Watch this BEFORE buying a chainsaw mill.

I started using all neo tech saws they work just fine and when ya blow one up it’s no bif deal, you can buy one cheaper than the repairs

Exhaust into my face? Say no more

my friend put a longer bar on a electric chainsaw. 1 1/2 horsepower doesn't even get hot. he runs off an inverter with solar panels and batteries. calls it his solar powered chainsaw Mill

i’ve felled and cut up many a tree. a chainsaw mill has such a big kerf it isn’t worth it.

All I needed to know to get started on a nice red oak that fell on my property. Will likely rent my equipment.

im getting the 660 clone and the milling assembly because yarding logs without a tractor is pretty much impossible and often times illegal. chainsaw mill gets you into the mix without the heavy equipment

The reason why 'dimensional' lumber is smaller is that it is cut green to the nominal size, then kiln dried (which reduces the size by a small amount) and the dressed on 4 faces. In order not to have every board being a different size (shrinkage might be different on each board), they are all milled to the 'standard' dimensional sizes.

How about a Sthil 500i? I have a husky 562 that may work for smaller boards. I have lodgepole pine and blue spruce. Few are over 24" Wish I still had my extension ladder, it melted in a fire.

Great tip regarding the ladder! Thanks for sharing.

👍👍Always with you. Thanks alot.

Making my own live edge counters for the entire house.
661 and a cheapie china mill from ebay( get the exact clone of the granberg, and upgrade hardware to thicker washers and tall nuts all around.
I’ve owned a the real one and now this and see no downside to the cheaper mill. It’s a simple device the reliability is in the design itself. Just look over the materials used because they do vary

got me an 880ms... HEAVY!!!!

Note that an respirator will not stop the CO2 from getting to you. Hemoglobin binds carbon monoxide 200-300 times more than oxygen. Stay safe :)

Close call. Not what I thought. Thanks dude.

I always wonder about the chainsaw engines getting tilted by 90 degrees during the milling process.

How does that negatively affect the internal lubrication, and the chainsaws' lifetime?
You would think they should be used in upright position or getting returned to that position during use. Just like you wouldn't want to drop your motorbike and leave the engine running idle in that position....

So how is a chainsaw engine coping with this?

I don't do any milling, I just enjoy the videos. 😊
From Germany

Some excellent knowledge & advice.
Thanks from here in the UK.

I have a China copy Stihl 660 90cc chainsaw ($350). Replace the piston & top w/ hi. qual. same ($120). Great saw at $470 when Stihl is $1800.

Best practice is to consider a 'chainsaw mill' as a slabbling mill only- use it at the landing for 'break of bulk'- and then air dry as 8"-14" posts for a season. It's marginally efficient enough for resawing those into 2" dimensional lumber, but for 1", always bandsaw. For big logs (over 20") they're a much better value than most bandmills, and I hate the problems small bandmills have with larger logs. For pure penny pinching goodness, my favorite use for them is in maximizing the value of those few firewood logs that show promise, even though they graded out of any sawlog category, not to mention roadside and sugarbush trees. My stove doesn't care if the wood is flat, and if I can pull some beautiful hardwood planks out 'for free', I've paid for the mill- as you said, you need a 'big' saw anyway! I use old Pioneer 650's with 30"+ bars to mill and buck big logs, and a small, light, modern, high rpm saw for woods work and limbing.

Most important thing this guy said in this viddia was letting the saw warm up before cutting and letting it cool off at idle between cuts, chainsaws are not designed to run wide open for that long at a time, think it, it’s like cutting up a 10-14 foot diameter tree.

very useful video man!
all useful thanks specially on the chainsaw cooldown...
The initial cost can be way lower. is better a good used chainsaw than a bad new one.. i found years ago a used husky 365 for 300$ and for the fir that i mill is fine.
A saw mill would be my dream but i will need some machinery to move the wood around.. so way more than 2.300$..
Thanks a lot very useful advice!

How long did you cure the lumber before you built with it? In the event that someone else already asked this questions, I did not read any of the comments. Great tutorial.

The 2 things most people screw up when trying to use a chainsaw mill is using an underpowered chainsaw and using a normal cross cut chain. You do it like this, your gonna have a bad time. and then they go online crying that the chainsaw mills "dont work".

Well said! Excellent video! Thank you! I am just getting into chainsaw milling at 64 years of age. It’s something I’ve always wanted and needed to do.

Thank you!

They have 58 ft boards at lowes

Great information. Thank you.

I use a 090AV and yes you let it idle - you also add extra oil - I run .404 chain sharpened at 90 degrees with the rakers set .040”. I only do hardwoods or very select softwood. If I need a 2x4 I go to a big box store

You talk too much and say nothing

2025 checking in. new 661 = $2,400

Light Chainsaw milling with 500i? Thoughts anyone?

It may be slow but it ain't as slow as my paychecks and mail orders coming in 😂 im happy with the setup i have both a portamill pm-14 and a zozen chain saw chainmill, going to start my wood working hobby as soon as the rest of my parts come in

Hi sir, i hopr your good, m'y name is Slimane, in your language its salaman ok, from Algeria exactly kabylia ok,you said in the therty seven second oak, ash, hichory, cherry etc,In addition to conifers, can you name as many trees as possible, thank you Mr.

