What Size Logs Can A Sawmill Cut?

It depends on which band sawmill you mean—portable hobby mills, hydraulic commercial mills, and stationary industrial mills all have very different capacities.

Typical portable band sawmill sizes

Most homeowner / farm portable band mills can usually cut:

Log diameter: about 20–36 inches

Log length: about 8–20+ feet (longer with track extensions)

Many compact gas-powered mills handle roughly 24–28 inch diameter logs, while larger frames can support 30–36 inch logs and longer beds.

Example:

A small Harbor Freight portable mill is rated for about 20 inches wide logs/boards.

Larger professional band mills

Hydaulic or commercial portable mills often handle:

36–60+ inch diameter logs

Much longer lengths with added bed sections

Some specialty band mills can handle logs up to 1.6 m (about 63 inches) in diameter.