saw mill

[dragoncarver]

the cost of wood can be greatly reduced if you mill your own i bought Alaskan saw mill a 55cc huskavarna i made a red oak tree into over $1000 worth of lumber

[locovalley]

Here's a picture of a mill I built last summer just before hurricane Ike hit East Texas. I milled a lot of fallen oak with this thing, somewhere around 2000 board feet so far. I've also cut a lot of pine that I use for construction projects on the ranch.

I'm air drying the oak now and hope to have a plentiful supply of wood for my CW in the near future.

I'm starting to get calls from people in the area with cedar, walnut and other species they want removed from their property. I've found that sweetgum is a nice wood for carving. It has a great grain pattern and is tight grained. Very little finish sanding is required before finishing.

With this mill I can set up right next to a log and cut it on site. It'll handle 16 foot logs up to 23 inches in diameter. As you can see it uses a chainsaw instead of the normal band saw for ripping the logs.

Joe

[Ken Massingale]

Cool! I have the Huskie 55 rancher too. I've been considering an Alaskan Mill, which model do you use? I would think you use a ripping chain?
Thanks

[Ken Massingale]

That's a neat setup, Joe.

[DocWheeler]

Joe,

That is a good looking mill, nice design. How long do the chains and bar last?

[Digitalwoodshop]

I miss my saw..... I had to sell it to pay the bills...

Bummer..... I retrospect.. It was the wrong thing to do.... I had it to quarter big logs that my band mill couldn't handle....

AL

[locovalley]

Hi Ken,

I'm still using the same two ripping chains I started with. One of the chains is more worn than the other but that is due to a sharpening error on my part. I keep the chains sharp, touching them up on the grinder after every few hours of milling. I also try to clean as much dirt from the log before milling which helps keep the chains sharp.

The 36" bar was used when I got it but it shows minimal wear. The trick to extended wear is to keep plenty of oil on the bar and chains. I'm installing an auxiliary oiler which adds oil to the cutting side of the bar where lubrication is lacking. I hope this will extend the life of the bar.

Joe

[dragoncarver]

i bought a ripping chain and it was the wrong size i ended up cutting the whole log with regular chain i now have the right ripping chain for my saw. i have my eye on 2 oak trees

[dragoncarver]

hey joe i want one like yours ? i have heard that you should sill the ends of the boards when drying to prevent cracking and splitting by using wood glue or wax i lost a lot of board feet due to cracking

[James RS]

If I bought one of those now, I'd better build a place to live with it lol wish I had one a couple of years ago. My dad downed to large walnut trees, I'd still be carving walnut now.