I've had it in my shop for a few months now, and the Hud-Son HFE 21 bandsaw mill is a real performer, but I wanted to report on my initial experiences receiving and setting up the saw. When the tractor-trailer driver called to let me know that my Hud-Son HFE 21 was minutes away, I jumped in my pickup to meet it at our off site storage facility, which comes equipped with a forklift and a certified operator. Within minutes we had the 500 pound pallet transferred to the back of my truck and I was headed south to the farm. Unloading the pallet from my pickup was as easy as attaching forks to our tractor-mounted loader and conveying it to the shop. If you don't have the means to lift a 500 pound pallet, no problem because the individual pieces to the Homesteader saw are not so unwieldy that you and a buddy or two can't get them from the bed of the truck to the ground safely.

Once I had the pallet in the shop, I went about putting the Hud-Son HFE 21 saw together. The first step was to grab the manual from its conveniently located storage tube and then I proceeded to identify all the parts and unpack them from the pallet. The next step was to locate a nice level spot in my shop where I could set up the sawmill's track. My Hud-Son came with a bolt together track system -- it took me about an hour to get it all together the right way with the rails parallel, but I am pretty meticulous when it comes to squaring things up or getting them plumb.

The next step was to mount the saw and carriage to the track. I managed to do this alone, but it would have been a little easier with a partner. When rolling the saw back and forth on the track, I noticed that a couple of joints between rails were a little wider than they should be. So I loosened a few bolts and tapped things closer with a hammer. Getting it all square again was a breeze with the saw already on the track and within no time I was ready to install the blade. After removing a couple of guards and releasing tension from the drive wheel, I was able to slip the blade into place and position the blade guides as outlined in the manual. I torqued the tension nut to the specified amount, reattached the guards and went to work on the engine. My saw is equipped with the 6.5 horsepower gasoline engine. I checked the crankcase oil and to my delight found that it was clean and full. Next I filled the tank with unleaded regular and fired it up. Modern small engines are so easy to start.

Next I added a very dilute soap solution to the blade cooling tank and operated the valve to be sure I understood how it worked. I just happened to have a nice American Black Walnut log in the shop -- it was 20-inches in diameter at its butt end. The HFE 21 is equipped to saw logs up to 21-inches in diameter. I rolled the log onto the track and pinned it in place with the log dogs that were included as part of the kit. I checked and rechecked and then just went for it. I adjusted the depth of my first cut, fired up the engine, turned on the cooling water and adjusted the throttle to full-speed, which engaged the centrifugal clutch. Wow, I was sawing.

The first couple of passes, I just cut flitches off the log but then rotated it so that I'd have at least one fairly straight edge to plane true before ripping the planks into dimensioned boards. I was astonished at how easy it was to create stock anywhere from 1/2 inch thick to several inches thick with the Hud-Son Homesteader. I was also astonished that I was so easily able to convert several pine and walnut logs into usable lumber that  very first day, especially considering that I have never milled wood with a bandsaw mill before. And when I was finished for the weekend, I was able to move the entire setup to the side so I could park the tractor indoors. For those of you wondering why I didn't asphyxiate, my shop building is voluminous with full-height doors on two sides that make it quite airy inside.

I've used some of the lumber created with the Hud-Son mill to finish some furniture projects and will stockpile more from the standing dead pine trees to frame and side the new pig shed we plan to build this spring. Stay tuned.

Ever since my boat building days I've wanted to mill my own lumber from trees on hand but I could never quite justify the expense, until recently that is. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Granberg Small Alaskan Chainsaw Mill with slabbing bars, a new 20-inch bar and ripping chains from Bailey's Outdoor Power Equipment  (for my trusty Husqvarna 357XP saw). I finally got to put the tool to use last Sunday after felling a 20-inch-diameter pine that died two summers ago. Since I promised to build my Partner In Culinary Crime a new kitchen island as part of our kitchen makeover, I wanted to make it special by using as many of the natural resources this farm has to offer as possible. So the island's framing and panels will utilize the pine and the top will give me a reason to mill some lovely American Black Walnut logs that I scavenged from trees we dozed off the pond dams.

Once everything was assembled, the first part of my chainsaw milling adventure involved felling the big old pine tree. Luckily it was growing on the edge of the pine grove so I set it down in the open and avoided damaging an adjacent oak tree -- a wedge, driven into the back cut helped put the tree right where it needed to go. There were so many branches on the tree that the trunk was held off the ground. Since I needed material that was 6 feet long or shorter, I cut a 7-foot log off the butt end and rolled it into the open.

Making the first cut with the Alaskan chainsaw mill is pretty straightforward once, you place and level the slabbing bars. This handy device makes it easy to get a nice flat and true first cut and makes it easy to cut down a log that's a bit wider than the chainsaw's bar.

Making the first cut was a breeze with the slabbing bars installed. I cut this slab thicker than normal because I want to use it to make a shaving horse. Note that after sawing a couple of feet, I installed a wedge into the end of the cut to keep the slab's weight from pinching the saw and causing it to bind.

The saw's blade was just a tad short on the butt end of the log, so I removed that first slab hinge-like and trimmed down the slight ridge left on the cut surface's edge. The next step was to roll and brace the log 90 degrees to prepare for removing the second slab and in the process, I also managed to strip most of the bark.

After repositioning the slabbing bars 90 degrees to the first cut, I cut a much thinner slab and proceeded to slice the log into several 4-inch-thick and 2-inch-thick pieces that I will resaw and plane into 3.75-inch square cross section legs and 1.75-inch thick framing boards. I will cut the paneling from another section of the pine tree.

The money cuts created these timber-sized planks and many more thinner boards. the Alaskan mill worked flawlessly and the Husqvarna 357XP powerhead was able to drive the ripping chain no problem. It took about 4 - 6 minutes to make the widest cuts at 7-feet long. You certainly won't go into the lumber milling business with this setup, but you surely will be willing and able to saw logs that you wouldn't even think of dragging off to the mill. That and the fact that you can easily bring the Alaskan chainsaw mill to the logs instead of having to grub them out of the bush makes the tool indispensable for me. As the kitchen project progresses, I will have many more opportunities to put my latest purchase through its paces. Stay Tuned.

Photos courtesy Karen Keb.