Wow I didn't know they sold a sawmill. Cool. Those boards look pretty straight to me. I'm guessing the Woodmizer has power feed.
Be interesting to try to add that to the HF, maybe using a 12 volt winch you could run off your truck battery, then get stuck in the woods with a dead battery LOL (you'd want to bring a spare)
Good tips about the tire changer too.
I was actually thinking about that myself when I first bought it. But when I started using it I found that it pushed through the logs so effortlessly having power feed would really be an unnecessary overkill. It wouldn't be worth the trouble installing it. Plus after every cut you'd need to let the winch back out again to return to the beginning of the log. As it is now you just walk it back effortlessly. Power feed is simply a luxury that is truly unnecessary.
One place I have though about installing a power feed is on the winch that raises and lowers the blade assembly. But I've found that this isn't even really needed. The most cranking I need to do is when I'm done cutting a long and need to crank back to the top to start a new long. Again, it's not all that hard to do. When lowering the mill head for each long it basically just a couple cranks, and since you're lowering the head instead of lifting it is really easy to crank.
The other thing my cousin's Woodmizer has is a motorized blade guide adjuster so you can move the right-hand blade guide in and out with the push of a button. This HF mill doesn't have a movable right-hand blade guide. So you can't move the blade guide closer to the log as the boards get more narrow. But I haven't noticed any problem with this at all. The blade seems to cut nice and straight no matter what size lumber I'm cutting.
Caveat, it cuts' Spruce as wavy as a stormy sea. For some reason Spruce just doesn't want to cut flat. However, my cousin has this same problem cutting Spruce on his Woodmizer too. So this must just be a charcteristic of how Spruce cuts.
A couple more things I should mention about the sawmill:
It doesn't have live roller guides for the blades. The Blade guides are just dead blocks. Well, it does have a roller bearing behind the blade, but not roller guides top and bottom. In the beginning I was thinking of changing that, But thus far I haven't had a problem with the dead blocks. I keep an eye on them and keep them well cleaned and oiled. I haven't had to touch them since I bought it. I've had it for about 3 years now. So they seem to work ok.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the HF mill will only cut a log a little over 9 feet long maximum. I cut 8' - 6" long lumber almost exclusively. However, since the bed is just 4" angle iron the bed can actually be extended as long as you like. So I might extend the bed to 16' some day. It would just be a matter of making the extension. Unfortunately they don't sell extension rails for it. Although you could probably buy the original rails as replacement parts. I never looked into that. If you did that you would make it twice a long which would actually extend the cuttingly length another 9 feet plus about 4 more feet that is taken up by the mill on the original tracks. So you'd be able to cut logs up to 22 feet long at that point. Not sure why anyone would want such long lumber, but there you go.
If you wanted to make this mill portable just set it up on a flat bed trailer and there you go.
You could probably pick up a flat bed trailer for about $2000 and you've have a fully portable sawmill for about $4000.
Important Disclaimer:
Everything I've said about the HF mill makes sense to a hobbyist who's going to use this mill to make personal lumber. If a person is planning on going into business towing this mill around on a trailer cutting lumber commercially for a living, they may well be better off paying the $13000 extra to buy the Woodmizer. It's definitely going to be more durable, and easier to use running it 8 hours a day trying to make money.
I'm not saying that the HF sawmill is a direct replacement for a Woodmizer. But for a hobbyist, or homeowner who wants to save $13,000 and still be able to make decent usable lumber I strongly recommend it.
I have a woodworking business. I also have a lot of really nice trees on my property. So for me it's paid for itself already many times over. I have cut more Oak, Cherry, Maple, and Pine lumber than I could ever buy for $2000.
So whether or not it's worth it to someone can indeed depend on what they plan on using it for. If you buy a HF sawmill and think you are going to tow it around on a trailer as a full-time sawmill business, you may very well be disappointed. So intended use is indeed a consideration. Although it could certainly be used for the purpose in a pinch. But let's face it, you're going to need to be more mindful of it as it's not going to be as rugged and heavy-duty as a Woodmizer.
I'd go for the Woodmizer if I was starting a sawmill business. Which is what my cousin does. He makes his living cutting lumber on location with his Woodmizer. My HF sawmill sits in my backyard hoping that I'll need to cut up a log once in a while just so it can be used and not be so lonely.
But think of what a waste it would have been for me to have bought a Woodemizer just to let sit in my backyard most of the time!
But yeah, I don't think you can find a less expensive sawmill than the HF sawmill. If you buy one, take great care in setting it up originally. If you take the time to get it on a solid founation that is true and level, it will serve you well. It may even shift on you due to sinking of your foundation. So you need to keep an eye out for that. I always shim it up in the spring at various places to ensure that it's perfectly flat and level. That's just a matter of sliding a few shims under the tracks where it may have shifted over the winter, If you treat it like a precision machine it will act like one.
