aesache
ArboristSite Lurker
Hi All
My work hired in a guy with a lucas mill to come in and mill up some walnut trees. I thought this would be a good time to do an apples to apples comparison of a lucas mill vs a chainsaw mill. Here are some pros and cons to each. Also this was my first expirience with both mills so this is a complete novice perspective.
1. The lucas mill
Here in canada the lucas mill used costs about 10 grand. It took 2hrs to set up and get ready (huge heavy power head). This is a real mill the cut took about 15 seconds to make and this is what it looks like.
View attachment 229961
2. Here is the sawmill I used a 3120 husky and a cobbled together alaskin (litterally 10 min to build and it is awfull because of it)
here is a pic of the jig and the board that it cut
View attachment 229962
This cut took about 45 seconds to make with the CS mill.
View attachment 229963
Conclusion:
The lucas mill was really big and clunky to set up. It had alot of trouble with nails in the wood as well that did some expensive damade to the cutter. It was however incredibley quick at making boards.
The chainsaw mill on the other hand took 10 min to set up and when a nail was hit it took only a few min to resharpen the chain.
The downside was that it was very noisy. Though i must say it was far faster cutting than what i had read online. As well it wasn't that much more labour intensive than the Lucas mill (if you work smarter not harder)
All in all i think i prefeered the chainsaw mill due to its low wait (relativly) and ease of use as well its cuts "wandered" far less than the lucas mill. I think that whatever was lost in kerf will be made up for when we plain the wood flat. The lucas mill wandered alot more than i thought it would (no better than a band mill). if you are doing under 500 board feet at a time the CS mill is the way to go.
anyway just thought i would post this as my .02 cents
My work hired in a guy with a lucas mill to come in and mill up some walnut trees. I thought this would be a good time to do an apples to apples comparison of a lucas mill vs a chainsaw mill. Here are some pros and cons to each. Also this was my first expirience with both mills so this is a complete novice perspective.
1. The lucas mill
Here in canada the lucas mill used costs about 10 grand. It took 2hrs to set up and get ready (huge heavy power head). This is a real mill the cut took about 15 seconds to make and this is what it looks like.
View attachment 229961
2. Here is the sawmill I used a 3120 husky and a cobbled together alaskin (litterally 10 min to build and it is awfull because of it)
here is a pic of the jig and the board that it cut
View attachment 229962
This cut took about 45 seconds to make with the CS mill.
View attachment 229963
Conclusion:
The lucas mill was really big and clunky to set up. It had alot of trouble with nails in the wood as well that did some expensive damade to the cutter. It was however incredibley quick at making boards.
The chainsaw mill on the other hand took 10 min to set up and when a nail was hit it took only a few min to resharpen the chain.
The downside was that it was very noisy. Though i must say it was far faster cutting than what i had read online. As well it wasn't that much more labour intensive than the Lucas mill (if you work smarter not harder)
All in all i think i prefeered the chainsaw mill due to its low wait (relativly) and ease of use as well its cuts "wandered" far less than the lucas mill. I think that whatever was lost in kerf will be made up for when we plain the wood flat. The lucas mill wandered alot more than i thought it would (no better than a band mill). if you are doing under 500 board feet at a time the CS mill is the way to go.
anyway just thought i would post this as my .02 cents