BIG or WEIRD

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

I am presently setting myself up for some "fun" with a new Stihl 090, 41" bar, and a 36" Granberg frame. Will probably go to a racing type 10 spur sprocket to bring up the chain speed to match the speed of the 088, but will have the higher torque of this long-stroke motor.  (Thanks Ralph, for your help regarding chain speeds.)  My intention is to get my feet wet in milling, by imitating many of the methods in Will Malloff's 1980 book: Chainsaw Lumbermaking. To that knowledge, I will add what I learn from you guys.
From the outset, I know that the chainsaw route has serious efficiency issues and other limitations, but, at the level of commitment (time) I have,  and the amount of cash I am willing to invest right now, this seems to be an appropriate way for me to go.  (Later, it may be time for a swingblade.)

I don't plan to transport logs, just move the cut lumber. Neither do I plan to buy many logs. Instead I will cut what I too often see go to rot near me at the recently-closed railroad log yard next to my warehouse building. Beyond that, blow-downs, municipal waste, right of way clearing, and other freebies will be more than enough.
 
With that preface out of the way, here is my question: It seems to me that I should only cut "BIG" or cut "Weird". What I mean is that I should focus on cutting only oversize lumber, and beams or on cutting unusual slabs and such. Does anyone have any other suggestions. ( That means USEFUL suggestions, other than probable replies, such as to "buy a WM complete with cap and promo jacket". A buddy of mine has one, so you don't even have to sell me.)
Thanks guys! Keep up the banter!
IDEAS?  SUGGESTIONS?
Phil L.

[Tom]

Phil,
If your intentions are to sell the wood then you have the right idea.  The slower the saw the bigger you should make the product.  Now, this is just my opinion you understand so don't take it as a tried and true business plan.

You could spend all day cutting 72 1x4's or you could square up 2 12x12's and spend the day getting them out of the woods.  I would rather the later because I could use horsepower to do the work and I wouldn't be competing with the local HD.  There is a market for timbers as dunnage, blocking, posts etc. but you would have to find it.  This would be my priority here if I were cutting my own pine.

If you are cutting cabinet woods then it may be that the same would hold true.  Thicker boards for table tops or look for wide crotch cuts, burls and other specialty items that would attract the attention of your everyday backyard woodworker.

If you try to cut 2x4's for sale, you will find yourself in competition with mills that can produce hundreds or even thousand per day.  I cut stuff like that for people out of their  trees but I could never compete on the retail market.

It's the little piece of the market you will have to find where you live.  Wood species and buyers both will guide your market.

There is also a market for cutting big trees and a chainsaw mill will fit right in there in certain circumstances.  Picture the man who has had a large tree taken down in his backyard, in a neighborhood where the houses are 10 feet apart and the yards are surrounded by privacy fencing with 4 foot gates.  To get a bandsaw in his backyard would require a lot of demolition.  To get a swing-saw or Chainsaw mill in there would be about the only way.  It could be that the man just wants it to be gone and his only option would be to cut it up into firewood so that he could move it or Hire You. ;D

You could sell him the service of cutting the lumber or you could sell him the service of removing the tree and you could get the lumber as a by-product, or you take the lumber and swap out the labor charge of removing his tree for his help.

Don't limit your thinking to what size board you can cut.  The service you can provide is a viable product as well.

[Ron Wenrich]

Do you get into that many big logs in your area?  Is the Granberg frame similar to a Alaskan mill?

A couple of markets for big pieces are fireplace mantels and bar tops.  Then there are all those log benches that can be made.  

Your available timber resource and potential markets should dictate what type of equipment to buy.  If you're only going after the big logs, then maybe a chainsaw mill is a good deal, considering time and money you want to invest.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Thanks Tom & Ron,
The Alaskan is a product-line name of Granberg.  Same.
Tom,  what you are saying about not competing with high production dimensional lumber is exactly what I am thinking.
So far as the service side, yes, I would get into that to get my hooks on a tree that I really was lusting for, but my long-standing piano tuning and service business pays far better than lumber-making with a chain saw ever could.  The chain saw is mainly for fun, but I won't fight somebody trying to pay me to have the fun, now.
Ron, it's not that there are that many huge trees here, but, since all the big mills are gone,  just a few old timers would keep a chain mill busy.  Many are residential, too, so metal detection, and the artful dodging of such, will be key.  If I were to get more involved, I would step up to the next most production for the cash invested - probably the swing blade design.  
Phil L.

