Chinese low cost sawmill Forestwest 2 YEAR REVIEW

[@ishure8849]

G'day Doyle, We do have Forestwest in Australia I purchased one of their 700mm firewood saw benches 13hp tungsten tipped circle saw for docking wings from my Lucas Mill, they wanted me to review it they film adds and have retired school teachers demonstrating firewood splitters. Anyway if you sat it on uneven ground which is what happens when you tow things around the yard the blade hits the side of the blade safety cover ! we spent a whole day making brackets and bracing the legs to strengthen it all up then lengthened the draw bar and made it removable and so on. If they had simply used thicker plate steel for a little bit more money from the start it would have been ok for the price.

[@TheMonkdad]

It looks very very similar to my Woodland Mills sawmill. I mill hardwood mostly. My problem is the diving at knots. I went back to the manual and aligned everything to spec and still get diving.🤷

[@doylemaintenance]

I find that putting a new blade reduces the diving and going slower does help also. But ya i know what you mean.

[@ScrapCarsNotKids]

I find starting at the small end of the taper does help for some reason. Also I move the guides in as close as possible.

[@joesaccomanno4791]

Thank you excellent video. I'm looking at getting a Chinese sawmill for my small shop.

[@terryslade5067]

Sounds like you're familiar and satisfied with your decision, I've often wondered how this mill performed, good job with your assessment and your projects, thank you for your time

[@doylemaintenance]

Your welcome and thanks

[@forestwestca5132]

Hi, Doyle Proerty Maintenance. Awesome video and honest review. Do you mind if we share this on our website?

[@doylemaintenance]

Yes you may.

[@bespokefencing]

Great video.👍 I think you have a great mill there! I spent a bit more, ☹ but don't think I got any more at the end of the day.

[@trevoremonds5696]

Did you build your shed with green wood?

[@jackmoloney9507]

​@trevoremonds5696 your the kinda guy I'd like to buy a beer I think.

[@gerrymcmeel]

Good video presentation Well done to you I might think of investing

[@doylemaintenance]

Thank you.

[@montelott8570]

Good, informative video on a budget mill, l thinking of a purchase along these lines. Thanks

[@Sulihack]

Good video. MY one ton chinese ex came about a month ago, its so nice! Already thinking of getting a 2-3 ton lol.

[@ToreDL87]

Well, at least it's accurate for what you're doing with it. But easy to see why it's cheap and goes outta whack though, like you said it's way too lightly constructed so they can save on steel and shipping cost. Hence, why you get it cheap. Obviously you have a tractor or something to move the logs, so what I'm about to suggest won't impede the portability of that mill. Get similar shaped but thicker L profile steel the length of the whole frame, slip it onto the outside of the frame and redrill the holes for the leveling bolts using the (now blocked) OEM holes as drill bit locator. Reattach the bolts and your mill as a whole, square and level up your mill with a heavy load on it (lots of slabs), then true it all up and make sure it's level again (Expect to remove supports here and there) and weld the sucker. 2 inch beads every 6 inches for the whole length ought to beef it up substantially, feel free to drill some holes and weld those up as plug welds too, keep the heavy load on to stop the frame from doing any twisting/bending shenanigans. Those square crossbeams are so thin you could dent them with your finger, probably contributes to flex too, add more of them with thicker walls. Do the same thing anywhere else you encounter flex/movement/"outtawhack" issues. Just.. beef it up using similar but thicker profile steel, re-drill any bolt-holes from the in or outside using the (now blocked) OEM holes as drill locators, add longer bolts, even bigger diameter ones (if you deem it so), where necessary. You will be saving a lot of headache and can just get to milling instead of having to true it up when a squirrel sneezes 1000 yards away 😆

[@doylemaintenance]

In our area I've seen homemade mills built back in the day, you could drive a truck over them and they wouldn't budge. LOL Yes you can make this more robust for sure pretty easily with a welder and steel and some time. Thanks for stopping by.

