Blanks

[Tom Bucanan]

Does anyone use a Timberking Chiansaw mill to cut turning blanks? I would like to get one to slab longs, but would it be efficient to cut turning blanks then from the wide slaps? (It can cut up to a 11" slab)

[Nathan Hawkes]

I'm not familiar with the timberking mill, but I use a granberg Alaskan mill, as well as a small chainsaw engine powered bandsaw mill that operates much like an alaskan, called a Ripsaw. It makes great lumber, but is a lot of work. An 11" wide cut certainly isn't very wide, but depending on the swing of your lathe, it might not matter. It's easy to cut turning blanks from the slabs provided you have a woodcutting (vertical) bandsaw in your shop, or you can cut the initial large corner pieces off your blank with a chainsaw to get it a little more round... I like using the chainsaw mill b/c I can carry it to where I could never get a regular mill, and can cut large slabs with it. I have a big saw, but with an 11" cut, you can get away with a much smaller chainsaw. Have you used it before?? There are a couple pointers that might help if not. PM me if you'd like.

[Tom Bucanan]

I was also looking at the Alaskan. Seems like a great machine and I think it would be awesome if I could cut slabs and then cut them into blanks on my bandsaw. Do you recommend that machine? Is it worth it to cut the slabs rather than storing logs and cutting blanks directly from the log?

[Rich Souchek]

Tom,
Gotta laugh, because you're heading into a bunch of trouble without knowing it. Call me, and if it is dry this weekend, we can meet at an old pecan orchrid over by Sugarland (not far from me) where we can cut pecan branches and trunks from 1" to over 6' in diameter.
Got 2 chainsaws, biggest has a too long 27" bar, and we can put them to work and you can decied what you want.
My experience is the mill wouldn't really help me, but each of us has different likes.
The best information on chain saw mils is the chainsaw mill section on the arboristsite (com) It has all sorts of info. There is a thread about pecan trees in Houston that I started about the orchrid mentioned above. (Username is Narwhale.)
Guy by the name of aggiewoodbucher lives up in Hockley (out 290) and has a thread about chainsaw mill cutting some of the pecan out of this orchrid. The pictures look great and can give you an idea of what's involved.
Rich S.