philp REV 2/23/07 10:22 AM Page 10

SAWMILL REVIEW
“ Personal Experience”
BY J IM P HILP

The Wood-Mizer LT-15

A SMALL DOG ince Independent Sawmill & A Specialized Need
S
bi
Woodlot Management magazine The University of Maine School
began publication in the fall of of Forest Resources has a three-
WITH A 1997, I have written perhaps a week summer program that is
dozen sawmill reviews. All were mandatory for all forestry under-
based upon a day’s visit to a mill graduates. The course is an in-

BItE!
in operation and a rather inten- tensive hands-on exercise, where
sive interview with the owner/op- the students learn to operate a
erator. That, combined with variety of equipment, including
many years’ experience with chain saws, excavators, skidders,
sawmills, gave me a pretty fair other logging equipment, and,
There is more to choosing a overall impression of the mill and yes, sawmills.
sawmill than a mere listing enabled me to write articles that Since the course takes place
hopefully have been useful to on Mount Desert Island and on
of strengths and weaknesses. you, the reader. another island several miles out
This review is different be- in the Gulf of Maine, we needed
You need to consider the cause it is based upon six months a sawmill that was extremely
mill’s capabilities, limitations, of hands-on experience with a portable. Specifically, we needed
mill. During that time, I operated to be able to easily break it down
and operating characteristics the mill, moved the mill from into modules that could be
too—which leads to an ex- place to place, did the periodic loaded onto a lobster boat and
maintenance on the mill, and then be easily reassembled on
planation of how we estab- trained about 20 others to oper- the island.
ate and maintain it. This is an in- While it was obvious that one
lished a relationship with depth review and any strengths of the chain saw mills or one of
this little Wood-Mizer. (many) or weaknesses (a few) of the swing blade mills met the
the Wood-Mizer LT-15 sawmill portability requirement ad-
will be revealed. mirably, the faculty consensus

10 • Sawmill & Woodlot

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Moving the LT-15

was that we would prefer a mill with The LT-15, with three bed sections, can be
more nearly generic operating proce- transported on a full-sized pickup truck or an
dures. We wanted the skills that our 8-foot flatbed trailer (a double snowmobile
trailer is perfect). Here is how you do it.
students learned to be applicable Wood-Mizer recommends that the legs be
over as broad a range of sawmills as removed from the mill for transportation; I
practicable. Another consideration agree. Raise the saw head just enough to
clear the sides of the transporting vehicle and
was that a band mill was more appro- move the carriage to the back end of the mill
priate for the smaller size of the (the end where you finish a cut). Lock the
spruce trees on the island. carriage securely in position with the spring-
A review of the sawmills avail- loaded pin nearest to the end of the mill.
Detail of the LT-15 Trailer Kit. While two people lift the end of the mill op-
able, including ads and Shoot-Out posite the carriage, a pickup or trailer is
results in this magazine, along with ing the log and you provide all the backed under the elevated end. Then the car-
manufacturers’ specifications, con- energy for everything else. riage is unlocked and two people roll it up
firmed that the LT-15 would meet Note: A labeled drawing of the the bed frame to the end that is in the truck
and lock it into position with the spring-
our requirements. When Wood-Miz- sawmill, from the excellent opera- loaded pin that is nearest the end. The two
er agreed to lend us a mill for six tor’s manual, is reproduced here for people then lift the other end of the mill and
months, we were more than willing your convenience. Also, left and slide the mill forward into the truck.
to accept their offer. right designations are from the point If a third bed section is present, it is re-
moved (four bolts) and placed in the truck,
Note: Because of some logistical of view of the sawyer, standing at, on top of the bed sections that are already
problems, at the last minute, we and facing, the mill’s controls. loaded. After everything is secured to the
were not able to move the mill onto As delivered, the basic mill con- truck, and the saw head is in the lowest prac-
the offshore island, and had to stay sists of the sawhead, mounted on a tical position, you are ready to go. Unloading
is done in the reverse order.
on Mount Desert Island, which has carriage, and two 6-foot-8-inch-long
road access. Still, we are confident bed sections. This is long enough to If You Are Alone
that it is entirely feasible to take the saw 11-foot (3.3-meter) logs. Longer You may have noticed that the above proce-
dure requires three people—one to drive the
mill offshore; maybe next year. logs require the truck, and two to do the grunt work. Wood-
addition of bed Mizer has a cleverly designed trailer package
The Mill sections (as available that makes moving the LT-15 a one-
person proposition. We had one on our loan-
The Wood-Mizer LT-15 mill is a no- many as you er mill and I moved the mill single-handedly
frills manual band saw mill. The en- want). Three several times—with ease. I towed the mill all
gine provides all the energy for saw- sections are en- over Maine with a Ford Ranger pickup and
the biggest problem I had was forgetting that
it was back there.
Setting Up
With the mill parked in the place where you
want to set it up, unhook it from the towing
vehicle, unlock the carriage, raise the saw
head a few inches, move the carriage from
the transport position to the lowering posi-
tion, and again lock it in place. After remov-
ing the fenders and a safety bracket (one
locking pin for each item), the mill can be
lowered to the ground using the attached
ratcheting screw jack; the axle will pivot as
the mill lowers. After the mill is sitting on the
ground, the two wheel assemblies and the
ratcheting screw jack are removed (four lock-
ing pins).
If you will be operating the mill at ground
level, the axle can be left in place, lying flat
on the ground, and you will step over it until
a little sawdust builds up. If you will be oper-
ating the mill elevated above the ground, as I
do, the axle must be removed (two bolts) or
you will trip over it while sawing.
Once the mill has been leveled, using the
adjustable legs, which need not be removed
with the trailer package, you are ready to be-
gin sawing. The whole process requires less
than an hour.
Wood-Mizer’s drawing of the LT-15, from the operator’s manual.

