Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Chestnut the new saws are junk now. You need a 660 or a 880 sithl to mill with if you are a sithl guy. If you are a Husky guy you need a 395 or 3120. I would want two 3120 husky to mill with. I milled with a hopped up 395 and needed more power. You need two power heads on one bar if you have the help. Then you could mill with some hp. and do pretty good at milling with a chainsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 I would buy the 3120’s out of Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 I'm with Spanky if I were going to get serious I would get a 3120 but they ain't cheap at $1,700.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 By the time you buy everything you need, you can buy a good small portable mill. Look at a Linn Lumber Mill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 The 3120 Husky is about as big as you can get, close to 120ccs of power. There is a guy on another site (Arborsite) that sells them out of Canada for $1399. Was tempted but would need all new bars and chains. I invested a lot in 2 Stihl 660s, all my bars and chains would not work with the Husky 3120. I've got 42", 36" and 28" bars for my 660s. The 660s give you about 92ccs of power, and they work good enough for medium sized logs (18-24") and work great for peckerpoles. I got mine used/preowned and ported the exhaust. You can get rebuilt 660s from some reputable guys on ebay for about $700. Some of the rebuilt ones are done with bigger bore pistons and will get you up to about 98ccs. These are a little risky as they are often built with aftermarket parts. You need to read the descriptions and some are all OEM. If you are going to use it occasionally you can probable get set up for about $1000, but it is a rabbit hole for sure. I use a 36" alaskan and I also use an attachment by logosol for squaring up logs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 1 minute ago, Spanky said: By the time you buy everything you need, you can buy a good small portable mill. Look at a Linn Lumber Mill. Yes, true, but mills don't have hydraulics (correct?) and you need a way to move logs. One advantage of the chainsaw mill is taking it right to where the tree is dropped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 1 minute ago, Bmac said: Yes, true, but mills don't have hydraulics (correct?) and you need a way to move logs. One advantage of the chainsaw mill is taking it right to where the tree is dropped. If you don’t have a tractor then a chainsaw mill would be the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 On 10/11/2018 at 6:45 PM, Spanky said: All woodworkers need to sawmill a day or two! I absolutely agree. I learned so much bucking boards for my buddies woodmeizer. I absolutely love milling logs to lumber. All of my favorite projects in the last few years have come from lumber I've sawn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 2 hours ago, Brendon_t said: I absolutely agree. I learned so much bucking boards for my buddies woodmeizer. So you like to work? Most guys this day and time don’t want to work. I like to cut lumber myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Spanky said: So you like to work? Most guys this day and time don’t want to work. I like to cut lumber myself. Did a bunch of growing on a 700 ac farm in the Ozarks. Hard work never scared me. Although I probably wouldn't go buck wet 8/4 boards for fun, I'm happy to give my time to help fill an order on a short schedule. I also appreciate that the mill is open for my use, on my own projects when the Work is done for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 3 minutes ago, Brendon_t said: Did a bunch of growing on a 700 ac farm in the Ozarks. Hard work never scared me. I need a helper like you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 28 minutes ago, Spanky said: I need a helper like you! Hire Vets. Hire Marines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Sthil guy here. I'd want one of these on each end: https://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/professional-saws/ms880/ I have a mildly ported 066, with a muffler mod, that wouldn't be too bad for small logs, but this is an application where bigger is better. If you bought a couple of new 880's, and all the other stuff, you would be in the price range of a used bandsaw mill, and maybe even a new small one, if you weren't going to have access to really wide logs. I'm one that likes to work too. I figure I would be working, even if I retired, so I might as well be making money. Like a friend of mine said, I plan to work until noon on the day of my funeral. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Yeah 1 of those plus the alaskan mill is not much short of a small bandsaw mill. Makes me really want to try milling but it always seems so much easier to let someone else maintain the mill and i'll just pay mill time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 23 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Yeah 1 of those plus the alaskan mill is not much short of a small bandsaw mill. Makes me really want to try milling but it always seems so much easier to let someone else maintain the mill and i'll just pay mill time. You ain't lying. Those boys can take some serious maintenance. I put having lumber milled to spec from your logs up there with milling it yourself. At least I don't get any extra warm n fuzzies. Both very different than going to the WoodMart and buying off the rack. The satisfaction there is finding wood. Milling it up feels like Making Wood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 I do little stuff but it just isn't the same as getting nice big fresh boards. You can see in the background a small log i milled a couple months ago. It's already at 17% MC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 What are the logs pictured? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 Box elder but there shold be some good flame in the one near the crotch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 That’s always been my experience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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