Do any of you guys have any experience with this Alaskan chainsaw
sawmill?

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdet...G777&catID=247

I'm considering tooling up to harvest a couple of trees.

Thanks.

- Owen -

I have experience on a home-made version. It's hard, slow, and heavy
work, but it can be very rewarding. All of the baseboards, door jams
and trim in my house were made from trees on the property. Here's a
link:

http://bullfire.net/Lumber/Lumber.html


On Oct 7, 11:50*pm, manyirons wrote:
Do any of you guys have any experience with this Alaskan chainsaw
sawmill?

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdet...G777&catID=247

I'm considering tooling up to harvest a couple of trees.

Thanks.

* - Owen -

On Oct 8, 12:50*am, manyirons wrote:
Do any of you guys have any experience with this Alaskan chainsaw
sawmill?

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdet...G777&catID=247

I'm considering tooling up to harvest a couple of trees.

Thanks.

* - Owen -

Their real advantages are low cost and light weight. You can easily
pack them in to a remote cabin site. If you are interested in thin
boards, keep in mind that the wide kerf causes a lot of waste. They
are a lot slower than band saw mills, even with ripping chains. Ed's
reply said he was working with oak - they will be a lot faster in pine
or other softwoods. Cutting at an angle speeds them up a bit, as long
as it is not such an angle that you get stringy chips that clog the
saw.

For just a couple of trees, you may be better off to find someone with
a portable band mill who will come and cut for you. I think that Wood
Mizer and maybe some of the other manufacturers have lists of owners
who will do so. Some of them will be willing to cut for a share of
the lumber rather than for pay.

John Martin

On Oct 7, 11:50 pm, manyirons wrote:
Do any of you guys have any experience with this Alaskan chainsaw
sawmill?

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdet...G777&catID=247

I'm considering tooling up to harvest a couple of trees.

Thanks.

- Owen -

Have done a white oak and a cherry with my neighbor that owns one of
these... Property that adjoins both of ours is for sale and the owner
said we could take a coupla trees as long as we didn't take too many -
what's too many ?

Anyhoo, he's got a saw with a 36" bar and we took turns slabbing.
Waste is kinda high when you finally get down to S4S and thought about
it (kerf of the saw, jointing the board flat) but on the other hand,
all the lumber cost was some gas, bar oil, and time and energy.

I wouldn't want to do more than a coupla trees tho. Hot, boring,
slightly dangerous work.

D'ohBoy

On Oct 9, 12:47*am, wrote:
On Oct 8, 12:50*am, manyirons wrote:

Do any of you guys have any experience with this Alaskan chainsaw
sawmill?

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdet...G777&catID=247

I'm considering tooling up to harvest a couple of trees.

Thanks.

* - Owen -

Their real advantages are low cost and light weight. *You can easily
pack them in to a remote cabin site. *If you are interested in thin
boards, keep in mind that the wide kerf causes a lot of waste. *They
are a lot slower than band saw mills, even with ripping chains. *Ed's
reply said he was working with oak - they will be a lot faster in pine
or other softwoods. *Cutting at an angle speeds them up a bit, as long
as it is not such an angle that you get stringy chips that clog the
saw.

For just a couple of trees, you may be better off to find someone with
a portable band mill who will come and cut for you. *I think that Wood
Mizer and maybe some of the other manufacturers have lists of owners
who will do so. *Some of them will be willing to cut for a share of
the lumber rather than for pay.

John Martin

At the moment, cost is the critical factor. I plan to start with
pine, and possibly one dying poplar that needs to go. The pines are
back aways in the woods, and while I THINK I can get the jeep back
there, I have to wait for the ground to dry out some more to be sure.

My throughput in the shop isn't high enough right now to justify
production on a larger scale. I can accept the waste factor, and the
time factor. I figure each tree would be a whole day job.

The whole point isn't just getting cheap wood, either. It's the
process. The fresh air, the sweet sound of the chainsaw, and no
computer problems for awhile. I dream of that first Thanksgiving
dinner on the harvest table I harvested myself, and that's something
nobody can buy.

Thanks for sharing your experiences; it sounds about what I expected,
so I think I'll push forward.

- Owen -

P.S. It never occurred to me to use dovetails on baseboards. Now
I've got something else to think about!