Saw Mill Project

[ChristopherO]

My brother and I have been working on welding up a chainsaw mill to glean lumber from logs.  I started using it this weekend on a good sized ash trunk.  
 

If you notice I am using an 044 model which is basically the smallest professional grade saw suggested for this type of work and I've got to say that it is on the small size for this use.  It took too many hours to whittle this log down to manageable pieces.

 
This give you an idea of what it can do.  A larger saw like an 066 or an 081 would really be the ticket to make some lumber.  
Tackeling a hickory log convinced me that I will need to haus some of these logs over to my buddy with the woodmiser.  If only his schedule allowed us to get on it straight away.

[KellyG]

that is really cool. A ladder and a chainsaw wow.

[2treks]

Are you using a chain made for ripping? That will make a big diff.

[ChristopherO]

Skip tooth chain with 10 degree angle on the teeth for ripping purposes.  I did my homework on how best to put this together before building it.  Smaller logs or a larger saw would make it much more prctical.
There are many examples on youtube to lern from.

[KellyG]

Oh how do you square it up or can you?

[Eric Krewson]

Good to see your post as it saved me a bunch of money and frustration. I was considering buying an Alaskan chainsaw mill to cut up a huge cherry up hill from my house that the tornadoes broke the top out of. My 029 saw would have been vastly underpowered for the task even with a long bar and ripping chain.

[ChristopherO]

I was using a borrowed laptop last night and could hardly see the screen.  It really affected my spelling.

Glad it helped you from an effort in futility, Eric.  I will reserve this set up for smaller ripping projects as they come from time to time.  It would be good to cut riser blocks out of a trunk cut off here and there.  If I ever pick up a much larger saw then it would shine.  We made it adjustable out to 30".  My brother is an excellent welder/fabricator and it has been a pleasure to complete this project with him.

Kelly, I didn't take the time to perfectly square the log up but did slab out 3 sides before lumbering it down.  Just use a cant tool to roll the log and block it in place is all I did.

[briarjumper12]

cool project and good info.  Thanks