Poor boy sawmill good or bad?

[Woodlover]

Hi , I am trying to make a table out of some hard wood I found, with out a clue on what to do I stupidly thought I could cut straight enough with my chainsaw without a guide or any make shift mill,but its all over the place with a straight edge even after an hour of planing a plank.I want rustic old style not so perfect look but I also want plates to not rock,it has to be perfectly flat on one side.

So...after looking on utube for ideas I found the poor boy sawmill

being skint means this is the only option I have,or is it?

Planks are 3-4inch thick so I hope to scim an inch max of one side to get it flat.

The one thing that concerns me with the poor boy sawmill is drilling holes into my chainsaw bar, will this weaken it and make it dangerous for cutting logs into biscuits? or should I drill an old bar I have that looks too worn to use for biscuits and use that? or is that dangerous as it looks well used/old.

Any advise appreciated,thanks.

[treequip]

Based on what he was producing you would be best off finding someone with a workshop and letting them do it

 

Those lumps are easily millable with a decent band saw, they will probably have a thickneser too.

 

All of this is notwithstanding timber type and seasoning. If its not seasoned get it roughed out then dry it

 

If you have enough to make it worthwhile, hire someone in with an Alaskan mill or similar

 

Drilling a guide bar is possible but 2 there are better ways of making that guide with a bit of angle iron where you wouldn't need to drill the guide bar at all

 

Like he ways in the video, step up you masochists

[54gka]

Before i had the funds to by an Alaskan i made a similar setup but only had one bar and didn't fancy drilling holes in it so glued to small bits of ply to the bar to give clearance to slide along rails was a bit tricky to control but worked ok.

[Woodlover]

Thanks for the replys guys...please excuse my late reply...I have had a frustrating few hours here and there over the last few weeks trying to cut my boards "poor boy " style and what with forgetting my password for here and wanting to try properly before repling, I have not logged in.

treequip...You were so right,but no money or metal work skills and a need to do ment I had to gave it a go , but I just could`nt drill my chain bar like in the vid.

Realising it was going to be a struggle what with no money or will to drill I just stuck to my original plan of no knowledge working an trial an error type of thing,learn as you go.

54gka...I tried gluing the ply to the bar but it lasted 2 minutes before flying off, so I just rested my chainsaw on one edge of the wooden frame and eyed the tip of the bar above the opposite edge...The first board was spot on,hardly any saw marks and after a quick sand a straight edge sits perfect,the next 10 boards were not so perfect but will do after a little planing/sanding.

Worse thing is my chainsaw seems to now struggle with this continuos side way cutting,did after cut 1, even after sharpening...I dont know if that first plank was from a different tree and got mixed up somehow but after that all others seemed to be tougher wood to cut, I think I have Oak and Ash....my bnq mac 838 16inch chainsaw(dont laugh) is not really up for the job,but in an emergency it does work for hill billy planking.I have boards 13 inch wide which is about as wide as can be done with my saw.

All in all I am happy I did it, and it felt safe other than bits of wood flying in your face when skimming thin bits ,glasses are a must,was worried about what would happen if the chain broke when in that position, other wise it was ok to do.

[tcfengineering]

Good on you for having a go. As long as you are safe, what is there to lose ? There are always people who will tell you it cant be done without expensive tackle and years of experience, but I often find if you try hard enough and dont give up, it usually gets the job done. Show us some pics of your boards when you get time

 

Drilling a bar is not too hard, start with a small hole, have your drill as slow as possible and use plenty of lube. Work up the hole size in small steps.

[Woodlover]

Thanks for the encouraging words tcfengineering...I always try,dont always sucseed...but on this one I have...today I finaly finished building my table with my own milled planks...been together being worked on slowly for 2 weeks in a central heated house and no warping yet,the tree was growing this time a year ago so against all I have heard about drying things seem good.

I will post up some pics of the other planks as soon as I dig the planks out of my storage shelter.

Will be posting pics of my table after the final sanding tomorrow,need urgent advise from the good people on here about the finish and even the ID of the wood,it was the hardest wood I have ever known,dying to know what the hard bugger is.