Ok sir count a tree grows upwards. It is called negative geotropism so to have a straight negative geotropism, or at least a minimum inclination for the tree, we must condense the planting of trees in the forest, if you have any knowledge on this please explain to me again, hhhhh thank you young man

After cutting the tree trunks, the recovered boards, it undergoes cracks how will we treat the wood to avoid cracks, do we deceive it in water or in linseed oil ok sir thank you, thank you.

Awesome 😮

i watt to buy on but i hâve a 40v ryobi chainsaw do you guys thinks its ok ?

Keep your chain sharp

I'm going to try that's why looking at the video... first timer

This is great information and the barn you built is great. I don't know if you can help much more than you already have. I'm keeping this stuff in mind. I burned out my Ryobi circular because I didn't let it cool enough when cutting something difficult with enough patience.
I also am thinking about a strategy for using my household electric chain saw for hollowing out stuff precisely, repeatably, and most importantly safely. I took a three day ice carving course in culinary school and a carpenter hobbyist with less than 10,000 hours of lifetime woodworking experience. Edging near 10,000 by my estimate. I've felled Aspen in the back yard and dead trees when camping with chainsaws. But that's it.
I'm going to build a rig that drops the blade from above holding it in place and probably has magnets on beams either side of the thing the chain travels around for extra stability and I want it to work like a drill press with the saw, but like a jointer with being fixed and slowly moving material through it at the same time. I want to be able to choose one or both types of cuts.
I'm a safe person and not at all stupid. I've also watched a guy cut the tip off his finger with a kitchen knife back in culinary school. My knowledge of Foley artistry has colored my memory with the sound of breaking celery as the knife makes it through the bone. LoL 😂
Any advice or other thoughts? Trying to be funny.

I usually cut logs in the urban forest to sizes small enough to get out of the yard and bring back to my spot. It's so much better to mill logs that you get paid and get to keep.
😂
Great video.

Hey look at you Longest Board; thats pretty cool.

HELP - I have a 36" Granberg Alaskan Mill. My problem is the bar gets stuck after barely entering the wood? For the life of me I can't figure out how it's binding. It just won't budge - I wedge it, I twist it from side to side but it just gets to a point and won't make any further progress. I'm trying to mill about a 14" Cedar log and the chain is freshly sharpened. Any thoughts or advice on fixing this would be so welcome.

I've heard it's a good idea to increase your oil to fuel ratio when chainsaw milling, especially with older saws

Thank you sir

I run a professional tree service in Northern WI and I have had a G660 Holzfforma saw 95cc saw for 4 years using it pretty regular and have had zero issues with it. I had bought the 880 version last yr and replaced my old milling saw (jonsered 90cc) with it, I immediately swapped out the oil pump for a high output as i run a 72" bar on the mill for my bigger timber, I have a Norwood bandsaw mill that will cut up to 32" so anything above that I use the 880 chainsaw mill. I just recently bought a pair of Holz saws to have spares/additional saws available in the event the Tariffs jack the prices up to where it doesnt make sense to buy the clone over the Stihl. The 660 Holz is $350.00 from Wagners and shows up within a few days as Wagners is in the US. Unless the tariffs make it too pricey, i dont think id ever buy a name brand larger CC saw, as I can get 4-5 Holz saws for the same price as 1 Stihl or Husq saw. I do use Stihl and echo saws for my smaller than 90cc saws. Echo 2511T top handle, Stihl 200t, 261, 462, and 500i. But if someone is wanting to get into milling without spending thousands, I highly recommend going with a Holz version of the 660 or 880. Id buy the $20 HO oil pump, and jojn the Holzfforma community page on FB for tips and tricks with the saws, Ive seen other talk about receiving saws with loose bolts or screws, ive never had that issue but from my understanding is its probably a good idea to go and make sure everthing is tight if you do choose to buy one.

Neotec clone. An absolute POS! Buy the Stihl!!!

Great, great, great 👍

I've 100 m3 to saw. Do you think it is possible by 3 entire months of work using chainsawmill ?

Holz g090 works great as a mill saw. Drives a 36 inch no problem and actually oils a bit much. Could easily go up to 40, maybe 42 inches. A bunch of screws and nuts rattle off, but some threadlock fixes that. Otherwise, only upgrade I needed was a new clutch ... Original clutch would drive the chain under 1000rpm... Replaced it and I can actually idle the saw.


Starts up first pull, and I don't have to worry... If I ever burn it up... Top end is probably a sub 100$ replacement.

Weighs a ton is really the only drawback.

Thing puts my restored 1130g to shame for speed purely based on the higher fps at the chain. And I've got under $400 in the holz and over $1200 in the 1130. Only break the 1130 out for huge logs because I have a bigger bar for it...but if I had a 44 inch b&c for the 090, Id probably never need the 1130.

bandsaw vs chainsaw: You saw up a log where it lays with a chainsaw mill. With a bandsaw mill you have to have some big equipment to move the bucked log to the mill.