Chainsaw mills (and band mills)

[Pat]

I was within inches of ordering an Alaskan chainsaw mill today (still might) but got interrupted and then later today when I operated the Canadian made Woodcraft 24-16 band mill I was in love (OK would you believe lust?) 20 HP twin gas engine, hydraulic raise and lower of cutter assy, hydraulic carriage feed to make a cuting pass and then return for another one. Finger tip near effortless cutting. A guy cold get used to that.

Meanwhile back at reality, I'm wondering how strenuous of a workout it is to make boards from logs with a chainsaw that is totally manual except for driving the chain.



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

[egon]

Pat:

On chainsaw mills:

My experience is only with the simple one I made. It would be termed an " edger" rather than mill. The most strenuous part is getting the log and setting up for the cut. This may invove removing dirty bark. The saw slides back and forth And rotates on the quide and all that is needed is slight pressure for rotation and quidance. If set up at the right height one can stand and no bending is involved. The chain must be kept sharp.

Band saw mills usually have min./max sizes that can be worked with.

Not so long ago a fellow built a band saw mill. Think the details are on the other forum.

Again note that my experience is very limited with a very narrow view point as a consequence.

Egon

[Pat]

Egon, I hate to be the one to break it to you but there are more than three forums. Other forum? TBN? Forestry? Other?

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

[fivestring]

Pat, they demonstrated your Alaskan sawmill at the woodworker's show.

They used a BIG Stihl with an 18" bar. It did pretty well.
They also had a LOGOSOL ($2800). It was awesome, but priced out of my league.

[Pat]

fivestring, Did you notice how BIG the Stihl was? If it was a really large pro model like the 120cc powerhead with only an 18 inch bar it would have had truly amazing performance. Even a 90cc with only a 18 inch bar would be an eager eater. Those size power heads are often used with chainbars twice that length or more.

I haven't decided on a chainsaw for the mill yet. Most likely a Stihl or Husqvarna in the 90 cc size with about a 28 inch bar or so. At least that is my current "partially informed" opinion.

In a recent sawmill competition manned by factory teams with stock mills, the Sweedish mill, LOGOSOL, came in 14th in a field of 15. It is still a nice mill and "REAL" users don't operate like the "racers" do so the results are interesting but not the whole story.

My mill will be mostly powered by "Sweedish steam" except for spinning the cutting chain.

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

[fivestring]

I didn't think to ask, but to me it didn't look like more than 75-90 cc. It was flat cutting some wood, though!
To me, that's BIG compared to my little Homelite! [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]
They told me the Logosol had a 7 hp electric motor. The bar was only about 18-20". He let a lady demonstrate it late in the day and she pushed it too fast, causing it to "blow-up". It smoked a little and then just quit. He said it might be a relay.

[missourihick]

I don't know about the alaskan mill,but I built a chainsaw mill that operated on the same design as a band mill and it was very slow cutting. I had a 630 jonsered with a 26" bar with 91 series lo pro chain.
I ended up buying a Baker wood buddy band mill and love it. I probably made around 30-50 bdft with the chainsaw mill in a hard day. I can make 500 bdft in a day by myself with the band. For me there is no comparison. Chain saws are for cutting trees down!