary quite a bit as well the log lengths this is what the standard length would be if you were not to have any additional track lengths added so the nor would the lumber mate MN twenty nine twelve point nine inches you can see the woodland mill is 10 foot 5 inches frontier 11 foot etc etc where you start to get to the longer log length so the standard longer log lengths is the Valley sawmills and the timber King sawmills Valley 17-foot that's their standard length timber King seventeen foot nine inches let's have a look at the valley the little blue special edition portable sawmill and you guys can see it here this is a company out of Quebec Canada and they at least in my experience they seem to have quite a good product from the from the first glance so that's the 17 foot sawmill and if we look back at the timber King this one here is 17 foot 9 inches now you can get extensions for most of these other portable sawmills and that will extend them beyond the numbers you see here up to and including whatever number you want so you could add as many extensions as you want to get as long up a bed length as you want looking at engine options that are available here and you'll notice that not every manufacturer offers every variety of engine and that's that's just fine looking at the valley you can get a 13 horsepower Honda electric start you're floating right around $7,000 and these numbers are canadian dollars okay unless it specifies otherwise it's in canadian dollars looking over here at the wood-mizer so a bit more money here the wood-mizer the LT 15 start a 14 horsepower cooler that's a pull start or a recoil start you're at just under $8,000 canadian in comparison the norwood the lumber mate MN 29 they offer a variety of engine options and if we look here the engine options dictate what the price is gonna be at the low end you can get a 13 and a half Briggs & Stratton electric start or a 14 horsepower polar pull start those are just around five thousand dollars Canadian bump up even higher you're getting into a 16 horsepower v-twin Briggs & Stratton with an electric start you're just over six thousand dollars for that so in comparison here just from the onset what are we looking at between the first few brands well Norwood looks to be the cheapest wood-mizer's looks to be the most expensive as compared with valley which is less expensive than the wood-mizer getting down even further though let's compare some of our other manufacturers we have woodland Mills here the hmm 130 max you can get a 14 horsepower Kohler electric start engine with that saw and it's gonna set you back about forty seven hundred dollars Canadian that's quite a deal if you look at that price versus the wood-mizer at seventy nine hundred dollars Canadian that's that's quite a difference are the features of the wood-mizer worth the extra money that'll be for you guys to decide looking at the frontier sawmill the OS 31 price point very similar to woodland Mills 48 97 or 49 hundred dollars Canadian will get you the same engine the electric start Kohler as the woodland mills a little bit less money forty five hundred and change you can get a thirteen and a half Briggs recoil starter pull start okay so that's a basic breakdown of pricing for some of our brands the last few brands I wanted to touch on are the cooks Hudson and the timber King the cook sawmill and just so you know what I'm talking about I'm talking about this one right here this is the MP 32 sawmill so the cook sawmill if we go back you're looking at quite a bit more money up to you to decide whether the extra money is worth it but if we break it down here you can actually get an electric start engine option if you want a single-phase electric engine by time you switch over the eight thousand US dollars to Canadian you're at ten thousand six hundred Canadian 20 horsepower gas engine Kohler you're at the same price ten thousand six hundred Canadian a little bit more money you guys can get a twenty five horsepower Kohler fuel-injected gas engine that's just over eleven thousand dollars Canadian so when you're looking at a cook's sawmill and you're comparing it with some of the other manufacturers like Norwood woodland those frontier even valley you're gonna pay a lot more money just keep that in mind is it worth it to you well you guys can investigate that the Hudson sawmill the Hudson HFE 30 what we're looking at is this one right here the HFE 30 price point is gonna be higher than what you would expect from Norwood woodland Mills and frontier and it's actually a little bit higher than Valley as well fifty to ninety five us you guys switch then over to Canadian you're at just over seven thousand dollars that puts it closer to the wood miser I realize you're saying while it's still about 900 bucks off well yeah you're right but it's certainly closer to the wood-mizer than it would be to the price point of the woodland mills Norwood frontier or yeah those three I guess it's close to Bali lastly what we're gonna touch on is the timber King the price point for that that's the 1220 so the timber King 1220 this unit right here we're looking at eighty to ninety five us you guys switch that over to Canadian you're at just over $11,000 Canadian that's essentially nearly double the price of a norwood woodland mills and frontier so just keep that in mind some of these brands timber king cooks in particular they're getting up there and price and therefore if if the price point is not what you're looking for you may want to go to those manufacturers and see about alternative models that might be priced better some additional information that i jut it down here and keep in mind some of this information is not available on each of the manufacturers website but what it was is the maximum depth of cut above the blade okay so I want to bring you to the timber King first and foremost if you have a look here here's the blade we're talking the amount of cut or the amount of material above the blade that you can have and if we