Milling - Chainsaw Band Blade

[FLtreeGuyVHTC]

So Ive come acrossed some rare wood with a tight grain and havent access to a ton of black walnut. The rare wood is kentucky coffee wood. I plan on making end tables and coffee tables out of this and maybe reselling some of the lumber. The Alaskan Mk-III 36" will cover anything I will run into and is affordable without taking out a loan. But is it. really worth the abuse on my saw? I can get most my logs milled up at a band mill for five cents a bf. We have a woodstove in the basement to dry the wood down to indoor use. Alot of the kentucky coffee wood are small and wont fit in a band mill. So I plan on getting the mini mill for sure. But for sawing up black walnut and any other species would it. be more profitable to start with the Alaskan or take a loan on a mill.

If I go with the loan. Which is more profitable... Saw blade mill or Band mill? I would like to be able to quater saw red oak and some of this black walnut. I have access to couple thouand bf in log form and plan on experimenting with drying in the basement vs the home made kiln I plan on making. Got 3000 bf log form of spruce 16' long. I do mostly tree removal but would like to expand my business and start a new hobby. My first hand carving came out amazing!

 

[imagineero]

ask this question in the milling forum for more detailed answers, but the short answer is you cant make money with a chain saw mill even if your time is worth nothing and you already have the equipment. It's a hobby only. If the wood is rare, you will waste a lot of it with a chainsaw mill also, and even with quite a bit of experience still get results that are not even close in quality to what an experienced operator on a band saw mill can get. Reading a log and milling it is a highly specialised area that takes a lot of years to get good at. Get your log milled by someone who knows what they are doing. You will get more board feet, and a higher quality end product. Stacking, storing and drying are also issues not to be taken lightly.

Shaun