chainsaw mills

tony marks · Aug 31, 2003

okay ,first let me say milling is something i know very little about... but ive got several car motors ,,,and good ones are not hard to find... would this not be a more practical power source than an 6-1000 dollar chainsaw... run it off belts and use pulleys to get the rpm up to the desired amt. i think i just described an old saw mill... just curious . not speakin from knowledge on the subject.
at present i dont have enough,, available timber to warrant building one. like i say just curious.

WOLF_RIVER_MIKE · Aug 31, 2003

chainsaw mills are more portable than the mill you described. Probably safer too. But if you were going to set up a semi stationary mill a car motor or old tractor would make sense.

Crofter · Aug 31, 2003

Car engine powered chainsaw mill

Tony:
I welded up some pieces for a fellow who did just this. He had an old Foley Circular sawmill carriage and logset apparatus but no blade or mandrel. He used the bar and chain from a log deck saw in place of the circular saw and the engine was a 6 cyl chev. He tapped into the engines oil pressure for bar / chain lube and just kept adding to the engine's oil to replace it. Automatic oil changes! The logs were salvage from Lake Huron. He built a house on a pretty small budget.

The beauty of a chainsaw powered mill is the portability, but a four stroke engine is a whole lot easier on fuel and not near the smoke.

Frank

tony marks · Sep 1, 2003

if i ever get my masters degree from the university of tryitansee whathappens ,ill be qualified to make one my self. aint fer off

Greg Carberry · Sep 1, 2003

It would work with the right mill and some fabrication. When granpappy started his mill he used a 1917 IH truck engine to power it. Was a circular mill, he later moved up to an IH diesel power unit. I think you can rig up most any engine with those old mills.

user 2993 · Sep 1, 2003

Yeah, a lot of those old circular mills were built to run off most any PTO, many were pulled with tractors. Powering the shaft probably is the easy part. The real trick is feeding the log thru the saw and not getting it hung.
I guess you could rig a chain bar in place of a sawblade, but I think the blade would be the better choice, if you had all the other gear in place. Chainsaw bar wont throw a board at you though.
The Alaskan type chainsaw is great when you work by yourself with little or no machinery to move logs. Just carry it into the woods, slice the log into managable pieces, and carry them to the truck.
On the idea of car motors, check this out:
http://www.mobilemfg.com/frames_company.htm
These sawmills are powered by air cooled VW engines, and run a head saw and one or two edgers. Very cool, but I will never mess with another stinking bug motor again.

JohnL · Sep 2, 2003

An Uncle made a circular 'buzz saw' mill he called it, 283 chevy V8, through powerglide transmission, used a 4WD type winch to pull the log track into the blade. Guess you could keep the alternator on it then take the winch off battery.

johnb · Sep 2, 2003

Photo's

Hey send some photo's of these home grown mill's!!!

The Hoosier

Tinwoodman · Jan 2, 2006

Not sure how old this thread is-- I am considering buying an Alaskan Sawmill. I suppose you guys will say my Stihl MS 290 is way to small for the job. However, I will be using it on a small scale. Yes, I plan to do up some hardwood with it, but piecemeal, not 1000 bf at once. I just bought a new bar and chain for the 290 and it's cutting real great. One day I'll probably have a bigger saw (I once cut down and cut up two 30" Magnolias with my MS 210), but for now the 290's my big saw. My big question is this: Regardless the size or power of the saw, isn't it going to be hard to maintain a consistent thickness of your wood without getting some dips swipes in it? Seems like the outer surface of your log would have to be perfectly smooth and even to start with. Also is it hard to maintain the even consistent surface on your first cut without accidently tipping the saw as you go along? I am imagining being off by an inch or two after going the full length of a log. I can see how, if you once got your first cut done correctly, the rest would follow along easy after that. But how do you get your first cut accurate?

Lakeside53 · Jan 2, 2006

start by nailing and wedging to dead straight a nice 2x6 or 2x8 along the top of the trunk. That way your first cut is smooth and straight.

t_andersen · Jan 2, 2006

Tinwoodman said:
Not sure how old this thread is-- I am considering buying an Alaskan Sawmill. I suppose you guys will say my Stihl MS 290 is way to small for the job. However, I will be using it on a small scale. Yes, I plan to do up some hardwood with it, but piecemeal, not 1000 bf at once. I just bought a new bar and chain for the 290 and it's cutting real great. One day I'll probably have a bigger saw (I once cut down and cut up two 30" Magnolias with my MS 210), but for now the 290's my big saw. My big question is this: Regardless the size or power of the saw, isn't it going to be hard to maintain a consistent thickness of your wood without getting some dips swipes in it? Seems like the outer surface of your log would have to be perfectly smooth and even to start with. Also is it hard to maintain the even consistent surface on your first cut without accidently tipping the saw as you go along? I am imagining being off by an inch or two after going the full length of a log. I can see how, if you once got your first cut done correctly, the rest would follow along easy after that. But how do you get your first cut accurate?

Take a look at this site:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/milling/
There's lots of info on Alaskan milling

johnb · Jan 4, 2006

I bought a woodbug. Check them out at www.woodbug.com

The Hoosier

Tinwoodman · Jan 20, 2006

Thanks. Woodbug looks great-- I just can't aford it right now. Something to look forward to I guess. The 2x6 idea looks like a winner, too.

timberwolf · Jan 20, 2006

For Alaska style mills you can make an "I" beam out of a couple straight 2x4s with a 2x4 or 2x6 in the middle. This will eliminate the need to wedge as the beam will be fairly ridgid. Then just screw it in to the logs at the end or high spots. Make sure the saw cut is below the screws.

Lakeside53 · Jan 20, 2006

timberwolf said:
For Alaska style mills you can make an "I" beam out of a couple straight 2x4s with a 2x4 or 2x6 in the middle. This will eliminate the need to wedge as the beam will be fairly ridgid. Then just screw it in to the logs at the end or high spots. Make sure the saw cut is below the screws.

You can also use the extension portion of an aluminum ladder. I've seen this used and it seem to work well.

MikeInParadise · Jan 21, 2006

The alluminum ladder works real well! It is lite to carry, nice and wide to provide stable support and mine is 11 feet long which suits my needs. You just loosen off the fender washer a bit and slide one end of the support wood to fit the next log.

dingo · Jan 21, 2006

If you can build your own mill

I was looking at the Alaskan mill and decided to get the Alaskan beam cutter. If you have the time I am sure the mill works great. The beam cutter worked and the company was a good place to do business; however in my case I needed lumber a little quicker than I could churn it out with the Alaskan. I bought a 18M Baker and haven't been sorry of it. I use to have a mill with a 54" circle blade and a D-8 diesel engine. I see a lot of the old circle mills for sale now since the bandmills are getting popular; some are run with a PTO from a farm tractor. I saw a mill with a pontiac v-8 and automatic transmission hooked to it. When the mill pulled down the transmission would shift and go on through the log. Sawmills to us old sawyers are like chainsaws to others. If you get a chance and have the capability, build your own mill. Remember there are secrets to get the circle mill to cut accurate, but the old sawyers will be glad to explain what to do and how to set things.

geofore · Jan 22, 2006

dingo/circle mill

Have you looked at www.sawpaw.com ? His shop makes the incertable tips for the circle saws.

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