Milling question, "squaring" the log

[2broke2ride]

This might be a dumb question, I picked up a small 20" granberg mill that I wanna use to make some building materials out of pine logs on my property in order to build a chicken coop.
How do people square the log with one of these? I'm having trouble getting my mind around it. Most of what I've seen is people just cutting live edge slabs not actual lumber.
Is it just a lot of measuring and leveling and use of a square?

 

[Bernard_Ritchie]

I am assuming that you have Granberg small log Mill. That's what I have. Yes it's a lot of measuring and squaring, or you can do as I did and just slab Live Edge boards off and then straighten them with a circular saw and straight edge guide. Then you can rip the other side on a table saw.

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[teacherman]

I just saw a video of something called a Norwood PortaMill. It looks as though it would solve many of the issues, but it is a bit pricey.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200325617_200325617

 

[Cease232]

I used to just saw live edge slabs and square them with a circular saw as stated above but it's a huge pain if your making lots of boards.
What you need is a granberg mini mill. I now use it in conjunction with my alaska mill and it makes squaring logs 1000x easier.
https://www.amazon.com/Granberg-G555B-GRANBERG-Mini-Attachment/dp/B001BAFESG

This log was too heavy for my tractor to lift onto the mill so I squared it up with the alaska mill and mini mill.


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[Justsaws]

Set the mill guide rails up on the log.
Set the the depth of the mill as deep as it will go, bottom cut.
Make a cut, use wedges to keep the kerf open.
Do not remove guide rails.
Make second cut at whatever depth is required, top cut.
Remove guide rails, flip log so the bottom and top cut edges are now sides.
Remount guide rails, squared off to side cuts.
Set depth as deep as require to make new bottom cut.
Repeat for top cut.

 

[Big_Wood]

for someone looking to make dimensional lumber with a chainsaw a vertical mill is a must. once you slab your top off you can then used the mini mill to slab the sides. way less measure cause it squares off a side that was already square to you first cut. the "haddon lumber maker" is a nice piece. plenty accurate in the right hands and way easy to use. the granberg mini mill is more accurate IMO but requires it's own special guide rail and just takes longer to set up. kind of a pain if your just looking for boards to build. the vertical AV mounts of a 395 or rubber mounted saw is best in the haddon lumber maker as the saw is the handle to push on the mill (stresses AV). the granberg has it's own handle attached to the mill for pushing which doesn't stress the saw AV at all. or you can just measure like a mad man with to much time on his hands lol it's ****** unless the wood is perfectly round. mini mill for the win! i wouldn't even consider milling dimensional without one.

 

[2broke2ride]

Set the mill guide rails up on the log.
Set the the depth of the mill as deep as it will go, bottom cut.
Make a cut, use wedges to keep the kerf open.
Do not remove guide rails.
Make second cut at whatever depth is required, top cut.
Remove guide rails, flip log so the bottom and top cut edges are now sides.
Remount guide rails, squared off to side cuts.
Set depth as deep as require to make new bottom cut.
Repeat for top cut.

This is excellent!!!! Exactly what I needed, thank you!

 

[Marshy]

This is going to be useful to new as I'm about to mill some post and beam with my panther mill to build a wood shed.

 

[Bernard_Ritchie]

for someone looking to make dimensional lumber with a chainsaw a vertical mill is a must. once you slab your top off you can then used the mini mill to slab the sides. way less measure cause it squares off a side that was already square to you first cut. the "haddon lumber maker" is a nice piece. plenty accurate in the right hands and way easy to use. the granberg mini mill is more accurate IMO but requires it's own special guide rail and just takes longer to set up. kind of a pain if your just looking for boards to build. the vertical AV mounts of a 395 or rubber mounted saw is best in the haddon lumber maker as the saw is the handle to push on the mill (stresses AV). the granberg has it's own handle attached to the mill for pushing which doesn't stress the saw AV at all. or you can just measure like a mad man with to much time on his hands lol it's ****** unless the wood is perfectly round. mini mill for the win! i wouldn't even consider milling dimensional without one.

Made my own guide rail for a Granberg mini-vacation by rabbiting out a channel for a piece of 1/2" EMT in a 2x8. Works great!

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[2broke2ride]

So I tried out the mill yesterday on some logs that have been sitting a while that where standing dead I cut down a year or so ago. I just stuck to live edge slabs for now till I get the hang of it. It went well till I found a handful of nails in the first log[emoji35] pretty much totaled a brand new loop of Stihl chain. I was able to file it back but it took like 50% of the life out of the chain.
This is like the third time I've found nails in trees on my property, and this one came from out in the woods, not in the yard.!!