[@ToreDL87]

@@doylemaintenance People got very creative back in the day, they were able to mill enough for their houses so of course the contraptions outlived their use (and their inventors lifespan). Also, hope I didn't come across as ornery/looking down upon you. Nice work with everything you've done with the mill so far! You were 💯very clear in the video that you did your homework (we're the same, I overread and overthink as well), knew what to expect, knew what you were getting, you worked around it, saved money, and stayed active! 😊

[@kenlangille9050]

seem similar to woodland mill , thanks for information

[@fencer39]

Probably made by the same company in China. I had a contact from a Chinese manufacturer that would sell them direct to end user. cutting out the Middle man ie woodland mills ant nearly 50% of the UK price for an what appeared to be an identical machine .

[@thomastevelde8547]

Moving towards of grid,have abundant cedar on site . Have compact diesel tractor. Is there a pot power sawmill

[@jamesglasgow9358]

Have you ever cut oak? If so what thickness? How did it do oak?

[@doylemaintenance]

Yes red oak, it cuts slower but does it, To do it well I would need to switch to a different blade pitch, my blades are a combo blade which will but both types hard and soft but to cut hard best I need different blades. I've cut 26 inch wide red oak.

[@ytrew9717]

do you think it could saw through oak (is 15hp enough), did you try?

[@doylemaintenance]

@@ytrew9717 yes red oak no problems. I've done lots. There is a hardwood blade would work best

[@silverfox8915]

Good luck trying to get spare parts for anything Forestwest

[@doylemaintenance]

I have a dealer 3.5 hours away from me in Toronto. Plus from what I see they are mostly universal parts that can be bought from any industrial supply house. eg. Bearings, roller wheels. Blades are common too. There's not much to these mills.

[@zakbrinkhoff324]

Parts are easy to find it's all common parts

[@terryatpi]

👍

[@MM-yn9ni]

Pay a little bit more, get easy access to parts/service, keep your neighbors employed and buy American.

[@wongndeso_sawmill]

semangat boss kuu 🙏❤❤

[@mikekares-b8q]

Do you sharpen your blades?

[@doylemaintenance]

No I take them to a guy who does for 15 bucks each.

[@ytrew9717]

In europe (France) the cheapest sawmill is around 5k€ (vs 2.5k$ in us!), seem no choice to go chinese

[@leonidas7281]

Save your money and get a timberking 1220. Finance it if you have to. Youll thank me later. And get the diesel on it.

[@lox6461]

One question ....how do you replace the tree that you cut down ? Do you wait another 50-200 years ? And then cut the second one or how you do it ?

[@doylemaintenance]

Thanks for the comment. If you live in a house that's made of wood even just framing thank a Forester.

[@mikekares-b8q]

You don't but what you do is you Hug the tree first so it doesn't feel bad when you cut it . Hope that answers your St_ _ id Question.

[@rogerlayne8623]

I don't care how much cheaper it is i am not buying anything from china if i can't save my money and buy American then ill do with out

[@PoconoPlaces]

Presentation is similar to a scammer, even though he is not I don’t want to keep guessing when you are going to utter the cost of this thing

[@doylemaintenance]

Price is in the video. Trust me, I don't care what you think. I'm not trying to sell you anything. Just bringing awareness as you don't need to buy an expensive mill if it doesn't make financial sense.

[@alextownsend6662]

Chinese use the cheapest weakest steel. Shortcuts are their way of doing daily business. No thanks.

[@doylemaintenance]

You realize even the big american brand ones are built in china?

[@doylemaintenance]

It's actually the whole reason i did the video, if you can afford a more robust mill than this video is not meant for you.

[@fencer39]

Woodland mills are made in China !

[@morrisl7]

is the weak steel enough to hold a log? OK then ill buy it at half price

[@lojza46]

It is better to support local producers. When you buy a Chinese product, communist China gets richer and that's bad. I couldn't buy a professional bandsaw so I made one at home and paid 650 euros, I have a video of my saw on my channel.

[@doylemaintenance]

When north American companies build and buy all their products in china but yet I'm supposed to take the price hit. No thanks. The big companies only care about bottom line not patriotism. Congrats on your build though, if I had the time I would build my own too but in the last 3 years I built my home myself due to lack of builders in the area.

[@seriksson9721]

Lojza46 Link plz?

[@lojza46]

@@seriksson9721 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGWyhKidbdZ4e9k

[@zakbrinkhoff324]

The local people need to sell it for a reasonable price. Until then I will buy Chinese.

[@seriksson9721]

What is the name of your channel? How to find it.