Chainsaw Mill

[white eagle]

I am thinking of buying one of these to cut lumber and planks.
Was wondering if any of you have one or used one and what you think of it.
They are sometimes refereed to as Alaskan Saw mills
I am not going to buy anything expensive like a portable mill but would like to utilize some of my tree's
for thing other that firewood

[Omega]

I am thinking of buying one of these to cut lumber and planks.
Was wondering if any of you have one or used one and what you think of it.
They are sometimes refereed to as Alaskan Saw mills
I am not going to buy anything expensive like a portable mill but would like to utilize some of my tree's
for thing other that firewood
I have two made by these folks: http://granberg.com/ I have only used the small one due to the fact that I don't have a big enough saw (cc) to run the big one. But the concept is sound and seems to be well made but on the expensive side.

[Mica_Hiebert]

my brother inlaw has a logasawl chainsaw mill he has sawn all the board and batton siding for his cabin with it and has made me some custom dimension lumber for a few projects I have. He likes it. I personally have not used it.

[starmac]

Not trying to persuade you to do anything different, but if you are starting from scratch, as in do not own a suitable saw, the price of a cheap manual band mill may not be much different.

They do work, but it takes a GOOD saw, even then it is hard on them. Make sure the saw you get is known for it's ability to put out a lot of oil, even at thta most that use them much adds an oiler to the mill, especially the bigger ones.

[bearcove]

Only if you need it to be very portable. Easier to find some one who saws and just pay for the sawing if you don't want to buy a bandsaw mill. We have a timberking mill and its nice.

[shooter93]

I suspect that unless you'll be doing a lot of cutting.....in which case you need the bigger mill....it would be easier and cheaper to find someone with a portable mill that would come to you. They are usually very reasonable priced.

[Geezer in NH]

Only if you need it to be very portable. Easier to find some one who saws and just pay for the sawing if you don't want to buy a bandsaw mill. We have a timberking mill and its nice.Winner I agree!!

[blackthorn]

Years ago there was a book called Chainsaw Lumbermaking by Will Malloff? That book has the plan for making your own (so called) "Alaska mill". My friend and I made three of them and they do work quite well. Slow and lots of work but they did make nice boards. We used them when we were building our cabins up at the lake. We would drop a good sized tree, set up the mill and cut the boards right where we dropped the tree. We did this because we had no way to move the big log intact. The book has long been out of print but it might be found used, I don't know.

[historicfirearms]

I have one of those chainsaw mills that I have never used. I bolted it up to the saw then changed plans. If you want it, I would make you a heck of a deal.

[Tazman1602]

Have had an Alaskan Mill for years --- works GREAT and makes really nice boards ONCE you get used to it. The only issue is I started with a Husky 372XP and had to move to a Husky 395XP in order for it to REALLY work with a 32" bar and ripping chain.

If you're looking to just make some nice boards at home its the bee's knees. It's slow but it works well and I wouldn't give mine up for the world. Only downside is the bigger saws cost a LOT, I think I paid $999 for my 395 (125cc saw...) five years ago.

Art

[Three44s]

I'd prefer the band mill as well. You pay more but retain more resaie value and enjoy better performance along the way ......... less work and more output.

But if you can entertain someone that already has one that's willing to come in and saw for you ....... maybe you help .... maybe even trade wood for sawing your stuff ...........

That could work out very well.

Three 44s

[Wayne Smith]

We are very suburban. We had two large white oak's dropped, one unintentional and the largest, and got two saw logs out of it 13' long. Guy came in with a band saw mill, backed it along side my house and into my back yard, we rolled the logs to it, and I have white oak drying on my pack porch. I was so pleased I gave him $50 more than he asked! He was good, knowledgable, and worked hard.

[Petrol & Powder]

My neighbor had one of the band saw mills that was towable but he set it up as a semi-permanent mill. He produced a lot of lumber for his personal use but his initial costs were pretty high as well. From a pure cost v. profit viewpoint it was probably an overall slight loss. A chain saw mill costs a little less but also has a lower production rate. I'm with the others that suggested calling in a mill operator and only paying for the actual lumber produced. That way you don't tie up a lot of capital in a machine.

I could be wrong but my recollection is that the Alaskan mills hit their peak of popularity before there were a lot of portable band saw mills on the market. The Alaskan Mills certainly win the portability contest and have lower initial cost but trailerable band saws have come long way.

[quilbilly]

I thought about one some time ago after seeing one work then asked and found that the portable bandsaw owners around here were willing to cut for shares. We have a lot of good sized red cedar and hemlock (30"+ diam) on our property so cutting for shares made more sense. I felt better since I only needed lumber from half of a tree and the rest was put to good use by someone else.