Smallest saw useable for milling

[MervMaster]

I want to get started milling with a small alaskan mill. My main saw is a Stihl 029 super used mainly for firewood. Is it powerful enough to mill boards?

I see the largest board you can produce with a mini mill like that is 20" and I'd be doing smaller, very likely.
Do I really need to buy a 660?

Thanks.


Merv.


I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

 

[00 steve]

Using that 029 to mill is asking for trouble. The more saw you have, the better. I wouldn't do it with anything less than 70-80cc. I am sure it has been done, but, that 029 just isn't built to handle that.

 

[redoakneck]

All depends on the size of the wood!!!

I started milling with a dolmar 7900 and when I got to some 30" diameter ash or oak, it was SLOW. Just got an 088 and will be trying it out tomorrow on some large red oak. You can do what you want with a smaller saw, just go slow, keep the chain sharp, and hope you do not blow it up.

The larger saw should be able to pull the chain at lower rpm.

If you are going to do a lot of small wood, a band saw mill would be better.

Just my 2 sense,

 

[MervMaster]

Yeah I was afraid of that. I like the chainsaw mill idea because I can't carry a lot through the woods to my work site. I have 5 saws now, but I can't even sell off 4 of them for half what an 066 would cost.


I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

 

[mikeb1079]

you can mill with an 029. i wouldn't mill anything over 16" or 6' in length. long wide cuts really tax a saw. just run the saw a little rich and keep your chain sharp. allow for a minute or two of cool down idling between cuts. also, you can find an excellent milling saw for under 500, just not a new one. i believe there's still a nice looking 288xp for $350 in the classifieds. my used 066 i got for 500 has milled over a thousand bf easy.
just take your time and have fun.
mb

 

[hamish]

It will do it, dependant upon the type of wood and the operator. An 029 can easily handle up to 18" log diameter (after each slab it keeps getting smaller). Just take your time, keep your chain sharp and enjoy yourself.

You'd be surprised at the amount of wood that has been milled with 50-60cc saws.

 

[gemniii]

My first milling was with my JD CS62 (62cc's), an Alaskan Mark III and a 28" bar. Easily milled 14" wide red maple.
Just as important as the width of the board is the hardness of the wood. I've milled soft pine which cut like butter compared to the red maple.
Like others said keep your chain sharp and well oiled, don't lug it down, and plan on getting a 660 or equilavent. Meanwhile open up the muffler to let it breathe.

 

[rarefish383]

I've used my little Echo 305 on a mini mill to cut small logs in half at Boy Scout camp to make benches. The boys loved it. My main milling saw is a 100CC Homelite 1050 my Dad bought new in the early 70's. It doesn't have the rpm's of the newer saws, but with a 36" bar it has enough torque to walk through anything here on the East Coast. I work for UPS and I ask friends to ask around business's for old saws, especially Homelites. Last year a customer gave me an 82CC Homelite XL924. I just bought a 30" bar for it and it mills great. I've got about $70 in the XL924 in the new bar and chain. If you look around you can find a nice big saw and not loose an arm and leg, Joe.

 

[jaythecelt]

My first sawmill rig was a beam machine on a 46cc Poulan ... not really usable, even on small diameter logs.

The second rig was an Alaskan Small Log mill using a MS390 (64cc) with a 20" bar and a Granberg Pico ripping chain. I used this to mill several cherry and maple logs - the largest about 16" diameter. This is certainly doable, but it takes time. Roughly 10-15 min (start to finish) to cut a cherry board 12" wide, 10' long. This is enough saw to be usable, but not very efficient - plan to spend an entire afternoon to mill one log. I would say this is practical enough to make a few boards and have some fun - it was enough to get me hooked on chainsaw milling!

My latest rig is an Alaskan 36" mill using an MS650 (85cc) with a 32" bar and a Woodland ripping chain. This rig takes about a third of the time to mill the same log (but it is much heavier). Some others have a different opinion, but I think the ripping chain makes a huge difference. My next step (hopefully) is to build a Procut-type rig.

I got the MS650 on eBay for a pretty good price, although you are taking a chance buying a chainsaw off the web - but I think I got lucky. I also got the Alaskan 36" mill on ebay, for less than $100, but I had to add some missing parts.

 

[MervMaster]

Thanks everyone for your insight, I think I'll give it a shot with my 029 first, and see how I like it. God knows I want an 066/660 or 088/880 anyways. I'll be getting a hefty security deposit back soon, and I can't imagine I'll have a lot of trouble spending it!



I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

 

[smokinj]

Just depends on what your doing I have used as little as 30cc!

 

[MervMaster]

Awesome pic smokin j. That's the kinda stuff I was looking for.


I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

 

[smokinj]

Awesome pic smokin j. That's the kinda stuff I was looking for.


I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

Same here didnt have enough on that slab to use a 3/8 kerf...So out came the .043. Just idle alot keep the air filter clean. I let it sit for a 1/2 hour between tanks to.

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Anything under 70cc's is really gonna be working too hard.

I've used my 35cc MS Deuce-Eleven for ripping 2x4's and even 4x4's - it does it, but it's not the best for the saw. But milling is a whole other animal to a saw. Saws are meant for running at WOT in the wood for 5-10 seconds then reving down. Then another WOT cut for 5-10 seconds then reving back down - so on and so forth. When milling they run at WOT in the wood for minutes at a time. A saw generates a TON of heat when milling. A saw you mill with will be put to death a lot sooner than with regular cutting.

I'm not saying by any means that a 50cc or 60cc saw "won't do it". But the benefits from running a 70cc+ sized saw are well worth the money for the saw.

So my answer would be to the OP's question, a 5 cube, and nothing smaller. Just know that I'm not saying that smaller saws won't mill. I'm just saying I wouldn't bother with or recommend that one uses a saw smaller than 70cc's for a milling saw.

 

[MervMaster]

Interesting. Do you assume that a 70+ cc saw will run cooler? Or simply by having greater power, that it will more easily handle the smaller sorts of jobs without being overworked and getting itself worn out prematurely in the process. I'm very probably going to use a small saw for this very application, but I plan on using it for nothing else at all. I do appreciate the input. Thanks everyone, once again.


I'm never in a hurry, I'm just moving fast.

 

[WoodChuck'r]

A bigger saw will work less - a saw that works less theoretically runs cooler.

One could mill with a Stihl 440 and a Stihl 880 - as long as the fuel is the the same between both saws the combustion will keep the cylinders at the same temperatures - but more stress on the 440 will heat it up more and work it a lot harder than the 880. There's no replacement for displacement.

 

[jimdad07]

I ran a 64cc Dolmar for awhile until I put an old 045 Stihl (75cc) on the mill and now it's a Dolmar 9010 (90cc). The 64cc handled alright in small wood, up to 20" wood, but it is very slow and you have to use common sense using a smaller saw. You can't try to force it through the cut, much less tolerance for duller chains and an auxillery oiler is a must.

 

[sachsmo]

0cc, if you have the ambition, you can mill with a handsaw.

Most small saws are not going to last very long milling. Milling puts the hurts on the biggest saws ever made!