I know its been discussed, and I've read through some of them. But I have an Alaskan mill coming next week, and so I'm thinking about having a few loops dedicated for milling. I know most milling chain is just standard chain ground to different angles. I have a granberg file-n-joint, so I plan to use that rather than paying extra for them to grind it for me. Plus it's hard to find ready made loops in the size I need - 93DL. So my first set of questions is about chain geometry. What angles have you tried or worked best? Cutter type - chisel, semi, skip? Softwood vs hardwood? Anybody tried the granberg milling chain? The next thing is, when do you get the tools and start buying chain by the reel? I already have 4 28" loops, now ill add a few more for milling... Then on top of that, I may need an even longer bar for a couple of these logs:
20 years ago a local saw shop I did business with would modify standard full chisel chain to Granberg specs for me for a set charge.Grind off every other tooth,change the angle on remaining ones to 10 degrees,since regular Granberg chain took a few weeks to arrive & cost a fortune in comparison.But now he don't do anything other than standard sharpening & shortening chains if they need it. So I switched to Woodland Pro (made by Carlton) milling chain from Bailey's.I don't use it all the time,its a bit slower with a smoother finish compared to ''regular'' full skip chain.Just depends on the end use of the lumber/blocks/slabs & whether they'll be planed or used inside or out.
That's a good point - you need to know my plans! The majority will be indoor use and will be air dried and planed. I want to turn the maple, which is most of it, into T&G flooring for my kitchen. I'm going to use the chainsaw mill to make slabs mostly I think. Then ill turn the slabs into boards on my vertical bandsaw. I made a roller table system for it, which was my original milling plan. But I need the chainsaw to make the logs into cants that are 12" thick and under.
Yup that's what I do.Short pieces up to 3 feet long I just cut freehand,dont bother setting up the mill.Just making sure the roughed out chunks are no more than 30 lbs,much easier breaking them down on the bandsaw with its standard sized small table.Delta 14" with 1HP motor & riser block.I can resaw a 12 x 12 block into 1/4" thick veneer when everything is set up properly.
If you're going to saw them again on a bandsaw I would use what you have and maybe set up one loop for milling. You may get 4 cuts to a chain before it needs sharpened. I touch up on the mill instead of pulling the mill off to swap chains.
I would strongly suggest finding someone with a Woodmizer or similar bandsaw mill for anything less than 24-30" diam., especially, if you want to use it for T&G flooring. Bandsaw mills are much more efficient in terms of time and kerf and give a much more accurate and smoother cut than a chainsaw mill. IMHO, Chainsaw mills are best for really large wood that doesn't fit in a standard mill, and/or for milling logs in place that are too big to skid out. For example, I had two red oak trees milled into 1250 bf of 4/4 lumber. This took about 4 hours and cost only about $200 by hiring a local guy with a portable Woodmizer mill. I subsequently had this milled into T&G flooring for less than $200, for a final cost of about 30-40 cents/sq-ft of flooring.
My neighbor just down the street has one and I've never seen them use it in 2 years. But I'm a DIY kind of guy anyway. Mine is a Grizzly - 2HP, 17" throat, 12.5 resaw. I have a carbide tipped Laguna blade for it too. My roller tables are currently in use at the table saw - they come in real handy for handling things like these countertops or breaking down sheet goods. I've never actually had a log up on them yet though. One has been in constant use as the out feed for my table saw, and the other one serves a dual purpose as my chop saw station. Have to build 2 more!
