Chainsaw for Alaska Mill

[RobJee35]

Hi All, I was hoping you guys would be able to help out a beginner with some recommendations as to a basic Alaska chainsaw mill and chainsaw/chain recommendations for milling to go with it. I've done some basic timber-framing with wood milled by others and now want to have a go producing some of my own timbers and braces, including curved cruck blades and braces if I can. I've used a basic echo 16 inch chainsaw for years but I assume it wont be up to the task of milling. thanks in advance. 

[Erik A]

What size?

I picked up a 36" granberg. I do not have a clue about the quality of different brands, but so far this one is doing good. Put it on a 660 with a 36" bar. If you pull the spikes (what are they called?) you get an extra inch or so and there is enough room on the mill to get an extra 4" or so with a longer bar





We ran standard chain - I was going to try ripping chain but there was none in stock.

[sawguy21]

How much milling are you planning and how fast do you need it done? Torque is king here, if time is important go big or go home. You can get the job done with a smaller saw but imho 70cc is the minimum to be practical. A Stihl 090 is the ultimate if you can find one in good condition. Ripping chain isn't necessary but will leave a smoother finish.

[SwampDonkey]

If your cutting from big logs, I'd go 90cc, the longer the bar needed on the saw, the more power. Stihl MS 661 C-M MAGNUM is in that class and will handle up to a 36" bar. Erik, Is the 660 an older version of the 661?  I'm no chainsaw expert or Alaskan mill expert, but the guys I follow that use these style mills have big saws.

[Greenhighlander]

I am certainly no expert in chainsaw milling , but I do have a couple of years experience now so I feel I can give a few tips.

Bigger is certainly better when it comes to your saw choice. Yes you might be able to get away with using something smaller but it is much more time consuming and a bigger saw removes the cost of that might.  

If you are doing high value live edge or other types of slabbing then the Alaskan style is great. But if you are wanting to do dimensional lumber I higher suggest looking at a different style of mill.  
I went with a Jobber J100 and have been very happy with it paired with my 395XP.  It is a bigtime back saver and a bigtime time saver compared to the Alaskan style.

No matter what saw you go with a properly sharpened chain is key.  You want it nice and sharp and you want it nice and even. I have always sucked at hand filing and keeping it even. But it was never much of an issue with just bucking firewood or dropping trees. It was when it came to milling.   I now use a Granberg precision grinder and feel it was worth ever penny.  

I have a good friend with a WM lt15 bandsaw mill. He is no pro but is fairly proficient with his mill . He averages roughly 5 logs per hour. With my set up I am able to average 2-3 per hour.  
Both of us mill for our own use around our farms. I am in $2500 cad on my set up . His mill was $16 000 cad .  I can mill where ever I drop it. He has to haul out to his mill.  

To make a long story short go with the absolute biggest saw you can afford for milling and I am sure you will not regret it.

[NOCO Jim]

for a power head the husqvarna 394 and 395 saws have worked well for me. 
I think that, among the commonly available saw models, these are considered by many to be well suited to this kind of work.  
Run rich with quality oil and a muffler that can breathe well for heat dissipation and set up to exhaust away from your face.  
A little hand winch set up with parachute cord helps, especially if you can't easily get your log aiming down hill.
I have the 12v granberg sharpener which helps when you have a 5 foot bar to sharpen.  At that length I run a skip tooth pattern chain.

[Ohioian]

Been chainsaw milling since I retired 2 1/2 years ago cutting all hardwoods, black walnut, maple, oak and whatever is growing on our property.
  We run 2 saws here, a 462 with a 30" bar for logs under 22" and a 880 with a 42" bar for the larger logs, will be getting a 52" bar seeing how a couple of 38" to 44" trees have fallen.
  We use nothing but stihl and archer ripping chains and as others have stated they must be sharp if not you will make some really had cuts. I sharpen all of our chains using an Oregon and it works just fine for me.
  Tried cutting dimensional boards out of cherry and I personally won't be doing that anymore, purchased a WM 25, less kerf loss and easier on a 60 plus years old body
   Get the largest saw that you can safely handle, my 27 year old son runs the 880 due to all the weight, saw head, bar, chain and fixture.
  Below are a couple of black walnut slabs we've cut.
  

