Question
I'm considering buying a Granberg chainsaw sawmill, a contraption that attaches to my chainsaw to allow me to slab a log into rough-cut planks. Do these really work and how hard is it on the back? I'm almost 60 years old and some folks say I’m crazy to be thinking of doing this. I've also heard it is very slow going and would take hours to mill three-four 6' logs. If they work, do you recommend the Small Log Mill or the MK III? The latter gives more support but it shortens the cutting length, and my saw is only a 20" blade.
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From contributor S:
I was thinking about a chainsaw mill and I have a bad back. I found myself buying a Wood-Mizer LT15 and I am glad I did that, and so does my back. I have had it for two years and it has been busy - so busy I have cut very little for myself, but what I have cut has been choice wood. The saw can grow with me or just sit there. It paid for itself already.
Does it make fairly smooth lumber? No, but is that important? Is it a lot of work? Yes at times, especially compared to the hydraulic Wood-Mizer LT40-HD. Is it expensive? No, especially compared to the LT40. How important is capital expense? Is this a business or a hobby? Is your chainsaw designed for such heavy use? Are you going to saw 50 hours a year or 50 weeks a year?
I would use this wood for furniture projects but I have a planer so rough cuts wouldn't be a problem. I'm a hobbyist so 50 hours a year is closer to what I'd be doing. My saw is a Stihl MS290, which I hear may be on the small size to handle this?
Bottom line, I don't have a sense of how long it would take to make a pass down an 8' log (5 minutes, 15 minutes?), how hard you have to push the saw, and if it takes so long for each pass and you have to push so hard that I'd be exhausted after one o two passes. I just can't tell what to expect. Can you give me any sense of how long it takes to make a single pass on an 8' log that's 16" diameter?
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The small log mill is light and handy for a saw with a 20" bar. Most of the oak I have been cutting is at 24" so I have been using the C3 with a 50" or so bar and that is not as handy but no problem once it is in the wood.
I like the chainsaw mill because I find it much easier to move the saw around than to move the 24" 20 foot long oak logs. Even rolling a 2200 pound log is very difficult. By making the initial cut with the frame mill and then squaring with the mini mill I only have to drop the log once onto a flat side and that is easy. After it is squared I use the frame mill to cut planks or whatever I want. Small logs are easy. The setup is everything. Don't rush - I tried that, it doesn't work.
Contributor S - you indicate you had a 50cc saw and then moved up to a 95cc saw. Is the "one inch per second" rate using the larger saw or the smaller one? I assume you were referring to the larger saw, so do you remember about how fast/slow the 50cc saw was by comparison?
I like the chainsaw mill. Granberg's are great for cutting odd shaped wood, curves, and crotches. Also consider Logosol's mills. The ridged beam concept takes out some of the setup work. Have you read Will Malloff's "Chainsaw Lumber making"?
Contributor J - The detail you gave on number of minutes it took you to make a cut using the two different saws is very helpful. That's exactly what I was trying to get a sense of. Someone else told me pushing these saws is a little like lowering yourself half way down on a push up and holding it there. I don't think I could do that for eight minutes. Twenty years ago, maybe, but probably not now. So, I'm still chewing on it, but thanks everyone for all the input. Bottom line, it's clear I should have a bigger saw, but I'm not in a position to consider that now. So it boils down to whether it makes sense for me to do it at all with the saw I have, at my age.
I have a Dolmar 9010 on a 56" Alaskan mill, and today I was cutting 36" wide southern yellow pine four inch thick seven feet long for table tops. I am a 50 year old well worn carpenter and while it's hard work, I've done much worse. Spend time learning to sharpen your chain as good as it can be done. Touch up between cuts, and keep your power head and bar clean. But mainly take your time and have fun. One word of caution though - it is terribly addicting.
