manual sawmill, alaskan or logosol etc.

[clyde]

I would like to mill some downed spalted maple logs and others for my own woodworking efforts.  I want to start with a manual mill like an alaskan lll or a logosol timber jig.  any suggestions about these or any others would be great .
thanks
Clyde
P.S.  I already have a stihl 066 with a rip chain on a 32 in bar.

[Dan_Shade]

the alaskan works, but can be back-breaking.  Where are you located?

[DanG]

Welcome Clyde!  It sounds like a chain mill is the way to go for you too get started.  I've never run one, but have seen a number of them work.  The only suggestion I can offer is to make sure it positions the saw horizontally.  The vertical ones would be awkward with a 32" bar unless you're 7' tall. ;) :D

Also, start saving your pennies.  When that sawdust gets in your veins, you're gonna want something bigger and faster. ;D

[Dan_Shade]

that's what happened to me

alaskans are great for limited use, and some use them for not so limited use!

[clyde]

thanks, as long as the alaskan is a good product I think I will buy one.  I know already I will end up with a nice band mill, but for now I think it will be fun to learn some things with out having to justify(wife) why I need to spend the money for what I really want.  I have a 32 in. band saw with a large resaw ability already.  I am in WI, thanks for asking.
Any other manual chainsaw milling advise would be loved and cared for.

[Dan_Shade]

don't hit rocks or nails



actually, the big things are get the bark off of the wood.  when I used my alaskan, I slabbed everything.  Sometimes, that isn't the best way to saw up a log, but it's a lot of work to saw up a log with an alaskan like you would on a bandsaw or a circle saw.

There's a lot of info in the archives, i read for days when I first found this place.

[clyde]

wht do you mean by slab? 

[Dan_Shade]

"through and through"

basically, starting at the top, and sawing on down.

most people with bandsaw, or circle saw cut down and flip until you get a square "cant", then saw this up either for grade or as dimensioned lumber.

[WoodSmith]

Welcome Clyde,
Using the Alaskan is a great experience.
Its no speedster, but you can "git er dun"
I sawed up a Douglas Fir up in a canyon that was 36" on the stump 80' in length bucked up into various lengths.
I bought five gallons of oil and used about 3 gallons to get that entire tree cut up.
If the log is on the ground there is a lot of hunkerin over your work.
And you need a good 2x12x16' or 20' to get you started.
Happy sawin

[Dan_Shade]

i use an aluminum ladder to get started.  hopefully i'll remember my camera next time I need to use it, and I can get some pictures of my setup.

there's a book by will maloof that has some great infor on chainsaw milling, but it's out of print, and fetches a pretty penny.

but the good news is that "Wood and How to Dry It " ISBN 091880454X has all the good info

[DonE911]

I have the logosol M7... nothing but good things to say about it.  You don't have to get down on the ground with the log and you don't have to push the saw through the log, but you do have to roll the log up onto the mill.... not to bad with a simple ramp set up, but a large hardwood log can be difficult without a winch.

You can turn the mill upside down on top of a log if its to big to roll... 

The alaskan will get you started cheaper...... but you'll catch the sawdust thich and you'll be buy'n more and more mill'n stuff before you know it.  8)

[Fla._Deadheader]

Hey DonE, Whatcha been up to ???  ;D

[clyde]

dan_shade
please elaborate on the ladder thing.
I am a contractor and was looking at a pile of used up extension ladders and thinking the same thing last week.
If you can help me along that would be great.

[lamar]

clyde; I went through differnt ways to come up with a quick,dependable,accurate way to get the first board off(slabbling rail) best set up is alluminum or c channel.Wood moves to much. I have from 8' to 25' double rail set ups with adjustable screw legs on both ends except for the 25' it has 3 legs.This way you plunk her on log set legs for height on both ends and most important use a level to take any twist out . PS I for got ,first push pointed ends of adjusters into log then it wont move when sawing.I use a 394 husky with 42" titanium bar with oiler and helper handle but have done most by myself.I now have a band mill but will still us alaskan when I need to.I hape this helps.

[Dan_Shade]

here's how I do it, hopefully it makes sense.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Hey Clyde,

I bought a new Stihl 090 just before they stopped marketing them in North America.  I'm using an Alaskan 36".