look here woodland mills the HM 130 max you can have seven inches of that log above the blade wood miser ten and a half inches Hudson 11 inches but look at the timber King sixteen inches that's that's huge right why is it so big with the timber King well you can see it here their design they don't have a lot of a lot of the sawmill above the blade right they they make it very thin here if you compare that to let's say the woodland mills the website will come back to us there we go if you compare that to the woodland mills notice here how they have a lot of material above the blade that's gonna restrict the amount of log that can be above the to the 7 inches okay and same thing with the lumber mate here's the lumber made if you look right here here's the blade and right there is more material of the sawmill hence why you can't have any more than what did we say there anymore actually they didn't say but you definitely can't have too much more than probably 7 inches all right all right let's look at this part here so let's assume you're gonna buy these portable sawmills and these models listed what's it gonna set you back if you're just buying the sawmill you're not buying a trailer you're not adding extensions base engine electric start including an auto lubrication system well the nor would the lumber mate mn 2951 93 woodland mills 4699 and this is canadian OS 31 by frontier 44 96 wood-mizer I couldn't find the information I couldn't find too much information on the wood-mizer website they tend to want you to contact them to get the information so I encourage you to do that cooks however you're looking at ten thousand six hundred dollars I don't know if that engines electric start though Hudson you're looking at just under ten thousand Canadian okay one thing to mention with that Hudson you would have to go up to the pro series you'll notice that's one of their models you'd have to go up to the pro series to move from a pull start to an electric start Valley you're looking at sixty seven hundred dollars Canadian and timber King you're looking at just over 11,000 Canadian now keep in mind this increased price here this timber King it offers you a longer bed length as compared with some of these others that's why you're probably paying more at the onset okay you don't have to you don't have to add any extensions to get that long bed length let's assume you wanted a trailer okay so I'm right here let's assume you wanted trailer no additional extensions base engine electric start auto loop the lumber mate MN 29 by Norwood 66 86 12 foot 9 inch log you're cutting with that gives you that trailer with the Mills 63 98 ten-foot five-inch log it'll cut frontier 11 foot log 66 83 Canadian wood-mizer once again I don't know you got to contact them cooks they offer a really cool package and I kind of like them for doing this they put a package together what that includes this a 16 foot sawmill bet the trailer log ramps can't hook ten pakka blades as well as the Kohler electric start engine and that's for with exchange thirteen thousand two hundred fifty two dollars Canadian now that's a lot more money than some of these other norwood woodland mills and frontier sawmills so keep that into consideration yes you're getting a fairly long log length at 16 feet but the price reflects that it's quite a bit higher hudson couldn't find information about trailers so we're talking about this one right here i don't know if they offer trailers or not you'll have to reach out to them just not available on the website valley so the valley little blue special edition 76 95 canadian that gets you a 17 foot log though that's quite a bit bigger than what you would expect for some of the other norwood what the mills and frontier sawmills so trailer cuts a 17 foot log you're looking at seventy six 95 canadian and finally timber king if you want a trailer in addition to the 12 20 some ill price jumps up you're at fourteen thousand two hundred and eight canadian that is nearly double the price of the valley so once again you guys will have to decide is the quality of the timber King is the features worth the extra dough as compared with something like this which is made by Valley okay now I couldn't get additional information for some of these manufacturers for this next row here therefore I'm just gonna provide you with what I found let's assume you wanted to get a trailer you wanted one additional bed extension you wanted the base engine electric start and auto lubrication well nor would the LM excuse me the MN twenty nine seventy two seventy Canadian almost a 17-foot log very similarly with the woodland mills HM 130 max you're looking at about seventy two hundred dollars Canadian so these two priced very similarly give you a trailer as well as a very similar log like that just under 17 feet jump up the log length a little bit more to 18 feet with the frontier OS 31 and a trailer you're at 75 hundred and change Canadian why is there no extensions for some of these well some of the manufacturers say reach out to them and discuss custom lengths some of the manufacturers just have a standard length meaning they sell one length only and if you want longer tube add others I just couldn't get the information and so if you want information on bed lengths other than what the standard length is reach out to these companies here cooks Hudson Valley timber King and wood-mizer and I'm sure you'll get the answers you need just to summarize here the overall bed lengths okay the overall bed likes some information I found there Norwood the MN twenty nine you're at 16 feet hm 130 max 13 feet 6 inches OS 31 14 feet the Hudson HFE 30 14 feet the valley 19 foot 5 inches and the timber King 20 feet okay some width so the width of the actual bed this was kind of hard to find this information but here's what I gathered woodland mills 37 inches 37 inches for the frontier I don't know about the other manufacturers blade length typically as the sawmill gets bigger the band wheels are further apart