okay sounds good so I see baileys has granberg Alaskan mills. Is this a good mill to start out with? will it provide everything I need to start out? Or would I be better off to make my own or buy a different mill?
I'm just getting into this, but as
@Adamant said, you'll need rails. That's to guide the first slab cut. Subsequent cuts will leave a top face on the log, that'll provide the reference for the next cut. For the rails, you can spend hundreds for special-purpose rails, or you can scan down to
@hazard's post on the first "page" of the "CSMilling ..." thread.
I made mine per his design, with some rectangular steel tubing to lag-bolt onto the log end. I made the rails from a ripped-in-half 2x4 and a 2x6 with one edge ripped square.
Then I screwed & glued a half 2x4 to a face of the 2x6 along the ripped edge of the 2x6. Shortly, they'll get a coat of spar varnish.
Those rails sit with the half 2x4 side of the 2x6 on the steel tubing, held on with BIG spring clamps. I've not seen a simpler approach.
Once we get caught up on a bunch of other projects, we'll see how all this works with my new 576XP, which is now breaking in.