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A SAWMILL REVIEW “ Personal Experience”

tirely adequate for 16- ty for the saw carriage.
foot (5-meter) logs. The The saw carriage consists of two
whole basic mill arrives vertical steel posts which are
on a single pallet and bridged at their tops by a horizontal
weighs only 944 pounds member. The left post is made of
(428 kilograms). larger (2 x 4 inch) steel box tubing.
The 6-foot-8-inch- As you will see below, it is larger be-
long bed sections are cause it is subjected to more stress.
made from 2 x 6 x At first glance, it appears that the
0.200 inch steel box saw head is supported by the two
tubing, with 11/2 posts of the carriage. It is in fact
x 51/2 x 0.200 supported—by a cantilevered
inch fabricated arrangement—entirely by the larger
steel-channel left post. The right post’s function is
cross members Above; The driven band wheel, show-
to provide stability for the left post.
that the logs rest ing the belt clutch and the blade brake. Wood-Mizer calls the design “semi-
upon. The cross Both saw-guide rollers are also visable. cantilevered.” Assigning the task of
members are supporting the stresses of cantilever-
Left: We liked edging with the boards
built with inte- clamped beside a four-sided cant. ing to the movable carriage allows
gral vertical the bed sections to be made of
stops to help hold square-sided the left bed rail, with the bolts pro- lighter materials. It’s what makes
cants during sawing. Each bed sec- viding adjustability. The saw car- the modular construction of the bed
tion contains two log side-supports riage rides on three ball-bearing possible.
that rotate into position. The log wheels (two on the left, one on the The saw head is fabricated
clamps ride on the cross members; right) atop the 2 x 6 members of the around a backbone of 2 x 3 inch
more about the clamps later. bed sections. Four additional ball- steel box tubing, which gains addi-
A 3/8 x 2 inch plated-steel guide bearing wheels, two on each side of tional rigidity from the welded steel
rail is bolted to the outboard side of the guide rail provide lateral stabili- wheel enclosure. The band wheels

12 • Sawmill & Woodlot

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from the common tangent between or a 10-hp Yanmar diesel engine.

