Building a small cabin using a csm

[Roland]

Hello folks, wanting to introduce myself, my name is Roland. Im like most of you on here just love working with wood and if I can experience it in the outdoors all the better.
Let's get to it! A cabin project post and beam structure out of the pine trees that grow on my property and is only accessible by a 4x4 jeep trl, thus the reason for the csm.
Most of these trees are relatively small I might be able to finesse an 8x10 out of a few but most are going to be smaller, which is fine for what I need. I'll be cutting joist, rafters and flooring material for a 1bedroom 1,000sq ft cabin with a loft.

I have about 1k to spend on a csm and ripping chains to get started, what would you pro's reccomend for this project?

I personally would like new and was looking at the echo cs800p and husky 390

[thecfarm]

Roland,I just want to welcome you to the forum. Sounds like a great build. Take pictures,videos. I wish I would have more with some of my projects.

[Roland]

Yes sir I'll do that thank you. I posted this here by accident should of been under the chainsaw forum. So I went ahead and re posted it there too.

[DelawhereJoe]

With milling more hp & cc is always better, most will probably recommend the 390xp over the cs 800p. I think I read somewhere that the Echo is around 6hp but for the small stuff it should work fine, its cheaper too by a few hundred dollars. A 24" csm will probably work for you but its always better to have to much then not enough.

[thecfarm]

Kinda goes in either one.

[Roland]

I found a 2100 series for $250 which looks surprisingly clean I think it might be the ticket

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Roland!

[nybhh]

1,000 sqft won't seem so small when you're halfway done!  That's a pretty good sized cabin by my standards.  

I've built a couple of small outbuildings on our farm with pine I've milled from trees off the property and its a great feeling to go from tree to building with your own hands on your own land.

I'm just wrapping up about 1100 BF of 1x6 pine decking for a new roof on a 20'x40' barn and I'm going to replace the siding with 1x8s when I'm done with the roof.  I'm using a bandsaw mill though and you'll have to work a lot harder with a chainsaw but I've enjoyed it immensely.

Check you local building codes if you need permits.  Many are no longer approving ungraded/milled lumber for structural members.  I can get away with it here for AG out-buildings but you would need an architect or engineer to sign of on timber frame and ungraded structural "lumber" would be a no-go.

Take lots of pictures!

[Roland]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Roland!

Thank you

[SawyerTed]

Welcome to the forum.  Chainsaw milling is hard work.  A 20'x50' cabin with a chainsaw mill will take some time.  Working smart it can be done.  Try to get your logs off the ground so you aren't working on your knees.  It is tough on the knees and back if working on the ground.  Make sure you can adequately sharpen a chain in the field. Chains get dull quickly cutting pine logs unless you debark the log. 

Invest in some quality cant hooks to handle the logs.    A portable winch will be an added benefit.  

If you can swing the cost a manual band saw mill will make production much faster.

[Peter Drouin]

 Welcome aboard.

[Greenerpastures]

I found a 2100 series for $250 which looks surprisingly clean I think it might be the ticket

Hi, what is a 2100 series, am not familiar with this.
Given the size of trees you have on your property, I would go with
the Echo, its cheaper too, and they are a good saw, older technology
and proven, the Husqvarna 390 originally had cylinder problems, they
bored it out and it cracked because the walls were too thin, this was 
a long time back so hopefully they sorted it out, no such problems with
the echo, they may be a slower saw but they will last you.
And just to add am not knocking any brand, I used echo, makita, shindaiwa
stihl and had a new 372 husqvarna, I like them all, then had zero probpems
other than slight niggles, like dust in the carb of the shindaiwa, that only took
a piece of breathable material over a hole in the deck to solve, had bar oil
problem, but that turned out to be the wrong bar, it was modified to suit the
saw yet leaked oil all over the place, changed to the right bar and no oil all
over the saw, it went up the bar where it should, that echo CS800 also has an
additional hand pump for oiling the bar, which can help if you think the onboard
oiler is not enough, though this has not been an issue, I will in fact be buying
the echo 680 in the near future, no auto-tune or mtronic to cause me trouble,
just a straight forward carb.

[reride82]

I found a 2100 series for $250 which looks surprisingly clean I think it might be the ticket

That 2100 husqvarna(series 2, approximately 100 cc) should mill just fine, as long as it stays running as parts are getting harder to find. It is a quite a bit heavier than say my 395xp, but in a milling situation it shouldn't make that much difference. I don't know if your local shop will work on it, so I hope you are handy! Chainsaw milling is hard work and adding a rope winch to your mill frame to help pull it through the log will make it easier. Good luck and post lots of pictures!

Levi

[Roland]

Hey everyone thx for the replies and kind words. I can see how a small winch to help pull the saw through the log would help watched a video on a cool little set up and will be getting one for sure.
Where these logs fall is where they will be milled. Not going to move them to a different area before milling no way.
I'm looking at a bunch of different old saws in the 90 to 100cc class for cheap. Echos,husky, McCulloch any favorites out of these three for milling?

[Roland]

It's an 80's model 99cc husky. An oldie but goodie from what I hear.

[Roland]

I can see having a local shop will b handy. I'll have to see who is in the area. Thx

[HolmenTree]

Roland, another option is runs 2 powerheads on a double ended bar.
I modified this 36" hard nose bar to accept my 090 and 066.
No expensive machine shop needed I just used a drill press, angle grinder and bench grinder.
The powerheads don't need to be the same. The 090/066 milled perfect together.
Put 2 small 60cc saws together and you could rig up a second throttle by a cable to through the mills handle pipe. And still be able to work by your self.


 

[mike_belben]

My back hurts just thinking about that

[Don P]

Mind over matter, if you don't mind, it don't matter :D.  It might be just a tad slower but I do enjoy milling in the woods as opposed to working beside a pile in a pasture. I will admit we mainly use the csm for stuff that won't go on one of the other mills.




We've had a discussion sittin on the stump, how much hotter is that saw running?

DRP

[ehp]

if the 2100 is in good shape grab it  or the 390 , 2100 is a good saw to mill with as its got lots of torque . Parts for it might be getting harder to find now thou

[HolmenTree]

My back hurts just thinking about that

Mike you need these two ladies to help motivate you  :D


  

[HolmenTree]

Mind over matter, if you don't mind, it don't matter :D.  It might be just a tad slower but I do enjoy milling in the woods as opposed to working beside a pile in a pasture. I will admit we mainly use the csm for stuff that won't go on one of the other mills.




We've had a discussion sittin on the stump, how much hotter is that saw running?

DRP

Don, I don't know where to start trying to figure out how your mill works ???
Looks very impressive.

[Don P]

I didn't have a long enough plank so we leapfrogged that 24' walkboard and the supports around as we went down the log referencing off a string or chalkline. There's a short description when we were doing that, scroll down the thread here;
http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=96192.0
Rereading that it isn't real clear. I think I have more pics of the process if you need a better explanation of what we were doing there.

Ruh-roh, the clouds are moving backwards, catch y'all on the other side of this.

[mike_belben]

Theyre probably in nursing homes right now with artificial knees and hips, wishing they hadnt done all that chainsaw milling!

;D

[teakwood]

I'm just really glad i don't have to csm anymore.  It's one of the most brutal work you can do, tossing that 088 with the mill around in culverts and nasty steep places with 95 degrees and the burning hot saw adding more heat to the equation gets old quickly!! From 7 to 11 the saw drinks 10lt of fuel and after 11 you back hurts for the rest of the day and night! no thanks.