Rob D

It doesn't have that many traditional uses but can still be used inside. Benefits are that it dries very quickly, does not suffer with many drying defects and is one of the few light woods... negatives are it's very soft!. If you have a market for it it's worth milling.... if you don't then don't worry about it!

Nice job! And good display in the basket... I've found some good success with rustic boards this year... everyone seems to go for the waney edge pieces which is a great way of getting rid of bits and pieces too good for firewood!

You can order a mill of the website - but register on there first, then tell me and I can set a 10% discount on your account then. I'd go for a 36" Alaskan mill, ripping chain and precision grinder and stones - sharp chain is everything with chainsaw milling. You could have a go milling that branch but if I were you go and see Big J - he'll no doubt have some timber there you can practice on and the experience and info you'll get off him will be invaluable.

Possibly - back yard stuff tends to be better with the Alaskan as the Peterson is still a bit of a brute to move around and a little time consuming to pack and set up. You have to be a little careful talking to those who own a bandsaw as many will always tell you bandsaws are the best over and above anything else (because they own one!). The case is horses for courses - some people will find a bandsaw far more useful than a swingmill and vice versa. I have a bandsaw now and it is very good... but for a lot of the large trees I go out and about milling in 70-80% of cases a bandsaw would not be able to mill them. If you have a yard where you get a good load of timber dropped into it and have a good loader then a bandsaw will be best. Milling out and about - probably not. If you're milling thinner boards 1.5" or under the kerf is more relevant than 2"+ If you're doing more off piste milling the swingmill is better esp for large logs as you can set up round a log reasonably easily and once set up is super fast but limited in that they will only cut 8" to 10" (I find it a real fiddle doing the double cutting...) I tend to use the Peterson most as around a large 3-4 foot tree, 5m long it is just so fast! In many ways they are but looking at your situation I'd still say a good chainsaw milling set up and a moderate size bandsaw at home will work well for you. Break logs down into as big as you can move to bring home and re saw. If you do get an occasion where a swingmill has to be used then hire one in got the day. It's very tricky as there will always be times when you wish you had a swingmill rather than a bandsaw or a larger bandsaw than the one you have etc etc etc

I did a whole thread on this. You've got to give more info if you want to get people interested and some good pics. It could be worth selling or just firewood. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/alaskan-mill/39337-if-youre-trying-sell-walnut-butt.html

I'd say in that example the £900-00 was way over priced.... I bet if the customer had got a few more quotes he'd have had a couple around £300-00 to £350-00 all in and done by a pro 2 man team. Most people I know quote on a day rate but you will always have other firms way more expensive. I know a large firm near me used to be on average 2 to 3 times more than I quoted (but bear in mind they were vat registered and I was not). The larger tree firms see to have to charge a lot more than the two man teams due to larger overheads....

I've not had much experience with felling licensees but the powers that be want to get woodlands working again - google and do your research on this beforehand. I've been told there are big tax breaks with woodland but again you need to do your research. A few points: I have a Peterson mill - very good piece of kit but looking at what you want to do is it worth buying one? I'd also think along the lines of hiring someone in say for 3 days at a time. What are the trees like in the woodland as the Peterson I find works best with 2.5 foot diameter+ Also not so good for sawing cladding as you lose a fair bit of kerf. For oak framing you need to have some good straight healthy oak - otherwise you'll do a lot of sawing and end up with little that can be used in a building. The 8" Peterson I have does cut 8" but I find it's on the limit of what it can cut - the 10" version does not have a more powerful engine just different gearing. That's why I got the 8"! I'd get a good chainsaw mill selection (although I'm biased ) - this means you can break down large butts in the wood and move them to be re sawn. This re sawing is always going to be best done on a bandsaw. Look at how you will market your furniture - the easy bit is sawing and making it, the hard bit is putting it in front of potential customers.

Ha ha! I expect so Mark

That's more like it! Take a bit of time making it ie. a few days with you doing different tasks, once made get some opinions before putting it on here to make sure it shows you in best light. A grainy 30 second clip with a chainsaw running will not do you any favours. Doesn't have to be tree related but wheel barrowing, digging, just something to show you work hard, friendly etc etc.. Introduce yourself, how you got into this line of work, what you like, everything you can think of to promote yourself and make someone think 'he's worth giving a go'.

Cheers Dan yes stick a vid up in this thread then send me a PM when you have....

Hmmm... dunno - if you can post a vid up that would be the best way to ID what's happening?.... does it happen with other chains or just the Granberg?

