Choosing a chainsaw mill - Alaskan Small Log Mill

About a year ago I purchased a new Sthil MS390 chainsaw and the Granberg Alaskan Small Log Mill. I also bought the slabbing rail brackets; these are simply two 16" aluminum rails that nail to each end of a log. Then two 2x4s are bolted to the brackets such that the boards straddle the log to guide the first cut. The Granberg site has a lot of examples on how to set this up. At first I used a regular chain, but soon ordered the Granberg ripping chain.




This chainsaw/mill combination is an order of magnitude better than my setup with the Beam Machine. With this chainsaw (64cc, 20 inch bar) and mill combination I cut a 16" wide x 6' long cherry board in 7-8 minutes. Certainly not what I would call fast, but this is a big improvement over Poulan. One pass on a ~8-12 inch wide log takes 2-4 minutes.

I would like to have a more powerful saw (~80cc), but such a saw would run about twice what I paid for the MS390. I'll work with the MS390 for now:)

The Alaskan mill does a great job guiding the saw for straight cuts. However, the setup for the first cut is still time consuming. Even with the slabbing brackets, getting both brackets parallel to each other (necessary to avoid a twisted cut) is still somewhat tricky. Granberg has some good illustrations at http://www.granberg.com/alaskan_mill.html on how to set up the first cut, but there are some other important details I'll cover here.

Basically the procedure is:

1. Roll the log onto a couple of short 4x4s or 6x6s to get it off the ground. A peavey helps for large logs.
2. Chock the log if necessary to keep it from rolling (or use a log dog if you have one).
3. Cut the log to a length matching the length of the 2x4 guideboards. I use 8 footers, so I cut the log to 6'6"'. This lets the 2x4s hang over the ends of the log a bit to help guide the saw at the start and end of the cut.
   
4. The ends should be as square to the log as possible by eye (makes attaching the brackets easier).
5. Trim off any branches, bumps, etc that would interfere with the guideboards.
   
6. Use a bubble level to nail the first bracket level then do the same at the opposite end of the log.
   
7. Bolt two (straight) 2x4s to the brackets for the guide.
8. Cut a slab from the log using the 2x4 guideboards.
   
9. Unbolt the 2x4s and remove the bracket nails.
10. Turn the log 90 degrees to cut the adjacent face.
    
11. Using a framing square, draw a line 90 degrees to the first face about 1/2" above where you want to cut the second face. Draw this line at both ends of the log.
    
12. Nail the slabbing rails flush to the two lines on each end of the log.
13. Bolt the guideboards to the slabbing rails (as in step 7).
14. Adjust the depth of the mill to where you want to cut the 2nd face.
15. Cut the 2nd face.
16. Unbolt the slabbing rails and remove the nails in the slabbing rails.
    

You also have to haul chainsaw, mill, gas, oil, faceshield, chaps, ear protectors, slabbing brackets, peavey, hammer, nails, level, measuring tape, wrench, framing square, pencil, two short 6x6s and two 2x4s to the log.

Afterward, don't forget Advil for the back pain from doing all of this close to the ground;)