[Kevin]

Phil,
Long bars + large sprockets = chain throw.
A standard seven rim sprocket is more reliable in my opinion.
I just milled two large frozen white pine logs on Sunday and it was a breeze with the Stihl 066.
I use two saws, one on the Alaskan and one on the mini mill just to save time.
Ron, Granberg makes the Alaskan mill.

bin milling

[Don P]

Mantles came to my mind as well. On the log home packages a log mantle is an upgrade...Get pics of your wierd, big,carved(but dry!)...mantles up somewhere and I'll send both my customers looking.Hey have the whole set, matching mantle, cofee table,end tables. I've seen some nice entry steps made from a couple of 8" thick free form slabs.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Kevin,
I learned recently that the top R.P.M. on the 090 is about 8K.  The max. power (torque) delivery is in the 6K range. This puts the chain speed on the 090 at over 25% slower than the 066.   More oomph, but slower speed.  In the electrical world it would be like lower voltage, but higher amperage.  What I am saying is that I want to keep my big gun, but get the chain speed up for smaller cuts.  I would plan to have a set of chains to use with the stock sprocket for all the full torque demands  such as 24" to 36" full cuts.
"Ralph" gave me an idea, also, that was to heavily skew the angle of the bar in the cut, in order to keep more teeth loaded in the kerf on the more narrow logs.  Whatever the method, the idea is to match the mechanical impedance of my toy to the demands of the job at hand.
Phil L.

[Kevin]

Phil,
Have you milled with the saw as is yet?

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Kevin,
Nope!  Saw just arrived on the 7th.  Stihl rip chain is on the way.  
The worst part is that I promised myself (even my wife) that I would put in four full days of my real job - piano tuning, before trying it out.
 :-/I just hope I can last that long. :-[
I will let you know what kind of work I can get out of it "as-is".  I won't soup it up, if it seems to go fine with stock stuff.
Phil L.

[Jeff]

Piano tuner? COOL!

[Kevin]

Phil, I don`t want to waste a lot of words here so ... FORGET THE PIANO TUNING.
You can tune a piano anytime, you can only mill when the weather is decent.

Stihl makes a good ripping chain but it cuts coarse because of the top plate angle.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Kevin,
The weather is pretty much always decent in south Georgia.
Of course, I will tell my wife what you said.
I'm sure she won't mind me dropping my $75.00/hr. tuning work to go play with my new saw.
PHil L. ;)

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

A friend of mine just told me about, and showed me this morning, a pushed-aside trunk of a yellow pine over three feet thick at the butt end.   8)
Can't wait to try my fresh-from-Fedex Stihl 090/Alaskan out on that monster tree.  If only I had an "All-terrain" model of the Peterson swing blade for this one!   :-/Three sections are too close together, and I would estimate that the main 20' section would weigh 3K+ lbs.  They are lying in a mushy bog with a spring actually flowing from under the logs.
Phil L.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Oh man,

Now I've got two giant white oaks in the woods - rather, they are lying in a clear-cut lot, abandoned.  Too big!
I can hear the swing blade design a callin'.   :

I have prayed,  "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"  so many times, but this pressure may just lead me ...,
well, it just may lead me to sign another bank loan!
Phil L.   :D

[psychotic1]

Well... just take that 090 and quartersaw'em up (teeheeteehee)

I can't really help you on marketing your lumber Phil.
things are a little different around here.
the two big mills don't want anything to do with the local lumber market, so everything we've got is shipped up from Seattle on a barge.  Which translates to 2X4X8 studs going for $3.48 a piece.  and you don't even want to talk about plywood.  If I remember right, I paid almost 30 dollars for the last piece of 3/4 acx from the true value affiliate here.  but the other side is no-one (or at least nobody I know) is taking advantage of the personal use wood.  Damfino.  But mama always taught me to get while the getting was good.  Last time I was over on POW the millers were asking $300/mbf for oneby dimensional lumber.  For that, they went and cut it down, hauled it in and milled it up, with reasonable delivery service.  (they'd haul it most places on POW, but they did want a tank of gas)  Green wood of course, and a year minimum to air dry.  there are a couple of guys around here who have mills, but they don't seem too interested in custom cutting.  Every time I've talked to them, they've hemmed and hawed and changed the subject.  I don't know how much work there would be for a miller with the right equipment, but I can't afford the equipment just yet.  Maybe when I get rich.

Now, with them big trees.  How about hand trimming the sides off so it'll fit inside your alaskan?  Sounds a little crazy, but it might work.

Bruce