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portable sawmill / chainsaw mill / home sawmill

Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
An unexpected start to this project came from a buddy whom just handed me a Husqvarna 385XP with a couple extra chains. I've been skirting the edges of getting into the home sawmill/portable sawmill/chainsaw mill thing for a couple years. From here on called Chainsaw Mill (CM). Talking with my son Zak, that's something he's interested in doing on the farm and we, lawd lawd... we have the trees.



Planning to start getting after it, as Elwood said ...
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So I mined the site and saw (ok that's the first pun) there were a couple threads on Solar Kiln @bowhunter1023 / and fabricated sawmill @twireman but not much on CM and milling on site where the felling takes place. I don't have a front end loader, excavator, tractor, etc, nor do I want to. This is bucking the felled tree into ~8'-10' elements and slabbing the bucks in place then moving the man handle-able slabs to a drying location.

What I'm looking for is folks that have actually done the CM thing to add to this for folks to all get smarter on - including myself! Lots of videos out there in the infosphere to help the lay person be safe and get started on CM and many are damn good "How TOO's". I'll be adding to this from time to time as we get to the point of ID'ing the trees, felling, treeeside CM assembly, CM'ng, moving and stacking slabs, drying, etc.

For an overview of what CM is this is good 101 video.
 
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I used a chain saw mill to flatten 2 sides of the logs I used to build the cabin I live in.
I bought bulk carbon impregnated chains and ground them nearly square so they would rip straight. I did do it on site and built sun kilns to dry the logs. Chains don’t last long ripping full length. I was doing 30 to 40 foot logs and even with the best chain a couple logs was all I could do per chain.
this was 35 years ago I am sure you can get better chains now
Each cut with a chain saw and you have lost close to .375 of an inch based on run out and chain thickness
With a ban saw only .125 maybe a little more. Also the finish from the ban is much better. Much less waste when surface planing.
I still saw logs every year but I rent a ban saw.
This is the cabin I live in.
I guess it depends on what you are going to do with the boards.
 

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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
I used a chain saw mill to flatten 2 sides of the logs I used to build the cabin I live in.
I bought bulk carbon impregnated chains and ground them nearly square so they would rip straight. I did do it on site and built sun kilns to dry the logs. Chains don’t last long ripping full length. I was doing 30 to 40 foot logs and even with the best chain a couple logs was all I could do per chain.
this was 35 years ago I am sure you can get better chains now
Each cut with a chain saw and you have lost close to .375 of an inch based on run out and chain thickness
With a ban saw only .125 maybe a little more. Also the finish from the ban is much better. Much less waste when surface planing.
I still saw logs every year but I rent a ban saw.
This is the cabin I live in.
I guess it depends on what you are going to do with the boards.

Nice digs! @switchhitter So do you take the ban to the felled tree every year - or move the logs/bucks to the rented ban mill? From what I've seen the ban's seem to need flat/level surface and I've got no way to move bucked/logs to level ground or a structure, they'll need to be slabbed in place.?
 
I move the logs to the ban saw mill. Back when I built the cabin I did everything on sight. But now I have a trailer and a tractor with forks
 

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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Grinding the proper angle on your chains for ripping is very important. If you grind them at 35 degrees like cross cutting the blade will tend to wander up and down. The cut will be very unsatisfactory.
Rgr that. When you did CM did you use a mill guide if so what kind and would you still use that or a different one?