Chainsaw milling what saw?

[Haggis]

Hi Guys,

In the future I plan on getting an Alaskan Chain Saw Mill but unsure if the saw I have will suffice or if I will definitely need a new one.

What I currently have is a Husky 455 Rancher (This is a 55CC saw). Trees I will be milling will be primarily Oak that will be maximum 18" diameter.

So will the 455 suffice if speed of cutting is of no consequence? Or will I need to go bigger and if so how big is big enough for my purposes?

I know the 455 is on the very low end of what Granberg recommends for milling but would like to know from people that have done some milling with a 55CC saw if it worked at all.


Cheers
Haggis

[sawguy21]

You will kill yourself and the saw trying to rip oak with that 455, you need all the power you can get. How much milling are you planning to do? If just a few boards for a shop project a 372 or something similar would be a lot less stressful. If you are making flooring go all out with a 3120XP or MS880.

[Haggis]

At this point not sure on how much I am going to do. But I may do flooring for my new cottage but haven't given too much thought to that. The 3120XP and MS880 are big saws and way out of my budget, well at least the budge the wife will allow. I will keep an eye out on Kijiji to try and find a big used saw.

Thanks for your input.

[ladylake]

  Your way better off hiring a good band saw for a day cost wise, or buying a low cost one.  Chain saw milling uses a lot of gas, wastes a lot of wood and if you burn up a saw can cost a lot..   Steve

[celliott]

Biggest saw you can afford.

Stihl 066\MS660, Husqvarna 394\395xp are some 90cc+ saws that are more common than the 880\3120's.
Also look for older saws, husky 2100, Stihl 075\076, big old mac's\pioneers\poulans, lots out there if you know what to look for.

Or a bit smaller, like a husky 385\390xp, a little more useable "off" the mill too.

I have a 395xp on a 36" alaskan.

[ehp]

I have a couple friends running the 661 on their mills and they seem pretty good , Pete was running a 880 on the mill but someone stole it so instead of buying another $2,000 saw he put the 661 on it and it has not missed a beat 

[mad murdock]

You could "get by" with a 60cc saw, if you try to use less power you will be more successful setting up your saw with low profile chain, or stihl's 63PMX narrow kerf ripping chain. By using chain that takes a 1/4" kerf rather than 3/8", you are reducing the waste by 1/3 and also reducing the power required to pull the chain through the wood. I mill mostly with a 372XPW and it does well using the narrow kerf ripping chain. I milled about 4-5k bd ft when I first got into the CSM, and about 2 yrs ago retooled with a .050" gauge bar and the 63PMX chain and saw a significant increase in performance along with a decrease in waste and more milled boards. A win all the way around. If you are planning on milling dimensional wood vs slabbing live edge slabs, you might watch videos of other approaches.  Logosol makes a nice little attachment called the Timberjigg which really works well to break down smaller logs into dimensional lumber. I think that you can find them on sale now for about 140 bucks, FWIW.

[Haggis]

Thanks for all the input. Not sure how much dimensional lumber I would mill but my first project I was thinking was a live edge table to get my feet wet. I like the idea of the 1/4 ripping chain. May start looking for a used 70+ cc saw but wouldn't go bigger than 90 as I am sure I would want it usable outside of milling and I live in Ontario Canada and we don't get massive trees typically and the land I own is mostly oak trees with a few cedar down by the water.

Thanks again.

[Hilltop366]

Used lawn-tractor engines or electric motors are cheap and plentiful, with a little scrounging and a few new parts I bet you could make a CSM with lots of power cheaper than a good big saw. There are some on youtube, this guy says he has around $200 into his.

https://youtu.be/iJUoER2xJYA

[Haggis]

Looks like a allot more the $200 to me. Plus looks like I need some welding experience for something like that along with a welder. Like to know how he oils the bar.

[pabst79]

 I just got into chainsaw milling myself, I have had good luck with my 041 super and 048 both with a 24" bar and woodland pro ripping chain, if your not trying to slab huge trees I think a 70cc saw would work fine on a hobby basis, I have a 075 (111cc's), but have yet to mill with it because the smaller saws work just fine for me, another guy might tell you that 90cc is minimum. I'm green, but see no reason to spend 1000 bucks if you just want to slab a few trees now and then. That being said, I wouldn't try to mill with the 455, its not a pro saw and will be short on power. I think doing so would be more work then necessary and you might wreck a perfectly good firewood saw in the process. If your willing to spend 300-500 dollars I think you will be able to find a decent used 70cc saw if you look hard enough.  Sometimes they even pop up for the 250 range, Good Luck 

[Saga Dan]

Haggis,

I started out milling using my 346xp chainsaw and a Granberg Small Log Mill  I milled a couple of logs and realized that I was going to burn up my saw and it was going to take forever to mill any amount of lumber or live edge slabs.  The next spring/summer I moved up to a 36" Granberg Alaskan and a 395xp.  That worked night and day better but still slow.  I was able to cut live edge slabs in the woods on some very large trees.  The next summer I decided that I need a better way of milling so I purchased a Logosol M8 Chainsaw mill.  I used this in conjunction with my 395 and it worked pretty well for what I used it for.  I really would not want anything less for milling.  On some of the logs I was milling I was burning a tank of gas and oil per cut.  It was at that point while looking at the pile of logs I had to still saw I felt that I could not afford to burn up my 395 and that much gas and oil.  It was last fall that I made the jump to a LT40 manual bandsaw mill.  I love it and it makes things much more fun and easier.

