Low buck/ DIY 'alaskan' chainsaw mill ideas

[motzingg]

Here's the plan:  

I cut down a bunch of oak trees and i saved some 3-6" diameter limbs that i want to use to build a deck extension on the kids treehouse.  The treehouse was here when we moved in and its pretty cool lookin' all made out of rough cut odd sized lumber, so i want to add this little deck extension with some raw log hand/guard rails around it for my kids. 

So, I need to take these gnarly limbs and basically just cut one side of them off flat so i can nail decking boards across them

I'm thinking basically just use a ladder as a guide and drill holes in my chainsaw bar with some threaded rod and some kind of a cross bar for a fence?  I'm not really sure how all of this would work but i'd love to see some pictures, links, etc. of how people have set this up. 

It doesn't really have to work all that well since i'm not going to be doing much milling but something that i can slap together quick and cheap, get these limbs faced off, and disassemble (aside from the holes in a cheap china chainsaw bar that i don't really care about) 

Any thoughts? 

[Crusarius]

What about setting up a tablesaw or bandsaw to d othis? I think you be alot happier than trying to use a chainsaw.

[SawyerTed]

A vertical bandsaw with a resaw blade would be simpler than a chainsaw mill. A 1x screwed to the limb and allowed to ride against a fence would give uniform thickness and one flat side.

A bandsaw mill could be used to do the same thing, but use a 2x that would lay on the bed with the limb screwed to it.  The 2x would also allow for clamping.

[motzingg]

I don't have either of those, plus i'm not quite sure how either one work handling scraggy long logs, i think i need to lay the log out on a ladder and block it up so i can get a flat cut across it

i have this in my head working really good but i'm finding that for whatever reason i cant think it through or articulate what i'm trying to make here... hmmm  engineer's version of writers block? that sort of thing? 

[Crusarius]

what about a router? could use a sled or a router table. more challenging but doable. Otherwise I would be inclined to go to HF and buy one of their cheap chainsaw mills.

[Hilltop366]

The trick is going to be holding the stick secure while sawing it and keeping everything safe, if the chainsaw is your only choice verses spending lots on another piece of equipment then thats what you do as long as it is safe.

With small logs I think it would be better to fasten the log to the top of the track (ladder?) and make a carriage to fasten the saw on and run the saw down the track instead of a typical alaskan mill.

[SawyerTed]

Some guys really enjoy fabricating a tool and producing a finished product.  I get that.  Seems like locating somebody with a sawmill or a vertical bandsaw would be easier and safer than building a single use machine.  I've done some chainsaw milling and have tried something similar with poor results.  Small branches are hard to hold stable for a chainsaw to rip.

Other tools that can be used to flatten the side of a 3"-6" branch 
Electric hand plane
Hand held belt sander with 36 grit belt 
A draw knife
A handheld circular saw and chisel 
An adze

[motzingg]

Sawyer ted, now we're talking.  I might actually be able to use a 2x4 laid flat, that would take a little bit of the natural curve of the wood as i screwed it down. 

The key being rustic construction here, i don't need the decking to lay FLAT flat, it just has to be consistent and relatively even.  

i'm gonna draw something up today at work and post it on here to get some eyes on it

[motzingg]

 :D 

yeah and to answer the question, i do like making weird stuff and horsing around on the property doing weird projects, i ended up on the forum due to a borderline unhealthy obsession with 2 stroke dithering and like doing lots of weird not-always-sensible projects

i have lots of scraggy limbs coming off trees around the property all the time, it would be cool to have a way to quickly and effectively turn them into building materials.

also, yeah, i should probably look into buying an adze, i'm a big fan of Roy Underhill and he talks about how useful they are all the time. 

[YellowHammer]

For limbs that small, an old school drawknife would have the rustic look and be fairly quick.  However, I'd probably start off using my broad axe and see how fast I could work them down.  

Or use a hand rip saw and screw the board to a workbench or legvice.  

Or wrap a chain to them and hook the other end to your truck and drag them down an old road.  I flat faced many a round log doing that, not on purpose, but it sure works. :D

[moodnacreek]

Is there a sawmill around that will give you slabs? I burn them almost every day. They make great tree forts.

[RPF2509]

You could try chainsawing free hand following a chalk line.  You can be surprisingly accurate cutting by eye with a reference line.  No special equipment needed and it will give that rustic look.  As long as the wood is not too thick, its easy to make course corrections to keep things in line.  Practice on a scrap piece first and have a sharp chain.