# Sequoia Sawmill??



## Josh Hobdey

Howdy, 

Has anyone on here had hands on experience with Sequoia sawmills? They look like they are nice with the four post support and cheaper than Woodmizer. 

Thanks
Josh


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## justallan

Josh, although I don't have any personal experience with them, I've read a little about them and their customers like them.
The one and only complaint that I've heard was 100% the customers fault in being over eager to get it home, changing his mind on what he wanted and using two email addresses trying to comunicate with them.
My opinion is that if you don't require someone to hold your hand that they could be great folks to work with. I'm not positive, but I think they are a mom & pop operation which could work to your advantage if you wanted to build your own tracks and save money and shipping costs.
AGAIN, I have no personal knowledge of them and am only forming my opinions on what I have read.
I will highly suggest with whatever you buy to spend the time and miles and go to take a look at what you feel you want and try to spend a half a day or more working with one if at all possible.
Take a look at EZ Boardwalk mills. Same thing and a great price. I love mine and it's friggin bulletproof.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## David Van Asperen

In the event you do need repairs for the EZ Boardwalk they are available locally not some special order parts.
Dave

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin

I bet if you lined up the 100 or so mom & pop manufactured mills there wouldn't be a dime's worth of difference in the quality. I've never heard of any single such company get bad reviews. Not saying it hasn't happened but I'm not aware of any. Many have gone bankrupt or closed their doors for retirement etc. because vitually none of them have a life beyond the guy who makes them on the side or during retirement so if longevity is a consideration (you being very young and all lol) you need to factor that in.

The good news is, as mentioned, all of these homemade mills are made almost entirely of universal parts which are stocked at your local hardware store. I know this doesn't help specifically with this particular mill, but I bet dollars to donuts it's well made. I would avoid any manufacturer that uses trailer tires as bandwheels and do not buy an underpowered model. An 8 HP engine is just not enough torque to mill logs IMO unless you only mill one occasionally.

One thing is almost certain - it is a 4 post mill and it will turn logs into lumber. Try not to think of the initial cost as much as you do what features you are getting, then amoratize the cost out over a few years. If you can afford a larger outlay use it wisely. My super hydraulic sawmill did not cost me more money over the past 10 years than the guy who bought a small manual mill those same 10 hears ago, mine cost me a WHOLE lot less than his has cost him over the past 10 and probably even 5 years or less.

If you plan to mill much volume but only have entry-level money, start out with a plan to upgrade as soon as possible. I started with a manual mill and realized almost right away I was losing so much time and money with it I decided to upgrade and although I don't depend on volume, there are times when I still mill 40 or 50 cedar logs that I can't imagine how many days it would take with a manual mill. Big maple logs in any numbers more than a few a week are going to kick your ass on a manual mill even if you have all the right support equipment.

Have we discussed support equipment?.....

Reactions: Agree 3 | Great Post 1 | Useful 1


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## David Van Asperen

Considering support equipment, if you have the equipment great but if not you may want to consider a mill that has it's frame at or near ground level. Much easier to get a log up 6 inches verses 1 1/2 to 2 feet

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Josh Hobdey

It is looking like the mill I get will be a backup. I have a sawyer that I have used for a few years and until just recently he has been very dependable. However recently he had really suspicious excuses to not mill on certain days and that hurts when you have a small pile of quilted maple logs sitting there in the desert sun. 

On the topic of support equipment, I was thinking of pricing out an offroad pallet jack. They use them out here in the hops fields. Thoughts?


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## Mike1950

Kevin said:


> I bet if you lined up the 100 or so mom & pop manufactured mills there wouldn't be a dime's worth of difference in the quality. I've never heard of any single such company get bad reviews. Not saying it hasn't happened but I'm not aware of any. Many have gone bankrupt or closed their doors for retirement etc. because vitually none of them have a life beyond the guy who makes them on the side or during retirement so if longevity is a consideration (you being very young and all lol) you need to factor that in.
> 
> The good news is, as mentioned, all of these homemade mills are made almost entirely of universal parts which are stocked at your local hardware store. I know this doesn't help specifically with this particular mill, but I bet dollars to donuts it's well made. I would avoid any manufacturer that uses trailer tires as bandwheels and do not buy an underpowered model. An 8 HP engine is just not enough torque to mill logs IMO unless you only mill one occasionally.
> 
> One thing is almost certain - it is a 4 post mill and it will turn logs into lumber. Try not to think of the initial cost as much as you do what features you are getting, then amoratize the cost out over a few years. If you can afford a larger outlay use it wisely. My super hydraulic sawmill did not cost me more money over the past 10 years than the guy who bought a small manual mill those same 10 hears ago, mine cost me a WHOLE lot less than his has cost him over the past 10 and probably even 5 years or less.
> 
> If you plan to mill much volume but only have entry-level money, start out with a plan to upgrade as soon as possible. I started with a manual mill and realized almost right away I was losing so much time and money with it I decided to upgrade and although I don't depend on volume, there are times when I still mill 40 or 50 cedar logs that I can't imagine how many days it would take with a manual mill. Big maple logs in any numbers more than a few a week are going to kick your ass on a manual mill even if you have all the right support equipment.
> 
> Have we discussed support equipment?.....



