Does anyone mill their own wood? I have 3 logs that measure 9 feet and a diameter of between 15 and 20 inches. I also have half a dozen about 1 1/2 to 2 foot long and a diameter of 12 to 16 inches. I’m looking for options to cut it into anywhere from one inch to 2 1/2 inch slabs.
I have seen this as a cheaper option that looks as if the average handyman could configure. Lots of videos and information out there for this chainsaw mill.
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Luckily I had a friend that had a saw mill. We have cut up several trees. However he sold the saw mill. Another friend gave me a 52" Alaskan Saw Mill. That requires a rather large chain saw and ripping chains. The big saws are $800-1200. I will eventually get a big chain saw. My friend with the saw mill had tractors and equipment to move the logs. I do not have all that equipment. So cutting the tree up on site to get it loaded onto a trailer is my best option.
The Alaskan Saw Mill requires a flat surface for the first cut. Like in the video they are using a section of a ladder. You can make your own with some square tubing or buy some commercial ones. However the commercial ones on Amazon are pretty spindly. Using a ladder or buying some 2" square tubing and welding or bolting them together is not too expensive or hard. After the first cut you have a flat surface that the Alaskan Saw Mill rides on and the ladder is no longer needed.
The key for any saw mill operation is the equipment needed to handle logs. Thus the reason I am going to use an Alaskan Saw Mill because I can cut up the tree where it fell and load it into a trailer to bring it home to start the drying process.
The USDA has a solar kiln plan on their website you can make to speed up drying. However air drying is much better for making lumber for furniture. The kilns dry the wood too fast and it tends to warp and crack more.
One more option if you can move the logs is there are a lot of saw mill operators that will cut up your trees for you. Some have kilns as well. So check craigslist and they usually list there and you can talk to them about the costs and time frames for cutting your trees.
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Thanks guys. I’ve looked at those types of rail saw mills. That might be the route I go. I’m not too concerned about drying. They have been on blocks for about ten years now. I do have a trailer to haul them but don’t really have a good way to load them. So taking them to a mill isn’t an option.
Dried wood is harder to cut up. The wet logs have the moisture to help lubricate them. So keep the chain very sharp or you will be wavy slabs. Even though they are 10 years old invest in a moisture meter because even old trees that are dry still have moisture in the center of the tree.
Happy milling!
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Good advice. I have have my eye on a moisture meter. I think that would be a good investment whether for these logs or other wood I plan on using.
Granberg Alaskan Mill is what I am looking at, a quick google or amazon search will show it,depending on the size they are reasonably priced.
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Someone gave me the Granberg 52 inch. You can use a shorter bar because it is adjustable. So get the new longer than you think you will need. The limiting factor is your chainsaw bar length.
Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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I have a 16" and a 36" Husqvarna. Good to know I can adjust for either one.
Your 16 bar will only work on small trees. Likely a 16 has a smaller engine. It is not the bar length but the engine power. So for smaller trees get a smaller bar for your bigger saw. You can run a longer bar but the saw mill has to be lifted and will wear you out. A longer bar has more cutting links so may not get dull as fast. Just keep a sharpening rig handy. Sharpening is just a reality when cutting trees. Plus get a ripping chain. Most chainsaw chains are cross cut and are not as efficient as a ripping chain for ripping.
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Yes, keeping the chain sharp is a must no matter what you are cutting. This is the same as with knives, axes, router bits, and head and beard razors.
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My top tip, at least for a cross-cut chain, is to buy one with carbide tipped teeth. They may cost 2 - 3 times as much as a basic chain but they last ten times as long. I have no idea if they are available as a ripping chain.
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Thanks, I’ll check that out.
I’m going to buy this when I drop several large trees on my property. I’ll also get a larger chain saw.
Granberg Chainsaw Mill, MKIV Alaskan 30 Inch - G778-30
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Just make sure the 30 of inch one is big enough. There is some loss of cutting width on both ends of the Granberg. You have to clamp the saw on both ends so you don’t get 30 and inches of cutting width.
The extra width on a Granberg is the ok because the end of the nose of the saw is adjustable.
You can cut smaller trees with a bigger Granberg but not bigger trees due to the limiting factor of the chainsaw clamping.
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Good to know. Thank you.
Just a personal anecdote. I had two dying old big leaf maples taken down in my back yard, and had them bucked into 10’ lengths. I hired a guy with a portable mill to come by saw them up for me into 1" thick boards. Of course the boards had to be dried, but that turned out to be reasonably easy. There are YT videos that show how to build a simple solar kiln. Three months later I had hundreds of board feet of maple, some pieces 26" wide. Try buying that in a lumber yard today. I’ve been using that stash for 20 years.
The final cost, with the fellers and the sawmill, ended up being significantly less than $1/bf. Well worth it. As long as I just want to use maple, I’ll never have to buy another piece of wood.
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Steven, where are you? (In case I need some maple 
)
Similar story here. A friend of my uncles, circa 1976, had 3 black walnut trees he wanted to get rid of and asked my uncle, “How much would you charge to take these down?” Of course, he replied, “Free, if I can keep the wood!” He immediately called me & said, “Bring your chain saw.”
We had it milled, and I still have about 6 boards left today. The widest being about 18"
We have 3 smaller cherry logs drying behind my son’s house now that are about ready to be milled.
My wife has a cousin with a portable mill. But I think it’s the Band-Saw type. We just need to get the wood to him. (We needed a cherry picker to get them in the truck 
)
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I used to have a Timberking 1600 fully hydraulic mill. It was an awesome mill but I wound up selling it because I did not use it as much as I thought I would. I was hauling the mill to people’s locations to saw their logs but I quickly found out that it’s not so much the mill but the ability to get the logs up to the mill. Very few people had a way to do that. Either way, I missed the mill after a year or so and bought a woodland mills sawmill. It is more of a hobby mill than a production mill. I do have a way to load, haul and dry logs. Now, I only saw for myself and people that want to swap lumber for saw work. If you are thinking of a sawmill I would look at the woodland mills unit.
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I had some pretty large oaks taken down last year and wished I had the capability to mill them or have someone do it for me. Storage after the fact would have been a problem though. I have a storage unit now that I am over paying for filled with walnut and cherry.
My wife keeps bugging me to do something about that bill but moving all the wood somewhere else isn’t a fun idea.