smallest saw for milling?

[flatyre]

sorry if its been asked before, I do a fair amount of tree work through my landscaping business, and am hoping to build my own home starting in about two years, and would like to take advantage of the free wood to provide all my own timber as much for the novelty as a money saving exercise. I do feel a bit wasteful ringing timber that could provide the joists, beams etc knowing that at a later date i'll need to buy it. A while ago I had to ring a cracking big larch (cladding) which had come down, and more recently a couple of good sized oaks (beams), as well as the usual pine, birch, ash and so on. Most trees I fell are close to customers houses and not overly mature but still good timber but with no way of moving large sections it usually gets sold as firewood.

I'm interested in building a small Alaskan mill but was wondering if my everyday ms250 is powerful enough for light milling? and if so what is the best chain for milling? it currently runs a 16" bar but would move up a few inches if it could handle it. thanks

[Dog Tag]

Rob at chainsawbars on here is very helpful. I think MS250 is a bit short on power. Chain file angle is 10 degrees.

[wisewood]

Get as big a saw as you can warrant. I think most folk use an 880 but it really depends on what diameter you're likely to mill. Small stuff you may get away with a360 or equivalent. You may not be aware of this but you lose about six inches of bar length when attached to a mill, so your 16" bar could not pass through a log bigger than 10"

But basically the bigger the saw the less tedious your experience will be. I don't have an 880 yet but can mill anything up to 3ft diameter with my 660

Edited September 14, 2015 by wisewood

[kinderscout]

First thing to look at is what is the largest trunk you would expect to mill.as something like the small log mill may suit your needs.

My first mill was a 36inch mill with the husky 365.

[NFG]

Hi

 

16" bar is about as big as a 250 goes, it will do 18, if chain is sharp.

 

As suggested go as big as possible, milling places a fair stress on the saw so the bigger the better. Perhaps a 365 70cc on 24" or 28" for small stuff as you will 'lose' a few inches of bar in the milling setup.

 

 

N

[CCOS]

Well I started with a Husky 435 and the small log mill, a fine saw for cutting down smaller trees and with a 18" bar it can take a fair size log. But it takes time, way too much time and puts a very high strain on the saw.

To day I use a MS661 with 36" or the smaller 25" bar and the grandberg rip chain. It delivers a smooth cut and a good cutting speed in pine and oak with out pushing the saw beyond what is good for it.

To day I use the small Husky for the vertical mill for smaller & midsize logs other than that I use the big MS661.

[Big J]

Chainsaw mill is slow and tedious (when considering a project the size of a house) with an MS880. If you wanted to give yourself PTSD, reacting with horror every time you heard a chainsaw start, try chain milling with an MS250!

 

As a minimum you need an MS660/661. Absolute minimum. Cutting speed increases logarithmically with an increase in power. An MS250 has about 3hp, an MS880 has nearly 9hp. The MS880 does not cut 3 times as quickly, but at least 10 times as quickly. Strap two MS880s to a bar and cutting speed increases 3-4 times.

[TGB]

Might be able to pick up a Stihl 088 or Husky 390/395. Comparable to Stihl's 880 is Husky's 3120XP.

[ucoulddoit]

I started chainsaw milling with a very small Stihl chainsaw (MS170?) with a 14 inch bar and the small log mill. So I was able to slowly mill up to about 12 inches width which was fine for occasional 'hobby' use. Larger logs were first sawn freehand lengthwise into smaller sections for further sawing with the small log mill. Quite wasteful and time consuming, but for minimal outlay I was able to start milling with a saw that I already had and after a while was 'hooked' and keen to progress to bigger stuff. So I bought a new MS391 with a 20 inch bar for use in the small log mill which increased my cutting width to 18 inches. Working at the width limit of 18 inches on the small log mill I found it difficult to cut planks with equal thickness across the full width. I realised that by buying additional parts from Rob D, the small log mill could be converted to a 24 inch Alaskan mill and Alec (Agg 221) gave advice about which bars would fit the MS391. I'd assumed that 20 inches was the maximum length and hadn't realised that longer bars were the same fitting, so bought a 25 inch bar which gives about 19 inches max width of cut with the 'Alaskan' mill. Still a bit slow, but for occasional 'hobby' use I just put up with it. I may one day progress to an MS660 or 880, but would hesitate to recommend that route to someone who has never milled with a chainsaw before or seen a mill in action. I'd suggest starting with what you have and decide if it really is the way forward. Milling all the timber for a house sounds like an epic task to me. I've almost finished building a timber frame for a small outbuilding using green larch (see thread on the woodcraft section) which is tiny by comparison to a house. I milled all the main timbers but have decided to use softwood from the local builders merchant for the secondary framing such as purlins and side rails, and will take larch logs to a woodmiser a few miles away to mill the wall cladding.

 

Andrew

[Mike Dempsey]

I started off milling with a mate using his saw. Cant remember which one is was now but I think it was a 20" bar on it. Bought a Husky 281XP a few years ago and used it for logs up to about 20" in diameter with a 28" bar. It is an ex army saw and at 81cc is fine for a lot of trees. Now got a 660 with a 36" bar and an 880 with a 48" bar. I can use the 660 on my own no problem but wouldnt use the 880 on my own. You also have to remember that the wider the tree, the heavier the plank is. If you can park very close to it, no problem, but if you have to haul planks some distance on your own it rapidly becomes back breaking.

Ps the husky 281xp is up for sale in arbtrader just now