Just saw your video and it’s great to see someone else who loves there mill as much as me. Cooks is my opinion is the best. This is my 6th year on my MP32 and have had zero issues with it and have sawed a lot of lumber.
After tons of research, I ordered my MP32 for the exact same reasons as you, won't be here until next year. Very nice cabin. Thanks for sharing, good stuff.
Thanks! There is so much good design and engineering in cooks mills. I didn’t scratch the surface as to reasons I went with their mill. Sounds like you have a year to prepare for your mill, my recommendation would be first to come up with a way to handle logs. Bobcat, tractor etc. makes milling way easier. Thanks for watching! Subscribe and share please!
I just found your channel last night! Very good videos and excellent upgrades you've done. I have a Cook's MP32 as well. Can't beat them. I like your toe board design. The only complaint I have with the blade lube system is where the on/off and drip control is located, I'll be changing that in the next week or so, more operator friendly. Keep posting the videos, God Bless
I built my mill and Cooks gives alot of information to help people. I am going to build a new mill because I didn't think that mine would even work and it's not heavy or rigid enough. It has sawed alot of lumber though. I am craving the mill that you have and maybe next year it will happen. Congrats on your mill!! I feel that you have the cream of the crop!!!
@narrowstripsawing9595 thanks for watching! If your after a cooks mill in the future, may want to get one ordered, from what I hear they are over a year lead time! Unfortunately I did not have time available to build my own mill. I was lucky back when I bought mine, only waited like 8 weeks. These things are extremely heavy duty. Built well for sure. Best of luck on your next one
Enjoyed seeing how you have your mill set up and how you operate it. My MP32 is all manual and now that I'm 70 I wish I had the electric up/down and feed accessories. I bought mine in 2014 and have been thoroughly satisfied with it's ruggedness and reliability. You should enjoy using your saw for many years to come.
@Dr.John493 Thanks! The great thing about these mills is adding the power features is easy to do. I added power feed after purchasing and it was very reasonably priced and easy to install.
@@gansonsonthehill I did some sawing with mine this past weekend and again thought about ordering both accessories. The Cooks factory is only about an hour and a half from me. BTW, I too built a cabin with lumber sawed on the MP32. Mine is a more conventional structure with stud walls, board & bat siding, horizontal 1x8s for the interior walls and a vaulted ceiling/roof with exposed 4x6 beams for rafters. I have some photos of it on my YT channel. I'll look forward to following you along.
I found this video to be very informative. After quite a bit of research, watching many videos and reading spec sheets of most of the band sawmill manufacturers, I keep coming back to the Cook's Sawmills. They seem to be more Heavy Duty and better engineered. Like you, I can't see any reason that the operator station should be on the same side that the sawdust exits the saw. I agree that the reverse speed should be on high most of the time without having to change the forward speed. I think this would be a simple fix. Thank you for sharing this video. It was very informative and honestly presented.
@tennesseebuck1604 thanks for watching! If you check out my channel I have a few other videos on my mill. I am very pleased with the cooks mill. I have an update on reverse speed, I can get a different control board through cooks to fix my concern. I believe they said it would be $250.
Thanks for the response. Not sure how they have the forward and reverse motor wired through the switches. It's just a DC motor so it shouldn't be too difficult. I spoke with them today and the current lead time for a MP32 is 75 weeks. My background is in the electrical field. If you have a schematic or drawing i'd be glad to take a look at it. I might have a suggestion that may save you some money. Take Care
@tennesseebuck1604. Correct, it is a simple dc motor, however they are running micro switches through an electronic control board instead of through simple relays. The board would need to be changed or reworked to get what I desire. My understanding is they used to be high speed reverse and costumers requested it to be controllable as it is in forward. Sorry to hear lead time is so long. On option would be checking with them regularly for a used trade in. I only had to wait a couple months but that was back in 2019. They are rock solid mills and am sure my grandkids won’t be able to wear it out! My opinion is it is worth the wait but that is a long time!! Must be a reason they are such long lead times (people must be buying them!) Best of luck, I am more than willing to let folks see mine run if helps someone make a decision. These aren’t cheap, I was hesitant buying before mine without being able to see one work. Just wasn’t anyone within a few states for me to go to back then.
