Choosing a chainsaw mill - Beam Machine

I thought I would start off this blog by summarizing my experiences selecting a chainsaw mill. I don't know anyone who has a chainsaw mill or ever used one, so I relied on information I found on the web for research.

I started chainsaw milling about 2-1/2 years ago. My first attempt was using a Beam Machine on my Poulan Pro (46cc, 20 inch bar).

This is a simple device, easy to use and cheap (I paid $29). This setup worked fairly well; however it had some disadvantages that didn't work for me.

First, it was time consuming to set up, especially the first cut since there is no flat face to fasten the 2x4 guide board. It took a lot of improvisation to nail a flat 2x4 to a round log! Things were much easier after the first cut; however it took a fair amount of time to re-nail the guideboard after each cut.

Second, my Poulan Pro didn't have enough power to rip cut a log of decent width in a reasonable amount of time. It took about 15 minutes for each pass on an ~7 inch wide, 4 foot long log. Add 5-10 minutes of setup time per cut, it took almost a whole afternoon for a few boards.

Third was the accuracy of this setup. It all hinges on the accuracy of the very first cut. Since it was difficult to get the guideboard flat and straight on a round log, I typically ended up with boards with a pretty good twist.


Not to take anything away from the Beam Machine, I think it has its uses. It was just too time consuming for me to get straight, flat boards. One improvement that I didn't try was to use a ripping chain; Beam Machine says it doesn't make a difference, but I think it would improve the speed significantly.

If you are interested in making rough posts and had a more powerful chainsaw (~60cc or better); the beam machine could work for you. I could see how it would be possible to use it to cut posts.