John Bailey – M10-22A (showcase)

“$240,000 worth of timber, 590 hours on
the clock.”
John Bailey
Norfolk Island.
M10-22A and M12-28A (recently purchased second machine)

Following is a review of the mill to date:
• Honda Engine hours nearly 590 hours
• Approx 4 cubic min per day (underestimated depending on location size of logs etc.)
• 300 (126,600 board foot) cubic minimum to date @ $800 per cube
• $ 240,000 value in timber to date (Probably more).

I was discussing with Michael Prentice the shared owner last year, with our calculations, the mill would have paid for itself more than ten times over and we have cut a hell of a lot more since then.
We mainly cut the Norfolk pine as well as Tallowwood, spotted gum and Ironbark silky oak, etc. We have made adjustable leg extensions to the mill for when we are cutting the big butt logs up to 1400mm + diameter and have had to operate it off a step ladder. The mill is very quick and easy to trailer, and setup is approx. 30 minutes. It usually takes me longer to find where I left my truck’s tow ball than to set it up. Most trailers here are pin connection.

We have set it up in many different locations around the island to save carting the logs.
The mill has not spent more than 2 months in a shed since purchased as we normally have it set up on a salty windswept clifftop property, under the shade of a big pine tree. There is very little surface rust on the steelwork considering. I keep the chains oiled with Ballistol Oil every so often. I don’t think the engine has had an oil change yet let alone filters and has not missed a beat. We do grease the main bearings etc. when we remember to. The drive rope I use is a 10mm cheap nylon rope that gets changed every few months when faded or breaks, have replaced the auto-feed drive belts twice since new and the main drive belts several times until recently we started using the heavy-duty A 59 belts (sent by mistake to our mechanical auto supplier) and have done about 30 hours in hardwood and still good.
We upgraded to the 7mm insert teeth blade a few years ago and haven’t looked back since. The only thing we have replaced is the carriage bearings as one had collapsed recently, and our auto supplier had them in stock and we were back up and running in a couple of hours. After fitting the carriage bearings and doing a trial cut, we realized the saw was not cutting true and leaving burn marks and with a bit of trial-and-error adjustment and you-Tubing we had it running sweet again in no time. Apart from an hour or so crash course at the New Zealand National Fieldays with Jake when purchasing we are well self-taught and learned as we go and found the videos on the website very useful and informative. We are by no means commercial operators (although could be quite easily) but mill on the weekends and days off, or when we want to build something, or when a good tree dies or blows down. We really enjoy doing it.

It compliments my business perfectly being a joiner, cabinetmaker, and boatbuilder. I always have a good supply of the timber I need and the other joint owner Michael who is the largest tourism operator here has used the timber to build large entertainment buildings and facilities, post and rail fences, decks, timber flooring, and several other projects for people around the Island.
The mill is very tough, practical, and well-built and has given us many, many hours of trouble-free use with very little maintenance required to date.
I have seen a time when we had a careless bulldozer operator rolling a big butt log under the mill and the 4 in 1 bucket up control valve lever sticks in the up position unless you correct it, and the bully bucket slipped off the big log and lifted the whole mill about 6 foot up in the air and then when he reacted he pushed the leaver down and the mill free-fell back down on the ground at a rate of knots with absolutely no damage to the beam or anything.

Please note these figures are conservative and I have more likely underestimated the true quantities.

Regards.
John Christian Bailey