granberg mini mill

[carlos]

i am thinking of dipping my toe into milling with one of these, i dont really have a big enough saw but i have an old one i dont mind giving a bit of stick.

i was also looking at the bigger alaskans but it seems you have to attatch the saw at two points so that wouldnt suit my small bar, i just thought id end up getting one and a bigger saw in the end so didnt want to buy two mills.

so my question!?? anyone use the granberg mini mill??

thanks.

[Forest2Furniture]

Depends what size saw you're intending to use, having done chainsaw milling for over 10 years now I wouldn't want to use anything smaller then a ms460.

You need the power to cut along the grain constantly for a few minutes, chainsaws are designed to run for short bursts of full power.

[ucoulddoit]

20 hours ago, carlos said:

i am thinking of dipping my toe into milling with one of these, i dont really have a big enough saw but i have an old one i dont mind giving a bit of stick.

i was also looking at the bigger alaskans but it seems you have to attatch the saw at two points so that wouldnt suit my small bar, i just thought id end up getting one and a bigger saw in the end so didnt want to buy two mills.

so my question!?? anyone use the granberg mini mill??

thanks.

I've used a mini mill quite a bit and found it works well, but I use it in conjuction with a 'bigger alaskan' as the mini mill is usually used for cutting vertically, say the side of a beam which has already had the top milled flat, or cross cutting planks. The photo below shows the mini mill being used to cut the side off a beam and you will see that the mill is fixed to the bar some way from the chainsaw, so with a short bar there wouldn't be much length left for milling. The small log mill is another option to think about on which you would lose about 2 inches of bar length.

 

When I first started milling I used a 14 inch bar with a small log mill which gave about 12 inches max width of cut. Others will tell you that is far too small, but it worked fine to mill a few very small logs and then I moved on an bought a bigger saw and subsequently bigger mills, etc., etc. No regrets starting small with the saw I had before investing a lot when I wasn't sure there would be a longer term use.

 

Andrew

[Rough Hewn]

I haven't used a mini mill,
But my first mill was made with threaded bar and plywood.
Worked perfectly.
Only draw back was it is slow to change depth of cut.
You can make one for about £20.
Make it to any size and fit any bar.
[emoji106]

[carlos]

yes it was the horizontal small log mill i was thinking of. i just couldnt resist a couple of 20" dia scots pine logs at work, it was close to home with good access so i got them, ive always passed on logs before, as needed hiab lift, dont really have a use for the wood etc, but iam getting more drawn to trying to use the wood as apposed to .

ringing it up . gona start small and cheap and see if the need/desire/ timber supply/grows.

thanks for your advice.

carl