One thing that is really worth doing immediately is investing in the aux. oiler.  If you are going to be
hitting the hard stuff or sappy woods,  make yourself a drip lubrication system to ride on the rails.  Water and Pine Sol (or a cheaper equivalent) does a great job at cooling things down.   For example, Southern Yellow pine sap will simply stop you dead without the lube.  A couple of years ago I posted a picture showing that rig.  You could probably search my posts and find it. 

I have been stubborn about buying a metal detector, but will do so soon.    Sharpening a chain that has 100+ cutters on it after a close encounter with a 16penny nail is no fun at all.   (ONe day I made a first cut on a 46" thick post oak - twelve inch top slab about 28 " wide and hit  SEVEN NAILS in that one kerf.  SEVEN!   I let the track hoe have that one!  Even a fine log like that wasn't worth that kind of torture.

I have owned Chainsaw Lumber Making by Will Malloff for a long time.  It's a great book
to see how hard a person could work for a living, if they chose to.   He had so many tricks, but he had to be a tough dude!

Auxiliary oiler - less than 35$
Lube system - made my own with a 2 gal. detergent jug, one bolt and a jacket of a piece of control cable
                          for the tube.  crimped a 30cent lead weight to hold the tube down inside the 'tank'
Winch system like Malloff's  - used  a boat winch and imitated his rig in the book.   Took a lot of time,
                                               but less than fifty dollars of hardware and metal
Yep, the metal detector - gotta git one!
Welcome!
Phil L.

[D Martin]

I started sawing with an alaskin, It is back breaking and can be saw breaking if your saw gets hot so go easy keep her well lubed an sharp. I ended up building a 20 track and cariage for it to ride on using 2-10 foot conveyor sections for the bed, unistrut for the track  and a perry staging for the carriage,the wheels are like the ones you see for chain link fence gates, ride on round stock and 2 screwjack stantion clamps linked with chain an sprocket for up an down. Works pretty slick for  little money and a few hours fabrikatin the only problem ,outgrew it in one year. Bought a used  band mill ,now I want a new one, terrible addiction that sawdust.

[D Martin]

Got to get ya some ripchain too,not too hard to make from regular chain.  Just cut off every 2nd pair of cutter top plates with a dremmel an re grind the angles back to a smaller angle say like..... 15 degrees or so. Granberg says I believe  the ones with the top plate should be to zero so as to just be a clearing cutter the cutoff ones do all the cutting at 20 degrees. I kept a cutting angle on all cutters myself it seemed more logical and a little easier for grinding.  A good oregon type round grinder is well worth investing in at probly 200-300$ range, you could spend alot more on square grinders but they are said to have some advantages. lotsa HP is a must with big logs get the biggest you can afford. good luck to ya

[t_andersen]

Phil L, I couldn't find your ealier thread on oiler design. I will shortly mill some 30" white oak logs with an Alaskan so I suspect that I need an aux oiler. Buying it from Granberg isn't too easy for me because I am Sweden and transport, customs, etc, is complicated. I suspect that it's easy to make a tank with a thin hose, but how do I connect it to the bar? I guess that the oil should get into the groove from behind?

[Dan_Shade]

the granberg oiler has a hollow bolt with a hole below the head.  you drill your bar so that the hole just barely gets into the groove.  the oil then gets into the far end of the bar the same as it does at the powerhead.  I drilled my hole on the return side, I figured if you put the oil to it before the tip, it would just get slung out.

[t_andersen]

do you mean something like I show on this drawing? Seems to me that the thread will be awfully short. Must be difficult to make such a short thread in the hole? Sorry for being so stupid....

[Dan_Shade]

I guess I need to explain a bit better...

the bolt goes all the way through the bar, and is nutted.  there is a hole under the head to allow the oil to reach the groove

[Shamus]

I'll probly get called out on this, but I set up an aux. oiler setup that just dripped oil on the tip of the bar at an adjustabe rate. The vibration of the saw causes the oil to travel to the chain, and is picked up and thrown through the cut. It is low tech, but has worked just fine for me myself and I.