Portable Chainsaw Mill

[oosik]

When I built my log cabin in Alaska - 1976 - I don't think anything like the "Alaska Mill" existed. I built my own. Two 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" pieces of 25' long - 1/4" thick angle iron. Cross member welded across the pieces every four feet. Adjustment bolt on each side of every cross member.

I used this ungainly contraption to saw off the top/bottom of each log. DEFINITELY need a LARGE chain saw and, in my case, a 24" bar.

Reverse/rotate the bar every day. The sawing action pulls the chain down and wears on the lower lip of the groove.

Used twice the normal amount of oil in the gas/oil mix because the saw was worked very hard and spent its entire life on its side.

Otherwise - the roller system and its adjustment were the same as Garandman has on his unit.

I would set this unit on the top of the log and make sure it was running level - NOT running with the taper of the log. There IS a way to figure how to set the height of the angle iron - from small to large ends of a log.

Start the cut on the small end of the log - roll & cut to the large end. The top of the log is now a flat surface.

Reset the unit on the small end again. Drop the adjustment to cut off the bottom - roll and cut to the large end. This time you are rolling on the flat, cut top of the log.

This "system" got me thru the 130 logs needed to build a 20' x 24' - two story log cabin. I went thru the OEM bar plus one more. Went thru half a dozen chains.

All my logs were 24' long, ancient Spruce. The bottom logs were 18" in diameter - this graded up to the top logs being 12" in diameter.

 

[Garandman]

Need ripping chain for the new saw. 84 link / 3/8 / 050 apparently.

Bailey house brand is $24.
Granberg is $33
Oregon (what I have now) is $44.
Stihl ripping chain is $55.

I’ve found Oregon OK but Stihl better (stays sharp longer). Granberg claims theirs cuts faster and smoother. Recommendations?

 

[oosik]

I'm pretty sure, back in the day, the chain was Oregon. It was probably the only type available to me. If I worked long & hard - I would get four logs done in a day. Winch them up to where I would two-side them - it was a slow job. Then when all four were finished - work on debarking them.

The next day - Sunday - work on getting the four logs that had been prepared last weekend - up and installed on the cabin. That was the weekend.

 

[Timbersawz]

An impressive piece of equipment, I saw a single guy show up a while back with one on his pickup on ladder racks. Was impressed how much he got through by himself. he was cutting softwood, never seen something like that cut so fast that was in any way portable