I did consider, but some things really made it easy for me 1- the cooks folks was not ashamed of sharing their faith in their videos. 2- they are extremely knowledgeable and seemed to truly want to help people. Even if you have a competitive mill. 3- all of the engineering they have put into the mills really made a lot of sense to me, having a strong mechanical background myself. (Steel wheels ground to tights tolerances)
I have been wondering about the different styles of blade guides. When the blade runs true from one wheel to the other: wouldn't a horizontal bearing supporting the back of the blade be "better" than those vertical wheels? Or doesn't the blade "chew" on the flange in the back?
You really don’t want anything “rubbing” on back of the blade. Anything like the causes friction, thus heat. The flange on cooks guide wheels is about 1/8” from blade. If it touches it is infrequent. And adjust at a very slight angle to keep blade from gouging into flange. So long as blade is sharp the blade stays away from flanges, just the blade tension and crowned wheels keeps blade in proper place. Sharp blades is extremely important for quality lumber and to keep mill doing it’s job properly. Hope this makes sense and is helpful! Thanks for watching
What Mr. Ganson said about heat due to friction is correct. Another issue caused by the rear edge of the blade being in continuous contact with the shoulder of the roller is that it creates a mushroom on the edge of the blade rendering it impractical for resharpening among other things. The rollers are hardened to a higher Rockwell rating than the blade. Cheers 🙂
Thanks, they got me info. Electronic control board has to be changed out. I think Robert down there told me would be like $250. Haven’t done anything with it yet.
Just saw your video and it’s great to see someone else who loves there mill as much as me. Cooks is my opinion is the best. This is my 6th year on my MP32 and have had zero issues with it and have sawed a lot of lumber.
After tons of research, I ordered my MP32 for the exact same reasons as you, won't be here until next year. Very nice cabin. Thanks for sharing, good stuff.
Thanks! There is so much good design and engineering in cooks mills. I didn’t scratch the surface as to reasons I went with their mill. Sounds like you have a year to prepare for your mill, my recommendation would be first to come up with a way to handle logs. Bobcat, tractor etc. makes milling way easier.
Thanks for watching! Subscribe and share please!
I just found your channel last night! Very good videos and excellent upgrades you've done. I have a Cook's MP32 as well. Can't beat them. I like your toe board design. The only complaint I have with the blade lube system is where the on/off and drip control is located, I'll be changing that in the next week or so, more operator friendly. Keep posting the videos, God Bless
Thanks for watching!
I built my mill and Cooks gives alot of information to help people. I am going to build a new mill because I didn't think that mine would even work and it's not heavy or rigid enough. It has sawed alot of lumber though. I am craving the mill that you have and maybe next year it will happen. Congrats on your mill!! I feel that you have the cream of the crop!!!
@narrowstripsawing9595 thanks for watching! If your after a cooks mill in the future, may want to get one ordered, from what I hear they are over a year lead time! Unfortunately I did not have time available to build my own mill. I was lucky back when I bought mine, only waited like 8 weeks. These things are extremely heavy duty. Built well for sure. Best of luck on your next one
Enjoyed seeing how you have your mill set up and how you operate it. My MP32 is all manual and now that I'm 70 I wish I had the electric up/down and feed accessories. I bought mine in 2014 and have been thoroughly satisfied with it's ruggedness and reliability. You should enjoy using your saw for many years to come.
@Dr.John493
Thanks! The great thing about these mills is adding the power features is easy to do. I added power feed after purchasing and it was very reasonably priced and easy to install.
@@gansonsonthehill I did some sawing with mine this past weekend and again thought about ordering both accessories. The Cooks factory is only about an hour and a half from me. BTW, I too built a cabin with lumber sawed on the MP32. Mine is a more conventional structure with stud walls, board & bat siding, horizontal 1x8s for the interior walls and a vaulted ceiling/roof with exposed 4x6 beams for rafters. I have some photos of it on my YT channel. I'll look forward to following you along.
