Another milling question

[kennertree]

I'm planning on buying a 36" alaskan csm in the near future. The question is hom many board feet of lumber can i mill in a day, and 8 hour day? Of course it would depend on what type of wood and what not, so lets say I'm milling pine, 16 inch logs 10 feet long. I have a tractor to move any logs that need to be moved and will have help. I reckon the peer pressure is finally getting to me and I'm just itchin to get a mill.

 

[oldsaw]

I'm planning on buying a 36" alaskan csm in the near future. The question is hom many board feet of lumber can i mill in a day, and 8 hour day? Of course it would depend on what type of wood and what not, so lets say I'm milling pine, 16 inch logs 10 feet long. I have a tractor to move any logs that need to be moved and will have help. I reckon the peer pressure is finally getting to me and I'm just itchin to get a mill.

Cool beans, Kenner. As for production, I really don't have a clue. When I'm cutting, I rarely cut in an organized woodlot, don't have a tractor, and spend a lot of time adapting to the environment and on logistics (Getting the logs to a flat spot, hauling the boards to the car, hauling equipment back and forth, etc), besides never getting 8 hours to actually work at it, which would cut down on set-up time. On top of that, I have never milled any pine, only hardwoods.

Maybe Aggie, woodshop, or dustytools could spell it out better. I seem to do more "guerilla milling" than organized milling. When it is somwhat organized, I'm in 30"+ stuff.

Mark

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Cool beans, Kenner. As for production, I really don't have a clue. When I'm cutting, I rarely cut in an organized woodlot, don't have a tractor, and spend a lot of time adapting to the environment and on logistics (Getting the logs to a flat spot, hauling the boards to the car, hauling equipment back and forth, etc), besides never getting 8 hours to actually work at it, which would cut down on set-up time. On top of that, I have never milled any pine, only hardwoods.

Maybe Aggie, woodshop, or dustytools could spell it out better. I seem to do more "guerilla milling" than organized milling. When it is somwhat organized, I'm in 30"+ stuff.

Mark

I'm kind of in the same boat as Oldsaw. I rarely use the SCM for lumber production as I have access to a bandmill for that. I can tell you it takes me about 12-15 minutes to make a cut in a 36" pine 20' long using my 084 w/ 44" bar but again, I'm strictly slabbing it.

I did cut a stack of 5/4 oak boards from a 24" square 8' long cant once. Cut times averaged about 7 minutes per cut. You need to include at least 30 minutes for setup and about 10 minutes average between cut for fuel and sharpening.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[dustytools]

I'm kind of in the same boat as Oldsaw. I rarely use the SCM for lumber production as I have access to a bandmill for that. I can tell you it takes me about 12-15 minutes to make a cut in a 36" pine 20' long using my 084 w/ 44" bar but again, I'm strictly slabbing it.

I did cut a stack of 5/4 oak boards from a 24" square 8' long can't once. Cut times averaged about 7 minutes per cut. You need to include at least 30 minutes for setup and about 10 minutes average between cut for fuel and sharpening.

Hope that helps a bit.

Hand me a paddle cause Im in that boat as well. As with oldsaw I am not an organized miller either and I dont think that I have ever truly timed a cut. I mill purely for my own use so Im never too worried about how long it takes me. I guess thats why running the CSM is so much fun for me. Sorry for not being much help.

 

[oldsaw]

Wow, looks like we're really letting you down here. Sorry about that. I'm like Dustytools too, I really don't care how long it takes, I'm in it for the wood for my personal use. Speed isn't the biggest factor for me, except for the game of "beat the clock" I have to play with my wife, she limits my playtime.

Mark

 

[lmbeachy]

I thought I was the only that had to play that game, trying to sneak out and get some cutting time. Oh well you can't have every thing in life.

 

[woodshop]

ditto here ditto here ditto here... I'm with the rest of them. Main reason you won't find much data on production milling with a csm is because almost nobody does that. A csm wasn't designed to mill with any production in mind. It's slow... lots of work and makes a big mess. In my case I only use the csm to slab a log into smaller cants where my Ripsaw (small portable band mill) takes over. If you really want some ballpark numbers though, I'll give it a quick and dirty stab. Obviously it depends on size of saw, but... on 16 inch pine (or any soft softwood) with my 395XP and Baily's ripping chain I estimate about 2 seconds per inch, about 4 minutes to get down that 10 ft log. Hardwood is slower of course, and the speed is not linear. In other words it takes MORE than twice the time for a log twice the dia. Also milling gives a saw a good workout and the bigger saws drink a lot of gas full throttle nonstop for 10 minutes or more at a time. You really don't want to do much more than slice up a log or two here and there. If you do, you are better off getting a small bandsaw in the end. Not only will every fourth or fifth board yeild and extra one (bandsaw takes less than half the kerf of a chainsaw) but it will eventually be cheaper if you're going to mill lots of wood. Wasn't there a thread not too long ago talking about production milling with a csm and why it wasn't a good idea? Seems to me there was, it was in the milling section here too.

