The Forestry Forum

Hello 
There are a bunch of cut trees that I would like to turn into boards. As local services charge the same amount for slabbing the greatest of my ash trees as it would be to buy a new chainsaw for milling, I am seriously tending to buy one. 
But before I make my decision I would like to experiment. I have revived an old Husqvarna 262xp 62cc saw. Instructions say that the longest bar is 20". As Alaskan frame takes away, I even don't know 10cm? (4in?) then I would like to get as long bar as possible. 
Can anyone answer me or add any other comments if it is possible to use longer bars if combined with low profile chain and bar and semi-skip or skip chain? 

you could go with a longer bar, and a skip tooth chain so the power head can pull it.  do not over work the saw.  It seems like it would be cheap, but done right, you may have a bigger saw, a long bar, and poss. auxiliary oiler.  I have an Alaskan mill for a 36-inch bar, and I have never taken it out of the box.  It is a lot of work, especially if you do not have the right equipment.  remember safety as well.

Sometimes the money you pay a pro to do a job simply can no be "saved" by buying equipment and doing it yourself.  Sawing logs is definitely one of those areas.  Sawmills make easy work of turning logs into lumber.  When logs are too big for an actual sawmill, chainsaw mills turn great big logs into slabs through a whole lot of blood, sweat, and gas.  

If you are looking for a hobby, one that involves being bent over breathing two cycle exhaust for 10 to 20 minutes or more per cut, and you really enjoy sharpening chains every cut, then a CSM is the way to go.  If you want to would rather spend your time working with the finished lumber that was captured from your logs then paying a professional sawyer who knows how to recover the best material out of your logs is the way to go.  

Not trying to discourage you here, but just wanted to bring to your attention that there is a difference and would not want to see you tie up $2K in a saw and CSM set up only to spend half a day cutting one log and then calling the sawmill to finish the rest.