I just recieved my new mp 32 1 year and 40 run hours ago, love your video my experience is very similar
@keithkoval6156 great mills! Thanks for watching!
I found this video to be very informative. After quite a bit of research, watching many videos and reading spec sheets of most of the band sawmill manufacturers, I keep coming back to the Cook's Sawmills. They seem to be more Heavy Duty and better engineered. Like you, I can't see any reason that the operator station should be on the same side that the sawdust exits the saw. I agree that the reverse speed should be on high most of the time without having to change the forward speed. I think this would be a simple fix. Thank you for sharing this video. It was very informative and honestly presented.
@tennesseebuck1604 thanks for watching! If you check out my channel I have a few other videos on my mill. I am very pleased with the cooks mill. I have an update on reverse speed, I can get a different control board through cooks to fix my concern. I believe they said it would be $250.
Thanks for the response. Not sure how they have the forward and reverse motor wired through the switches. It's just a DC motor so it shouldn't be too difficult. I spoke with them today and the current lead time for a MP32 is 75 weeks. My background is in the electrical field. If you have a schematic or drawing i'd be glad to take a look at it. I might have a suggestion that may save you some money.
Take Care
@tennesseebuck1604. Correct, it is a simple dc motor, however they are running micro switches through an electronic control board instead of through simple relays. The board would need to be changed or reworked to get what I desire. My understanding is they used to be high speed reverse and costumers requested it to be controllable as it is in forward. Sorry to hear lead time is so long. On option would be checking with them regularly for a used trade in. I only had to wait a couple months but that was back in 2019. They are rock solid mills and am sure my grandkids won’t be able to wear it out! My opinion is it is worth the wait but that is a long time!! Must be a reason they are such long lead times (people must be buying them!) Best of luck, I am more than willing to let folks see mine run if helps someone make a decision. These aren’t cheap, I was hesitant buying before mine without being able to see one work. Just wasn’t anyone within a few states for me to go to back then.
Very good video on the mill. I also wondered why most bandmills make you work in the dust!
@KimTraylor Thanks for the kind words.
I wish I could both afford and justify a Cooks mill. Since I cannot on either, I am stuck with a Frontier and alaskan mill for the larger logs.
The TimberKing seems like the most comparable competition. I'm sure you considered it, too. What made you decide on the Cooks over the TimberKing?
I did consider, but some things really made it easy for me
1- the cooks folks was not ashamed of sharing their faith in their videos.
2- they are extremely knowledgeable and seemed to truly want to help people. Even if you have a competitive mill.
3- all of the engineering they have put into the mills really made a lot of sense to me, having a strong mechanical background myself. (Steel wheels ground to tights tolerances)
I have been wondering about the different styles of blade guides. When the blade runs true from one wheel to the other: wouldn't a horizontal bearing supporting the back of the blade be "better" than those vertical wheels? Or doesn't the blade "chew" on the flange in the back?
You really don’t want anything “rubbing” on back of the blade. Anything like the causes friction, thus heat. The flange on cooks guide wheels is about 1/8” from blade. If it touches it is infrequent. And adjust at a very slight angle to keep blade from gouging into flange. So long as blade is sharp the blade stays away from flanges, just the blade tension and crowned wheels keeps blade in proper place. Sharp blades is extremely important for quality lumber and to keep mill doing it’s job properly. Hope this makes sense and is helpful! Thanks for watching
@@gansonsonthehill
Makes perfect sense, thank you for taking the time to answer 👍🏼😋!
What Mr. Ganson said about heat due to friction is correct. Another issue caused by the rear edge of the blade being in continuous contact with the shoulder of the roller is that it creates a mushroom on the edge of the blade rendering it impractical for resharpening among other things. The rollers are hardened to a higher Rockwell rating than the blade. Cheers 🙂
I can talk you through the reverse speed modification, if you don't get answers from Cooks.
Thanks, they got me info. Electronic control board has to be changed out. I think Robert down there told me would be like $250. Haven’t done anything with it yet.