 

[esteadle]

I've milled about 3-4 dozen very large logs of various types using a newer Granberg with a Stihl 661. I love this for simple straight log setups, and I prefer to use Granberg's milling chain. The largest you can go here without changing the drive socket is going to be 36" on a 52" bar, using 3/8 chain. While I like this setup, the Stihl 661 is not the right saw for this type of sawing. The 661 has a known manufacturing issue with early models, where the intake bellows is not fitted properly and it collapses and tends to stall the saw. I must have one of those saws, because that happens often / always when I mill with this setup. Oddly, it does not happen when I crosscut with this saw, and so the crosscut bar is what is on it now.

A couple years ago, I was gifted an old steel Alaskan mill setup with an older Stihl 090 that has the original bar. I think it measures out to about 48" and I get about a 42" wide cut, which is a bit wider than the 36" 661 setup and tends to work a lot better with the logs I get. That old saw is definitely the right saw for the job because it will really pull through a big meaty .404 chain and get a lot of work done. The 090 is LOUD though. Like hurts-to-stand-next-to-it loud, so I double up on hearing protection with both ear plugs and a face shield / helmet / ear muff combo. It is also thirsty, and takes about 1/3 - 1/2 gallon of fuel per rip at max cutting width on medium hardwoods. The 661 sips gas compared to this thing which is gulping it. I mix at 40:1 with this saw so it takes more oil than a modern saw too. Also, the 090 parts availability situation is getting tighter and tighter and this saw is breaking a lot of parts as it gets used this way. The pull starter in particular was a vexing repair - that took almost 3 months to get back to running. The parts I can get easily are knock-offs and they do not last. The saw vibrates a lot and so everything tends to loosen up as the day progresses. I keep having to replace bolts on the Alaskan frame, as they are stripped from over-tightening in an effort to keep it in good contact with the bar.

I had a real nice Stihl 880 Magnum that I never got to mill with, unfortunately, but I did split a couple of big logs with that saw. If I were setting up a new Alaskan today, I would absolutely go with the 880 Magnum. That saw has the torque that the 090 has but with all the new features and modern conveniences, plus much better parts availability. You can get it a bit cheaper if you skip a bar and chain, which you would just take off anyway.


So, as with everything in sawing, your experience is going to be reflective of your chain sharpness. Plan to spend much time sharpening and little time sawing.

Also, big logs are hard, and some kinds of woods saw better than others. I absolutely despise Pin-Oak now, because that stuff sucks up minerals and dulls blades, and especially toward the butt flare. I was out sawing a butt flare 3 weeks ago and the grain pushed the saw up in the cut, wrecking 2 slabs. We couldn't see what was going on and thought we hit metal, but there was nothing in there after we finally got thru. I kept sharpening only the bottom side of the chain to try and get it to cut straight. Couldn't get it right before the end of the day and we finally gave up.

Another thing that I don't see brought up too often is bar gouging from chain jumping due to misalignment. I have had to file the bars for days after having the chain jump out of the groove and scrape up everything. Milling bars are HARD and need hard, and expensive files to be effective. The longer the bar, the more often this happens. You can tighten the chain until it's as tight as a piano wire, but the chain is still prone to jumping, especially as you enter and leave cuts. But nobody mentions how much time is consumed filing bars after that happens. It's a real PITA that seems to happen often.

Best of luck to you.

[mike_belben]

395xp with a rich mix, fat tune and a piece of tin clamped to blow the oil smoke out from under your face before it makes you sick.  

Lots of idle breaks to cool before you shut down, and never let it run out of fuel. 

Dressing bars square and keeping bar gauge kerf maintained is a must for straight and efficient cutting. When the chain keels over from a loose gauge the bar will just jam and cook the chain.

[RobJee35]

Thanks very much guys for all the info! I'm still going through and reading / making sure I understand (!) all the info and may have some follow-up questions. Lots to chew on! :P