Bought a chainsaw mill!!

[slemishwoodcrafts]

So bought myself a chainsaw mill tonight. Based on the Alaskan mill they are made by a company in scotland. Had been looking at grabbing a used granberg on eBay but saw theirs instead. Hopefully will arrive before Christmas and I will share pictures and a review on it!
It looks the part and was a fraction of the price!

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[acewoodturner]

The guy doesn't make them in Scotland. He just imports them from China. There has been a lot of discussion on Arbtalk forum about them. In fact Rob who is a distributor for the real Alaskan Mill started selling them as well as a cheaper starter kit for folk who wanted to get into milling but weren't sure if they would stick at it. Which saw are you going to be running with it?

Mike

 

[Beau]

They are nicknamed Chilaskan mills but by all accounts pretty good.

 

[duncanh]

Got a link? We have an Alaskan mill at work with a 30" bar but we've got a couple of trees coming up which are wider than that...

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

The guy doesn't make them in Scotland. He just imports them from China. There has been a lot of discussion on Arbtalk forum about them. In fact Rob who is a distributor for the real Alaskan Mill started selling them as well as a cheaper starter kit for folk who wanted to get into milling but weren't sure if they would stick at it. Which saw are you going to be running with it?

Mike

Didn't realise they were a Chinese import. Makes sense though.
Will see how it goes planning to sell a portion of what I mill to recoup costs.

Got a husqavarna with 28" bar I plan to use it with


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[acewoodturner]

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/
You will have to a search through a couple of pages or so as I dont have good reception where I am just now

Mike

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

Thanks mike, good bit of reading there


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[acewoodturner]

I run a 36" bar on my Stihl 066 for milling and last year my mate gave me his 088 with a 54" bar after having a heart attack (not whilst using a chainsaw by the way!) We have planked up dozens of logs over the years. His mill was homemade but its made from steel so I am going to buy longer rails for my Alaskan in order to make it a lot lighter to use.
He can help me a little but I think I will end up doing 90% of the hard graft which I don't mind

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

I'm looking forward to getting started with it. I enjoy using the chainsaw so it will be a new experience


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[slemishwoodcrafts]

So it finally arrived after being delivered twice to the wrong sorting depot! (Shrewsbury and then Birmingham)

Got it built up last night and I'm rather impressed. I had worried that it would be flimsy after hearing it was made in China and imported but it seems very robust and there is a good weight to it!
Going to hopefully get a trial run tomorrow


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[Bodgers]

I hope your kids won't be this close when it comes to mounting the chainsaw to this!

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

Haha not for a good few years! She enjoyed helping though. After it was assembled I turned round and found her with a wrench in her hand trying the get it round the nuts!


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[Hot stuff]

What size of bar are you planning using? Is there a minimum/maximum size you can use with the mill?

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

I've got a 28" saw that I am planning to use. You can buy various sizes of mill, up to 48". This one will take up to a 36" bar.


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[slemishwoodcrafts]

https://vimeo.com/197955496

Worked a treat


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[tomlt]

What size saw are you running, that looked painfully slow, maybe the chain / rakers needed a good filing.

Im running a 36" on my 288 husky and even on crosscut chain it cuts a 24" log pretty quickly. I must get some ripping chain to try at some point.

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[slemishwoodcrafts]

It's a husky 390xp with a 28" bar. It was quite slow but I discovered the wood I was using as a guide rail was creating resistance as it is fairly rough. After I ran over it with the power planer it was much quicker. Just need to get a ripping chain now to speed up


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[duncanh]

What size saw are you running, that looked painfully slow, maybe the chain / rakers needed a good filing.

Im running a 36" on my 288 husky and even on crosscut chain it cuts a 24" log pretty quickly. I must get some ripping chain to try at some point.

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Agreed - that was awfully slow. Ripping needs a powerful saw and a sharp chain (possibly several). We usually take 4 with us and swap during the day rather than sharpening in the wood - buy spares from http://www.northernarbsupplies.co.uk/58 ... hain-loops as they're around 1/3 the price of stihl/oregon (probably husky as well). They don't do ripping chains but you can bring them down gradually to the correct angle.
If your saw doesn't have an adjustable oiler that you can set to the maximum then you may need to consider adding an auxillary oiler or just dripping oil onto the bar every now and again.

And using a mill might be slightly safer than regular saw use (bar is mostly in the timber) but I'd be wearing full ppe all the time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A quick warning - the products are fine but they are quite possibly the worst on line company I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Totally, utterly incompetent.

 

[ceefax]

Hello All,

I have an Alaskan mini-mill and a smallish Husky chainsaw (455 Rancher) with a 20" bar on it.

This is way underpowered for milling, but even so, it is possible. As a hobby user I just have to accept it takes a lot longer than it would with a big saw.

Ripping chain makes a HUGE difference, I tried milling a tree which had been felled a year previously, I was using a sharp normal chain and I was barely making any progress at all. The info on the Arbtalk forum convinced me to have another try with ripping chain.

With ripping chain I was cutting 16 foot planks the full depth of the bar in about five minutes.

As mentioned in an earlier post, ripping chain dulls quite quickly, I bought a 12 volt grandberg sharpener, and sharpen the chain about every second time I refuel the saw, as the time spent sharpening is a lot less than the extra time it takes to cut with a dull chain.