I had a question on milling your own lumber.. I am a member of the Alaska Forum and saw some info on milling limber I was wondering what everyone thought of this idea.
http://www.frontierfreedom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=866 (http://www.frontierfreedom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=866)
Never used one, but have wondered about them myself.
What's a good one cost, with or w/o a suitable chainsaw?
Makes a lot more sawdust than a bandsaw mill. :P
I looked into this a long while back and can't for the life of me remember where I put the info.
I sent your question over to AKChuck who posted it in the Alaska Forum.
I found a couple of Stihl 460s on Ebay for $500 each.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Stihl+460+&category0= (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Stihl+460+&category0=)
I did an online search and found a site that sold in different size chain lenghts.
http://www.toolcenter.com/ALASKAN_MK-III_C2_MILL_KIT.html (http://www.toolcenter.com/ALASKAN_MK-III_C2_MILL_KIT.html)
http://www.toolcenter.com/ALASKAN_MK-III_C2_MILL_KIT.html (http://www.toolcenter.com/ALASKAN_MK-III_C2_MILL_KIT.html)
Hope this helps.
gandalfthegrey I used an Alaskan saw mill to cut sill logs for my cabin. The only reason was that a mill would not touch them since they were old hand hewn logs and the fear of hitting nails and the like. I cut 4 logs between 16'-20'. The rip chain price was almost double that of a cross cut chain. I personally would not attempt to saw my own lumber with them but that just MO. I think Peternap has used one and can probably give you the low down. In fact he had posted on a similar subject. If I can find it I'll bring it up.
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=4023.msg47919#msg47919
Great...Thanks.... [cool] I thought there should have been a post on this already but could not find it. d* c*
Looks like I need to purchase a space suit to go with it. :)
I had a friend who used one-- they work - the rip chain is best, but they are a lot of hard work.
If doing a lot you would want to spring for a band saw sawmill.
You will need a pretty hefty saw, 90cc or better. A lot of people use them. Here is a forum dealing with it:
http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62
And another:
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/board,7.0.html