My cutting is for furniture material that I will later re-saw on my vertical bandsaw with .05" kerf using a carbide toothed blade. So the waste still is minimal. I like drying in 8/4 as well. The 039 is just big enough for the 18" cut. High rpm and sharp chain is crucial. I ported the exhaust and that seemed to help a little too. I have cut woods as hard as .80SG but I am easy on the gear.
I pretty much just copied the aftermarket Granberg type mills you see on Ebay. No welding. I made it so everything would bolt up. It's pretty crude looking. I didn't sweat the aesthetics. It fits on my 24" bar gives an 18-19" cut. It works the same as any other mill and just as good. I put it together on a whim one weekend. I had all the parts around. If I had to buy the parts it would have been less expensive to buy one probably. The clamps for the posts I made from blocks of a hard wood here in HI, called Ohia. The reason I call it my Hawaiian chainsaw mill.
It would have been much faster if I had a welder of sorts to tack. There are so many pictures out there on chainsaw mills it wasn't too hard to get all the design in order. The hard part was building with only the material and tools at hand. I can pretty much do a 24" diameter log, square it and slab it. I can go bigger but have to split the log into cants free hand first. I would just buy one next time around.
Common Lumber Name | A | B | C |
Hardwoods | |||
Alder, Red | 9.9 | 19.2 | 2506 |
Apple | 10.9 | 31.7 | 4132 |
Ash, Black | 9.3 | 23.4 | 4132 |
Ash, Green | 14.3 | 27.6 | 3590 |
Aspen, Bigtooth | 10.3 | 18.7 | 2439 |
Aspen, Quaking | 10.3 | 18.2 | 2373 |
Basswood | 6.2 | 16.6 | 2174 |
Beech, American | 8.9 | 29.1 | 3793 |
Birch, Paper | 8.8 | 25.0 | 3260 |
Birch, Sweet | 11.9 | 31.2 | 4065 |
Birch, Yellow | 9.2 | 28.6 | 3723 |
Buckeye | 8.9 | 17.2 | 2235 |
Butternut | 11.3 | 18.7 | 2440 |
Cherry | 13.8 | 24.4 | 3184 |
Chesnut, American | 11.6 | 20.8 | 2708 |
Cottonwood | 8.5 | 16.1 | 2102 |
Dogwood | 6.8 | 33.3 | 4331 |
Elm, American | 10.2 | 23.9 | 3116 |
Elm, Rock | 12.2 | 29.6 | 3860 |
Elm, slippery | 11.5 | 25.0 | 3251 |
Hackberry | 11.8 | 25.5 | 3319 |
Hickory, Bitternut (Pecan) | 14.7 | 31.2 | 4062 |
Hickory (True) | |||
Hickory, Mockernut | 9.1 | 33.3 | 4332 |
Hickory, Pignut | 9.3 | 34.3 | 4332 |
Hickory, Shagbark | 10.9 | 33.3 | 4333 |
Hickory, Shellbark | 6.6 | 32.2 | 4195 |
Holly, American | 8.3 | 26.0 | 3387 |
Hophornbeam, Eastern | 7.9 | 32.8 | 4266 |
Laurel, California | 15.1 | 26.5 | 3456 |
Locust, Black | 21.2 | 34.3 | 4470 |
Madrone, Pacific | 7.8 | 30.2 | 3925 |
Maple (Soft) | |||
Maple, Bigleaf | 12.8 | 22.9 | 2980 |
