# Never seen this before new take on chainsaw milling



## irishcountry (Dec 14, 2009)

Just stumbled into this thought i'd pass it on might give someone some ideas http://redwoodburl.com/cutting.htm


----------



## Brmorgan (Dec 14, 2009)

Now that IS a different way of doing things! Can't say I envy the operator(s) though - looks like a good way to eat and breathe a lot of sawdust and fumes, milling at eye-level like that! That's what I need to slab the big Birch stump I have sitting out back though.


----------



## BobL (Dec 15, 2009)

irishcountry said:


> Just stumbled into this thought i'd pass it on might give someone some ideas http://redwoodburl.com/cutting.htm



Interesting setup, but that looks like some of the most uncomfortable and dangerous milling I have seen in a while. The last photo on that page of the operator pushing the saw at eye height and covered in sawdust looks like serious loser territory to me. How much work would it been to create a simple walk way to get the height at or below waist height, or maybe better still given it is a stationary mill, install a concrete pit and platform with some hydraulic lifting mechanism.


----------



## Daninvan (Dec 15, 2009)

Interesting set up though, despite the safety and ergonomic deficiencies. 

I've never heard of a "Pole mill" before, but that doesn't mean too much! There are a couple interesting aspects to it that I kind of like. 

No guide rail is needed. Not for the first cut or for any cut. The bar scribes an arc in the X-Y axis, but is a straight line in the Z axis, relative to the pole of course.

It only takes one person even for the large bar. 

The saw powerhead is held away from the log so there is no need for wheels (or, as I do, fighting all the friction!).

It looks like the kind of thing that could made portable without too much difficulty.

I think the effective cutting width is reduced by the arc that the blade takes, and of course it would not handle very long logs either. Still, an interesting new take. And you don't want the log to move much, otherwise the faces of the slabs will not be parallel.

Dan


----------



## irishcountry (Dec 15, 2009)

Yeah i agree with everyone safety/comfortability wise, just looked like another take on CSM, creative might be able to adopt some of it into a little safer set up but interesting non the less. I would love to have a kitchen in a nice cabin with countertops made from some of those slabs!!! Cool stuff anyway


----------



## BobL (Dec 15, 2009)

Daninvan said:


> No guide rail is needed. Not for the first cut or for any cut. The bar scribes an arc in the X-Y axis, but is a straight line in the Z axis, relative to the pole of course.
> 
> It only takes one person even for the large bar.
> 
> ...



All of those features are available but with the ability to mill much longer logs using a rail mill.

There was a clever English guy back in mid 2007 that went by the nick, Railomatic, that built a nice long rail mill. He also made a range of alaskan type mills using rollers.
Mostly he posted photos connected to his photobucket account but that died a while back

Fortunately he posted a few direct to AS like this;





That comes from this thread http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=54548 where he describes the build off his rail mill.


----------



## Daninvan (Dec 15, 2009)

Wow, Bob that's an interesting thread, thank you for pointing it out. My favourite part was the drill used to power the trolley via a bicycle sprocket! Now that's creative!

There's still a lot of pictures in the thread, but it looks like his website is gone. 

Dan


----------



## BobL (Dec 15, 2009)

Daninvan said:


> Wow, Bob that's an interesting thread, thank you for pointing it out. My favourite part was the drill used to power the trolley via a bicycle sprocket! Now that's creative!
> 
> There's still a lot of pictures in the thread, but it looks like his website is gone.



Yeah it's a real pity Railomatic no longer posts and his website died. I learned a lot from him.
Here is another portable beam mill design, http://www.sawmill.ausmade.com.au/ but it does not have end of bar support like railomatics does.
Here's my minimill rail mill combo - I haven't built the stands yet.
There are of course heaps of commercial designs as well.


----------



## irishcountry (Dec 15, 2009)

Yep shame railomatic isn't still on here anyone know what happened to him? I sent him a e-mail last yr. just to make sure he was still "among" us and never heard anything. I see the advantage of the design instead of mounting it on a pole. That was a good thread!!


----------



## BobL (Dec 15, 2009)

irishcountry said:


> Yep shame railomatic isn't still on here anyone know what happened to him? I sent him a e-mail last yr. just to make sure he was still "among" us and never heard anything. I see the advantage of the design instead of mounting it on a pole. That was a good thread!!



I tried contacting him as well but no luck.

Pole is still good for burls, stumps and cookies, just like to see it a bit closer to the ground.


----------



## carvinmark (Dec 16, 2009)

Very interesting, and pretty basic... I may need to build one similar.


----------

