Make Your Own Lumber! The Alaskan Sawmill!

I got a nice treat from a neighbor a few weeks back, the opportunity to use his Harbor Freight Sawmill!

It's more than just the chainsaw conversion, but a proper carriage-driven petrol-engine thing with a great hooping sawblade! :

Here's how the machine is used:



Turning these logs:



Into beams like this!



I had a roof to build and got stuck in. This is how the roof turned out with the beam mounted into place.



Beams, beautiful beams!



I worked out each beam costs me roughly $3 or so (plus my time to work the mill), compared to about $40-50 each for the price of the beams, plus transporting only about a handful each trip all the way from a big city many miles away. The Sawmill was much closer and saved much time and energy.

DIY techniques for sawmilling are very much an art, not a science. In the video I try to explain things as I learned and was taught by the master saw miller but it's best to learn by experience as you rip them boards and beam!

 

@Tyler Danann I will be interested to see the construction on the cabin. I also watched your video What I did Summer 2015. You got so much done. Thanks for sharing

 

Thanks Moto!
Cruisin', that video is pretty epic stuff! Even my Gungnir Log isn't as thick as that pine (3' 1/2 diameter?)

Last, concluding part of Sawmill Video next!

 

I will be starting a thread shortly...

 

I watched a local guy use a similar portable mill once: he spent a lot of time going over the tree with a magnetic compass, and said that sometimes nails can be a big hazard. How do you deal with them?

William Warren

 

That is a bandsaw mill, not an "Alaskan" sawmill. An alaskan sawmill is an attachment for a chainsaw. Here is a DIY version. Chainsaw Mill Here is the storebought version. Granberg Mk-Iii Alaskan Chainsaw Mill With 36" Rails | Granberg Alaskan Sawmills | Granberg Alaskan Sawmills | www.www.baileysonline.com.com

 

Yep, I corrected my video accordingly. Thanks.