hence the band or the blade length is longer if we're looking at the norwood 144 inches woodland mills 158 inches frontier 144 wood-mizer 158 even bigger yet the hudson at 167 valley 157 and a half and timber king and cooks i have no idea the end wheels so the actual cast iron band wheels the ones that are holding the momentum as the blade turns they typically were right around 19 inches for all the manufacturers I couldn't find the information for Hudson Valley or timber King you guys will have to investigate that same thing with the drives most of these sawmills used a centrifugal clutch that's what transferred the power from the engine to be actual pulley and ultimately the band wheels I'm not sure about some of these manufacturers like woodland excuse me wood miser cooks valley hudson and timber King actually Hudson uses a centrifugal clutch but the other ones you guys can ask them yourself I'm pretty certain they would probably use a similar system but to be sure task bed length extensions I'm not going to go through all of this because it's here and available for you pause the video check it out read through it but bed length extensions are only available on some of these manufacturers others they have a standard length and if you want something different than a standard length some of them will customize the bed line you just have to reach out to them same thing here so some of these manufacturers offer extra accessories some offer more accessories than others as an example of what Mizer offers a huge amount of accessories whereas other companies do not some of those accessories I listed here like log loaders rollers Kant hooks things of that nature winches I listed all that here you guys can can check that out in my experience you need something to get the log onto the log bed if you don't have a piece of equipment like a tractor or forklift or something like that you will definitely need something like a series of ramps to roll your log up on to the bed width and that's why I listed it here as a common accessory replacement blade costs very similar across most of the manufacturers with the exception the Hudson Bay up their price to 337 but that gets you a box of 15 blades keep this in mind here 337 US 203 u.s. those are in u.s. dollars whereas these values here are in Canadian dollars okay so if you convert that I don't know what that's gonna be but it's certainly more than what you see there in Canadian dollars sawmill warranty is very important because we want our products to last we want our companies to stand behind them Norwood woodland Mills frontier and wood-mizer they are very similar with the exception frontier is one year less for the sawmill warranty Woodland Mills one year more for the engine warranty these are still very similar they're similar in comparison with timber King timber King they the 1220 model they stand behind it with a five year sawmill warranty that's pretty good in my books shipping wait you guys can see that here timber King is quite a bit heavier than some of the other brands now keep in mind it's probably because the standard length of these sawmills the timber King is longer hence the extra four hundred pounds lubrication tank so the tank that's going to hold your water or whatever else you're lubricating your blade with some of them didn't list the size of those tanks others did 13 for the woodland mills 12 for the frontier 18 litres for the wood-mizer 18 for Hudson and Valley I didn't do the conversion but it's seven gallons so that'll put us over the 18 litre mark returns very standard all across the board most of these manufacturers if listed said return your sawmill if you're unhappy in 30 days okay so just a recap here let's have another look at our portable sawmills we just compared here's one of the sawmills here this is the lumber mate the LM 29 by Norwood really big company the company stands behind their product based on their website this website has a lot of information on it in fact they're they're actually on sale as I speak but they have a lot of information on their website what they really want you to do however is to reach out to them to get some of the fine details on pricing the woodland mills the HM 130 max this portable sawmill just went through an overhaul they made some really good changes to this sawmill that I think makes it even better than the HM 130 model that I own and I encourage you guys to check out my video where I go over all of those hm 130 max features looking at the frontier the frontier is essentially a I would say it's a it's comparable in terms of its design to woodland mills however it has some features that I think may or may not be as good that's gonna be for you to decide as the woodland Mills frontier is sort of a subset of norwood sawmills so these are connected at the hip almost Norwood and frontier their website gave you some information but as I said before you got to contact them to get additional details wood-mizer this is a well known company the wood-mizer brand has a lot of I guess a lot of a lot of people behind it a lot of people who have used these sawmills all across the world for years and they have built that reputation for quality this is more expensive typically than the Norwood the Woodland Mills and the frontier you guys will have to investigate whether you think that additional cost is worth what you're getting in my opinion it looks like a great portable sawmill but I have not had a chance to use one so do your due diligence go and have a look at it once again wood-mizer seems to be one of those companies that want you to reach out to them contacting a dealer to get additional information including pricing it's not a lot of information upfront which is the case with Woodland Mills well the mills in contrast has most of their information upfront on their website pricing seems clear details are clear that's in contrast to wood-mizer the cooks portable sawmill this thing seems quite well built it has a great a great number of