beerkan mill

flames · February 21, 2011

Hello millers, I've enjoyed seeing others milling efforts, so I thought I'd add some pics of my own.

These pics are of a DIY mill I built a while back for my 880, I revised it recently and have been testing it with a new 50" bar.

It's similar to the alaskan, but a little cruder. I designed it to be very simple, fully adjustable and lightweight. It worked well initially, but as I used it the rail clamps deformed and allowed the height rails to twist out of parallel from the bar.

I recently added supporter guides (with beer can shims) that hold the height rails square, it now works really well, but needs the clamp bars improving- as I didn't do them up tight enough- bar slipped, chain hit the clamp bolt. Also the longer bar is taller than the original Stihl one so there's not much clearance above the chain. Would like to add a pusher handle and aux oiler too.

The first 3 pics are of the mill’s trial run, milled a fallen oak ~Ø2’ –quite successful. The rest are of mk2’s efforts, an oak crotch, about 3,1/2’ wide.

1st few crotch boards- ran an Oregon chipper chain, which worked well. Then switched to a Granberg ripping chain (Thanks Rob D) which was a bit more aggressive.

Hope some of you find this interesting, would be good to hear about others home made mills.

stevie-b · February 22, 2011

Looks very effective fella, did it cost much to make? I'd love to do some milling myself but it's a fair investment(big saw, mill, bar & chain) for something I probably won't get to use much:sad:

Just out of interest was the fallen oak a bit of opportunist milling or a job you were supposed to be doing?

Getting the timber to mill is a stumbling block for me as we don't get much of a decent size at work (utility arb!) or the time to do it! :thumbdown:

Rob D · February 22, 2011

Nice looking mill there Tom!

Glad the chain is working out - you've carved off some good ol slabs there. What do you do with your milled timber?

flames · February 23, 2011

Looks very effective fella, did it cost much to make? I'd love to do some milling myself but it's a fair investment(big saw, mill, bar & chain) for something I probably won't get to use much:sad:
Just out of interest was the fallen oak a bit of opportunist milling or a job you were supposed to be doing?

Getting the timber to mill is a stumbling block for me as we don't get much of a decent size at work (utility arb!) or the time to do it!

Mill cost - just a few quid for the box, I have a contact who works with sheet metal so those parts were free! So very cheap. Bar - I got a v-good deal on, but yes, saw, bar and chain not cheap, how ever I guess it wouldn’t' t take many jobs to pay for it's self - what do you reckon Rob D?

Fallen oak wasn't a job proper, but used it to test the mill, make a few planks for myself and made some big slabs for the land owner, win all round.

Rob, Milled timber so far is to make a floor in my house, although some of these recent wide ones may make some nice furniture depending on how it dries.

flames · August 25, 2011

-some more from the beerkan mill. -been milling elm, I could not believe how hard this particular piece of timber was, I guess beacuse it has been sitting around for quite along time. Some fantastic grain, figure and some spalter too. Milled 4 slabs or so for turning, about 3" thick. I was having to touch up the chain after each cut, worth it though - rough turned some yesterday looking really good...

Rob D · August 25, 2011

That elm looks pretty dry and hard....

The investment in a mill is really all about the chainsaw really. Can you get it to pay for itself? There is a market out there mainly I feel for products you can make out of wood.

It does take time and experience to get used to using wood i.e. how to dry it, sand it and treat it.

Finally I seem to be getting somewhere with regular furniture sales and even now a few commissions..... but it has taken a while.

But you can make a load of stuff for your own house very easily with the most basic tools. Bookshelves, side boards, tables, benches which don't cost much to make but saves you a lot.

People often ask how long does wood take to dry? What to treat it with? etc but it's a piece of string type of question.

One thing is for sure it is very satisfying making things out of wood you have milled yourself. Soon I'll try and get some step by step guides on arbtalk...

tree man john · August 29, 2011

That elm looks pretty dry and hard....

The investment in a mill is really all about the chainsaw really. Can you get it to pay for itself? There is a market out there mainly I feel for products you can make out of wood.

It does take time and experience to get used to using wood i.e. how to dry it, sand it and treat it.

Finally I seem to be getting somewhere with regular furniture sales and even now a few commissions..... but it has taken a while.

But you can make a load of stuff for your own house very easily with the most basic tools. Bookshelves, side boards, tables, benches which don't cost much to make but saves you a lot.

People often ask how long does wood take to dry? What to treat it with? etc but it's a piece of string type of question.

One thing is for sure it is very satisfying making things out of wood you have milled yourself. Soon I'll try and get some step by step guides on arbtalk...

that would be really good and interesting if you could do a step by step guide on here and i would be keen to learn more! :biggrin:

harvey b davison · August 29, 2011

Same here Rob, would be very keen to read a step by step guide, bit low on funds at mo, but this is definately something i want to try.

flames · January 30, 2013

Some fruits of my milling labours, I finished an oak floor in my house just before Christmas, which is really why I built the mill in the first place. No long explanation, I’ll let the pics do the talking, but just to explain that after having all the boards planed, they got leaked on, hence the ‘visitors’ and had to be dried and plane again (not a good day that) –Lots of hassle, but the end result definitely worth it. Hope this gives some inspiration to others contemplating something similar.