the band wheels. The left saw guide The electric power option would
is fixed and the right guide is mov- seem to be ideally suited for perma-
able by a simple adjustment lever. nent installations where electricity is
The LT-15 uses standard Wood- available, and I would really like to
Mizer blades. We used the 1.25 x try one, but we opted for the diesel
0.045 x 158 x 10º (inch designations) engine. More about the engine later.
blades. I will comment more on the The engine is located on a mount
blades later. that is welded to the main tube of
The height of the saw above the the saw head. Power is transmitted
Lightweight fabricated 14 x 14 mill bed is variable between 1 inch (25 to the band wheel through a single
support timber.
millimeters) and 27 inches (68 cen- B-section V-belt. The manual clutch
are 19-inch (483-millimeter) V- timeters), and is adjusted by means is a simple roller that bears against
sheaves that use loosely fitted B-sec- of a simple hand crank that raises the the flat side of the belt when the
tion V-belts for tires. Both the driven saw head 4 inches (~10 centimeters) clutch lever is moved to the engaged
wheel and the idler wheel turn on per revolution. The effort required position. Disengaging the clutch ac-
twin sealed bearings that are fitted to raise the saw is substantially re- tivates a braking mechanism that will
into the hubs of the wheels. duced by a pair of enclosed gas stop the blade within five seconds.
Saw tension is adjusted by a sim- cylinders that maintain an upward Feeding, and returning the car-
ple T-handled turn bolt that com- force on the saw head, effectively re- riage on the LT-15 is, of course, done
presses a rubber “spring” that should ducing its perceived weight. manually. You can choose between
prove more durable than a coil There are four power options for using a push/pull handle or a hand
spring. Saw tracking is adjusted by a the LT-15. For gasoline power, crank that works upon a 3/8-inch ny-
single captive bolt that regulates the Kohler engines in either 13 or 15 lon rope that is secured at both ends
cant of the idler wheel. The saw is horsepower (9.7 or 11.2 kW) are of the bed. I found myself using the
guided by two flanged rollers that available. You can also choose a 10- crank for feeding (it has a good feel
position the blade with a 1/4-inch (6- hp (7.5-kW) electric motor, in either to it), and the handle for returning,
millimeter) downward deflection single- or three-phase configuration, the carriage.

March 2007 • 13

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A SAWMILL REVIEW “ Personal Experience”

makes for easy log loading, of the mill when setting up—proba-
but it also means that you bly because of the increased bearing
need to bend over to pick area in contact with the ground. We
up every slab, board, or did notice a tendency for the mill to
edging that shift upon the wooden supports, but
you make. It a lag bolt into the wood through
only required each adjusting foot cured the prob-
sawing about lem. Loading logs with the mill ele-
two logs for vated became more labor intensive,
me to decide but we always had enough help—
that I was and peavies—available to do the job
working too easily and safely.
Above: A view of all the operating con-
trols, and the Yanmar diesel engine. hard picking Before loading a log, it is impor-
Notice the yellow bottomed inch-scale and the incremental things up. tant to rotate at least two of the side
hand-cranked setworks. The auxiliary water valve that we in- The solution, supports to their vertical positions to
stalled is just to the left of the decal on the engine’s fuel tank. of course, was avoid rolling the log off the mill. I’m
Inset: The incremental set sprocket enhanced with inch num-
bers and red index lines. Both scales are indicating six inches. to elevate the happy to report that in six months of
mill. After running the mill, we remembered to
By now, you’ve probably had some trial and error, we settled upon do this every single time. After the
enough about the specifications and 14 inches as being an acceptable log is loaded, it can be rolled in place
descriptions; I know that I have. height increase and we built some against the side support to position it
Let’s move along. lightweight, portable 14 x 14’s for for sawing. If you want to raise one
the mill to rest upon (see photo- end of a tapered log, it is simply lev-
Comments, Observations graph). ered up and a shim of appropriate
and Opinions Four of the fabricated timbers thickness is placed between a bed
The Wood-Mizer LT-15 sawmill is proved to be more than adequate to cross member and the log. After ad-
designed to be operated while sitting support the mill. An additional, un- justing the height of the side sup-
directly upon the ground. This expected benefit was easier leveling ports, the log is clamped in place.

