I've had an Alaskan Mill for over 15 years and have milled several thousand board feet with it. It's a younger man's game, though, and was one reason I bought a bandsaw mill last year. I even thought about selling my big chainsaw and mill recently, but then I got a call from a guy who asked if I could cut two slabs out of the butt log of this black walnut tree. In return, he would give me the rest of the tree.
The base is 36" in diameter, more or less, and tapers to about 32" at the other end of the 5-1/2 ft length. My Alaskan Mill can only cut about 26" in the size I bought, but I have a 42" bar for the saw, so all I needed to do was increase the length of the mill. OK, I'm in.
Rather than buy longer rails from Granberg, I bought some 80/20 stock and adapted them to fit, along with a 7/8" steel tube for the top cross bar. I bought 72" long sections so the Alaskan Mill looks gynormous now. The outboard end is set for my 42" bar so you can see it has plenty of room to grow.
With everything set I went over to the guy's place on Saturday. He has a tractor and bucket and was able to roll the log to what looked like a good position, where we blocked it steady. I use a section of extension ladder to guide the first cut. A couple of pieces of wood are cut to fit between the rails of the ladder and are screwed to the log to hold it stable.
After the log is "opened up" the mill rides directly on the prior cut surface. We removed the first piece and found this:
I made 3 more cuts at 2-1/4".
Ants were living inside and things got a little lively as they came running out when I cut through their living quarters. The owner was very happy with the slabs we made, and I was happy to carry home the rest of the wood. I had to make 3 trips to stay with the load limit of my trailer, but it was well worth it.
The bandsaw mill is far easier to use and more productive, but for high value logs that are too large for it it's nice to have an alternative. I think I'll keep the Alaskan Mill; might even think about getting a 60" bar.
John