"Best Buy" Chainsaw Sawmill

"Best Buy" Chainsaw Sawmill WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Chain Saws 31-6-13 "I'm very pleased with my Alaskan Sawmill," says a reader named Harry of Altoona, Pennsylvania, who didn't want his last name used. "It's one of the few products I've bought that lives up to what the company said it would do." He built a hunting cabin using lumber he sawed himself. Harry learned about the Alaskan Sawmill after his neighbor cut down five large pine trees and planned to let them go to waste. The neighbor agreed to let Harry have them, so he pulled 32 10-ft. logs home. Some of the logs were 20 in. in diameter. Harry didn't quite know exactly what to do with them until he saw the Alaskan Mark III Portable Lumber Mill in a Northern Tool catalog for $140 plus shipping (www.northerntool.com). He bought the sawmill in April 2007. "I cut 2,500 ft. of lumber with it. I cut most of it in 1 and 1 1/4-in. boards and 2 by 4's," Harry says. "I used a Stihl MS290, which is not as big a saw as they recommended for it, but it worked fine. I liked the ease of operation. It was pure simple." The sawmill bolts onto the chainsaw with two bolts. After laying a couple of boards on the log to make the first cut to get a flat surface, nuts on the back of the sawmill are used to set the width of lumber. "It was very accurate," Harry says. "It's not a super fast process, but you just let the saw do the work." He adds that he purchased recommended ripping chains and had three of them sharpened a dozen times each. He also cleaned the saw and filters regularly. Harry says he will use the Alaskan Sawmill again when he has another opportunity to saw lumber. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alaskan Sawmill (ph 866 233-6499; www. granberg.com).

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