My mills

[Boogedy_Man]

Thought I'd share a couple pictures.

Here's what I started with (just a few weeks ago), a Granberg small mill with a Husqvarna 460. A lot of misinformation out there on the internet would make you think a saw this size is ok for milling.. It's really not, IMO. The motor, I think, faired ok, but I'm pretty sure the clutch is on it's last legs (the part where you're learning to how to sharpen a rip chain and learning a steady feed rate is probably the toughest time on a small saw). I made the oiler for the mill from some 4" sewer PVC, and a 3/8 NPT brass valve. It just dribbles on the bar tip and and gets sucked into the chain. Running veg oil in it now.


It's pretty underpowered, but it worked to mill a bunch of Cherry that my wife stumbled on while looking for free bowl blanks.


Of course, that led directly to the purchase of a used Granberg MKIII, and a new 661. The day I brought it home...



So far it's been a great setup...milled some 34" Hickory for a neighbor without hesitation:


It's been SUPER fun learning. I haven't posted much, but I think I've read this entire subforum. In the market for a Stihl to replace the Husky on the small mill.. Had a thread somewhere on that, reluctantly deciding I needed something in the 461 class.

Also, there's two tools in the last picture I don't often see mentioned in the forum. One is a digging bar or "tank bar". Aside from the obvious, I used to to strip loose bark from the hickory above, roll stuff around with it, and pretty much anything that needs a bit of force. Comes in real handy when something gets stuck, or there's a big rock in the way. Always worth having in the truck. The other is a small Stihl blower, way over to the right. They don't cost much, weigh practically nothing, and beat the hell out of using a broom.

Next couple weeks we'll mill some more cherry, a bit of SYP, mulberry, red cedar and maple. This sure is addictive!

 

[Quietfly]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's great when people share what they are going through, and let other's see .
If the next saw you get is going to be strictly for milling, I'd recommend getting as large as you can manage. When it comes down to it, there's no real substitute for cubic inches.....
Hope to see more of your work soon .

 

[Garrit]

Wow both of your milling set ups look great! Awesome to see other peoples set ups and what works for them. I'm currently using a vintage homelite 410 (68cc), Milling on a budget but I am loving every minute of it.

 

[Boogedy_Man]

Nice work....and beautiful boards! I appreciate the compliments....fact is, I spend WAY too much money. LOL.

 

[Garrit]

@Boogedy_Man, if your milling has paid for most of your saw its worth it. it is so much fun!

 

[Boogedy_Man]

It is an absolute blast, for sure. I love it...and even the sore muscles the next day.

 

[twoclones]

I like you're home made oiler

 

[Boogedy_Man]

Thanks!

 

[rarefish383]

Wow both of your milling set ups look great! Awesome to see other peoples set ups and what works for them. I'm currently using a vintage homelite 410 (68cc), Milling on a budget but I am loving every minute of it.

View attachment 557909

Nothing wrong with those old Homelites, they can still get the job done. Although I did retire mine about two years ago. Got a new 660, Joe.

 

[Thefishguy77]

Great looking setups all. I am just getting my feet wet. Have some big chunks of maple I want to mill 36-40". Currently my biggest powerhead is a 67cc old echo cs6700 orange and black saw.

My goal is to get these maples milled up and hopefully buy a bigger power head with the proceeds. 100+ cc for a 40". cutting setup.

I know the echo is undersized for what I want but it's what I have and money is tight.

Thinking 48" bar and full skip tooth chain is going to be necessary with the lack of power.

Should I build my own milling setup or buy one for a first timer?


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[SeMoTony]

Great looking setups all. I am just getting my feet wet. Have some big chunks of maple I want to mill 36-40". Currently my biggest powerhead is a 67cc old echo cs6700 orange and black saw.

My goal is to get these maples milled up and hopefully buy a bigger power head with the proceeds. 100+ cc for a 40". cutting setup.

I know the echo is undersized for what I want but it's what I have and money is tight.

Thinking 48" bar and full skip tooth chain is going to be necessary with the lack of power.

Should I build my own milling setup or buy one for a first timer?


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That choice about building/buying need be based finances vs. ability to fabricate.I have had success with square chisel skip on my ms-460 (c avatar) up to 60" bar. Sharping chisel is a learning experience over semi-chisel, but is one of high need. As are right tune & bar and chain lube. BobL is a mentor on milling and detailed method of sharping chain for best cut. Saw safe getting experience, with experience speed can come.

 

[BobL]

Should I build my own milling setup or buy one for a first timer?

