Thread: what chainsaw mill you recommend for sheoak

Hi Jake
I'd pay the mill $150 / cube.
I reccon, with the learning curve, stuffing around and time away from the job you're good at you'd have to mill about 30 cube before you broke even on a $2000 investment.

Originally Posted by ian

Hi Jake
I'd pay the mill $150 / cube.
I reccon, with the learning curve, stuffing around and time away from the job you're good at you'd have to mill about 30 cube before you broke even on a $2000 investment.

I agree, unless you're interested in CS milling for its own sake then pay the mill.

My advice would be to buy an MS 660 or something similar and make a simple alaskan style mill out of box section. Get a 36 inch bar with the saw (should be around $1800 all up) and then spend the other 200 on material to build a mill there are enough guys here who run them to be able to help you out. worst comes to worst you have a good saw to go and cut the logs and take to the mill like the others said.

Originally Posted by ian

Hi Jake
I'd pay the mill $150 / cube.
I reccon, with the learning curve, stuffing around and time away from the job you're good at you'd have to mill about 30 cube before you broke even on a $2000 investment.

Am yet to find a mill that will saw your logs for 150 a cube!!

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

Am yet to find a mill that will saw your logs for 150 a cube!!

Jake has

Originally Posted by apricotripper

snip

Would it be better to simply invest in transporting the logs to a mill and pay them to not muck about and do it for me. My local mill takes something like 2m lengths and charges $150/cube.

Maybe the $150 a cube means the whole logs and the air around them. At that price you would be mad to go anywhere else, you would be getting the experience of a pro sawmiller to get the most out of every log, the use of half a million bucks worth of hardware, all the incidental cost taken care of...Its a no-brainer. Besides a chainsaw mill will make very hard work of sheoak, you will make a lot of heat and dust, burn a lot of fuel, spend a lot of time sharpening. Just a rough calculation, $2000 buys you say ten cubes milled worth $2000 per cube so you will have multiplied your original stake by ten ! Dreamin ? better check the figures. Good luck with it though, the river oak makes really nice boards cut on the quarter.

At $150 per cube, I wouldnt even get out of bed mate so go that way

Jake

You may have to double check the quote before you go hauling logs. In particular query whether $150 per cube is for the log or the sawn product.

If it is for the log it is still an excellent price. If for the sawn product it would be b****y fantastic. As a yardstick, I used to charge $250/m3 for sawn timber and that was more than10 years ago. At the time it was slightly less than half the price you could buy timber direct from the sawmill.

Be aware that the sawmill will probably ask you to take and pay for everything they cut. If they want to be a little difficult, you could end up with a few tomato stakes as well as whatever boards you are chasing. Having said that, it is normally too much trouble for a sawmill to cut small stuff. They might mill down to 50 x 25.

With small logs you can reckon on a 40% to 50% recovery rate

Regards
Paul

thanks for your thoughts,

I'll check but am pretty sure he said $150 cube. and that I must make sure I cut it up for him no less than 2.1m so it can be run on his saw. 2.4m ideal.

Just getting it to the mill is another cost that can add up pretty quick I'd imagine, just in considering how costly labour is in general. and ... more people are getting involved.

always enjoyed just doing it myself so I don't have to debate and haggle and fear being ripped off etc. but then portable milling I'm tolds hard work, and I keep reinjuring my back.

Am I imagining it, but why is this Husqvarna so cheap ?

NEW!!! Husqvarna 576XP Chainsaw 74cc 24" 3/8 .058 Bar | eBay

24" bar, brand new, from the states.....but even after postage it have to something like $500 - $800 cheaper than from something similar I'm guessing at the saw place down the road.

And do you need to have two different chains for crosscut and ripping ? ...........

husky looks a good deal , ask whats the longest bar they can supply , they are a great saw. beware of stihl vs husky , like holden and ford its what you were brought up with. both are good .

but then portable milling I'm tolds hard work, and I keep reinjuring my back

While I agree it's not easy it depends on how quickly you want to work. There are ways of making the milling a lot easier than I see happening with people on their knees bending over a hot smoking saw. Whatever you do ultimately you have to move the sawn lumber and that I find is where the real effort is required.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

. . . . . why is this Husqvarna so cheap ?

At US$860 It's actually not that cheap if you are in the US.
RRP for this saw in the US is US$929 but US locals can get them for US$799 and even less for cash.
Baileysonline.com have them for sale via their Woodland Retail Outlet Price @ US$850
That ebay seller is actually going against Husky policy of not selling bigger Huskys on-line which is why Baileys wont sell them on line.

Are you intending on using this for milling? If so, you should note that this is an autotuning saw meaning you can't adjust the tuning to suit milling which is almost essential if you don't want to burn up your saw. It is supposed to take care of itself but I don't know anyone who has used one extensively for milling. I can ask for you on the arboristsite.com if you like?

Also bear in mind it's only a 70cc saw and while CS operators in europe and north american use up to 32" bars it won't be pulling more than about a 25" bar in aussie hardwood.

Otherwise it is rated as an really gutsy saw.

thanks Bob.

Originally Posted by BobL

Are you intending on using this for milling? If so, you should note that this is an autotuning saw meaning you can't adjust the tuning to suit milling which is almost essential if you don't want to burn up your saw. It is supposed to take care of itself but I don't know anyone who has used one extensively for milling. I can ask for you on the arboristsite.com if you like?

was thinking using it for milling, but wont get that one now. Thanks for the offer to ask, but I think your on top of it. ta.

Also bear in mind it's only a 70cc saw and while CS operators in europe and north american use up to 32" bars it won't be pulling more than about a 25" bar in aussie hardwood.

Otherwise it is rated as an really gutsy saw.

thanks. confirms what I was told today at the husky shop too.

Bloke said if I want to mill I should go for the bigger husky that was on display. A 395xp 93.6cc (AU$1999)

I noticed the 576xp 74cc one on ebay there was priced at AU$1699. so much cheaper on line I'm guessing.

Have you ever cut up riveroak Bob ? ....wondering how difficult it is to slab green compared to other aussie species.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

Bloke said if I want to mill I should go for the bigger husky that was on display. A 395xp 93.6cc (AU$1999)

Unfortunately I agree. I have milled small stuff with 50 and 70 cc saws but about a 90cc saw is the place to start for anything more that a few logs.

Have you ever cut up riveroak Bob ? ....wondering how difficult it is to slab green compared to other aussie species.

My reference on it (Forest trees of Oz) says the wood is very tough when seasoned.
Uses include cask heads, axe handles, shingles, turning and bullock yokes. It has a dry density of 710 kg/m^3 which is at the lower end of Rose Sheoak and suggests it won't be too hard.

Unfortunately we don't get River Oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana) on our side of Oz because I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Keep the offcuts because it apparently makes an excellent firewood.

thanks Bob