chainsaw, band-saw or rack saw?

[MikeTM150]

having done some milling with my Alaskan, its got me thinking for the smaller stuff say 24" and down it would be easier to use a more track based mill to save keep setting up the first cut and all the rest that goes with Alaskan mills.

 

Now i can't decide if a homemade chainsaw mill like welsh wood is the way forward, or band-saw or a rack type circular saw. I can borrow brother in laws wood mizer, but as he uses it for business he like me to have it for a day do what I've got and have it back. But that seems to leave me with the quandary of what size/shape to mill to, so i wanted to build myself something that i could use when i want so i can do it the exact size i wanted. I fancy a big circular rack style saw mill, but have no experience of them.

 

I enjoy building machines, and its part the fun of messing about with timber for me, so say cost was not too prohibitive and space/size not an issue what do you all think would be the best?

[slack ma girdle]

If cost and space are not an issue, why not build all three !

Then you will know.

[Chris Sheppard]

Circular rack bench would probably be fairly simple to build in comparison to the others, but would have a fair sized footprint compared to a band/chainsaw mill where the saw carriage moved and the timber satyed put.

 

One thing we used to find with the old rack benches was that they weren't that accurate either as the wood tended to have a habit of moving during cutting as it mostly relied on the weight of the timber to hold it in place.

 

Certainly don't miss using it (or shovelling out the pit )

[MikeTM150]

If cost and space are not an issue, why not build all three !

Then you will know.

 

cuz thats just a little on the excessive side, and i said cost not too prohibitive, not cost no problem!

 

I wondered if accuracy maybe the issue with a rack saw.

[cornish chough]

We use a very old racksaw as previously shown here recently , most days it willl cut any hardwood within 2mm,i say most- we all get off days ,but its still a pleasure to use!

[MikeTM150]

it was the pictures of your rack saw that made me think about it as an option. 2mm is close enough for me!

[agg221]

I think to some extent it depends on what you're trying to produce. A bandsaw takes a far smaller kerf for a given throat. A racksaw takes a bigger kerf but can, with care, go in from one side only to quarter up a log. Personally, I wouldn't go for a chainsaw mill on a carriage if I was building it, as for me the two points a chainsaw mill scores on are low cost for a given throat size and portability (offset against low speed and wide kerf). On a carriage you lose some of the cost advantage by the time you've built it, and all of the portability.

 

Kerf becomes more important the thinner the section you're trying to make, so for inch boards it's a big issue but for fenceposts, gateposts or beams it's less of an issue.

 

Not that it's the league you're thinking in, but the biggest commercial mill in the UK runs circular saws - one comes in from the top and one from the bottom, with a gang of them in parallel to cut all the planks at once. The reason is speed - apparently you can't run logs down a bandsaw line faster than about 120m/min while a circular saw will do 170m/min. Kerf is 4.5mm, which overall makes less of an impact than the increased linespeed on all out production.

 

Alec

[MikeTM150]

I think to some extent it depends on what you're trying to produce. A bandsaw takes a far smaller kerf for a given throat. A racksaw takes a bigger kerf but can, with care, go in from one side only to quarter up a log. Personally, I wouldn't go for a chainsaw mill on a carriage if I was building it, as for me the two points a chainsaw mill scores on are low cost for a given throat size and portability (offset against low speed and wide kerf). On a carriage you lose some of the cost advantage by the time you've built it, and all of the portability.

 

Kerf becomes more important the thinner the section you're trying to make, so for inch boards it's a big issue but for fenceposts, gateposts or beams it's less of an issue.

 

Not that it's the league you're thinking in, but the biggest commercial mill in the UK runs circular saws - one comes in from the top and one from the bottom, with a gang of them in parallel to cut all the planks at once. The reason is speed - apparently you can't run logs down a bandsaw line faster than about 120m/min while a circular saw will do 170m/min. Kerf is 4.5mm, which overall makes less of an impact than the increased linespeed on all out production.

 

Alec

 

I was thinking the same about a chainsaw mill really. You last comment about two circular saw blades has got designs running through my head of two blades and a huge rack table...... dreaming again. But i'm thinking your right and perhaps a 1000mm circular TCT saw blade on a simple rack system would suit me well, would prob give me 400mm to 450mm cutting depth. Also will be more interesting to use!

 

I bet a 1000mm blade will be nice and cheap! Google hear i come!