# Let’s see the homemade Alaskan chainsaw mills!



## motolife313 (Dec 30, 2018)

I’m planing on making one and was thinking about using a piece of hard plastic like delrin or phenolic and using some all thread to adjust the height. I’m not planing on doing anything huge. I’ve got a 32” bar and 064. Wanted to make some tables and table sets, all kinds of stuff really


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## Eric Vogus (Dec 31, 2018)

Well it’s not a Alaska style mill but I built it right her in Alaska.


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## BobL (Jan 2, 2019)




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## motolife313 (Jan 2, 2019)

Holy cow that’s a chainsaw mill!


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## Eric Vogus (Jan 4, 2019)

BobL said:


> View attachment 694303
> 
> 
> View attachment 694302


That is one impressive truly portable mill.


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## htetreau (Jan 7, 2019)

Here's my homebuilt Alaskan-style mill with 30" capacity. Built from 3/4" & 1" square steel tube, it features Ball-Lock pins at the most frequently used thicknesses, and screw locks (on the tube diagonals) for infinite variability. Inline skate wheels allow the mill to roll smoothly along the side of the log and UHMW tape on the bottom of the mill provides low friction. Here it sits ready for the first cut in a short maple log where I experimented with white candle wax (paraffin) as the end grain sealant - unsuccessful as it flaked off as the log dried & shrunk. The center upright (between the two handles) was originally designed to allow use of shorter bars for smaller logs; I've not used that yet, and likely never will.


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## Dobbs (Jan 8, 2019)

Mine is simple as they come.
This is one of 4 I have MS880
50" double end Cannon Bar.
Didn't realize it till I get loaded the 1st pic one of the other one is near the front of the trailer. I use a 36" bar on it with a MS650￼


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## motolife313 (Feb 3, 2019)

This is what I came up with. Hopefully I can make some cuts soon. It’s all aluminum besides the delrin. 1” and 1”x2” and some 6” 1/4 aluminum and the delrin holds it up in place


the delrin I drilled to 9/16 and put in 3/8 steel inserts since I will be unbolting the delrin to switch heights.


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## motolife313 (Feb 3, 2019)

Some welding. Counter sink bolts.


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## northwest saws (Feb 17, 2019)

I like the design, simple but effective. Hopefully that plastic holds up for you. I'm thinking about building my own as well but i'm not feeling too enthusiastic on using aluminum.


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## Eric Vogus (Feb 20, 2019)

Looks like a very well built unit. Nice job


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## BobL (Feb 20, 2019)

Nice machining and welding but I don't think the large minimum differences in possible thickness of cuts is a that good a design. 
Sometimes you really want to be able to mill slabs and boards to 1/8" thickness differences.

You will be better off replacing those bar pads with steel as the Al ones will wear too quickly. Bolting the bar to the mill is a better design because then there's no need to remove the clamps to change the chain,

Also you will need some handles on the mill to hang onto. It will be better if the handles are higher up on the mill and not just at the level of the large Al plate. Have a look at were the handles are placed on this mill.


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## motolife313 (Feb 20, 2019)

How would the aluminum bolted to the bar wear out? And I really couldn’t see need to be accurate to the 1/8” lol. That’s what a planner is for


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## BobL (Mar 1, 2019)

Vibe will wear the Al no matter how hard the bar bolts are tightened. It depends how many logs you mill I noticed the wear when I used Al pads after about 30 logs.

RE: 1/8" " OK maybe not 1/8" , but any more than this starts to waste a lot of timber and time.


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## Roadhunter1 (Mar 20, 2019)

I threw this mill together last year when I started milling. It was a blast, and even though it’s basically a copy of an Alaskan mill, I had about $100 invested in it plus the time it took to make it. It’s a 48” mill, I’ll post a couple pics of the slabs I was getting with it too. This was my first go at milling and I’m totally addicted.


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## motolife313 (Mar 20, 2019)

Nice mill. Where did u get the profile tubing?whst kind of wood are u milling looks nice 

Bob I’m bolt some steel to the aluminum when I see it wearing


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## Roadhunter1 (Mar 20, 2019)

I got the 10’ stick at Grainger. I think it was like $40-50 if memory serves and then I just used little 1/4”x20 carriage bolts for the track. The wood is birch.


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## motolife313 (Mar 20, 2019)

htetreau said:


> Here's my homebuilt Alaskan-style mill with 30" capacity. Built from 3/4" & 1" square steel tube, it features Ball-Lock pins at the most frequently used thicknesses, and screw locks (on the tube diagonals) for infinite variability. Inline skate wheels allow the mill to roll smoothly along the side of the log and UHMW tape on the bottom of the mill provides low friction. Here it sits ready for the first cut in a short maple log where I experimented with white candle wax (paraffin) as the end grain sealant - unsuccessful as it flaked off as the log dried & shrunk. The center upright (between the two handles) was originally designed to allow use of shorter bars for smaller logs; I've not used that yet, and likely never will.
> 
> View attachment 695445



How do you like the 075? Mill with it a lot? Sure looks like it’s in good shape. Did u fix it up or is that all original? I bought one couple weeks back and fixing it up. Was running when I bought it and sounded great. I’ll be making some cuts with it real soon, I’m thinking mines a early model because of the older logo


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## motolife313 (Mar 20, 2019)

Roadhunter1 said:


> I got the 10’ stick at Grainger. I think it was like $40-50 if memory serves and then I just used little 1/4”x20 carriage bolts for the track. The wood is birch.