Maple, Red | 13.1 | 25.5 | 3318 |
Maple, Silver | 12.4 | 22.9 | 2981 |
Maple (Hard) | |||
Maple, Black | 12.3 | 27.0 | 3523 |
Maple, Sugar | 12.3 | 29.1 | 3793 |
Oak (Red) | |||
Oak, Black | 11.7 | 29.1 | 3792 |
Oak, California black | 16.4 | 26.5 | 3455 |
Oak, Laurel | 6.3 | 29.1 | 3791 |
Oak, Northern red | 13.6 | 29.1 | 3793 |
Oak, Pin | 13.0 | 30.2 | 3928 |
Oak, Scarlet | 13.2 | 31.2 | 4065 |
Oak, Southern red | 9.6 | 27.0 | 3520 |
Oak, Water | 10.4 | 29.1 | 3793 |
Oak, Willow | 6.4 | 29.1 | 3790 |
Oak (White) | |||
Oak, Bur | 15.4 | 30.2 | 3928 |
Oak, Chestnut | 10.1 | 29.6 | 3858 |
Oak, Live | 17.5 | 41.6 | 5417 |
Oak, Overcup | 10.7 | 29.6 | 3860 |
Oak, Post | 11.0 | 31.2 | 4063 |
Oak, Swamp chestnut | 10.7 | 31.2 | 4063 |
Oak, White | 10.8 | 31.2 | 4062 |
Persimmon | 7.0 | 33.3 | 4332 |
Sweetgum | 8.9 | 23.9 | 3115 |
Sycamore | 10.7 | 23.9 | 3115 |
Tanoak | 9.0 | 30.2 | 3926 |
Tupelo, Black | 10.4 | 23.9 | 3116 |
Tupelo, Water | 12.4 | 23.9 | 3115 |
Walnut | 13.4 | 26.5 | 3454 |
Willow, Black | 8.6 | 18.7 | 2438 |
Yellow-poplar | 10.6 | 20.8 | 2708 |
Common Lumber Name | A | B | C |
Softwoods | |||
Baldcypress | 13.2 | 21.9 | 2844 |
Cedar, Alaska | 14.4 | 21.9 | 2844 |
Cedar, Atlantic white | 10.9 | 16.1 | 2100 |
Cedar, eastern red | 16.4 | 22.9 | 2981 |
Cedar, Incense | 13.1 | 18.2 | 2371 |
Cedar, Northern white | 11.1 | 15.1 | 1964 |
Cedar, Port-Orford | 12.6 | 20.2 | 2641 |
Cedar, Western red | 12.2 | 16.1 | 2100 |
Douglas-fir, Coast type | 12.3 | 23.4 | 3049 |
Douglas-fir, Interior west | 13.2 | 23.9 | 3116 |
Douglas-fir, Interior north | 14.0 | 23.4 | 3048 |
Fir, Balsam | 9.9 | 17.2 | 2236 |
Fir, California red | 10.6 | 18.7 | 2437 |
Fir, Grand | 10.7 | 18.2 | 2371 |
Fir, Noble | 10.1 | 19.2 | 2507 |
Fir, Pacific silver | 10.4 | 20.8 | 2711 |
Fir, Subalpine | 10.5 | 16.1 | 2101 |
Fir, White | 12.2 | 19.2 | 2506 |
Hemlock, Eastern | 12.6 | 19.8 | 2573 |
Hemlock, Western | 11.5 | 21.8 | 2847 |
Larch, Western | 11.3 | 25.0 | 3251 |
Pine, Eastern white | 12.3 | 17.7 | 2303 |
Pine, Lodgepole | 11.5 | 19.8 | 2576 |
Pine, Ponderosa | 12.6 | 19.8 | 2573 |
Pine, Red | 12.2 | 21.3 | 2777 |
Southern yellow group | |||
Pine, Loblolly | 12.9 | 24.4 | 3183 |
Pine, Longleaf | 15.0 | 28.1 | 3658 |
Pine, Shortleaf | 12.9 | 24.4 | 3183 |
Pine, Sugar | 12.6 | 17.7 | 2302 |
Pine, Western white | 10.0 | 18.2 | 2370 |
Redwood, Old growth | 14.9 | 19.8 | 2573 |
Redwood, Second growth | 13.2 | 17.7 | 2302 |
Spruce, Black | 11.3 | 19.8 | 2575 |
Spruce, Engelmann | 10.0 | 17.2 | 2234 |
Spruce, Red | 10.6 | 19.2 | 2506 |
Spruce, Sitka | 10.8 | 19.2 | 2506 |
Tamarack | 12.0 | 25.5 | 3318 |