Alaskan chainsaw mill (discounted)

[Pat]

I have ordered an Alaskan chainsaw mill from HarborFreight.com

You can get a special price with a little effort.

When you locate the Alaskan, put one in your basket and proceed to checkout. Delete it, then click on the "Order from Printed Catalog". Enter 32376-3VGA and you will get the sale price of $129 with a $5 "handling" fee.

You may have to "fuss" with it a bit but it worked for me. OLDSAW on the Forestry Forum clued me in.

Now I need a good chainsaw as all I have are an electric pole trimmer and a couple small Macs. I fell trees up to 24 inches but it is not fast and I don't want to devote too much of my life to walking slowly behind a chainsaw in a mill setup. I like the Husky brand for its warranty of 8 times the waranty of Stihl in the pro sizes. Arguments, recommendations, suggestions, comments???

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[fivestring]

Be sure to buy a chain made for ripping, not cutting.
This makes the smaller chainsaws seem more powerful.
The typical chain is for cutting.
It's like the rip vs. crosscut table saw blade thing.
I have a friend that works on small engines as his second job. This past fall his shop was full of Huskys. It seems that quite a few parts are not interchangeable from year-to-year although from the same model chainsaw. He personally does not use Husky for that reason.
There were very few Stihls and Homelites in the shop.

[Pat]

fivestring, Yea verily, that has been made superabundantly and multiply redundantly clear to me through repetition again and again and over and over several times.

I have the scoop for reshaping a cross cut to get a ripper and part numbers and sources for good rippers plus sharpening info.

There is a guy who claims to reveal the "secret" of redoing your crosscut to get a ripper for $20 on ebay. Too bad for him but the secret seems to have gotten away from him. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Haven't had the experience yet but fully expect a vast difference in ripping speed.

What I could use is some good sound advice on sizing a chainsaw to the Alaskan mill. I suspect that no one ever complains about having too much power and cutting too fast and easy with their chainsaw. I also suppose that within reason (not to exceed say, 36 inches) the longer chain length should cut more wood between sharpenings as the distributed wear is shared among more teeth which take the same sized bite each time around whether on a long of short chain.

With more HP I would have the option of a longer bar and chain but could opt for a shorter one, say for felling, bucking, and limbing and although the saw would be heavier than the minimum saw for the job it should be real quick with the extra power and not have to be held in difficult positions very long. I can always use my little mac for the finer limbing to conserve my personal resources.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

My Alaskan mill came in the mail but I couldn't assemble it because of too many missing parts. The next day the second box arrived and assy will be easier. Typical slot A tab B instructions. Almost clear enough for me.

Now after the saw arrives and I get a ripper chain loop and maybe an accessory oiler and I put together a guide board system to get a first pass, I will be able to make lumber, however clumsy that might be mostly left handed.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[fivestring]

http://benchnotes.com/Home%20Saw%20Mills/sawmills.html

Pat, here is some interesting stuff......

[Pat]

fivestring, Yes, very interesting, especially the prices. I bought the Alaskan Mk II 36 inch mill from Harbor Freight for $135.94 including shipping and handling to my mailbox. Harbor Freight's regular price is $155. Your Northern Tool link has the same mill "ON SALE" for the low low price of only $189.99 plus shipping and handling. $54.04 plus whatever S&H is from Northern Tool will be well spent, somewhere else.

While I make no claim that Harbor Freight always beats Northern Tool or anyone else price wise for the same item, it does pay to shop as there are significant variations, even for the same exact item.

I'm used to finding a wide variation in prices for similarly described items and frequently find them to actually turn out to be be widely divergent in quality, function, or warranty but I am continually surprised by the wide variations in prices for the exact same product.

When folks want to buy gasoline for their car, they will typically (with most other considerations being equal) drive on past a station with regular at $1.899/gal to buy from a station advertising $1.359/gal, even if they are only buying 10 gal. Why then would they pay $189 for what could be bought for $135? The difference in $ here is as if they bought 100 gal of gas.

Isn't this what is known as stepping over the dollars to pick up the dimes?

Oh well, I hope the chainsaw to go with this mill will be delivered tomorrow. I can then get the sprocket and bar info off to suppliers of ripping chains and get one of those headed this way.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Thanks to UPS The Husky 394XP was on the sunporch when I got back from Oklahoma City this afternoon. Luckily I went through all the packing material before it went into a fire since the chain loop was packed in a wadded up piece of plain brown paper just like the other wads of plain brown paper used for filler in the box. It came broken down, bar removed, in a box longer than required to ship it assembled.

It came fillthy and oily and looking BEAT, DROPPED, and SKID/DRAGGED. Tomorrow I will clean it up and determine if I can start it. Gotta clean it first as there seems to be an empty rectangular cavity near the engines air intake that might be a good place for an air filter. The looks are NOT encouraging but are also not important if it RUNS RIGHT.

The chain is an Oregon with these numbers on it: 25 72 and one or more cutters labeled AZ.

The bar has these markings: RSN B 32/80 050/1 3
3/8 105 DL 9267FE

I gather that the 32/80 is 32 inches (80 cm) Bar length as advertised.

Could some of you experts decode and translate all the numerologically significant stuff into meaningful prose that I might understand, PLEASE? Then if it seems to run OK I would be justified in buying a ripper loop for it.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat:

This is just guesswork. No real knowledge involved.

RSN B 32/80 050/1 3
3/8 105 DL 9267FE

050/13 = looks like it could be the gauge

3/8 105 = may be the pitch

Dl 9267FE = may be model or type of bar which could indicate on which saws it will fit and the type of nose.

All guessing

Again unfamiliar but wonder if that size saw could use a larger gauge and pitch.

What type of condition is the bar in?

Egon

[Pat]

Egon, Your guesses are as good as mine, probably better. The part I thought I decoded agrees with your thoughts. At least I should be able to get a riper loop right after I confirm operation.

The bar looks some worn but I have little experience and have never personally worn a bar beyond good usability. It has a "star" wheel looking sprocket in the nose.

I need to get it cleaned up and tested. Then I need to get an air filter for it. I'm not at all sure this experiement was a success. I will reserve jusdgement till I at least give it a fair test.

For ripping, except for sharpening angle, do I want different chain specs? Bar specs? Is larger gauge and pitch desirable? Bigger kerf??

I will also be trying to confirm that the chain matches the drive sprocket.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat:

Can't answer those questions as I just plain don't know.

Egon