Old Nick wrote:
On Thu, 05 May 2005 10:38:49 -0400, Clamdigger
wrote:


If you are talking about production work,
then even the lower end bandsaw mills could be called "too much work"


Not sure what you mean here....I agreed with the rest of your ideas.

I am not the original poster of this thread, I was just chiming in on
the apparent bias against chainsaw mills, often being faulted for having
too wide a kerf and being too work intensive.

I pointed out that a chainsaw mills kerf is not any wider than the old
Bell-Saw traditional circular saw blade mill. ( I have helped run one of
those and even with a tractor with a bucket it is WORK to get the logs
up and possitioned on the cart and dogged in place for sawing) A chain
saw mill lets you position a relatively light weight saw on the log, a
much easier proposition.

Secondly in regard to the criticism of a chainsaw mill being "too much
work for production work", I would suggest that setting up the small,
lower end (lower price) bandsaw mills, without the automatic or remote
controls for return, depth of cut, etc. is ALSO a lot of work, similar
to the work required for the set up of a chainsaw mill. Thus my
statement that even a lower end bandsaw mill could be called "too much
work". Yes, a small bandsaw portable mill may make a board cut faster
than a chainsaw mill, but the real work is the set up and dragging the
saw back for a second cut. Production work, (lots of board feet)
requires a high end mill, which for most folks is way beyond their
budgets, I know it is for me.
a good bandsaw mill for production work, will run over $5,000, and more
than likly, for real production work, you are in the over $10,000 range.
When you compare a chainsaw mill setup which will usually run under
$1,000, less if you already have a suitable saw, I don't think that a
Chainsaw mill is such a bad deal. They are highly portable, relativly
easy to sharpen, replace you cutting medium (chain) and they do get the
job done. I find that the major work with making your own lumber is in
the handling of the trees and then the proper stacking of the lumber,
not so much in the cutting. With whatever method you choose,
traditional circular sawmill, bandsaw mill, Portable or stationary, or
chainsaw mill, you still have the back breaking work of moving the wood.
Sorry for the long reply, but logging and milling wood IS hard work no
matter what saw you choose to use.