A mill set up for beginners - suggestions pls.

[campanula]

I apologise for arriving out of thin air to beg for advice....but anyway.......

We have a little wood, well, a neglected plantation, really, of not terribly exciting poplar. Nonetheless, this is what we have so we must make use of it....so are looking to set up a little Alaskan mill kit. We have a 565 Husky and would like to be able to mill usable planking. However, this is all a bit new to us (we are gardeners by trade) so need some suggestions. What sort of set-up....and roughly how much will it cost,( bearing in mind what jobbing gardeners earn, we are looking for the budget option rather than de-luxe....so nothing new there)..... We kind of hope we can get summat doable for around 4-500 squid? What things are optional and what are essential?

[agg221]

What sort of diameter is your timber? This will determine what the best option will be.

 

Alec

[campanula]

The trees range between 20-26 inches diameter. The oldest were planted in 1948 and has been more or less neglected since the mid 70s. Planted on 8m centres and very tall and straight.

[Big J]

You need a bigger saw than a Husqvarna 565. Stihl MS660/Husky 395xp as a minimum. Frankly, the 120cc saws are still a bit underpowered, so I say go the whole hog and get an MS880/3120XP!

[campanula]

Um, so are you saying we cannot use a mill at all, Big J? Very disappointing and something of a set-back as we certainly cannot afford another chainsaw - took us ages to save for this one. It does limit our use of the wood to either hewn lengths (although my eldest son has a decent collection of axes).....or firewood. Setting priorities for woodland management is certainly tricky.

[agg221]

Yes you can mill it with your saw. It will not be quick, but it will be quicker than hand hewing and will give you perfectly useable planking. It will be nothing like Big J's commercial activity but will make enough boards in a day to be reasonably satisfying.

 

20-26" is reasonably large but poplar is fairly soft and chips out easily so if you take your time it will be OK.

 

I'm not familiar with a 565 - is this model number correct? If what you have is a 60ish cc saw then I would go for a 20" bar, Granberg chain as it compensates a bit for lack of power (you will also need a precision grinder), mini-mill and 24" Alaskan, which will give you about a 14" cut. You will need to take the dogs off the saw.

 

Milling will be a bit fiddly but if you skim the top off the log as deep as you can go, then use the mini-mill to split it in half vertically, then mill each half by standing it up on edge, you will get through it, making boards about 6"-13" width, which is enough for most things.

 

Alec

[aswales]

Might be worth looking at the logosol stuff. I manage OK for my occasional use with a logosol big mill and woodworkers mill with a huskvarna 372 powerhead which I fit with either 15, 20 or 24 inch bar - gets slower with bigger bars....Also unlike the alaskan set up you don't lose many bar inches, but you do need stiff bars... as the nose end is un-supported

[Big J]

Um, so are you saying we cannot use a mill at all, Big J? Very disappointing and something of a set-back as we certainly cannot afford another chainsaw - took us ages to save for this one. It does limit our use of the wood to either hewn lengths (although my eldest son has a decent collection of axes).....or firewood. Setting priorities for woodland management is certainly tricky.

 

Sorry for the confusion - I wasn't saying that you couldn't use the 565 full stop, but it would be very very slow. I can't find any product information on the saw - about 4hp I assume?

 

The problem with chainsaw milling is that the cut rate goes up exponentially with power. An MS880 is 8.7hp, and will cut around 4 times quicker than a saw with half the power. My discovery this week was that two MS880s (well 088s, same saw but a touch older) cut about 4 times as quickly as one (2-2.5ft per minute in 45-55" wide sweet chestnut).

 

Give that poplar is a fairly low demand tree species for sawn timber, perhaps you might make better money from it utilising it as firewood?

[Ty Unnos]

We are in a similar situation.

 

We don’t have a big enough saw to run a big mill.

 

Our saw is a Makita 6401 so 64cc.

 

We went for the 'small log mill' and 'mini mill'. As the small log mill only clamps on one side you get more cut so with a 20" bar you get an 18" cut.

 

alaskan mill I home of the portable chainsaw mill

 

By the time you have taken the sides off with your mini mill you will be just right for planking with the small log mill.

[campanula]

Noooo, I am an idiot - our saw is a 365 (70cc).

It all sounds a bit more hopeful then?