Not a mill owner but my friend has an LT35- couple yrs old- Kevin is right- the hydraulic features save your back and lots of time..........


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## Alex Beck

I purchased a Sequoia 130 sawmill when I first got into sawyering, I will include a detailed review, I have a fabrication and machine shop so I have some insight into the technical aspects and details behind this sawmill. I'll start off by mentioning the positive attributes of this sawmill. 

POSITIVE

1. Sequoia sawmill uses V-rollers on the ways that the head rig travels on. This gives it more surface area and lateral stability when you are milling and the angle iron is also less likely to be damaged or deformed when you put a log onto the mill.

2. Price, the sawmill are very affordable, around $5k. 

3. Stainless vertical travel rails for elevation adjustment, when you adjust the elevation of the cut, the tube steel travels on stainless tube steel guide rails. If mild steel were used, a small amount of corrosion would make the head bind and rack and adjusting the elevation would be difficult. 

NEGATIVE

1. Excessive Deflection under load, the bed is supported by 4in C-channel and includes 4 jacks on the corners for leveling. I asked Neil how much deflection I could expect on large logs, he claimed it was negligible. On larger oak logs, I was measuring about 5/16in of deflection. I ended up fabricating 6 jacks to support the carriage and this solved the issue.

2. Pillow block bearing are cheap Chinese make and inherently weak. The first 5 hours of milling resulted in 1 of the large pillow block bearings on the shaft of the band wheel cracking. Neil uses 1 & 7/16 which is an odd size as well. I called him and he sent 2 replacements, knowing that it likely would happen again. Also, there are grade 3 washers between the bolt and the square tubing that move in a slot to allow for alignment of the band wheel. The 3/8 bolt is tightened down, when the alignment is correct, to hold the band wheel in place. Unfortunately, the washer will deform over time and the band wheel will lose proper alignment. I fixed this by using (3) grade 8 washers which stop them from deforming and allowed the mill to hold alignment.

3. Through bolts in the pillow block bearing (movable side) are constantly being deformed. When you tension the blade it puts shear force from the square stock onto the 3/8 bolts that hold the pillow block bearing onto the tubing. This is the most serious flaw in the design of the sawmill. I have replaced several sets of through bolts as they became deformed, when this occurs the band wheel will not track properly and the cut will rise or dive and the blade will be thrown off the band wheel. Neil suggested that I rebuild the mill ever 10 hours as the bolts become deformed but this is obviously not very practical. To solve this problem he could have use a heavy linear bearing to take some of the load of the through bolts or he could have gone to 1/2in through bolts and a larger pillow block bearing. 

4. Dogs are under built and easily bent.
Dogs are made from heavy 1/4in wall 2x2 tube steel but pivot on a 3/8 bolt which gets bent immediately when loading a large log. When the bolt is bent, the dog will allow the log to protrude into the travel area for the head rig and you will not be able to clear the log. Using a 5/8 or 3/4in grade 8 bolt would have prevented this but Neil uses 3/8 grade 3 hardware for most of the components on this mill. The cheap grade 3 bolts also strip out fairly frequently and have to be constantly replaced. 

5. Adjustable blade guide goes out of square due to the cantilevered design. 
The movable blade guide is supported on the exterior post of the head rig, its an entirely cantilevered design that's inherently weak and gets bent after using the mill in large hardwood logs. On some of the larger mills that Sequoia offers, they have an auxiliary vertical support that runs in conjunction from an overhead position. Also there is a fair amount of slop between the square tubing male & female on the square tubing so you will notice when you tighten the set screw down to secure the movable guide bearing that it will move 3-5 degrees. It will occasionally have to heated up and bent back to square when it gets to far out. 

