Does any one else in here mill with a Granberg Alaskan III?
I built a nice little crank for mine to rreduce hand fatigue, out of my boat winch
I met a gin soaked barroom queen in Memphis, She tried to take me up stairs for a ride!
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Back in the mid '80's I watched Will Malloff use a boat winch to pull his 2-headed mill through a large walnut log in Utah. Pretty impressive. Had every intention of owning one when we got to Va, until I saw a bandmill in operation.
A friend here bought an Alaskan recently and a Stihl 880 to go with it. He's tried several rip chains, none of which give the chips I'd like to see, but he so far won't let me play with the chain. What did annoy him was discovering that I had Malloff's book (out of print) after he sprung for $100 for a used copy. He doesn't quite have the shoulder to get that 880 going so it's only been used on my logs to date.
I've done quite a bit of sawing with one or another bandmills. Chainsaw gives great lumber, but sure is slow. On the plus side, I can now mill as long a timber as I have a tree. 30,40,50', no problem. Moving it gets interesting.
My only interest is sawing for myself, so springing for a bandmill has so far not happened. Have a lowball offer in on a decent circular mill here. Cat power. Guy's down to $4500 but I'm still waiting. Don't know much about them but am good friends with the old farmer who set it up for the (deceased) owner.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
yes i've had one for about 4-5 yrs now , used mainly for log cabin work or timber frame repair. First bought it for a barn repair job , needed a top plate 6x8x 40' and none of the mills could do forty ft long anything, so we felled a poplar and made the TP right on site. Not much on making lumber tho , too much kerf. But it's more than paid for itself ($150) ,use it with a 415 poulan. the yellow one not the green ones in lowes or HD. world of difference between the two. good luck with yours ! Bill D. Quality Woodchips