In conclusion, as you can see I have thrown my money at several different things and have been moving my way up the chain.  I now have 2 very nice saws, 3 different chainsaw milling devices collecting dust, and a bandsaw mill.  The way I am headed it looks like I need to sell it all and just buy a LT70 Super.  Last bit of advice as many always offer.  Be careful this is very addicting.

[shinnlinger]

I found a good deal on a used bandsaw mill and having watched how slow chainsaw mills are, I gotta say a bandsaw or an old circle mill (which can be had for cheap if you poke around) would be a much better investment.  In lieu of that, hire a miller to come to your site.  It will probably be similar $ to buying a new chainsaw, and you can asses which direction you want to go after that. 

[Haggis]

Thanks for all the advise.

I will not be doing enough milling to warrant a bandsaw mill but enough and at times may want to do it on the spur of the moment. so I think I will keep my eye out for a 70 CC saw for this.

I appreciate all the advise given!!

[hacknchop]

A lot can be said for just working with what you have and going from there. I know quite a few guys with mills that sit idle for months or yrs at a time others like me seem to need to make sawdust everyday, use what you have and find out the difference between what you need and what you want.Above all have fun.

[Haggis]

That is some good advise.

[teed]

I have a stihl ms391 which is 65cc with 25 "bar. I think it works quite ok if you do not have to rush it You can watch my Youtube channel, where there are several different movies when I saw different kinds of wood.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsx6Ebzfq3YuzKNRw58ZdEw

[Haggis]

Wow cool set-up you have there!!

[teed]

Wow cool set-up you have there!!

I'm very happy with it, and I think that it work just fine. I should just build a log table to. A video will probably be filmed soon as I built a log table.

[kellysguy]

Used lawn-tractor engines or electric motors are cheap and plentiful, with a little scrounging and a few new parts I bet you could make a CSM with lots of power cheaper than a good big saw. There are some on youtube, this guy says he has around $200 into his.

https://youtu.be/iJUoER2xJYA

Man that is a simple little rig, I like it. That being said, BOY does he make me nervous with no guard on that thing and always reaching down. Trip and fall over backwards and you're liable to pull that thing and cut yourself in half.

[Oliver1655]

Another thing to consider is having both the gas & oil reservoirs located on the same side to where you can fill them easily while connected to the mill.

[beenthere]

Oliver

both the gas & oil reservoirs located on the same side

Which brands are not on the same side? 

Have seen older ones on top which wouldn't be handy for ccm's.

[Oliver1655]

You hit it on the head with most the modern saws being mill friendly but a lot of the older saws are not.

[kellysguy]

You hit it on the head with most the modern saws being mill friendly but a lot of the older saws are not.

That's disappointing. I have a late 50's MC that is a 80cc gear driven monster.

[j-jock]

One of the other responders has already made this point, but having the fuel and oil reservoirs accessible without having to pull the unit out is a real advantage.  I have used both Stihl (049, 056, single and paired), and single and paired Husky 2100XPs.  I preferred the Husky saws, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Stihl.  My impression was, that the Husky had more chain speed, and the Stihl had more torque. 
The smallest saw I have used on my mill, is a Husky 4-80.  It also worked well for me with a 30 inch bar.
The key to all this, is to make a proper ripping chain.  I used a 80 degree cutting angle, and I also ground off 1/2 of the width of the chipper.  It speeds up the cut and makes a much smoother finished product.
I made a double headed bar to pair both my saws, and used Stihl bars so that I could use the Husky adaptor to mount the Husky saws.  You can buy the bars, I actually still have 2, but I don't know where they are available.  I was going to make an adaptor from a bicycle brake cable and handle to run the throttles, but I ended up buying a Norwood bandsaw, so the upgrading stopped. 
I cut a lot of wood with a chainsaw mill, and when the price of the wood is right, who cares how much wood you lose in the cut.  I might also add, that for better dimensional accuracy in my boards, I found that alternating the direction of the cut would prevent the error in thickness from building on one side of the uncut log.  Sometimes, it allowed me to get an extra plank from the log.   
I hope this is helpful,
Bob