Granberg chainsaw mill

[LeatherneckPA]

Anybody have one and love it? Anybody had one and hated it?

I might want to mill lumber for our cabin, a barn, a shop, and a couple of outbuildings. I'm not interested in a mill's ability to make lumber for customers. To quote beepipes, "I had a job once. It didn't agree with me."

Using crotches, burls, and stumps for unique lumber in making furniture is my second interest in owning am ill of some sort.

[Steve_L]

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200316891_200316891

I don't have one, but I'd like to know other people's experience with it; Particularly if since you got it your friends gave you the nickname "lefty".

[Quietgentleman]

If you don't mind building your own mill here's a nice little mill.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/csm.htm

QGM

[Steve_L]

He welded the chain saw bar to his mill. With the Granberg chainsaw mill you don't even drill mounting holes in the bar. Using just friction to hold the mill to the bar like in the Granberg gives me the willies, but welding it to the bar makes the bar useless for anything BUT the mill.

[AlchemyAcres]

Anybody have one and love it? Anybody had one and hated it?

I might want to mill lumber for our cabin, a barn, a shop, and a couple of outbuildings. I'm not interested in a mill's ability to make lumber for customers. To quote beepipes, "I had a job once. It didn't agree with me."

Using crotches, burls, and stumps for unique lumber in making furniture is my second interest in owning am ill of some sort.


I've had both the Small Log Mill and the Alaskan Mark III.
I neither loved them or hated them. ;)
I used them mostly for sawing cants that were easier to handle on a bandsaw mill because I didn't have a big tractor to move logs.
The major advantage to this type of mill is the fact that you can mill the clean log exactly where it falls, the major disadvantages are the large size of the kerf (which isn't a huge issue when only milling cants) and the fact that, even with a huge saw, which is, IMHO, essential...milling is very slow. It would take a very long time to mill the dimensional lumber for a cabin, barn and shop.
The investment in the big saw, mill, chains, etc would now be about...I'm guessing...in the neighborhood of $1,500.00......upwards to half what a small basic bandsaw mill may cost.

So, it is possible, but not all that practical, to mill dimensional lumber for projects but would take a lot of time. If you have a way to move logs around, a bandsaw mill would, without a doubt, be a better choice for large quantities of dimensional lumber.

With the Granberg chainsaw mill you don't even drill mounting holes in the bar. Using just friction to hold the mill to the bar like in the Granberg gives me the willies

When installed correctly, the clamping pads hold the mill in place without a problem.

Check your library for a copy of Chainsaw Lumbermaking by Will Malloff.
It's an excellent book that contains both basic and advanced chainsaw mill plans.
Also clearly explains how to convert standard crosscut chain into ripping chain.

Here are some plans for a basic mill right here in the Backwoodshome Magazine archive......

Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill.
By Jacqueline Tresl

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tresl39.html

~Martin

[LeatherneckPA]

I've had both the Small Log Mill and the Alaskan Mark III. ... and the fact that, even with a huge saw, which is, IMHO, essential...milling is very slow. It would take a very long time to mill the dimensional lumber for a cabin, barn and shop. ... Check your library for a copy of Chainsaw Lumbermaking by Will Malloff. ... Here are some plans for a basic mill right here in the Backwoodshome Magazine archive......Make your own lumber with a chainsaw mill. By Jacqueline Tresl
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tresl39.html ~MartinI should have known you'd have experience with this Martin. You actually sent me the Maloff info once before but my library doesn't have it. USED copies are selling for $90 on amazon. First time I've seen the link to the Tresl article. On my way to read that now. Thanks for the input.

One of these days I am going to hop on the motorcycle and ride up into Tioga county just to meet you.

[OzarksJohn]

Howdy.

Check out Bailey's logging supply for all kinds of sawmill and wood cutting/logging stuff. http://www.baileysonline.com They are a top shelf supplier at discounted prices; and there are actual equipment savvy people at that place if you call during regular business hours.OzarksJohn

[Northern_bushrat]

We have the Granberg Alaskan Mill, which we run off a Husky 365. The milling is no fun and the little parts in the brackets that let you adjust the mill for what thickness of boards you want to cut crack in no time (but still stay in the brackets).

But we've milled all the 2sided logs for our 2-storey 16'x26' log cabin with it, plus the 2x4s for a 8'x22' greenhouse, the 2x6s for a 10'x10' sauna plus all the siding for it, all the boards for a 12'x16' walltent frame aaaand the 2x6s for a 12'x16' shed. And an assortment of lumber for our floating dock, the verandah, duckhouse, doors, window frames...
So the thing definitely works and takes a lot of use and abuse (the saw too). One more cabin to go...hopefully, both saw and mill are still up for it. In retrospective, we would have been better off with a small portable mill. The chainsaw mill does work but it's slow and hard work, hard on your back, lungs and arms.

[patience]

Has anyone used a chainsaw mill to cut real hardwood? That is, red, white or black oak, white ash, walnut (enough tannic acid in it to make leather of your hide), or sycamore? I have used a fence board and chainsawed some barn beams out of yellow poplar, but that doesn't count as a real hardwod, IMHO. I'm thinking it would take a lot of horsepower to be productive in oak.

[DM]

Yes i have, and it's some serious hard work! It wasn't for me, that's why i bought a band mill!

DM

[patience]

DM,

Thanks. I kinda thought so, based on just cutting up some knotty pieces for firewood. The bandmill has the great advantage of that very thin kerf, also. I've been around using a couple of those, and they are very productive. Helped a friend build one loosely copied from the Wood Mizer, complete with a hydraulic motor on a live log deck. He was cutting a lot of 2 x 2 for turnings from oak, and it made a 16 HP engine grunt when sawing 16" to 20" logs.

I seem to recall some old ads for Alaskan Mills, showing a big Stihl chainsaw with engines on BOTH ends of the saw? Anybody know how that works? Has to be a special bar to accept the engines, and something wierd to get the engines both on top of the bar.....:confused: But that's what the picture looked like.

[tomato204]

I'd say if you're young and sturdy and just want to saw a few boards out of pine or other softwood, go for it. If you're not all of the above, go with a band mill. It will save you wood and create less of a sawdust problem, it piles up!