# Chainsaw or band-saw mill thoughts.



## Neco (Nov 19, 2010)

Hi Folks, and happy new year.
I want to start milling wood. Do you have insight on chainsaw mills--their ease of use? Do you recommend I go straight to band-saw mill? My goal is to harvest wood from local tree felling for my own furniture projects, and to sell. 'Never done this, so I'm looking for general thoughts...Thank you.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

It depends on how much money you have :laughing: and what you want to do. 
I have a chainsaw mill and it's from logosol
The timber jig. It works good for the hobbyist, but if you doing a lot of milling than I would get a band mill. I've milled a lot of good lumber from mine, but your saw will take a beating.


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## wood player (Jan 21, 2011)

The only ripping I have done has taken a real toll on both the saw and my body. If it is at all possible go with a small band mill. Most brands are good some just more expensive than others. I chose a woodmizer lt10 with an upgrade to a 14.5 hp motor and don't regret it


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## Neco (Nov 19, 2010)

So the chainsaw mills work okay, even though they are more work on both chainsaw and human? I don't mind starting with one to get a feel for it. Later I can move up to the band-saw type. The other thing is selling the wood. Do you have any experience and/or success at that? Is it a realistic proposition? Thanks Dominick and Wood Player.


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## woodtick greg (Sep 12, 2011)

I am a chainsaw sawyer, Works for me but I don't sell my lumber, csm it's not for everyone. Heres the pros, relatively inexpensive to start out with compared to a bandmill, but a large 80cc and up powerhead will be quite costly, $600 and up, $1000 ish. for 100cc, buy the largest you can afford. in csm power is everything! Easy to store and doesn't take up much space in your garage, shed, etc. Can even hang on a wall or shelf. Easy to maintain if you have knowledge of chainsaws. Highly portable, can cary the mill to the log and mill it where it was felled, instead of trying to move, load, and transport a large log. 36" across and up logs can weigh thousands of pounds. sharpening equipment for a chain is way less costly than for a band blade, and you can file a chain in the field. If you are milling for personal use you can obtain species that are not redaly available at a lumber yard and mill it the way you want.
The cons, csm is very very slow and extremely labor intensive. I always wonder which will wear out first the saw or me. This is what csm is like, When doing pushups go halfway down and then hold that position as long as you can! Ask yourself if you want to put that much labor into csm for a little money? It's more wastefull than a bandmill, I run a 404 ripping chain=1/4" kerf, so for every 4 boards I cut I loose one to saw dust. There will be mountains of saw dust. With long bars 3' and up you should run an aux oiler, good bar oil is getting costly $8-$14 per gallon and you will go through alot of it. Same for good quality 2 cycle oil. I'm sure that there are people that csm for sale but to me it's just so slow, labor intensive, and wastefull that it's just not worth it imo.
Now csm for personal use and for friends it's great! It's fun! It's rewarding to save a tree from being turned into firewood and make something from it. My woodstash is quite large! I never buy wood!
I am a treecycler, wood is everywhere and it's free.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Greg. You said it exactly how it is. I can't disagree one bit. Good job on the pros & cons. 
Thanks.


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## Neco (Nov 19, 2010)

*Great Response*

Greg, thanks for such a thorough response. Right now I have more time/energy than money. Based on your info, I'm going to start with the chainsaw mill. Thanks again.


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## woodtick greg (Sep 12, 2011)

Neco, google baileys on line and request a cataloge, they have ripping chain, aux oilers and double ended bars and a roller helper handle. Also pm one of our members here kpantherpro as he builds and sells a good milling attachment at a fair price. I run a granberg 36" alaskan but his are worth a look and he has many sizes. keep us posted and have fun! Remember you wan't to go with at least 80cc saw, the bigger the better, run a husky or stihl for their durability and parts availability.


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## gemniii (Oct 11, 2010)

Neco said:


> Hi Folks, and happy new year.
> I want to start milling wood. Do you have insight on chainsaw mills--their ease of use?


Yes - easy to use and very portable


Neco said:


> Do you recommend I go straight to band-saw mill?


Depends on the depth of your wallet.


Neco said:


> My goal is to harvest wood from local tree felling for my own furniture projects, and to sell. 'Never done this, so I'm looking for general thoughts...Thank you.


General thoughts - 
What is the biggest tree you will encounter?
If ALL trees are less than 24" than a small BSM and a 60cc class chainsaw will do.
As soon as you pass 24" by much it requires a much larger BSM and support equipment. Above 36" and you need a CSM to split the logs for a BSM.
I believe starting with an ax and a one or two man crosscut saw is best.








Then graduate to a CSM . You need a 90cc class saw for the potential big tree and the extra $200 for a Mark III is a small cost compared to $2K for the smallest BSM.

And before you start cutting to sell determine if there is a market.


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## woodstowoods (Jan 30, 2012)

no lie, its a tough market. I am new to this forum, but I do a fare amount lf logging and lumbering. I would say if you are doing if for love great, if you are looking to make a living pick one part of the process and do it well and find some good friends who have mills, kilns, and big planer. if you want to cut the trees, mill the trees, dry the trees, build the furniture, and sell it, that means you have 5 sets of really expensive equipment, and can only run one set at a time. so you are either paying on or have paid for lots of stuff that is sitting around.


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## kpantherpro (Oct 3, 2011)

woodtick greg said:


> I am a chainsaw sawyer, Works for me but I don't sell my lumber, csm it's not for everyone. Heres the pros, relatively inexpensive to start out with compared to a bandmill, but a large 80cc and up powerhead will be quite costly, $600 and up, $1000 ish. for 100cc, buy the largest you can afford. in csm power is everything! Easy to store and doesn't take up much space in your garage, shed, etc. Can even hang on a wall or shelf. Easy to maintain if you have knowledge of chainsaws. Highly portable, can cary the mill to the log and mill it where it was felled, instead of trying to move, load, and transport a large log. 36" across and up logs can weigh thousands of pounds. sharpening equipment for a chain is way less costly than for a band blade, and you can file a chain in the field. If you are milling for personal use you can obtain species that are not redaly available at a lumber yard and mill it the way you want.
> The cons, csm is very very slow and extremely labor intensive. I always wonder which will wear out first the saw or me. This is what csm is like, When doing pushups go halfway down and then hold that position as long as you can! Ask yourself if you want to put that much labor into csm for a little money? It's more wastefull than a bandmill, I run a 404 ripping chain=1/4" kerf, so for every 4 boards I cut I loose one to saw dust. There will be mountains of saw dust. With long bars 3' and up you should run an aux oiler, good bar oil is getting costly $8-$14 per gallon and you will go through alot of it. Same for good quality 2 cycle oil. I'm sure that there are people that csm for sale but to me it's just so slow, labor intensive, and wastefull that it's just not worth it imo.
> Now csm for personal use and for friends it's great! It's fun! It's rewarding to save a tree from being turned into firewood and make something from it. My woodstash is quite large! I never buy wood!
> I am a treecycler, wood is everywhere and it's free.


oops didn't mean to qoute the whole thing but it really also depends on the mill and style, not all chainsawmills are created equal, check out www.pantherpros.com


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