I've been doing some reading and research before I try and build my own smaller, home owner level sawmill. I've read that people say 4500 feet per second as a minimum.
But as I've looked at the commercially available mills, those speeds seem too fast. Most of the homeowner Hudson models have a 4" clutch to a 16" bandwheel. Others go to a 16" driven pulley and then 19 Bandwheel. Woodmizer LT15, Timberking 1220, Woodland Mills, they all seem to have that sort of ratio. With a gas motor with a max 3600 RPM I'm only coming up with 3700-4475 fps even at the max rpm of 3600