options available for it and although the price is more you guys can check out whether you think cooks with its added price is worth the money Hudson so this was a fairly new brand for me I hadn't heard of them and some of the reason I probably hadn't heard of them is this company is not that I would say not that well-known here in Canada at least in my experience here in Ontario and therefore I didn't actually know about them until one of you guys told me about them but on closer inspection there their model of portable sawmill seems very simplistic well-built and it seems like it'll do the job so this looks to be a good product you guys who have more experience with them I'd like to hear from you but check out their website once again they look to have you contact them to get additional details as opposed to having it on their website this brand here another one of you viewers out there mention this brand to me this brand as I mentioned made here in Quebec Canada it appears to be a very well built portable sawmill and I think if I would have if I would have had a chance to maybe go and try this out I would probably feel even stronger about this this sawmill because my first glimpse of it is that it looks to be very well built and very well thought out so check this one out that's the valley sawmill and the last one here this one I have seen around on various videos and some of you guys have even talked about it it's the timber King this thing seems built heavy duty it seems like the engine options will meet a variety of variety of needs for the for the users the only trouble for me here in Canada I'm not familiar with timber King dealers in my area so it would be a bit more difficult for me to get out and try one of these but if you live close to timber King dealers I would encourage you to check them out because they definitely look like they have they have some good things going especially with the the robust bed and the overall opening size of their I guess we'll call it the throat of their portable sawmill here so definitely a real cool thing there that they have going ok let's go back to the sawmill comparison what I did here at the bottom was I listed a few things that I liked and some things that I didn't like so right across the top here things that I liked about the Norwood sawmill you can add a lot of features to it toe boards lap siding functions or attachments log Turner's etc I also like the fact that the bed rails have wheels on it and they appear to be on the top as well as the two sides so the sawmill looks like it's gonna move smoothly on those bed rails things I don't like about the Norwood the LM 29 the Norwoods website in my opinion was a bit more difficult to navigate to figure out pricing it was difficult for me because I'm trying to compare portable sawmills in order to figure out what I want to buy but I can't get the price readily I don't like having a constant go back and forth with the dealer to get the price so I would prefer that to be front and center on the website things I like about the woodland mills sawmill the adjustable height controls the customer service is excellent and that's not just me saying it I've heard that from a variety of users as well cables are easily accessible for lubrication and I like the fact that the doors on this portable sawmill they swing open so this would swing like a door open towards you so you can have this portable sawmill at any height and access the blades other brands like the frontier this door here on the front actually folds upwards I'm not a big fan of that because that means you probably would have to have the portable sawmill up high or if it's down low you would have to crouch to get at the blades let's talk about the wood-mizer sawmill strong reputation I like that used by many professionals so wood miser has a great reputation for professional use I like that things I don't like I don't like having to request a quote to get accurate pricing that just sort of bogs down my motivation maybe you could say I'm lazy but it makes it more difficult for me to figure out what I'm going to what I'm gonna purchase if I have to dig for pricing cooks ok the cook sawmill so you know what we're talking about we're back here the MP 32 sawmill the cook sawmill what I like the solid beams and welded joints for structural stability there's nothing that's bolted together here it's a solid steel bed frame the 3/16 inch wall steel there's no thin steel anywhere so when we're talking here we're talking about these long rails here it's all welded nothing's bolted together 3/16 inch steel so definitely sounds like some heavy duty stuff I also like the package options they put together the package option I mentioned a minute ago that's where you can get like the trailer the sawmill you can get the log the log ramps the can hooks the blades etc I like how they package that all together for one price some other things I'm going to touch on here include things I like about the valley sawmill and that's this guy here the blue one so the Valley sawmill I like the automatic saw head positioning it uses a winch and a battery there is no hand cranking here so if we zoom in here let's see where we can see it right there there's the battery right where my mouse is let's see if we can zoom out here maybe yeah there we go so there's the battery right where my mouse is you can see the winch and that winch is connected to a cable system the cable system goes down and we'll pull the saw head up and down so that is a power saw head that is in direct contrast with many of the other manufacturers where you have some sort of crank system you can see it right there the woodland mills has a crank system as well as does the frontier okay in fact I think I think most of the other manufacturers do I can't remember about the wood-mizer here can't remember about this one you guys would have to check this might actually be a powered sawmill head you'd have to check that this one here though this one is