 

[kennertree]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not planning on to much production wise, just a few boards here and there. I have access to so much beautiful wood i hate to see it go to firewood. I plan on using the 660 for milling, it doesnt get used that much anyway. The biggest reason I'm getting a mill is all the fun I see you guys having. How much does that rip saw run Woodshop? Sounds like you have a nice setup. I remember seeing pictures of it. I can't wait to try this thing out, I think I'm gonna order it next week. I know I'm gonna get the 36 inch csm, but which one should I get? The alaskan, or the grandberg? Or is the alaskan made by grandberg?

 

[Al Smith]

Using a Granberg beam maker I can make an 8 foot cut in 18" oak in about 5 minutes with a 125 Mac.Now then,let me tell ya,'taint nothing but work and eating sawdust.

Chainsaw milling is what it is,an alternative .

 

[oldsaw]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not planning on to much production wise, just a few boards here and there. I have access to so much beautiful wood i hate to see it go to firewood. I plan on using the 660 for milling, it doesnt get used that much anyway. The biggest reason I'm getting a mill is all the fun I see you guys having. How much does that rip saw run Woodshop? Sounds like you have a nice setup. I remember seeing pictures of it. I can't wait to try this thing out, I think I'm gonna order it next week. I know I'm gonna get the 36 inch csm, but which one should I get? The alaskan, or the grandberg? Or is the alaskan made by grandberg?

Same deal, Granberg makes the Alaskan. If you do it quick, Harbor Freight has them for $150 or so on line only. They don't have them in the stores.

Al is sort of right. It is a lot of work, but when you pull your first board off of a log, you will find it's worth every minute. Every board is kind of like a "mini-Christmas". I've done a few thousand board feet and still feel the same way about it. Maybe I'm just simple in the head that way, and Al is more sophisticated than I am. I still enjoy it. In fact, most of these guys will tell you it's almost an addiction. We suspect sawdust is the cause, but no proof to date.

Mark

 

[woodshop]

How much does that rip saw run Woodshop? Sounds like you have a nice setup. I remember seeing pictures of it.

Currently they are the better part of $1700. That includes two 5 ft guide beams and the hardware that goes along with them to attach them to a log. You also need a midrange saw in the 60cc class to run it, another $500 for a new saw or about half that for a good used one if you don't have a chainsaw. On the other hand, a 36 inch csm with a large enough saw (90-100 cc range) and long blade to mill that much will run you around $1100. Maybe $5-600 if you can find a good big bore used saw. The two main advantages to the Ripsaw over a csm is speed (several times faster going down a log all other things being equal) and you get 5-6 boards for every 4 you mill with a csm because of its thin bandsaw kerf taking much less of your log than a chainsaw kerf. It also produces RELATIVELY smoother boards than a chain does, and less sawdust. However, both the ripsaw and a csm make a real mess spewing very fine sawdust, just the nature of the beast. Main disadvantage of the ripsaw other than initial cost is you can only mill up to a 14 inch wide board. That means if you don't have a csm to go along with it, you can only mill a log up to around 20 inches diameter.

Do a search on ripsaw and you will find lots more details from past posts by others and myself. Do a search on Logosol and you will find tons of info on that method of milling also. Again... all these methods of milling have pros and cons. It goes without saying that no one method or brand is best for all situations. Define your milling goals and go from there.

 

[Al Smith]

As I said in another portion of this site,I'm not trying to discourage anyone from chainsaw milling I am pointing out the sort comings.I doubt seriously if I've ever cut more than 4 or 5 hundred board feet.Enough to know that paying my sawyer 22 cents per bdf was cheap.


As I type however,I do have some large oak logs that will have to be broken down a bit before I can even get them in a bandsaw.With that in mind,I will have to break out the big saws and bite the bullit,ripping them into manageable sized cants.At last count I have around 6 to 7 thousand feet laying in logs.I imagine by fall that number could likely double.