# first timer homemade saw mill



## jimdad07 (Dec 17, 2009)

I am starting to build a homemade mill for a small saw, to do small logs for woodworking. I am going to try to make a rectangular box frame out of angle iron to guide four sets of rollers, one side will hold a sled for the saw to ride in and the other side a clamp to hold the nose of the saw bar square to the saw and the workpiece. Am going to make it about eight feet long to do logs around six feet long with a max of eight to ten inches diameter. I am going to be using a firewood saw so I have to really keep the size of my work pieces down. Am looking forward to hearing some suggestions.
Jim
ps: I will post pictures as I go


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## gemniii (Dec 18, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> I am going to be using a firewood saw so I have to really keep the size of my work pieces down.


"firewood saw" - Is that 50CC or less?
Every dollar you save on using a smaller saw will probably be spent on it's replacement. My 62CC saw does 14" well, 18" slow, and about 20" max. 
Good luck, post pics.


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## carvinmark (Dec 18, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> I am starting to build a homemade mill for a small saw, to do small logs for woodworking. I am going to try to make a rectangular box frame out of angle iron to guide four sets of rollers, one side will hold a sled for the saw to ride in and the other side a clamp to hold the nose of the saw bar square to the saw and the workpiece. Am going to make it about eight feet long to do logs around six feet long with a max of eight to ten inches diameter. I am going to be using a firewood saw so I have to really keep the size of my work pieces down. Am looking forward to hearing some suggestions.
> Jim
> ps: I will post pictures as I go



Sounds like a small version of my ProCut mill. Works great for me. Good luck with it.


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## woodsrunner (Dec 18, 2009)

Please keep us informed of your project progress. Pictures are great, too. 
I want to put something together to do the same kind of small pieces. I have some ideas but have been slow to tackle the project.

Scott


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## jimdad07 (Dec 18, 2009)

To Gemniii:

I will be using a dolmar 5100s. It will be my first higher end saw and about as big a new saw as I can get away with with the boss (my wife) at this time. The excuse I have to use to buy the saw is it will be better for cutting firewood than the little 16" poulan pro I use now. I have changed things around already on my design a little from what it was because there are a few homemade mills on here I have seen that I am going to incorporate their ideas in. You guys are pretty good with your fabricating. The bil mill is about the slickest thing I have seen yet.


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## gemniii (Dec 18, 2009)

Based on my limited experience, with a sharp ripping chain and running it rich you should easily be able to saw up to 12" on red maple or softer. 

The last half dozen cuts I did were about 20" of red maple. Note that red maple is generally considered "soft" and on the Janka hardness scale rates a 950, while hard maple rates a 1450 (http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm or http://www.sizes.com/units/janka.htm)

If you were cutting a really hard wood like Ebony you'd probably need a bigger saw just to do a foot wide cut.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 18, 2009)

It will mostly be red maple and black cherry (both green). I plan to mill a couple of the smaller logs here and there that I get when I buy logs for firewood. Maybe some yellow birch once and a while.


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## BobL (Dec 19, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> I am starting to build a homemade mill for a small saw, to do small logs for woodworking. I am going to try to make a rectangular box frame out of angle iron to guide four sets of rollers, one side will hold a sled for the saw to ride in and the other side a clamp to hold the nose of the saw bar square to the saw and the workpiece. Am going to make it about eight feet long to do logs around six feet long with a max of eight to ten inches diameter. I am going to be using a firewood saw so I have to really keep the size of my work pieces down. Am looking forward to hearing some suggestions.



Instead of making a dedicated carriage mill I made a small (up to 24" bar) alaskan that would slide on a portable rail rig. The rig can hold small awkward shaped logs while being cut and can still fold up and fit in the back of my station wagon. I have used it with my 50 cc plastic Homie to mill short logs (up to 4 ft long and 12" wide). I use 3/8 lo profile chain and it has several advantages over a carriage - the main one being that the alaskan can operate as such when required for much longer logs.

See here http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=46491

I am about to mod the alaskan to take a 70cc saw and will post some pics soon.

You need to bear in mind that even using these narrower kerf chains, they turn a lot of the wood into sawdust and I have switched to just using the small milling rig to just halving or quartering logs so they can fit under my regular bandsaw.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 19, 2009)

Bob:

I saw your small alaskan while looking through the old threads to get ideas. I think it will work well for me along with a small sled. I do not have access to a bandsaw style mill yet so I have to make do. I did learn today I am going to be the owner of a Dolmar 6400 in about three or four weeks. I went over to the dealer today to get a price on the 5100s to see how much I have to save and he sold me a '08 6400 for $530.00 that has not seen fuel yet. It is the last Dolmar he has left from '08. So now it should be a little easier to mill with the bigger saw. Still keeping it at a 20" bar. Do you think it will handle 12" to 14" logs without burning it up?


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## BobL (Dec 20, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> Bob:
> 
> I saw your small alaskan while looking through the old threads to get ideas. I think it will work well for me along with a small sled. I do not have access to a bandsaw style mill yet so I have to make do. I did learn today I am going to be the owner of a Dolmar 6400 in about three or four weeks. I went over to the dealer today to get a price on the 5100s to see how much I have to save and he sold me a '08 6400 for $530.00 that has not seen fuel yet. It is the last Dolmar he has left from '08. So now it should be a little easier to mill with the bigger saw. Still keeping it at a 20" bar. Do you think it will handle 12" to 14" logs without burning it up?



Yep - should be fine!


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## gemniii (Dec 20, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> <snip> I did learn today I am going to be the owner of a Dolmar 6400 in about three or four weeks. I went over to the dealer today to get a price on the 5100s to see how much I have to save and he sold me a '08 6400 for $530.00 that has not seen fuel yet. It is the last Dolmar he has left from '08. So now it should be a little easier to mill with the bigger saw. Still keeping it at a 20" bar. Do you think it will handle 12" to 14" logs without burning it up?


