New to milling?

[Jim A.]

I have been cutting firewood for a while and see alot of good lumber get burnt, thinking of getting a small mill. How do you guys think this would be for starters or would I be better off with an alaskan III
Ebay link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=140193641080&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

Thanks

 

[stonykill]

the pics look good. I suppose it depends on what it goes for and what your budget is. Looks like something I would build myself, if I could scrounge enough free steel. If your on a budget, and like running saws, the alaskan is hard to beat, and you can mill the tree right where you drop it. An important thing to consider if you don't have equiptment to move and load heavy logs.

 

[BobL]

I have been cutting firewood for a while and see alot of good lumber get burnt, thinking of getting a small mill. How do you guys think this would be for starters or would I be better off with an alaskan III
Ebay link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=140193641080&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

Thanks

Jim, welcome aboard the milling train!
Personally I wouldn't use 404 chain as shown on the ebay link above, 404 wastes too much timber and I reckon it's slower at cutting than other chains. If you can easily transport the logs to you and have the $$ I would look at a similar rail type mill but uses a powerhead to drive 3/8" low profile chain.

If you mainly have to go to the logs (especially where you can't easily get a vehicle) then I would go for an Alaskan III with a CS that uses low profile chain. The size of the powerhead and bar would depend in part on the size of the logs you wanted to mill. Even a quality 50cc with say a 20" bar will let you mill smaller/shorter logs quite easily if a little slower, while a 90+cc powerhead with a 36" bar will allow you to tackle bigger logs.

Decisions