So, I’m out to make lemonade from lemons here gang…and I’d like your input. Hurricane Matthew left me with 20+ large oaks on the ground. By large I mean 15”-34” diameter trunks at the base with most in the +/-18” range. I do have a wood burning insert in my house that we use, but one guy can only cut & store so much firewood wood. The 4 trees that fell in my yard will prob give us enough firewood for the next 2 years and they are not included in the 20+ estimate above. My wife and I both like wood working projects and I’ve been considering having lots of these red/white oaks cut into boards for future projects. One thing that is definitely on the list is countertops for my kitchen! I have always wanted open face countertops and this would be the perfect way to get them…with wood off my own place.
Now, the how do we get there from here part! A portable sawmill would be really cool and provide some really nice square boards, but leaves a few challenges on the table with cost being the #1 factor. I can’t fine any used ones or ones for rent and don’t have $2-5K just sitting around to buy one for this limited amount of work. On top of that, a good number of these trees are in the forest and getting them out to cut and/or getting something to them to load them onto a portable sawmill would be waaay more work than cutting up the boards themselves. That leads me to the chainsaw mills. Granberg seems to have a good name and they make a few different kinds for different applications. Has anyone had any experience with them, and more specifically the G777 model? If so, how did it work? How rough of a cut and I looking at getting doing something like this with a ripping chain? I like that this gives me the opportunity to cut boards larger than my 20” bar by going down one side and back up the other and I can do it right where the tree is at and just take the boards out by hand, a few at the time. My concern with it is that since it only connects to the side of the bar closest to the motor, the other end of the bar would be able to flex in relationship to the mill frame giving me uneven board widths as I go and compounding the situation the deeper into the logs I cut. I have looked at their MKIII that connects to both ends of the bar and looked at buying a 28” bar and ripping chain from my Husqvarna 365. With that setup I could cut most of what I have, but that would leave me with a few big trees that I couldn’t cut. Again, not sure how smooth of a cut to expect with a setup like this. I’m guessing that once I cut the boards I would then have to find someone that could dry them for me? (Guess that’s more of a question than a statement since this is all new to me) The trees are not going anywhere so I don’t have to make a decision today, but I’m the kind of person that when I get my mind going on something like this it usually consumes me till I make a move to drop the idea and move on. Any assistance/guidance you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.
Now, the how do we get there from here part! A portable sawmill would be really cool and provide some really nice square boards, but leaves a few challenges on the table with cost being the #1 factor. I can’t fine any used ones or ones for rent and don’t have $2-5K just sitting around to buy one for this limited amount of work. On top of that, a good number of these trees are in the forest and getting them out to cut and/or getting something to them to load them onto a portable sawmill would be waaay more work than cutting up the boards themselves. That leads me to the chainsaw mills. Granberg seems to have a good name and they make a few different kinds for different applications. Has anyone had any experience with them, and more specifically the G777 model? If so, how did it work? How rough of a cut and I looking at getting doing something like this with a ripping chain? I like that this gives me the opportunity to cut boards larger than my 20” bar by going down one side and back up the other and I can do it right where the tree is at and just take the boards out by hand, a few at the time. My concern with it is that since it only connects to the side of the bar closest to the motor, the other end of the bar would be able to flex in relationship to the mill frame giving me uneven board widths as I go and compounding the situation the deeper into the logs I cut. I have looked at their MKIII that connects to both ends of the bar and looked at buying a 28” bar and ripping chain from my Husqvarna 365. With that setup I could cut most of what I have, but that would leave me with a few big trees that I couldn’t cut. Again, not sure how smooth of a cut to expect with a setup like this. I’m guessing that once I cut the boards I would then have to find someone that could dry them for me? (Guess that’s more of a question than a statement since this is all new to me) The trees are not going anywhere so I don’t have to make a decision today, but I’m the kind of person that when I get my mind going on something like this it usually consumes me till I make a move to drop the idea and move on. Any assistance/guidance you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.
