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!