Total milling newbie

[Oldman47]

I have been looking with interest at some milling arrangements and the idea appeals to me to make use of my down trees for other than firewood. As is true of most people I have a need for lumber from time to time so making my own out of that otherwise wasted wood has its appeal.
My present saws are small with an old Stihl 026 and a Husky 555. I know the Husky can be fitted with a 25 inch bar but it will be a low power option at that point. My search of things like the Alaskan mills leads me to believe that I would need at least an 80 cc saw to do much work at all. I seriously doubt that the lumber I cut in the rest of my life would ever justify buying a big saw and a band mill would be even more expensive up front. It seems like it would be cheaper to just go to the home despot and buy lumber. Have I just miscalculated or should I abandon the whole idea of milling my own?

 

[Ferguson system]

The size of the saw and bar depends on what you are going to be milling and how often you are going to use it.
The 555 will pull a 25" bar, but that's in soft to medium hard wood. a 20" bar would be ideal on the 555.

 

[Oldman47]

I am running a 20" in it now but I know that milling often means longer bars.

 

[babybart]

I went with the 90+ cc class saw just in case I needed the extra gopower for an occasional large diameter tree. With what I have spent on saws, bars, chains as well as the mill I could have bought quite a bit of lumber but that was not why I started milling. I have a lot of tulip( yellow) poplar that I didn't want in my firewood pile and didn't want to just waste it, I had read a lot about milling and just used my 371xp firewood saw to see if I would like it and if it would be worth it, I was hooked. After that I just looked at the trading post on this site and found a rebutable saw rebuilder and purchased a rebuild with some port work done, Awesome!!!!. I guess I'm just saying use what you have and try milling before you spend a lot of cabbage on equipment. Heck, I just used a very sharp cross cut chain my first time and made out fine. I recommend the Milling 101 stickie at the top of this section, made my experience much easier and therefore more enjoyable! Good luck!

 

[rarefish383]

There are several other "Newbie" threads going right now. Check out "ms 310 milling". If you want a stack of 2X4's, go to the Depot. Nice slabs are what CSM's are good for. I milled some 6X6's with my Farm Boss 290,and a bunch of other small stuff, using a Haddon Lumber Maker. For nice slabs you are going to need a bigger saw. But, for starters you can use your's, make sure you have a sharp, sharp, chain and don't push it till it bogs out, Joe.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I've got an 028 that I wouldn't really consider for milling. The buddy of mine who got me into the whole thing had a 440 (or was it a 660? I think it was a 440). When I started, I waited around on e-bay until I got an Alaskan for (relatively) cheap. Then I bought (too cheaply) an old Stihl 075. I say "too cheaply" because the saw really needed too much work. I ended up using it for a while and then selling it (on here, with what I hope was an honest appraisal of its condition and lots of pictures) for a bit less than I paid for it. You can pick them up relatively cheaply and they have a boatload of power. However, the placement of the fuel cap makes them inconvenient for milling at times.

Eventually I settled on an 084 and got a GREAT deal on one here. If you get serious, I would recommend just looking around the site for a saw - most folks here are pretty fair and, I would think, have reputations to protect. I have always had pleasant dealings on this site.

I've now got a bit of a case of CAD, having just bought another 084 and I couldn't help but pick up a saw I saw on sale at my local Stihl dealer today (when I say "pick up," I literally mean just that - I picked it up and then put it back down while I contemplated how much a divorce would cost).

There are a lot of ways to start. You could get an Alaskan (which is probably one of the cheapest ways to start, I would guess) and try it with the saws you have. However, the going will likely be somewhat slow. Even so, it might tell you whether or not you really want to get into the hobby.

Good luck. And don't stop posting here - I have found more good advice on this site than I know what to do with, and I often use it as a model of how internet communities should work when talking to my students or trying to get a job in IT.

 

[Ima Doher]

I think you'll be ok with that husky saw and a 24 to 25" bar. Like he said the secret will be getting your chain sharp a and also getting it at somewhere between 5 to 10 degree angle in the sharpening as well has taking your rakers down a little.
I have used an stihl 62cc 036 with a bandsaw and with a alaskan with a 28" blade and it does the job. It is a new old saw so it has high compression but I sold an older one recently that did the job too.
Problem I always found with depot or others is bent warped boards as well as the price going up up up. that and I could sink 2 to 3 hundred in a project while i had so many other projects that needed dough.
You can cut your cants this way and then cut what you need from them as you need them. When I cut the fresher cants I wrap the house wrap over them and they don't start splitting.
found that out this summer when I started cutting logs I took down last winter and with in a day they started showing splitting from the quick moisture loss, but having extra house wrap I wrapped with a sheet over them and no more splitting..
I think any thing at or over 60cc is the only way to procure lumber, have your own stock pile of hard and soft wood.
plus the learning curve, wish I had had some one to show and teach this stuff and welding to me 30 years ago.
This summer I copied the logosol and the alaskan with my welder and metal I picked up at the scrap yard on the cheap, have less than a hundred in both and tickeled to whatever that it is possible to do this and someday I'll be the database for someone to learn this stuff from me. I had a guy pick up a camper top from me last month and he said what you doing with the logs and I showed him. He said he never seen anything like that, I told him to look up logosol and go from there.