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14 • Sawmill & Woodlot

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philp REV 2/23/07 10:38 AM Page 15

Two clamps are supplied with the The clamps are mounted on bed about the clamps, but I’m going to.
mill; three would be better, and I cross members, where they slide hori- Because of the close clearance be-
would prefer four. That’s not to say zontally for positioning. The “post” tween the bed rail and the clamp,
that you would use more than two at portion of the clamp is easily ad- the clamps are difficult to move.
one time very often—the extras justable for height by way of a spring- Once set, they can be very hard to
would just give more flexibility in log release, sometimes requiring some
positioning and accommodate the oc- Close-up of the impact from a mallet, etc. After a
casional weirdly shaped log. LT-15 log clamp. couple of months, the clamps be-
Turning the
black handle to
came easier to move, but they started
the right cams twisting enough, that when the cam
the sharpened was rotated, they sometimes slid un-
clamp into the der the edge of a cant, raising one
log.
edge about 1/4 inch. This, of course,
would lead to miscut lumber if you
loaded lock. When the failed to notice the condition. It also
post is at the proper required attention when edging.
height, the clamp is slid On the positive side, the clamps
into position and a hand are extremely effective at holding a
lever cams the post into log in position for sawing. We never
the log, providing very had a log move once it was clamped.
positive support. The Still, the clamp design needs to be
clamps work by binding tweaked. OK, enough whining—on
upon the bed rail, a de- to the good stuff.
sign that requires rather The setworks used to position the
close tolerances. saw are one of the most positive and
Wood-Mizer got so easy-to-use that I’ve seen on any
Benton taking the last cut before turning the log. much right on this mill mill. It is a roller chain driven by a
A slightly slower feed was required with a cut this wide. that I hate to complain hand crank. The outstanding feature

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March 2007 • 15

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A SAWMILL REVIEW “ Personal Experience”