definitely now that I say that yeah manual height adjustment that's right this one here you'd have to do some cranking okay and just trying to get you guys a better picture of that it's funny when I want to see it I can't see it I can't quite see it but this one as I was mentioning the valley sawmill having that powered lift is definitely a great option especially if you're cutting all day or maybe you're cutting for a job or even if you're maybe you struggle you have some sort of physical disability this would be a great thing for you okay what else we got here smart things I liked about the valley sawmill the auto blade loop system large seven gallon removable see that removable lubrication tank I like that it's easily removable you can take it with you fill it up especially if you don't have water near you take it back to your sawmill next time you're out cutting one integrated toe board allows you to compensate for the taper of a log without any effort right so if the log tends to Sag a bit you can you can make up for that okay one thing that's also on the valley website that you guys can check out they put together they put together a spreadsheet I don't know if I can find it today I can't find it off the top of my head but they actually put together a spreadsheet that compares all the different types of portable sawmills that are their competition in terms of their features cost etc etc you guys can check that out on the valley sawmill website another thing that's interesting if you live nearby you can get that Valley sawmill fully assembled so you pick it up and tow it away which is great okay the things I like about the timber King the massive clearance above the blade in that throat spot I mentioned I also like the fact that it has box beam construction the bed rails here our box beams steel that looks very robust and very strong okay I also as I mentioned like the space above the blade things I didn't like about the timber king crank handles for log dogs are way down low okay see right here just looking if we can get in any closer here right here see this handle right here to move the log dog away and closer to the log see how low it is that's gonna be a bit problematic especially for for people like me wear it it tends to get blowing snow blowing in close to my sawmill what ends up happening is this would be dragging in the snow otherwise I'd have to get this sawmill lift it up quite a bit so for me that is a bit of a bit of a deterrent but for you if you don't have snow and maybe you are putting this onto a trailer of sorts that wouldn't be an issue smart things about the timber King I couldn't find many of the prices for accessories log ramps winches extensions if available like I couldn't figure out that information on their website without having to contact them for additional details not a big fan of that is it the end of the world no so that that's just a heads up let's talk about the frontier here and just so you know what we're dealing with here's the frontier again ok so some of the things I liked about the frontier the design appears to be similar to the woodland Mills HM 130 max whether the quality is the same or not I'm not sure I have not used the frontier sawmills but I can tell you the woodland Mills is well built things I don't like about the frontier the band wheel cover as I mentioned folds upwards I also don't like the screw-type log dogs and it may be difficult for me to find it here let's see if we can zoom in it's funny it's actually on the other side but you'll just have to take my words for that but the the log dogs so the things that hold the log steady you actually have a screw type mechanism as opposed to maybe the wood that Mills will show it as opposed to the woodland mills the woodland mills right here their log dog you just push down on this lever and it puts pressure on the log screw type it's like a screw on a clamp my concern with that is if it gets wet and it rusts it might become stiff it could also freeze especially in a cold climate like I am here in Canada other things and last thing that I did not like about the frontier there didn't mention fenders the wasn't heavy mention defenders included with the trailer now does it include fenders if you buy a trailer for this frontier that would be something to ask them I'm sure if push came to shove you could find some at a local store but I would just like to see it mentioned as included in the price of a trailer okay if it is great but if it isn't make sure that's known I think that's it guys I think that's it for my comparison if you guys have any questions at all about any of the sawmills that we dealt with today please put it down below I would also like to hear from you if you have any experience with any of these portable sawmills especially some of them that I'm less familiar with as I mentioned before I have been a proud and happy owner of the woodland mills hm1 30 it has cut a lot of wood for me and it's definitely hopefully gonna last for a number of years to come if you guys have questions about that sawmill please check out my other videos or ask down below in the comment section as always guys I appreciate all your watching and make sure you come on back next time hopefully the snow will go away and we'll be back out there sawing lumber before long see you guys [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Sawing with Sandy

Views: 312,547

Keywords: vallee portable sawmill review, Woodmizer LT15 start review, hud-son portable sawmill review, timber king 1220 sawmill review, how to choose the right portable sawmill for you, best american made portable sawmill, hud-son vs woodmizer vs timber king sawmills, best entry level sawmill 2020, vallee sawmill little blue review, portable sawmill price comparison, Price Comparison of Top Portable Sawmills, comparing norwood woodland mills and frontier sawmills, buying a portable sawmill

Id: TEUrtJnBThU

Length: 39min 17sec (2357 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2020