Chainsaw Mill

[Shane6377]

I've been looking into chainsaw mills and wondered what others were using. Pros and cons of what you have? Suggestions of what to look at?

I'm mostly interested in getting live edge slabs for small to medium projects. Coffee table and smaller. Would also use it to lumber.


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[Hpozzuoli]

For small stuff like you are suggesting I would free hand everything. Follow it up with a planner and some sanding if you want completely straight. No matter what, you are going to touch up the edges after it is mill cut. I use a 16” Jonsered with a sharp chain and plenty of oil. You don’t want to burn the wood by cutting dry or with a dull chain. A bigger saw is harder to maneuver.

I actually made a stand and table set up for my saw to use it as a mill (can’t find pics). Like I said before the finish work after the milling was the same as my free hand cutting (for small stuff). I used the mill a handful of times on super long timber for log cabin work I was doing at the time. I lost the mill in my garage fire and decided not to make another.

Shameless self promotion; I also refinished the floors you see in the last pic. I am in construction so I do a few pieces a year whether it be mantles, built ins, or whatever the customer wants.

 

[Bent Handle]

Grandberg Alaskan is pretty much the industry standard. They are pretty nice for what you get. You also need quite a bit of saw to mill anything of any size. It’s a fun hobby, but takes some time to produce the final product.

 

[Kaizen]

I have the small Alaskan granberg. Use it with my huskarvana rancher 55. My saw takes up to a 22 inch bar. Always try to use the smallest bar you can. Get plastic wedges as well. It’s the kind of thing that is cool till you have done it for a few hours. No way I’d use it for dimensional lumber. Just too much work. I’ve slabbed two trees. Did a four foot wide crotchet maple. Drying for a couple years now. Don’t bother getting the special milling chain. Do get an extra regular chain and a harbor freight sharpener. Making the first cut is the hardest. If it’s off then the saw get bound up or goes slow in the rest of the Slabs. I added aluminum angle to the mill so I have more surface to ride on


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[theoldwizard1]

It is not as easy as it looks! You really don't want to do more than a couple of slabs at a time.

Also get a ripping chain.

 

[TractorJeff]

GOOGLE the spec's on a Milling chain, then have your local chain sharpener guy grind one out of new chain.
Wife and I slabbed a 4 foot Hickory for counter/table tops before they were in Fashion.
I built the Alaskan Mill that we used. Milling is OK for Mantles and Table Slabs but as said I wouldn't do Dimensional Lumber! Bandsaw guy charges WAY TOO little to compete with for Dimensional plus he is fast!

 

[Shane6377]

I can/have sharpened chains for ripping. Probably going to end up making my own Alaskan chainsaw mill jig.

I want to source local wood for some of my projects. I milked small slabs for cutting boards and serving trays with hand tools a couple of years ago and while it was rewarding for those small projects I'm not sure I want to be doing coffee table sized slabs that way!


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[jumbojak]

GOOGLE the spec's on a Milling chain, then have your local chain sharpener guy grind one out of new chain.
Wife and I slabbed a 4 foot Hickory for counter/table tops before they were in Fashion.
I built the Alaskan Mill that we used. Milling is OK for Mantles and Table Slabs but as said I wouldn't do Dimensional Lumber! Bandsaw guy charges WAY TOO little to compete with for Dimensional plus he is fast!

My brother has a bandsaw mill and likes to cut his own dimensional lumber. Even with a bandsaw it's a waste of time if you value your time at all!

 

[rburke65]

As all things, I’m betting it’s a lot harder than it looks.

 

[Bent Handle]

I found a guy locally that runs a sawmill. I can take trees from my property, have them cut, dried, and planed for a $1.50 a board ft.

 

[TractorJeff]

My brother has a bandsaw mill and likes to cut his own dimensional lumber. Even with a bandsaw it's a waste of time if you value your time at all!

Yeah, should have specified!
I meant Dimensional Hardwoods not Pine Lumber!
He cuts up Walnut, Cherry and Oaks for woodworking projects for me, what is left over gets sold on Craigslist where I make back my investment!

 

[Shane6377]

I will be using for hardwoods. Oak, Ash, Walnut, Cherry, Osage Orange and Elm. I may do some Cedar too.


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[Bretny]

The chainsaw mills are slow and you need a big/expensive saw to run. Your not going to be milling any worthy slabs with a poulan or sub 70cc saw.

I built a bandsaw mill about 5yrs ago for about $1600 with a 24hp lawnmower engine. It has more than paid for its self.

 

[Showkey]

The not worth the time comments.............depends on the species and dimensions and location. Some places a 8x8 10 ft long of walnut might cost $500 or more. If your going to do a lot milling and want to be productive the chain saw is the last choice, but it’s the cheapest.

The chain saw has two problems:
Wide kerf that wastes wood and makes a ton of saw dust that is worth less. Not a real concern on small number of cuts, but adds up on time and material waste. Cutting one inch finished boards the chain can be 30-40% wasted material.
Chain drift causes less than flat boards and wastes stock and increases the work involved in flattening. Free hand cutting makes this problem much much worse.

 

[gemniii]

I've been looking into chainsaw mills and wondered what others were using. Pros and cons of what you have? Suggestions of what to look at?

I'm mostly interested in getting live edge slabs for small to medium projects. Coffee table and smaller. Would also use it to lumber.


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Be careful, for some it can be addicting.
I've two Alaskan Mark III's. I started out with an John Deere (re badged Efco) CS62 and a 28" bar 10 years ago. I've now got that plus two Stihl 660's (90cc), a Stihl 088 (120CC) a second Mark III and a Woodmizer LT10.

My bars are up to 42" long, so I can cut about 32" wide slabs.

I quickly found that cutting slabs at my max size from trees "just big enough" required extremely careful drying. Usually my wide slabs even though 3" to 4" thick would split or warp.

It was difficult for me to get a good 30" wide double live edged slab with bark on both sides suitable for planing.

And then there is finishing - Have you priced 24" wide planers?

So planing down required a router and many passes.

But the CSM is good for making cants out of the larger trees so I can get them on my Woodmizer, which chokes on trees > 24".

For the occasional coffee table width slab (24" or less) a CSM is great. Get the section of tree elevated and on a slope and one can make decent progress.

CSM makes the most sense for "specialty" trees, where you cannot easily get to the wood with a sawmill.

 

[PCustoms]

I built a bandsaw mill about 5yrs ago for about $1600 with a 24hp lawnmower engine. It has more than paid for its self.

Any build details? I'm working on designing one right now, undecided if I will pull the trigger or turn the 4 oak logs I have down into firewood. Plenty more still standing, including 3 monsters over 30" and dead straight for 12'.

 

[akpingel]

I bought one off of amazon which is a knock-off of a Granberg I think. I also have a small Granberg that I got from Northern tool. The cast aluminum pieces are identical on the two. The rest of it is extruded aluminum so Im not sure what is really different about the Granberg. They are addicting; a lot of fun to rip open a log and see what is inside. Its hard work and my saw consumes more oil than gas when Im going through hardwoods. I have a Husqvarna 395xp and it seems to work well.