iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

chain saw mills

Started by tomkat001, May 20, 2009, 12:30:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

tomkat001

Hi, New to this site and thought I would ask for some help.
I thought I was going to get into the personal  sawmilling world by buying a small bandsaw mill, sad to say my wife has different ideas.
Anyway could I get a little input from you guy's on waht you think of the mills that utilize a chain saw, I know it would be a very slow process but do you get fairly good accuracy?
I  will be doing it strictly for my own pleasure and wont be doing many logs per year.
Thanks in advance for your ideas.
Boardwalk Jr. , JD 5075E with 553 loader, Stihl 290 Farm Boss,

beenthere

Welcome to the forum.

Are you thinking the Alaska mill type, or the logosol mill ?

The lumber will be as accurate as the jig holding the saw for 'transport' down the log/cant.

Lots of posts about chainsaw mills, which I suspect you have searched and read(red).
Bottom line, seems the main negative is time and energy to produce lumber/timbers/cants this way. But if you have both, and a good saw with the right chain...you should get great products.

Here is a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJOvnsMJHJ8
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ladylake

 When I bought my mill it was the price of a new car or truck which nobody has a problem buying and it sure made a lot of money and is still worth more than a 7 year old car. Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

TessiersFarm

I recently got a hold of an Alaskan 24" mill powered by a stihl 045 (75cc) saw.  It is physically demanding, but i'm 33 and in good shape.  It is surprisingly fast, I can cut 50 bd ft per hour, nothing great but not bad either.  I seam to be getting good consistency on the dimensions of the lumber.  I have under $500.00 invested and I have sawn more than enough lumber to pay for the mill not including labor in a month or so.  I own a small farm and I cut a few logs and saw lumber for an hour or so a couple of evenings a week, it is surprising at how much lumber I have accumulated over the last couple of months.  I am very pleased overall and the saw has other uses when I am not milling lumber.  I have an 18" bar with regular chains for bucking firewood ect.  In the right application I think the chainsawmill has its place.
Stihl E14, 180, 026, 036, 361, 045
Husky 266, 372, 394
Dolmar 111

jander3

I have an alaskan mill with a 94 cc saw and skip chain.  I use a mirco mill with 65 cc saw for edging.  Bigger saw is better for the alaskan mill.  This cuts fine if you don't need much production.

By the time I set up a log, cut one flat with the mill, flatten two sides, and cut the planking, I have a good bit of time into it.  When working with 16' logs, it takes me about 1.5 hours to cut the log into 3 or 4 16 foot planks (about 8-10").   

I need planking for a deck that is 22' x 24" I cut 1/2 the decking with the mill.  Based on the time it took to rip the flooring, I'm hauling  in the rest of the planking from the hardware store.

So...

Big picture.
...no hurry, no worries, the chainsaw mill works fine
...time constraints, or need production, get a real mill


   

Piston

I bought an alaskan mill for my MS361 (small saw for mill but perfect for me as a do it all saw) and I love it for what its made for.  Most people will tell you to just spend a bunch of money on a bandsaw mill or something but if your doing it as a hobby and for fun, then a CSM is well worth the money.   I think you should try it for the minimal investment, I'm glad I did.
I use my mostly for sawing timbers to use for small timberframing projects.  To me, milling is all relative, I visited Plymouth Plantation last summer during the time I was thinking about buying a CSM, I watched a guy hand hew a long log.....I now think my CSM is the fastest thing out there after seeing that demonstration.

It's a great way to start out and see if you'll like it, thats what I did and I'm now trying to buy a small band saw mill around winter time, not because the CSM doesn't work, but because I want to mill MORE!  So as others said, its all about production vs. time. 
Just remember the ways they did it back in the old days, by hand, sometimes taking 12-14 hours on a huge log, in comparison, a CSM is a piece of cake! 
It's all relative....
(not to mention that you have to keep your wife happy-THATS THE BOTTOM LINE!  ;D
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

rebocardo

If you are handy, building a procut trailer chainsaw mill is the way to go, imho. Once you set the track/carriage up correctly you get square stuff that looks planed. Plus, no bending!



Shamus

Chainsaw mills lead to bigger and better sawdust makers...

This:




becomes this:




in a hurry.
D&L Doublecut Synchro sawmill, Procut chainsaw mill, John Deere crawler loader,  F350 4x4 flatdeck, 20 ton logsplitter, running Stihls

medic

Tomkat
    A CSM is a good way to get into milling and see if you like it.  Although the minimal investment I would make is an Alaskan mill.  I originally started with a "Beam Master" (big mistake) which was essentially a guide mounted to the saw bar that rode on a 2X6 you'd screw to the log.  You could produce lumber with it but it was so slow that even from a hobby view point it wasn't prectical.  You can build lots of jigs or stands for the Alaskan type mills to get the logs off the ground and take some of the stress off your back.   
If you have the welding skills the Procut mill that someone else mentioned looks like an excellent way to go.  I was trying to decide between it and the Logosol when the spousal unit encouraged me to take the plunge and get the bandmill. 
As has been mentioned here  already you can produce good lumber with a CSM if you have the time to put into it.   Also, if you have a gym membership, cancel it.  You'll get all the workout you need from a CSM  :)   
One small hint for using a CSM, start with a razor sharp chain, when it gets to be just sharp it's time to change chains.   You will use more chains during a days milling switching that often but the time you lose by swapping chains is more than made up for by the cutting speed of the new chain. 
Good luck
scott
Retired Paramedic, TimberKing 1400, Logrite cant hooks, old MacCullough chain saws.  Too many projects not enough hours in the day.

tomkat001

Thanks for all the replies,

After reading all this, I think I am going to try to convince the better half I need to get a small band saw.

I was thinking a LT10 Wood Miser with a 10HP Honda, any one think there would be a better choice, I like the way it stores away as I don't have the luxury of outside storage.

This site is great!
Boardwalk Jr. , JD 5075E with 553 loader, Stihl 290 Farm Boss,

bck

You can explain to her that a band mill will give you an extra board from each log you saw. A CSM turns more of the log into sawdust.

ladylake

Quote from: bck on May 21, 2009, 02:10:08 PM
You can explain to her that a band mill will give you an extra board from each log you saw. A CSM turns more of the log into sawdust.

Or 2 or 3 or 4 depending on size, I'd sure want a bandmill unless I had a unlimted supply of logs that I didn't have to pay for.  Even then you could sell the extra boards to help pay for the mill.    Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

Thank You Sponsors!