The way I see it there are 3 options. Purchase, build or purchase and modify.
Making a basic mill is not that difficult but just copying the first generic CSM you see will see you miss out on a heap of improvements that can be made on the generics that are out there.
Start by reading the whole of the Forum sticky "Milling 101".
Some of the posts may sound like teaching grandma how to suck eggs but persist and you will be rewarded
Look out in particular for post #60 which shows a list of improvements that can be made to a basic mill - if yo are going to build a mill think about using some or all of these up front.

 

[Thefishguy77]

Excellent advise. Thank you very much.
I can fabricate to some extent so seems like a doable project for me. I will get to reading


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[Boogedy_Man]

I'm a relative newbie, but I went with the "purchase" option and just modify what I am not crazy about. I've put 48" rails on my MKIII (they're much heavier and squeeze out a couple more inches over the 36" rails), I'm going to add additional cross bars so it's less of a wresting match at the ends of the log, and on the small mill I am converting it to a 30"er with a clamp on the nose end...of course the cut capacity will be much less than that. I did the little oil tank above and plan on drilling the bar soon now that I've got it outfitted with a 461. Remote throttle is the one other thing I'd like to do on the bigger mill. Haven't made the leap of drilling the bar so I can swap chains yet. I don't have much problem sharpening in the mill, but I'll probably consider that next.

As far as building, the overall concept of a mill is incredibly simple. The mill itself is little more than a rip fence for a chainsaw. One could easily build a mill that will do everything a basic Granberg can do...and if you have the resources and materials you could come out well ahead.

 

[Garrit]

Just stopping by again to check out your mills, feel free to add more pics!

 

[Boogedy_Man]

Latest version of my mills. Nothing too special. I upgraded the rails on the 36" mill to 48", so I could put the 50" bar to use. They're still long, but I won't cut them unless it becomes necessary. I modded the small mill by adding the nose clamp and Granberg's oiler. Both mills also got some extra cross braces so I don't need to move the handle around when milling crotches and other weird stuff.

Next on the list is drilling the bars so I can easily remove the chains.

 

[Garrit]

@Boogedy_Man congrats on finding a minty 461 to replace your 365. I was thinking of investing in a new chain as well. Are you a woodworker? (I am, and just wondering if all guys that chainsaw mill are woodworkers)

 

[Boogedy_Man]

I do little bits of woodworking, but not much.

My wife on the other hand does turning and she figured out somewhere along the line that the tree services will gladly give her a truckload of logs for the price of a single bowl blank anywhere else. It doesn't always work out....but the tree service she's been dealing with is $50 a dump load sight unseen, so we just take the good with the bad.

That situation led to a pile of logs in the back yard, which in turn led to chainsaw milling.

 

[Garrit]

That is awesome! I have always wanted to reach out to a local tree company but I don't want to open up that can of worms until I have time to support it, space to store it and $ to fund it. Can you give more details on what you typically get and what doesn't work out?

Lucky man to have your wife into turning, she probably approved your saw purchases with eases!

 

[Boogedy_Man]

Yeah, her lathe would pay for a few more saws

The tree deal works great in this area because we're on the east coast of the Carolinas - mostly pine trees. That leads to a market where a couple hardwood trees are not worth the effort to sell. Yard trees, often full of nails, don't interest most of the small bandmills. So, basically what we get is any time our tree guy gets a hardwood job on our end of town, he can either truck it to the dump and pay $100/ton, or swing by my house and dump it in the back yard and gain $50. I usually tip the driver $10, so he can grab a six pack on the way home. We've only done this since January and only with one company, but it's been good so far.

What doesn't work:

1. They're not harvesting trees for lumber, so you get whatever was easiest for the guy running the saw. Very odd lengths (often short), cuts through the middle of some great pieces.

2. Sometimes the owner himself is at a different site so you get whatever description was given to him. For example, we bought a load of "big" cedar that ended up being 8" and smaller and cut 5' and shorter....grr.

Otherwise, it's hard to turn down. I told him I'd pay more if he cut them how I want, but he says his time is more valuable than what I'd pay in difference. So $50 is where it's at, unless he gets something really special.

The other hiccup I've had is that one of his men has started asking too many questions. He's upset the owner is dealing with me and he thinks I'm sitting on an untapped gold mine, but of course I'm just hording wood right now and not making squat. He doesn't want to mill anything, just get the logs from his boss for free and be a log retailer, I guess. I have had a decline in calls...hopefully the guy is eventually deterred and it picks back up in the spring.