Product Review: Cooks AC 4449 Sawmill
The Cooks AC 4449 is a fully hydraulic portable sawmill that can be used to saw logs up to 44-inches wide.
Sawmill Features
This sawmill also comes fully equipped with the following features:
Perkins 49hp diesel motor
Board return drag-back fingers
2 hydraulic log clamps
Bi-directional heavy duty log turner
2-speed up/down (fast/slow)
Advanced computer setworks
Emergency shutdown switch and idle down switch
The Cooks AC 4449 has a log-handling capacity of 48-inches, a slab-cutting ability of 44-inches, and a length-of-log cutting capacity of 22-feet. This sawmill is priced at about $60,000.
Sawmill Advantages
I really like the fact this sawmill is very heavy duty and very responsive. It has a 4-head post sawhead or stability versus a “cantilever” setup. The advanced computer setworks can be adjusted to a hundredth of an inch, if desired. This is a fairly large and heavy mill as it is designed to handle big wide logs.
The Cooks AC 4449 is also able to produce large amounts of dimensional lumber. The sawmill has a control box on a 15-foot lead, which allows you to walk around a bit as you are sawing. It also has the dual felt blade wiping system which is ideal when sawing logs with a bunch of pitch.
Sawmill Disadvantages
While the heavy duty aspect makes it great for handling bigger and wider logs, it is not as travel-friendly as the TK 2000. The Cooks AC 4449 is a bit cumbersome to make road ready, travel with, and set up. It is portable, but honestly, it’s a better to use this sawmill in one set location.
That being said, this sawmill is large enough to keep 3 people busy, yet easy for one person to run. On this sawmill, I can mill up to and over 2,000 board feet a day. Honestly the only thing I have not been happy with on the sawmill is that the advanced computer setworks does not give you a digital readout of the position of the blade in relation to the saw bed.
Sawmill Recommendations
If you are a potential sawyer looking to mill a lot of dimensional lumber and also enjoy doing wide slabs, this sawmill is perfect for you. The story behind how Cooks Saw, Mfg. started out and where they are today is fantastic. The only drawback is at times when I have had some technical questions, sometimes it can be a few days to get a response. I know this is because they are extremely busy, but it would be nice if they had additional personnel to help out at times.
Sawmill Product Information
Other important product information about the AC Cooks 4449 is that it does come with a manufacturer’s warranty. If you change your mind about this product, or if it’s defective, you can return it within 30 days of the date of purchase. The 30-day return policy for defective items is usually only extended if it’s covered by an additional manufacturer’s warranty. For their Canadian customers, Cook Saw has a Canadian store on their website.