is the indexing device, which is
nothing more than a spring-loaded
pin on the crank handle that engages
a large roller chain sprocket. The
beauty is in the engineering. Each
turn of the crank moves the saw
head exactly 4 inches. Wood-Mizer
chose a 64-tooth sprocket, so there is
a positive stop at 1/16-inch intervals.
This is very convenient for those of
us sawing in inches—USA and Cana-
da (depending upon markets).
Once the indexing sprocket is ad-
justed, it is easy to set the
saw in 1/16-inch increments.
There is a decal applied to
the sprocket that has index
marks, but no numbers. The
intention was clearly that the Sawing a spruce log on the LT-15. His right hand is cranking the feed
works. At right: A view of the blade tensioner (red rubber block with
sawyer would use the inch- silver washer) and the blade tracking adjustment bolt. Notice Wood-
scale, located on the left car- Mizer’s toll-free number posted right on the machine.
riage mast, for coarse adjust-
ment, and the indexing pin for the looked back. One-inch boards were the blade. Yes, we had very clean
final adjustment. We took the con- consistently within tolerances for the logs—they were not skidded, but
cept a step further and added num- nominal dimension. were brought out of the woods on a
bers to the sprocket (see photo- This seems like a good time to ad- forwarder.
graph) and only used the inch scale dress the blades. The 1.25 x 0.045 x I cannot comment on how the
to locate the saw, within 4 inches, for 158 x 10º Wood-Mizer blades were blades work in frozen timber. We
the initial set. After that we relied very well suited for everything that we never had any cold weather; indeed,
entirely on the sprocket scale. sawed with them—I cannot say ideally we still haven’t and it is mid-January.
The inch scale has one very nice suited because it was the only blade I really liked the 10-hp Yanmar
feature. The scale is silver in color, we tried. We sawed white pine, hem- diesel engine. It has more than
except for the bottom 10-inch sec- lock, inland spruce, coastal spruce, enough torque, and we could not
tion, which is yellow. When you are and various hardwoods (mostly maple cause it to lug—when the blade was
sawing in the yellow zone, it is possi- and birch). We had no problems. sharp—on the size logs that we were
ble to hit something other than Let’s talk about the coastal sawing—up to about 20 inches. One
wood—a clamp or a side support. spruce. This is notoriously hard to enormous old hemlock did make us
This is a good reminder to pay atten- saw and when I want to test a band slow the feed, but just a bit. Best of
tion to the side supports and to the saw blade, I look for some coastal all is that the fuel consumption rate
clamps. spruce. Quite often the saw will try is only 0.2 gallon per hour. A tankful
Since the setworks are incremen- to dodge the hard, encased knots. lasts about seven hours.
tal, you need to adjust your sawing Once the saw deviates, it often does Although the engine can be start-
technique accordingly. The kerf of not recover properly and begins to ed manually (I had each student
the saws that we were using is 0.089 produce a wavy cut. Problems may start it once with the struggle string
inch, a bit less than 3/32 inch. If you occur with a fresh blade, but you can just to prove that it’s possible), the
call the kerf 1/16 inch, a real tempta- usually expect them to increase as electric starter is very welcome. The
tion, you will saw boards that are the blade dulls. engine always started very easily. I
theoretically 0.026-inch scant. If you We had no problems sawing the would like to tell you how it starts in
call the kerf 1/8 inch, you will saw coastal spruce—none whatsoever— winter, but we haven’t had any.
0.036-inch oversize. and we sawed a lot of it. When a Like most diesel engines, this one
After just a little experience with blade began to dull, we would hear can run backwards; it happened
the mill/blade combination, I conclud- the difference in the engine and in twice for us. The first time, we did-
ed that the accuracy and the repeata- the sound of the saw before the n’t know what was going on until we
bility allowed me to consider the kerf blade began to misbehave. We typi- tried engaging the clutch and saw
1/16 inch. I yielded to temptation, cally sawed 2,000 to 3,000 feet of the blade going the wrong direction.
called the kerf 1/16 inch, and never spruce before we needed to change The second time, we recognized the

16 • Sawmill & Woodlot

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philp REV 2/23/07 10:39 AM Page 17

unusual sound of the engine in re- cation. The water tank is a five-gal- was a bit of an annoyance in that it
verse immediately. lon, removable jug inconveniently would not stay put. It always wanted
As much as I like the engine, I located atop the right hand mast. to creep toward the log until it made
have a complaint: There is no good The sawyer cannot reach the tank contact, sometimes stopping the
way to turn it off. If you turn off the valve from the operating position, feed. I finally started sawing with
fuel (the recommended procedure), with the result that the water runs my right hand on the positioning
it will stop after about three minutes constantly once it is turned on. This lever making constant adjustments
of the most profound sputtering, uses a lot of water, especially on an while sawing. When I think about it,
false stopping, and immediate island where there isn’t any, except I have to conclude that that’s the
restarting imaginable. You can kill it saltwater. proper way to operate it anyway—
with the compression release (rec- We extended the water supply keep the guide as close to the log as
ommended for emergencies only), tube to the sawyer’s position, locat- possible.
but the release is almost unreach- ed a second valve there, and routed Wood-Mizer claims a production
able from the operator’s position. the tube back to the movable saw rate of 75 to 125 board feet per hour
Actually it’s on the other side of the guide. Then we used the for the LT-15. I had
engine—just where you don’t want valve on the tank as a flow two students, both
to be in case of an emergency. control and the sawyer possessed of excep-
I discovered that you can stop it turned the water off when- tional mechanical apti-
immediately by forcing the throttle ever not in a cut. That re- tude, who sawed a lit-
closed, against the governor’s resis- duced the water consump- tle over 1,000 BF in
tance, but this is neither easy nor tion from more than 10 gal- slightly over 31/2 hours
easy to get to. I had a hard time ex- lons per day to less than (about 285 BF per
plaining the task to the students. three. You can see our extra hour), after only two
This engine needs a stop handle! valve in one of the pho- hours of introductory
The LT-15 uses a water/detergent tographs. The author fidgeting with instruction. Even the
solution for blade cleaning and lubri- The moveable saw guide the (stopped) blade. most reserved of my