Really?? I didn’t know the inside looked that good wow.


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## Roadhunter1 (Mar 20, 2019)

Yea, I was pleasantly surprised when I started milling that burl to say the least. I’m planning on making a few coffee tables since the largest slab I got from the burl in the tree was 45” in diameter.


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## motolife313 (Mar 20, 2019)

Wow didn’t know Birch got that big


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## Roadhunter1 (Mar 20, 2019)

Yea, there are birch in my area “Anchorage Alaska” and more specifically the Mat-is valley that get over 20” in diameter. The one in the pictures was 22” at the base.


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## Eric Vogus (Mar 20, 2019)

Roadhunter1 said:


> Yea, there are birch in my area “Anchorage Alaska” and more specifically the Mat-is valley that get over 20” in diameter. The one in the pictures was 22” at the base.


These are from Petersville. I live in Wasilla.


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## Clifwoodman (Mar 26, 2019)




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## Clifwoodman (Mar 26, 2019)

That’s mine whilst waiting on Panther mill! Not much but does the job!


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## torch (Apr 2, 2019)

It's not exactly home-made, but it is home-modified. I used a $100 Chinese Grandberg knock-off for parts and rebuilt it with longer, heavier extrusions to fit the 36" bar on my 084. I had to run them through my other mill (ie: metal milling machine) to rabbit one edge on each, but the result is very sturdy. 












I bought 2 Stihl .404 ripping chains. Seems to leave a decent finish. I didn't use a stopwatch, but it cuts a 10' length in Red Oak and Maple in about 5 minutes. 











I hit a couple of hidden nails in the centre of one log. Surprisingly little damage to the chain, just a little kick that made me think "what was that?" It didn't even slow down for the rest of the cut. But I decided to switch to a carbide cross-cut chain for the next cut. Not gonna do that again! Terrible finish and very slow. I'll save the carbide chain for cutting off the stumps near ground level in the future. 

The problem with this thing is that everyone else wants to try it out too! 






After reading what others have done, I think future mods may include removing the rollers in place of the skids and a winch. Removing the bucking spikes and switching to the one-bolt method of mounting to the bar would not only maximize length, but also make it a lot easier to change chains. Does anyone know if the Stihl 3-foot sprocket nose bar is a suitable candidate for drilling the centre of the sprocket? 

In the interests of full disclosure, this is not my first foray into chainsaw milling. My first attempt was 18 or 20 years ago, freehand, with my only saw at the time: a 16" bar on an 025 with a chain modified in what I thought was a suitable imitation of a ripping chain. I knew nothing about grind angles, I just ground the tops off alternating pairs of teeth. 

The results were not pretty. No photos exist. 

However, after much clean up with the bandsaw, jointer and planer and lathe, I turned that beech and oak into a staircase. And many, many bags of sawdust!


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## brianpoundingnails (May 23, 2019)

Here's mine. Combination chainsaw mill, mortiser, lathe, drill press. Dropbox link for more pics.

machine: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nr4yw91iv2hgdl0/AACv5-Unq_KSGyYK-2YHwWIBa?dl=0

furniture: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hfk8rqr7l416/AADQZxeku_HGeIBLpz4MeasIa?dl=0


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## earlthegoat2 (May 28, 2019)

My simplistic but IMO improvement over the Granberg Mk3. 1” steel construction. Thickness of cut is secured with double set screws. Only disadvantage of note is the setup time for different thicknesses. I want to make some spacer blocks to remedy this. 

Built to handle a 36” bar and 29” total cut width. Shown here with a 32” bar.


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## Eric Vogus (May 30, 2019)

brianpoundingnails said:


> Here's mine. Combination chainsaw mill, mortiser, lathe, drill press. Dropbox link for more pics.
> 
> machine: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nr4yw91iv2hgdl0/AACv5-Unq_KSGyYK-2YHwWIBa?dl=0
> 
> furniture: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hfk8rqr7l416/AADQZxeku_HGeIBLpz4MeasIa?dl=0


Wow nice unit. I like that a lot.


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## Eric Vogus (May 30, 2019)

brianpoundingnails said:


> Here's mine. Combination chainsaw mill, mortiser, lathe, drill press. Dropbox link for more pics.
> 
> machine: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nr4yw91iv2hgdl0/AACv5-Unq_KSGyYK-2YHwWIBa?dl=0
> 
> furniture: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hfk8rqr7l416/AADQZxeku_HGeIBLpz4MeasIa?dl=0


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## Eric Vogus (May 30, 2019)

Wow nice looking unit. Well done.


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## goncalo alves (Sep 1, 2019)

I'm buying my first one but I like tracking these. Anyone else have a homebrew?


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