I think it is a complicated mess as is, there are other better ways of doing it.
I just received the book itself from Amazon & it is not worth the just under a 100 bucks I spent.
Now the pictures tell a story, looking at it from that view you might could say it was worth it.
Believe me read what can help you here & dump the rest.
Now I know he must be the guru of chainsaw milling, but out of date.
There are some smart people just here on this string of post that has better ideas.
You have to know where he's coming from though. He doesn't mill for pure profit (I realize that might not even register with some people). His whole purpose of milling like this is to have the absolute least impact on the environment, while being able to cut logs that are otherwise impractical or impossible to cut, and to be able to produce some very unique pieces, as you can see in his website. He's very much an environmentalist, and prefers a simple, private life. So if you're just looking to make a wad of money or are looking for the most efficient setup, then his isn't the way to go. If you want to be able to do some things that most others cannot for a relatively small investment, then it is. I'm not really sold on the whole winch setup myself, but every hour I spend pushing the 090 through a log by hand makes it look more and more attractive.
True, the book might not be such a great investment for someone who is already well set-up and has their own efficient system worked out. It is, after all, aimed at n00bs. I'm not sure I would say there is anyone here who has BETTER ideas necessarily, just improvements on his basic ideas based on personal experience. For instance, I think that BobL's BIL mill is a vast improvement over the Granberg mills as far as user-friendliness goes (unless the pictures LIE!!!
) , but the basic mechanics of it are the same. I don't know what part of this book I could "dump" though. There's a lot of great info on how to maintain saws and especially chains, and I still find myself browsing through the milling pictures now and then. And in the last section there's some really unique uses for saws and some other custom milling jigs. The book is worth the going rate for me, because it's saved me numerous hours of learning from my own mistakes. Just my $.02.
Plus also having a book or other reference material helps to validate what you are doing in the face of criticism.. ie.. the wife. my wife thinks i'm nuts. .i can't speak for anyone else. i'd say this forum and the book are encouraging if not anything else.
Agreed. My mom thought I was nuts for having over a dozen saws, and spending free time sweating my a$$ off in the bush to make something I could easily buy. I tell her you don't learn anything that way, and then I show her pictures of some of your guys' collections of saws, or other crazy milling setups and the beautiful and unique projects that come out of them. And point out that making the beams for my deck this summer cost me about $50 instead of many hundreds. Case closed.
