Thread: alaskan small log mill

My CS is a Stihl MS 380 Magnum - 72.2cc with a 20" bar using an Oregon 75RD ripping chain.

The camphor in the images above was starting to dry out and the saw moved through it quite easily. From memory I would say a few minutes for each slab. However, the slabs in the images below were from a log that is quite green and were made today. My guess is that they are about 6' (2m) and took a good 5 minutes to cut. These saws don't move fast and the work is quite strenuous.

I payed $360 with free delivery across Sydney.

The slab second from the right in the last photo split about 30 seconds after the cut finished. Must have been a lot of stress in there. It was the middle slab.

here's my new mill

havent used it yet, cant wait .

Couldn't wait to attach the pics even.

ha ha

here it is and my old sthil 034 AV (57.7cc) running a 20" bar with a normal sthil chiptooth chain.

here are my first slabs

from an old hard bloodwood tree ready for a coffy table or bench seat each is 4' long and 1' wide they took 2mins each to cut.

Nice one Weisy. Pretty nice looking timber too, looks like some good figure in there. Looks a little like redgum too.

So are you addicted yet or what?

Beautiful, top effort Weisy.

Where's the carbie cover off the CS?

we lent the saw to a nabour and thaught he would be using it himself but he paid someone to cut some trees down with it and the tree started to fall towards him so he droped the saw and ran.

it smashed the mufler, broke the rubber spacers that stop the vibration (i fixed that with some wooden ones) and lost the cover off the back.

nether of our saws have them

i hav one question about starting your cut

i used a set of timber rails i made for the first cut but when i went to start the second the front of the mill is on the log but there is nothing suporting the back so their is no way to keep the angle right so i joust used the rails for every cut they don't pose this problem as they stick past far enough to suport the whole mill.

how can i overcome this problem

I've got a few extra bars on mine, so I don't have this problem.

Could you rivet or bolt a short piece between the front and back piece?

i thought about screwing a peice of ply or aluminium to the rails

I did not find any problem with making the second cut. The leading edge of the bar is just behind front support so little chance for entry height error. I found that by just holding the saw level the back support followed. If you are using your initial cut boards on all subsequent cuts you won't be able to make thin cuts.

Good one Weisy,

That saw sure looks like it's had a hard life.

What DJ says is correct about a support bar perpendicular to the bar about half way down the mill. You can eventually gets used to doing without it but that bar will take all the guess work out of starting cuts evenly.

The bar needs to be flush with the bottom of the main horizontal bars, and if you could arrange it, having that central bar adjustable (see red arrow in photo) so that it centres on the log is useful in balancing the mill.


Cheers