Depending on how you build your mill and mount your saw. It should have the power but the bar may be a little short.
Thr Dolmar 6400 (GOOD CHOICE) is about the same rated HP as my JD.
My Alaskan Mark III. as I've set it up, has a 21.5" throat using a 28" bar, but I left the dogs on.

If you lose 6.5" off your 20" bar your maximum cut is 13.5" and you need really straight logs.

I'd strongly recommend you go up to a 24" bar and ripping chain. I know it's mission creep but then later you can think of a muffler port and getting a big bore (BB) kit and punch some more HP out.

Good Luck! When the chips are down it means my chain is sharp.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 26, 2009)

gemniii said:


> Depending on how you build your mill and mount your saw. It should have the power but the bar may be a little short.
> Thr Dolmar 6400 (GOOD CHOICE) is about the same rated HP as my JD.
> My Alaskan Mark III. as I've set it up, has a 21.5" throat using a 28" bar, but I left the dogs on.
> 
> ...



Going to go with a 24" bar as you suggested. I decided to make the mill out of black iron that I have lying around from gas piping jobs. I have most of the design worked out but was wondering what you guys think for supporting the saw. I was thinking of some type of a platform off of the side of the mill that the power head can rest on. Also, BobL's post on mounting points on most bars was very helpful.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 26, 2009)

Almost forgot, what is better for milling, a carbide toothed chain or a ripping chain? The dealer I am getting my saw from only sells carbide chains for this purpose, but I can get milling chains at one or two places in my area.


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## mtngun (Dec 26, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> Almost forgot, what is better for milling, a carbide toothed chain or a ripping chain?


Ripping chain, or just use semi-chisel and gradually regrind it to 10 degree.


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## BobL (Dec 26, 2009)

jimdad07 said:


> Going to go with a 24" bar as you suggested. I decided to make the mill out of black iron that I have lying around from gas piping jobs. I have most of the design worked out but was wondering what you guys think for supporting the saw. I was thinking of some type of a platform off of the side of the mill that the power head can rest on. Also, BobL's post on mounting points on most bars was very helpful.



Just resting the saw on a platform is a recipe for a badly scratched up and eventually wrecked powerhead as the vibe will make the powerhead rattle against the platform. No amount of padding will work. The power head will somehow have to be bolted on to the platform to reduce the vibe effect. If you are doing that you might as well bolt the carriage to the bar bolts.

If the carriage is strong enough you won't need a platform for strength purposes. If it is not strong enough you shouldn't really be milling with it. Rail and Alaskan mills have their powerhead laying over on their side suspended all day every day just fine.



gemniii said:


> My Alaskan Mark III. as I've set it up, has a 21.5" throat using a 28" bar, but I left the dogs on.


.
If jimdad can make a saw carriage he can do the nose and bar mods required to most of that 6.5" back.

If jimdad doesn't need the saw for other purposes, because wheels or skids serve no purpose for a simple carriage mill I would go with #8 on both the nose and the inboard bar connection. 






One downside of a CS carriage mill is if you want to touch up the chain while the saw is on the mill (and I would recommend you do that ) you have to learn how to touch up cutters with the saw blade oriented in the horizontal position Of course it is possible top undo the bolts holding the bar/saw onto the carriage and completely remove the CS from the mill but I would keep that to a minimum. Firstly bolts wear out, the more often you do this the more often you will forget to tighten something. Fitting the CS to a carriage using #8 will also be fairly awkward. While it's a bit of a PITA I'd suggest learning to touch up with the bar held horizontal using a portable 12V electric grinder. 

The other alternative is swapping chains. 
While the chain is well exposed on the #8 design, unless the powerhead is supported in some way it is also a PITA to change chains while the powerhead is on the carriage on its side. This is where a little platform could come in VERY handy, but not permanently connected platform to the movable part of the carriage but at one end of the rails so you can sort of park the saw when its not running and the head is supported while you change the chain and mounting the CS to the mill. Under normal operation you should be able to keep the same chain for at least a whole day. At the end of the day I would at least suggest servicing and flipping the bar and then sharpening the chain off the carriage.

Here is another off the wall idea, what about making the whole carriage able to tip backwards so the saw is then upright - easier to mount the CS and sharpen the chain. I reckon that idea is a winner!


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## jimdad07 (Dec 26, 2009)

I am not going to go with the carriage mill, as you suggested before. I am going to stick with a mill that is much like the small one that you (BobL) use for small stuff. I am still learning the language of milling. Unfortunately this saw is also going to be my firewood saw until I can make enough money with it buy the 7900 or the 9410 and make one of those strictly a milling saw. I like to do a lot of woodworking but have found that in order to get away from using soft woods you have to come up with some good bucks to buy material. That is my main drive for wanting to mill. I will however have one bar strictly for the purpose of milling.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 26, 2009)

BobL said:


> Here is another off the wall idea, what about making the whole carriage able to tip backwards so the saw is then upright - easier to mount the CS and sharpen the chain. I reckon that idea is a winner!



That is a good idea (just saw it at the bottom after I repliead the last time). I could suspend the carriage (and that would make it much easier to do a carriage style mill) from two rails above the work piece and make a quick release system for the nose end of the bar and a pivot point on the power head end of the carriage. That would allow me to pivot the saw back and out of the cut at any point to touch up the chain. I am a very firm believer in sharp chains. Have you every seen the rollers on a large meat hook that butchers use that usually runs on top of an I-beam? I could use that on the power head side of the carriage and lift the whole power head off of the rails for sharpening.


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