6. Blade tension is inconsistent. 
Blade tension is set by turning a piece of all-thread on a handle to a notch marked in the steel. As the blade stretches with use you may have to adjust it past the pre-set notch. Also, I have had to rebuild the sawmill at least 4 or 5 times and each time requires me to bring the band wheels back into alignment which will change the relative position of where the blade needs to be tensioned. Also, the design of this mill does not allow for much tension due to the shear force acting on the 3/8 bolts that hold the pillow block bearings in place and the 1/8in of slop/play between the tube steel frames. I eventually made a copper shim and pressed it between the tube steel to make the sawmill deflect less during tensioning the blade. 

7. Log clamps are inadequate and very light duty. 
The original log clamps were made from 1/2 all thread or something similar, they lacked the power to push the log against the log to properly secure it. Also the arm that pivots was made from thin wall 5/8 or 3/4in tubing and would flex under load. I removed the original clamps and fabricated some heavy duty clamps from 2in heavy walled square tubing and coarse acme thread. This solved the problem. 

8. Thin walled tubing and cheap grade 3 bolts/washers/nuts.
Most of the nuts, washers, bolts had to be replaced with grade 8 as they kept stripping. Some of the steel is only 1/8in thick and is threaded with a tap which strips quickly. Nuts must be welded onto the steel to allow for adjustment of the bearings without stripping the thin walled steel. 

Overall, owning and running this sawmill has a huge learning experience, it taught me a lot about diagnosing issues/ problems and engineering a new fix to get back up and running. When I purchased the sawmill, Neil claimed it could mill about a 28in hardwood log. Even with every modification I made to the machine, the sawmill could never handle anything over 24in and cut accurately. In all reality I spent about as much time fixing & modifying the sawmill as I did cutting lumber.

Reactions: Great Post 3 | Informative 4


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## Eric Rorabaugh

Seems like you are saying there's more negative than positive with that mill. I haven't bought one yet so what do I know.


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## Alex Beck

For around $5k, its hard to expect much out of a sawmill but this Sequoia mill taught me everything I will ever need to know about the troubleshooting. To be honest, I have a buddy that has a Woodmizer LT-10, its a smaller mill, angle iron that sits on the ground, has a manual clutch that you engage w/ a lever and on top of that he leaves it out in the weather. That being said I have cut a fair amount of lumber on his mill and we never encountered near the amount of issues that I dealt with on this Sequoia. My advice would be to stick to a smaller entry mill from Timberking, Cook Woodmizer, or Baker. Its a proven design and customer service is always available.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## Eric Rorabaugh

It sucks to put that much $$ into something and THEN learn it's not what they said it was. I'll be buying a mill in the future and I can say it won't be one of those. Glad you posted this but I hate it for you!! Hope someone from that company sees this.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Alex Beck

Yeah I wasn't particularly happy but I learned alot. Between the sawmill, custom furniture, and reselling industrial wood & metal working machines, I was able to make enough to purchase a Timberking 2400 fully hydraulic mill, found it used with 35 hours on it. Neil (the owner ) knows about the issues, he confessed to me that most of his sawmills don't see much use. He eventually started ignoring me when the problems continued to snowball. At this point I may resell it on CL or I have even considered turning it into a dedicated planing mill that would flatten large slabs.

Reactions: Like 1


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## OldPhart

Hate reviving long-dead threads but wondering if Alex might share the approximate age of that Sequoia mill. Just found a lead on a 6 yr old one not too far from me and wondering if the problems might have been fixed by Sequoia in more recent builds.


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## 2feathers Creative Making

OldPhart said:


> Hate reviving long-dead threads but wondering if Alex might share the approximate age of that Sequoia mill. Just found a lead on a 6 yr old one not too far from me and wondering if the problems might have been fixed by Sequoia in more recent builds.


Ask for size on those bolts he mentioned if you are unsure. I would suggest a timber king if you can find one. I am a hobbyist with a 40 hour job elsewhere. I saw maybe 6 hours a week.


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## OldPhart

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Ask for size on those bolts he mentioned if you are unsure. I would suggest a timber king if you can find one. I am a hobbyist with a 40 hour job elsewhere. I saw maybe 6 hours a week.





2feathers Creative Making said:


> Ask for size on those bolts he mentioned if you are unsure. I would suggest a timber king if you can find one. I am a hobbyist with a 40 hour job elsewhere. I saw maybe 6 hours a week.


Yep, FINDING one is the issue right now-sawmill trader has virtually no used ones for sale. All the manufacturers I've checked are showing 12-50+ weeks out.- This CL one is ~ 250 miles from me, posting says "call or text only" but naturally they have NO contact # anywhere...I emailed 'em 2 days ago but so far-nothing. Probably wondering why they have no bites yet...


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