alaskan mill
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While a band or circular blade mill may have some advantages over an Alaskan mill, what you can't do with one is carry it into the woods with your own two hands, mill your logs and be able to carry everything back out of the woods by yourself or with one helper. No skidder, loader, crane, or log truck required. The chainsaw mill might give up a little on the quality of the slabs, but they will be planed anyway.
that's my thinking on the thing. To be able to mill it where it lies seems like a benefit. If I had all the space and equipment in the world I'd hoist up some giant logs and truck them to my conditioned shop and set them up on my mill and have at them. then i'd kiln dry them and plane them and mark the ends with my brand, bundle them up and sell them for a hefty profit.Flatbedford said:
I don't have the means for all of that, so I'll probably just mill with a 16" poulan, throw the boards in the back of my civic, dry it next to a dehumidifier in the basement, cut it to size with a table saw, then use a belt sander to finish it up and then build my crappy picture frame with my wal-mart 5x7 inside it for grandma.
Flatbedford said:
It would be plain stupid to carry all that into the woods, mill slabs like that or any other quantity of lumber, and carry it all out again.
I've worked plenty hard and plenty stupid but that's really pushing it.
KC, i see your point, but if you don't go to the log, then the log has to come to you. that's all fine and good if you are making 8ft boards out of small and short logs. even a small time guy wants to be able to make a foot wide slab sometimes, and it can get pretty hard to move a log that large.kenny chaos said:
Danno77 said:
Also, seems like a lot of folks here have tractors, quads, and other off road type vehicles with trailers and such...so hauling some equipment off to the woods might not be so tough for some.
I can pull up next to the logs what I do is urban logging "if you will" and there is no band saw that I or my Dad are a where of that would handle much over 30in. If you read much about what I get its normally hard woods over 30+ and soft can be well over 60in. Work hell not afraid of that, dumb who cares at 2.00 a board ft and can run couple 100 bf a day I will be the dumb @ss and work my @ss off! lol what else we got! This is too funny at this point at 400.00 bucks a day I will fight a bull all day long!
daveswoodhauler said:
You stubborn Boneheads. If ya got a tractor, trailer, or quad, haul the log out of the woods.
I've never in all my years heard of anyone cutting lumber in the woods on a small scale.
It's crazy enough to have to cut and split wood in the woods.
Let me guess; "I'm cutting slabs 4" thick, 36" wide, and 24' long and that tree won't be pulled from the woods now would it KC?"
You guys are killin' me.
kenny chaos said:
"bonehead" lol there not coming out of the woods I repeat Kenny they are not coming out of the wood ONE MORE TIME lmao I get these monster out of yards for the most part! I back right up to them I move it no more than the trailer is long. Its great Kenny for your help but there is tractors everwhere around here I just do not need one. wenchs heck evey thing but a 880 at this point.
smokinjay said:
Now you're up to 60"? We still haven't seen any of the big timber and your $400/day?
You won't believe me when I tell you, you won't have many days like that. Maybe one.
Mills closing down everywhere but you smarter? Maybe.
Good luck Jay I hope them urban trees work out better for you than they ever did for me . I seem to find every nail that was ever driven into them . It really really sucks when you hit them with a planer because them knives are junk and pretty expensive . Me and my old man have had many board feet of lumber cut we use to do it yearly , we had a mill about 15 miles from here and the guy use to charge us 25 and hour to cut if we provided the labor but that was many many years ago we never had much luck with anything much wider than 12 - 15 inches because of warping and splitting . The mill operator had been cutting for over 60 years as he was in his early 80's and he knew a log and how many board feet out of it and how to cut it in about 2 seconds flat . My white oak mantel was cut by him. it is 4 by 15 by 8 feet long .
webie said:
yes I find it too (crap in the wood of all kinds) and lucky for me I always need firewood and come a cross some that are worth milling the job I have been on for about 6 months will produce 2500 bf of good logs and around 10 cords of firewood to me it makes no deference what it is the mill is just one more tool I have over what anyone else can do. in this job 10 cords is worth 1500.00 to 1800.00 and and the slabs will be 2.00 a bf and up. so If I am working to hard for the money then I guess I am not a normal American.
MMaul said:
needs to be someone videoing other than me because I get a little pucker up when there that big. Got on here in a couple days that I can video its very tight but stright as an arrow and simple drop maybe 16-18 in. dead pine, but every time I say that something will make it hard.
MMaul said:
I do, but once i get started I still forget about it. took 3 extension to cover the bar
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