Chainsaw mill

Hey looks very very good! Would be great if you post some more pictures of your construction.

-- *** the german lumberjock ***

Well I’m jealous. It looks surprisingly economical. You know, besides the pricey saw. Did you make the frame?

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Looks good, I’d like to see some close ups of the saw support. thanks.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

great ides…would like to see or get some construction specs on it….might need to build me one

-- Todd, Oak Ridge, TN, Hello my name is Todd and I'm a Toolholic, I bought my last tool 10 days, no 4 days, oh heck I bought a tool on the way here! †

I have always thought it would be a great idea to mill your own lumber. Your mill looks interesting.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

Did you buy a mill setup too, or did you make it? I’ve got a little Granberg mill that I use with my 20” Poulan saw, which works fine on smaller logs. But, I don’t have a nice rail setup like yours. Nice.

Dan in WV

I’ve got the saw…now just need the specs on the frame….hint,hint…. I’m sure it’ll make some interesting pieces.

-- George..." I love the smell of a workshop in the morning!"

ShopMonkey is my son…I’ll see if we can get some better pics for you guys and a few specs. He’s in college and he’s pretty busy studying (that’s what he tells me :) so sometimes it takes him a little while to get back to the board. He’s been saving for this saw for over a year now…so he’s one happy kid. He did make the rail system by bolting it all together. The saw mount is something he designed himself. He had to drill out two holes in the Saw bar. The first hole is drilled just short of the sproket in the nose of the saw, and the second hole is drilled as close to the saw as possible. He used 3/8” bolts and lock washers to attach a flat guide that runs under the rails, and a heavy long piece of angle iron that rides on the top of the rails. If you use a long enough piece of angle, then a second person can hold that side and help guide the cut easier. Each end of the rail system is a piece of angle that is setting in a groove of a pile of 2×8’s. That’s the part we need to design better in the near future. The only way we have to raise and lower the rails is to add/remove another board. Sometimes it can get a little wobbly when you’re working with smaller logs, so we need to engineer something better there. we’d love some sort of crank system, but haven’t figured that out yet. But we cut up a bunch of ash last weekend and he’s got it all stickered under my deck in the backyard where it needs to dry out a little… By the way, this is the second one of these he’s built. He about burned up my little 16” Poulon with his first setup, but this one is alot better, and so far, pretty economical.

-- Dale in Bellevue, NE

A very simple looking set up.

Are there any type of rollers on the saw guide?

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

No rollers Dick. The angle iron that is bolted to the blade just slides across the top of the rails. He waxes the rails prior to cutting. I was actually surprised at how straight the cuts were. I should also have mentioned that he purchased a skip chain (ripping chain) for the saw that really works well for this application. I guess they can have a high kickback if you try to crosscut though, so be careful if you get one and try to use it for other things.

-- Dale in Bellevue, NE

Thank you Dale, the simpler the better.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Very nice chain saw and great idea. Could you post more pictures of the guild? How does it attach to the tree? Couldn’t you add shorter bolts to the bar of the chain saw to cut shorter stock? Vice Versa with long bolts? Just an idea. :)

-- Hold on! Let me get the board stretcher!

If you can save some money on lumber this really makes a lot of sense. Seeing a piece go from log to mill to final product I’m sure will give you a lot of satisfaction. Nice work!

Matt – I’ll see if we can get some more pics, but it may be a little while. We are supposed to get snow this weekend, so the milling may not happen this weekend. As for how it attaches to the tree, it doesn’t. The bar system is suspended on each end by a stack of 2×8’s and just sits right above the log. I think I may have another pic that will show that. I’ll try to post that tonight. As for shorter bolts, that has nothing to do with the length of the log. The bolts allow you to connect the bars to the chainsaw bar that then rides above and below the 2 bars. Sort of hard to explain. Again, will try to get more pics up that might explain this better.
Ben – he’s been doing this for about a year now on a smaller scale and made some pretty nice stuff. He’s completely sold on air dried lumber vs. kiln dried. The walnut he’s cut is just beautiful. Has a purple tint to it that you just don’t get from the lumberyard.

-- Dale in Bellevue, NE

Thanks a lot Dale, sorry for all the questions. I’ve been throwing this idea around for about a year now. :p Just wasn’t so sure about a few things. That would be great if you could post more pictures. : ) Got any pictures of that walnut? :p

-- Hold on! Let me get the board stretcher!