Just acquired it today. I got but one track section with it. Where can I dig up info on it? It's made by Harriston, but their site shows they make seed crop machines. No mention of saw mills. I'd like to know whatever I can about it. I can fab up more track, so that's not a problem.
Hi there from what i have seen and read it looks like these units were manufactured in the mid to late 80s
i have seen a fella on youtube (jc'sbees)? who has been using one and it looks pretty solid
i did a patent search and they are often referenced but i have yet to see if there was a patent.. you might try contacting the harriston company i did see the names of the owners tom and tony oswoski (spelling)
there was also an article written in a magazine called chainsaw age dont think its in print anymore
i was looking to build myself a chainsaw mill and have looked at many designs but the mil rite looked pretty decent.
if you are milling about your mil (no pun intended) id be curious to see some close up pics and any possible measurements and steel dimensions to see if i could re reproduce it.. steve
Welcome to the forum Steve, great place to be to find out anything and everything about, well, everything I guess ;).
Hello steve466x, and Welcome to the Forestry Forum. :)
What's the plan for the mill?I don't think I have ever seen one of those.
I'll take measurements Monday. I'd post pics, but have a big problem doing it....
I have a Mil-Rite sawmill as well that was purchased at a county fair from a vendor in 1994. Not much info on the web so I wanted to add some.
I've scanned in my owners Manual : http://szyszkoski.com/p/manuals/Mil-Rite-Sawmill-Owners-Manual.pdf
Couple videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsRhq-q_bdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv-2lcto4yk
Power unit is a 1983 Jonsered 920 with a 36" bar.
Cons
-Large kerf compared to band saw mill, leads to a lot of sawdust, wasted fuel, and extra time cutting
-Chain needs sharpening quite often. It takes a bit of time with 105 teeth.
-Over the years, the bar will eventually wear down (the grove the chain runs in - one side wears faster than the other). This leads to the cut diving and the mill is rendered inoperable, so you need to flip the bar and then once that side is worn out, change out the bar. I bought a bar and brought it to a local machine shop and they drilled it out for me.
Pros
-Doesn't cost as much as a band saw mill
-Simple construction and operation, great for hobbyist use
-Makes usable rough lumber
-Simple to fabricate an extension
-Great for making beams or larger rough lumber that require few cuts
-If you had means to make wood pellets, you would have plenty of sawdust
General notes:
I blew up my saw because I was using cheap 2 cycle oil mixed at the recommended 40:1 and cheap fuel (standard ethanol laced 87 ocatane). This doesn't provide proper lubrication for the saw because it is running at a full throttle all the time - not what the saw is designed for. I found a piston and head on-line and had the saw repaired. Now I only use name brand chainsaw oil and mix it at 24:1 as well as use ethanol free premium fuel. This has kept the saw happy so far.
The carriage provides easier operation than an alaskan chainsaw mill, but you still have to put some effort into pushing the saw through the logs, especially if they are nearing the 20" maximum that the carriage size will allow.
I enjoy it, I'm able to make use of the trees on my property rather than just let them die and rot.
dmszyszk,welcome to the forum. What are you using the lumber for?
Watch this video on YouTube.
Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner,is all I got.
Thanks for the heads up, I've enabled embedding.
I've built a lean-to for my tractor, a shed, a pull-behind trailer for a snowmobile and several beams and rough lumber for various projects.
They both look good.
Great stuff to see the manual and vids! Couple of questions when you extended the track what size angle did you use looks like its 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 1/8 th thick?
Is the same size metal used for track also used for the carriage assembly ?
Very nice I've been looking around up here canada for a simple chainsaw mill but haven't come across anything that I think is as good as the mill rite at least without paying an arm and leg for...