# Granberg G777 chainsaw mill worth it?



## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

I've got $100 in gift money to spend, and the only decent hardware store I can do it at is northerntool. So browsing through I found their  Granberg G777 chainsaw mill at $125...so only $25 for me. That seems like a tempting amount, but I don't want to blow even $25 on something that's just going to disappoint.

For the chainsaw I have a Husq 455 rancher with a 20" bar, which is the max bar size the mill takes anyway.

I don't have a LOT of logs to cut up....none really (unless I take some from the pile that has been sitting behind the garden since our house was built in 2008), but I still have those black locust billets (Im not going to punish my bandsaw on those anymore), and we will still have the occassional tree to fall (theres one out by the road now that is half uprooted by the wind...we'll have to pull it down if the wind doesn't so it by itself soon).

There's not a lot of topics here on this particular chainsaw mill, so I may not get firsthand knowledge. But any insights will help. Thanks!


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

Q.
Is it possible to make two passes on a log that is wider than your bar length? e.g. using a 32" bar on a 60" wide log and making cuts on both sides. Thanks A.It is possible. The longer the overlap of the cuts the better; e.g., a 36" bar would be better than a 32" in the above example. *It is important to note that with the small mill the blade does tend to follow the tensions in the wood and create more variance than in the standard Alaskan mill.* 

Q.I had this on my Craftsman with a 20 " bar and now want to use it on my Echo with a 24" bar. Is there a problem with doing this other than the bar going past the end of the guard. A.It can be use with any size bar. As you say with longer bars the tip will be past the guard. *As you cut larger wood it increases the amount the bar will move vertically (dip or rise) because of the tensions in the wood. Accuracy of cut can decrease in the larger wood, which is logical if you consider that the end of the bar is not supported as it is with the standard Alaskan mill*. 

Sounds like you're in the same boat as me. I've been considering my options, so when I saw yours and Old Timers post about the Small Log Mill, I looked it up. Not an extensive search, but I found the above answers to a couple of questions. I've highlighted the main points. Looks like there is some flex; maybe it would be better used to make thick slabs or cants which you could transport to a mill later.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

djg said:


> . . . . maybe it would be better used to make thick slabs or cants which you could transport to a mill later.


To make wide flitch tops, sure that's where a csm shines. But it's a waste of much time and energy to use a csm to slab a log for transport to a mill, when the mill can knock the slabs off so fast and efficiently. And cheaply too, if your time is worth anything at all. 








beelzerob said:


> . . . but I don't want to blow even $25 on something that's just going to disappoint.


BR, treasure that comes into your possession is on the right hand side of the ledger no matter if it was treasure earned, or treasure found. So you wouldn't just be wasting only $25 if it doesn't work out for you, you'd be wasting $125.00. Not counting the time costs of acquisition, liquidation, re-acquisition, and replacement costs; minus what you can get for the original. 

This is why most businesses fail within the first two years. They figure the costs of "getting into" business but fail to figure in all the costs associated with "doing" business. Ask me how I know - the school of hard knocks.




.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Quite true TT...I do overall want to use the $100 I have in the best way possible, but I've been seeing so much of our $$$ leaving lately out of the bank account, that I'll cringe when anymore does. The $100 was never in there, so it's *really* magic money.

I had figured to use this to cut up logs that were essentially too small to take to the mill, or if I only have 1 of them to do, since the mill is about 40+ miles away. Cutting slabs is an idea. Hmmm.

Since I'm only spending a fraction of what it actually costs, i wonder if the Alaska portable mill would be better. Seems a bit sturdier made, but also looks like it loses some bar length in the process, which at 20" I'm already kinda hurtin' to saw even 16" logs. Then again, anything wider than that would probably kill my chainsaw from the effort, eh?


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

TexasTimbers said:


> But it's a waste of much time and energy to use a csm to slab a log for transport to a mill, when the mill can knock the slabs off so fast and efficiently.


I was just speaking off the top of my head, which is pretty empty these days:laughing:. What I was thinking was to section a log for transport when the log is too big to move or no heavy equipment is available.
It seems like there will be thickness variences with that particular mill, so I was thinking the thicker the better so it could be 'thickness cut' later by other means.


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## Chippin-in (Feb 4, 2010)

Hey BRob, have you seen this guys stuff? www.pantherpros.com 

Its more than you want to spend Im sure, he has several listed on ebay ($500+). But you might be able to use his design to make your own...maybe more stable than the original alaskan mill. 

just a thought.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Heh..unless he takes $100 in northern tool gift certs, that won't help me much. I'm not in a position to fashion anything made of metal, so I really can't roll my own moving-cart kind of rig. And I just won't have enough logs around to justify the effort I think. If I had a friend who could weld nearby, then it might be worth a shot.

But I'm probably willing to take the leap for the hand-held push-it-through-the-log kind of mill, but otherwise it's just too much.


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