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March 2007 • 17

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A SAWMILL REVIEW “ Personal Experience”

students were able to saw over 125 ceived a safety, setup, operation, and
BF per hour. Note: Wood-Mizer’s maintenance manual; a parts manu- In Summary
production estimates were probably al; an engine manual; a blade hand- The Wood-Mizer LT-15 is a small,
based on a single operator, while our book; a trailer manual; and a general very portable, manual band saw mill.
students were working two-at-a- information book—all neatly assem- We found it to saw very accurately
time as a team. Still, they did quite bled in a three-ring binder. Wood- and it was easy and intuitive to oper-
well for novice sawyers. Mizer also gives the customer an ate. The setworks are outstanding
I noticed that the students were 800 telephone number—and it is and exhibit excellent repeatability.
much more comfortable with the posted prominently right on the While we were not entirely satisfied
LT-15 than previous classes had mill. If you have a problem, they with the log clamps, they were very
been with borrowed hydraulic mills. want you to call them. positive and never lost their grip on
With a manual mill nothing happens The LT-15 is easily maintained. the log. The LT-15 is not designed as
until you physically make it happen; Daily maintenance consists of set- a production mill, but we found that
you cannot accidentally push the ting the saw tension, checking the it will consistently outproduce the
wrong button with possible cata- engine oil, confirming alignment, manufacturer’s published estimates.
strophic results. This may be a con- and filling the water jug and the fuel All in all the LT-15 did every-
sideration for anyone pondering a tank. All of the bearings are sealed thing we asked of it, without any
first-time mill purchase. and require no lubrication. There fuss or bother. If you are looking for
We did all of our edging on the are a few lubrication points that a small portable mill, be sure that
sawmill, saving unedged boards on must be attended on a periodic basis you consider this one. ■
the log-loading ramps. While it is (roller chains, saw tensioning screw,
entirely possible to edge the boards and the screw jack on the trailer). Jim Philp is an extension wood technology
between the side supports and the Other maintenance consists of a reg- specialist at the University of Maine,
log clamps, we found it easier and ular inspection of components to where he also teaches sawmilling and
more accurate to clamp the boards confirm proper adjustment and wood machining. In a previous career he
against a four-sided cant. alignment. Everything is clearly ex- managed and operated a commercial
Wood-Mizer supplies complete plained in the manual. hardwood sawmill.
documentation with its mills. We re-

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VLYH FXWWHU VKDIW • Grind up to 50 teeth
GHVLJQ SUR TREX per minute
GXFHV XQLIRUP SAW CHAIN • Fast, cool grinding
of 3/8 to 3/4 chain
VKDYLQJV QRW SHARPENER • Accurate depth
WKLFN WKLQ gauge grinding
DQG VKDYHV ➥
ZRRG LQ ERWK
GLUHFWLRQV 3RU
WDEOH RU VWDWLRQ
DINASAW • 100 teeth per
minute
DU\ XQLWV DUH BANDSAW • Fast and accurate
DYDLODEOH µ 0LOO  \GV RI VKDYLQJV SHU KRXU SETTER • Light and efficient

DINASAW •• Sharpens
2 models available
blades
BANDSAW from 1/2˝ to 1-1/4˝
 6FKRRO +RXVH 5RDG SHARPENER • Manual
tooth spacings

➥
Sharpener
&KHVKLUH &7  can be upgraded to an
 Automatic sharpener
within 20 minutes.

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VDOHV#VDOVFRFRP 1-800-267-7297
µ 0LOO  \GV RI VKDYLQJV SHU KRXU ZZZVDOVFRFRP www.westernwoodlot.com
18 • Sawmill & Woodlot

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