Thread: My First Milling Efforts

Hi Dean, that looks good.
how do you find the alaskan. is it hard work,
how long did it take to cut the tree slabs,
i have been thinking to buy one ,
give us you expert opinion.
Cheers Ralph.

Red gum is looking great, good job mate

How long is your cutter bar?

That's pretty good for a first effort.

One tip to improve you finish is to apply as even a pressure as you can while milling and this will avoid the washboard effect shown at "H" in this picture.


If you get the log up on a slope the weight of the mill will even out the pushing required.

With little effort you should be able to get it like this.

Sure one can clean it up on a buzzer but it wastes timber and overall takes up more time in the long run.

Hobbytrees,

The alaskan was relatively easy to put together and start using. I didn't build one myself because i'd have to hassel to many people to give us a hand even though it could be done more cheaply and better build quality obtained.

The main thing I found difficult was getting in a comfortable position to push the mill along. After doing this little bit so far i'll be taking Bobl's advice and try get gravity to help as much as possible. To cut through the redgum took roughly about 2/3 of the fuel capacity for the saw and on an estimate maybe 15min to cut, time was flying while having this much fun.

I think it was worth the buy but if you have the skill and know how, make it yourself. I was impatient and wanted to mill now.

Woodkid,
The grey box was done with a 24 inch stihl bar and semi chisel chain, which may explain the rough finish along with my inexperience.

The redgum was cut with a 2nd hand 42inch bar with skip tooth chain, i think it was sharpened 30 degrees as it looked like my semi chisel stuff. The cut was noticebly smoother. The bar came with the three chains and a GB mill from another forum member. The GB mill slightly incomplete at this time.

Bobl thanks for you tips and your advice is much appreciated. If you need a milling holiday in Vic come on over i have heaps of redgum grey box and some ironbark.

I have some more photos i'll put up soon. Thanks for looking and advice, it is most welcome.

Must save for a wood wizz or lucus and wood wizz attatchment.

Thanks Dean

Hi Dean
thankyou for the information,
i asked because it looked hard work to push the chainsaw
and at my age i should be backing off heavy stuff.
but i take you advice and look to build one myself
it be usefull for some jobs
Cheers Ralph.

How did the 660 handle that sort of milling?

I have an 066 that I wouldn't mind doing a little bit of light milling with and would like to know how your saw handled it. I wouldn't be going near anything big with it, just some small redgum, stringy bark and whatever else I can find.

Just added a few more photos. The tele handler is great to move things around etc and does 42kmh so not too slow and can lift 2800 kg without the boom extended. I'll get some real photos of that soon. I still find it hard work getting big logs out and moved around though. It is a dieci poultry pro.

The other photos are from the first slabbing attempts. The photos were form a mates iphone and he emailed them to me. I took some on the normal camera but haven't got them off yet. Gotta love a storm just got a phone call that more trees come down in one of the paddocks.


Brody 94, it think the 660 did it quite well even at the widest spot. Just try not to force it too much as I noticed if you did it bogs a little and cutting time is slower even though you think you chipping out more. Since your in central vic bring your saw and come try the mill out if your keen one day.

Love the red gum, none around here. I'm waiting to get started with my alaskan. I got the 36" mill and decided to go with a sprocket nose 42" bar too to get full 36" slabs. Not wanting to hijak, though i'll post some pics once i get started. Got some 1.2 dia woolybutt and some smaller blue gum too do. Terpy to turn into sleepers/posts etc.

Here's a though, what about geting your log under an adustable horizontal rail system to do first cut. No need to set up plank or alum rails etc. Just not as portable, ie taking it all into the bush. My old dinosaw basndsaw mill rails are going to be used for alaskan milling seasoned stuff.

Thanks for that.

well done, next time your down at your chainsaw supplier ask them about
"skiptooth chains" they are designed for ultrasmooth cutting and therefore
minimal end finishing and waste as a result. The cutting teeth are set alternately
at zero and five degrees. when i learn a bit more about this forum i'll try to get some pics up. the only drawback from these chains is on very large or long wood if you stop cutting there can be restart grooves in the wood surface. goodluck.

Originally Posted by howie 1

well done, next time your down at your chainsaw supplier ask them about
"skiptooth chains" they are designed for ultrasmooth cutting and therefore
minimal end finishing and waste as a result. The cutting teeth are set alternately
at zero and five degrees. when i learn a bit more about this forum i'll try to get some pics up. the only drawback from these chains is on very large or long wood if you stop cutting there can be restart grooves in the wood surface. goodluck.

Skiptooth chain has little to do with the finish. Have a look at the finish on my cut in the post above - that was obtained with conventional chain. Finish has a little to do with the top-plate filing angle of cutters and a lot to do with how evenly and quickly the saw moves through the cut.

Skiptooth is designed to reduce the load on a saw and help clear sawdust from the kerf when cutting wide (50") logs. The down side is they have fewer cutters so go blunt quicker. Some people find it works for them them so I gave a pair of skiptooth chains a decent try out (ie I milled 30 logs) but then went back full comp chain and have stayed with it since.