Portable Chainsaw Mill Planking Milling From 14" to 24" Guide Bar Wood Lumber Cutting Sawmill Aluminum Steel Chainsaw Mills for Builders and Woodworkers (14"-24")

Ok. I was kind of skeptical making this purchase. Seemed kinda dangerous and definitely had the potential to nasty up my appendages. Make sure everything is tight before you run this thing, but not too tight at the tip of your bar. If you have to ask why, familiarize yourself with how a chainsaw bar functions. All that being said, This chainsaw mill is hittin about a 9.5 on the ol’ swank-o-meter. I cut a 2.5” x 3.5’ slab of Missouri walnut with no issues. Everything held together, didn’t rattle loose, and I didn’t die. All stainless steel nuts and bolts, so use some form of liquid lock. Instruction game was kinda weak, but nothing I couldn’t figure out on my own. Came with a Plexiglass guard, which became a plexiglass spare part. I say... if you want to cut small/medium sized slabs, this product will get you there quick. This purchase is JDS approved!!!

This tool does the job it says it will, and it does it well. But, to get the most out of the tool, there are some things you'll need to know/add. First, you need to invest in a ripping chain for your saw. The chain that comes with your saw is designed to cut wood crossways, not with the grain. Not all saws have ripping chains available (mine doesn't). I can cut, but it is SLOW! Second, you'll want to purchase/make a winch to draw the tool through the work. Trying to push it by hand is hard work and very difficult to keep the tool flat, resulting in uneven cuts and more planing needed. I made a hand-crank winch with a couple of pulleys and wire cable for about $20. Third, you'll need to purchase/make a set of rails for the tool to ride on to make the initial cut on each log. I made one out of 2x4s for a few $. Several useful videos showing use of winch and rails are available on YouTube.

This thing is well built and once your saw is mounted in it and everything tight, it is smooth cutting. Probably important to have enough horsepower to cut whatever you are cutting. I think my saw is on the edge and can imagine with a bit more power would make cutting easier. These can be long cuts. I did find the guide getting hot as I think my exhaust was blowing on the mill. Do make sure everything is tight - I found out the hard way when one clamp holding the bar came loose during a cut. One negative is the rubber handle grip. Useless as it slides right off and actually probably a bit dangerous if you are imagining a sturdy grip there and try to pick up the whole thing by that handle with your saw running. I actually found myself pushing the saw with the upright that adjusts the depth of cut as it gave me better leverage. I will probably just wrap the handgrip in a bunch of duct tape or something to make it more grippy. Great fun tool!

AssemblyI will begin with the assembly instructions. As noted in other reviews they are dismal! I would recommend simply printing out the picture that shows the assembled unit at a 3/4 view. I found this to be very helpful and made the assembly process very easy. Do not let the extruded rail extend beyond the cast piece on the saw end. This could interfere with the chain brake. The fasteners are all 8 mm and a nicely worn 1/2 inch will work well on them. The fact that there are few things on this planet that vibrate more than a chainsaw led me to question why there were no lock washers! This would prove to be an issue later during use. I would highly recommend installing a small hand winch as this improves the cut and reduces the dramatically physical labor involved. I did this easily by purchasing a small piece of aluminum angle at the hardware store and securing it with two 5/16 carnage bolts (they work just fine in the rail slots). The winch was bolted to that so that the pulling force was applied to both rails.The guide rails.My original plan was to use some electrical tie bar but at $20 a piece that proved to be too expensive. Instead I built what looked a lot like a ladder out of some fairly straight two by fours. Then I welded two small pieces of angle iron to a piece of flat bar. The flat bar was lag bolted into the log and the ladder assembly set into that bracket. It was lag bolted to the bracket on both ends of the log. It was easy to level up and a small impact driver made quick work of that task. Actually this worked surprisingly well for establishing the first cut (if this does not make sense there are lots of uTube videos).OperationAfter renting the biggest chainsaw I could find I began cutting. Bear in mind that the log I had was every bit of 32 inches and this was going to fully test the capacity of this device. The first cut went very well with the mill moving down the rail system aided by the little boat winch. Do not forget to install some wooden wedges as you progress through the log, this will prevent the upper piece from pinching the saw. I was very pleased and god a nice looking cut, life was good !After removing the rail guide I began my second cut. This is where the problems began! All of a sudden the chip size got very small, progress ground to a crawl. Not wanting to stop in the middle I soldered on. Once through the cut I inspected the Mill. I was disappointed of find that one of the u bolts that set the saw distance had backed off and the saw was no longer running parallel to the first cut. This put the saw in a bind possibly damaging the bar! I carefully readjusted the saw installed the rails (I would need to true the cut) and tried again. As we began I noticed right away that we were once again having problems. This is the point where my dream of becoming a Lumber Barron began to fade.Recommendations.Print the 3/4 view picture for assembly, it will be well worth the effort.Unless you are man mountain Dean install a winch.Cut some spacer blocks for adjusting saw height.Constantly check fasteners since they will loosen.If you rent a saw be sure to get the damage insurance.

Went together pretty easily. Instructions were ok, but it isn’t like assembling a nuclear powered time machine... If you’re the slightest bit mechanically inclined, it’s a breeze. Worked great; cut a small log into a couple thick 3” slabs using a Husquavarna 455 rancher and an Oregon cross-cut chain. Pretty slow going, but it worked well. I was a little nervous to purchase this instead of the Granberg, but I’m quite happy with the purchase and the end result.

After assembly the mill looks like a fairly decent mill, with minor exceptions. Inboard and outboard cross bars are cast aluminum, not milled stock. The depth of cut indentations on the upright post are really deep and should last a long time. Quality control may want to be more involved...as the center extruded aluminum bar was 3mm too long to fit between the long rails and required cutting. There were no part #2 11mm long hex nuts, all nuts were non-locking13mm nuts. Part # 11, 13mm hex nuts were not ‘self locking’. There also was no part #21 open end 11mm/13mm spanner...but there was a chainsaw type double ended screwdriver wrench.

I got this because I have lots of trees down and I wanted to try milling some rather than just cutting them all up for firewood. It wasn't bad to put together, although the instructions were not the best. I referred to the picture on the box a couple times.

Wood working!!