Milling Birch on a Logsol F2 plus chainsaw mill

A chainsaw mill or PortaMill or Alaskan mill or Alaskan sawmill or Logosol sawmill is a type of

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

incorporating a

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pru ...

, that is used by one or two operators to mill logs into

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

for use in

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

and other uses.

Description

The mill attachment consists of a pair of guide rails which are attached to the bar of the

. The rails ride for the first cut on a plank or on a metal ladder which is screwed to the log (but not so tightly that the guide is pulled out of plane), and then on the previously cut surface of the log, and guide the chainsaw blade through the log at a consistent depth so that planks of a chosen thickness are cut. The distance between the rails and the bar determines this thickness and it can be adjusted by moving the rails along a post at each end of the mill attachment. During use it is important that the rails extend out past the ends of the log so the cut has support the entire time. Small mills use a single chainsaw and can be handled by a single operator. Larger mills use two chainsaw power heads, one on either side of the attachment, and these require two operators. This larger style of mill needs a special bar which allows the two chainsaw heads to be attached at either end. The length of the bar decides the width of the plank that can be cut, up to , so for logs with a large diameter, the longer bar is necessary. Also, to waste less wood due to the

kerf A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...

width, a special chain is designed to make

rip cut The rift sawn rip cuts are perpendicular to the center of the log In woodworking, a rip-cut is a type of cut that severs or divides a piece of wood parallel to the grain. The other typical type of cut is a ''cross-cut'', a cut perpendicular to th ...

s rather than the usual chainsaw chain which is for

cross-cutting Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultan ...

.Lopez, Barry. "Mill Lumber With Your Chainsaw". ''Popular Science'' Vol. 212, No. 6 Jun 1978, Page 89
/ref> For the first cut, a pair of rails or a plank are usually attached to the log to give the mill attachment a reference surface to guide it, or other commercially made jigs are available such as a

timberjigs A chainsaw mill or PortaMill or Alaskan mill or Alaskan sawmill or Logosol sawmill is a type of sawmill incorporating a chainsaw, that is used by one or two operators to mill logs into lumber for use in furniture, construction and other use ...

. Subsequent cuts are made using the surface of the previous cut as the guide. The kerf of a chainsaw cut is wide, relative to the kerf of a bandsaw mill or circular saw. This is no problem when cutting a single beam or large timber from a log, but would represent significant waste if used to saw many thin boards. Alaskan mills are relatively cheap to purchase compared to other types of

portable sawmill Portable sawmills are sawmills small enough to be moved easily and set up in the field. They have existed for over 100 years but grew in popularity in the United States starting in the 1970s, when the 1973 oil crisis and the back-to-the-land moveme ...

and are the most portable type of powered sawmill. They are therefore popular with hobbyist woodworkers who have access to felled timber. Logosol is a Swedish based international company, they started making chainsaw mills in 1989. They currently offer several models of chainsaw mills. F2 sawmill, F2+ sawmill, Timberjig and Big Mill Wide Slabber.

References

External links

Youtube video
showing a big chainsaw being used in a chainsaw mill to cut a fallen walnut tree into boards. {{Forestry tools, state=collapsed Chainsaws Woodworking tools Timber preparation Sawmill technology

Description

See also

References

External links