How to Saw Logs With a Bandsaw Mill. With today's highly specialized machinery, turning logs into building materials can be fast and efficient. The bandsaw mill uses a rotating blade pushed horizontally across long pieces of wood, like logs, to create wood building materials. With the right technique, you can saw logs with a bandsaw mill in a few...

With today's highly specialized machinery, turning logs into building materials can be fast and efficient. The bandsaw mill uses a rotating blade pushed horizontally across long pieces of wood, like logs, to create wood building materials. With the right technique, you can saw logs with a bandsaw mill in a few steps.

Things You'll Need

Bandsaw mill

Log

Setting Up

Set up the bandsaw mill track. Different bandsaw mill manufacturers have their own track designs, but they all offer a surface on which to attach the wood and pass the bandsaw over.

Place the bandsaw on the mill track at the far end so the cutting edge of the bandsaw is facing toward the opposite end. Make sure any wheel brakes are applied while placing the wood and adjusting it in the mill.

Set the log in the mill and secure it in place with the built-in vices.

Check the fuel level of the bandsaw. If it requires more fuel, fill the fuel tank. Do not overfill.

Removing the Bark

Adjust the cutting height of the bandsaw blade and secure it in place. The first cut should remove the bark so the the bare surface of the wood is the desired width of the finished boards.

Start the bandsaw mill. Keep your arms and legs away from the blade, engine and any moving parts during sawing.

Unlock any wheel brakes on the bandsaw mill, grip the push handles and push the bandsaw forward on the mill track. Push slowly and evenly for clean, even cuts. The bandsaw blade should be approximately on the center line of the two band wheels during operation. If the blade is bending behind the center line of the two band wheels, you are pushing too fast. Continue pushing until the log is sawed through.

Turn off the bandsaw mill.

Unscrew the vices securing the log in place.

Rotate the log 180 degrees so it is resting in the mill on its newly cut surface.

Secure the log in place by tightening the built-in vices on the mill.

Adjust the height of the bandsaw blade and secure the height adjuster in place.

Start the bandsaw mill.

Push the bandsaw mill through the log until the log is sawed through.

Saw the bark off the remaining two sides in the same fashion.

Sawing boards

Set the height of the bandsaw blade for the desired thickness of the boards and secure it in place.

Turn on the bandsaw mill.

Push the bandsaw forward through the log until the log is sawed through.