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! :D:

Here's how the machine is used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5y3dcrLq54

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!

Here's the concluding part of the video guide.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifEAX2u6KFg

Ok, here's the final results presented!

I used the HB sawmill to get the entirety of the beams done for the roof! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tA-w616Uio

Links no worky for me.

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Winning.

you just bought a $3000 saw mill to make your own lumber which you could buy for less than $1200.

It appears that he was able to use the sawmill for free.

Where did you get the $3,000 from Mr Pin?

I didn't pay a red cent for the sawmill but my good friend and neighbor did and he paid a little over a grand. Try buying one from Harbor Freight now and you're looking at $1600 to $2000 easy.

Here's what I had to pay:

Fuel for using it.

2x Sawblades (both of which are still in good condition and are there next time I need to use it :) )

Now to buy the lumber to my specifications would cost a pretty penny as the nearest city didn't have 6x6 only 4x4 2x6, 2x8 etc. I was able to saw the lumber to my specific needs (4x5, 5x5 etc). Also with 4x4 and 6x6 etc you don't get the exact inch but lose a 1/4 of an inch sometimes more! :)

Wish I had trees suitable for milling.

I would love to find someone near me with a sawmill like this.

I have a pole barn that the exterior walls all made from the scabs and some of the scabs need to be replaced.

There are small sawmill operations everywhere, and portable guys twice as many

Post an add on Craigslist and you will probably find a couple

I apologize, I missed the "borrowed from my neighbor" part.

it's no doubt that the ability to mill your own lumber is pretty unique, I'm sorry for taking away from that.

No worries Pins.

Will be getting this working again the future for either the floors or walls...

Look up the Woodmizer website.  There may be some owners not far from you that can supply the beams/boards, or even saw on your site if you have trees you can use
http://woodmizer.com/us/Services/Find-a-Local-Sawyer

There are other saw mill makers too, but I don't know if they have this sort of info on their website.


Right now I just have an Granberg alaskan saw mill and a stihl 066 with 36" bar.  It works well, but can be a lot of work.  Plus, compared to a band saw mill, four cuts with the chainsaw mill equals a lost board.  The kerf on the band saw mills is maybe 1/16".  There are a few that I see similar in size, that sell for about $2800, not counting shipping.  I hope to upgrade soon.

Boy are you in the wrong subforum.



Nice work OP. Have other similar projects planned?

There's an entertaining guy on youtube that goes by 'the samurai carpenter' who has an informative vid on these machines.

eta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtL4-M8hB9o

Hi Rich,

No video projects planned at the moment, although a couple of older ones I've mothballed may be worked into something all being well.