Just to give you a view from the other side of the coin as such... when I had a tree firm I often had people ringing up and looking for work... to start with I'd give them a go but by and large I'd say they only did a day or two before leaving or being asked to leave. So after a few years of that I never gave anyone a go that rang looking for work..... Now I'm not saying that is fair or unfair but speaking to other firms unfortunately that's what you're up against. You have to remember that everyone out there looking for work has the opinion that they are a hard and honest worker... my experiences over the years has said otherwise in most (80% to 90%) of cases. It's very hard to get your foot in the door - and if I'm being brutally honest these x3 comments here would put me off giving you a go: "don't be a talker be a do'er i have been trying to do thing's all my life but something all ways stops me." "i have not got licence it could be the goverment for screwing the country up even more could be a number of things all i ask for is a break and a chance." Because in the above you are blaming other things for your own circumstances. "What else can i say just if i could find some work i could take pics and make video and post on here to show every one that i am capable of doing the work." For the above it's a great idea - why not work for your gran, for a neighbor or anyone else - there's nothing stopping you making a video and promoting yourself - it doesn't have to be with big noisy chippers and a big takedown going on in the background..... it will give you a 300% increased chance of finding work.

As above! If you had a plan for the wood then there's nothing wrong with it as such... a few planks from the middle would make good chopping board/platters... But it's not a valuable piece of wood and not sellable.

Shouldn't be due to flex in the bar.... I take it it's on the back of the bar the chain looks like it's free of the rails? If so then most likely cause is the wood is pinching down on the chain - do you wedge the cut as you mill so the plank you are cutting is held off the bar/chain?

Some great pics there thanks for posting! I still sit back after cutting some meaty planks like this and think that it's pretty amazing what a chainsaw can do... Did you saw these all with the Alaskan or re saw them with the Logosol? If with the Logosol could you put on some pics as I often have Logosol owners asking if the Alaskan is worth having for milling larger butts.

That's a good point! The maximum length bar the factory can produce is 46". So that's what I had! In fact these 46" Sugihara bars are the longest bars they have ever made to date... The GB long bars are pretty good but are also expensive to buy with the exchange rate £250+. Cannon are now a lot of money for a 50" bar - around £300+ so these are not bad ar £185+ if you don't begrudge those couple of inches!

Also changed the bar over on the MS880 from the GB 50" bar that was on there to a 46" Sugihara.... The difference was instant (and ok it was 4" shorter) but far more rigid, pointed better (without flopping around so much) and felt good in the cut. Also (although only a small point) - it pulled out of the cut so much easier as the surface is much smoother and all the rivets ground back better. There's a few been sold now so wandering what the feedback both good&bad is?

It's been a few months now since the first lot came in and the second batch of pro silver bars will be here end of Feb.... I've had one on my 390 for the last 2 months and it's been used and to be fair - a bit abused as used on new Granberg mill alot, got pinched a few times, used Alaskan milling a couple of times to boot... on second chain now and finish on bar is starting to wear... but other than that showing very little real wear and only had to dress the rails once and even then not much....

A tongue in cheek vid on walnut someone sent me the link to.... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTgQHWQoatg]A Highly Valuable Black Walnut Tree - YouTube[/ame]

As well as insulating it I'd just have a small dehumidifier in there with a hose to drain any water outside.... this is what I have in the sheds/containers where I keep all my gear.

Sounds like you may need a large bandsaw as there isn't many fully hydraulic options for chainsaw mills and swingmills.... Big J on here has done a lot of research and would be worth asking.

I've never had any oregon or stihl chain that is out of spec... that's not to say it can't happen though. And other .404 chain is fitting fine in the bar? As you have a reel of chain nip off a piece 3 or 4 drive links long and run it round the bar - is it tight all the way around or just in places? Try it on another .063 bar as well. Is the bar new or secondhand? If secondhand has someone tried to tweak the rails together and overdone it slightly?

Pretty difficult question to answer - in that factors of budget, new/second hand or not, what you cutting all factors... In fact you need to give a lot more info than that to get a few answers!

Welcome Pan! Some good questions - and really too many to answer and all tricky to answer anyway because most rules are rules of thumb. But I have found: I'm now quarter sawing for stability - although that said still get through sawn elm (from Big J on here) as I find it more stable to dry. Through saw your very burry timber on one face and then you rotate the log taking through sawn faces of each side depending on how the burrs look... I've just learnt this! Called boxing the heart... Beech has some nice rays in quarter sawn, plane even better. Fruit wood - would prob just quarter saw - but that's because I sell a lot of boards and find a waney edge one side sells best and quarter sawn more stable. I quarter saw straight large logs but knotty ones tend to see how I feel and how it looks. A nice tight crotch (steady! ) through saw to get nice figuring... Don't worry too much how you saw some logs - if you're not sure how to saw a certain log there's prob no best method! I'm doing a lot more quarter sawing now for stability, lighter boards to move around, easier to plane, better product at the end of it. Smaller logs I still through saw though...