Chainsaw Mill vs Bandsaw Mill – Which is Right for You?
Hey it's Brock here with Rock Hill Farms And if you follow this channel you know That I've been accumulating saw logs and Rough cut Lumber that we've milled Now I don't own a Band Saw Mill so a lot Of that Lumber I've been taking to other People who own a Mill and getting it Milled there and I've learned a lot About Milling I've got to run a few Different types of sawmills And I've also been using a chainsaw Mill Here on our property to Mill up a few of The logs and believe it or not there's Actually some advantages and some Instances where a chainsaw Mill can be Better than a bandsaw mill so tomorrow's Video is going to show me Milling this Log up with the chainsaw Mill today's Video is about the pros and the cons Between A Band Saw Mill a chainsaw Mill and even Like the Swing Blade Mills so first Thing I want to do is get this up into The shop and then we'll get the chainsaw Mill set up and kind of go through Everything So I've got the log in here and I just Took some measurements it's 29 inches at The wide end 27 on the other end and 9 Feet long That's a pretty good size log but the Truth is Pretty much all the logs I come across Are at least that big
The two sitting next to it were this About the same size and the Hackberry That was on down was close to 40 inches On the wide end And thinking about the size of logs that I come across is one of the reasons that Even if I get a bandsaw mill I will Probably continue to have and use a Chainsaw Mill So in my previous videos using a Chainsaw Mill I was repeatedly getting The same comments that led me to make This video those comments are that's too Slow what a waste of time get a real Meal All that sort of thing and I think those People might be missing some of the Thought process that goes into You know actually using this so let's go Through it First of all in an ideal scenario I Would love to have a sawmill like Nathan From Out of the Woods has The problem is that's like a seventy Thousand dollar sawmill And to justify a mill like that you've Got to be processing a lot of lumber and Earning a living from it basically it's Kind of a funny conversation and it Reminds me of every time I do a stump Removal video someone says you should Use a mini excavator well I already have A tractor backhoe and it's not as fast As a mini excavator but it will get this
Out without me spending any more money Now if I remove stumps all day every day Or I had a dozen of them that needed out This weekend it would make sense to rent A machine but for one tree stump I'm Going to use what I have And it's the same kind of conversation With the Sawmill at some point you've Got to justify what you're spending on It by the volume of Logs you're going to process So I've been so tempted and I've almost Pulled the trigger a couple times I've Called companies ready to place an order And changed my mind and what it comes Down to Is I can easily talk myself into Spending twenty five hundred dollars for Your lowest cost entry-level bandsaw Mill and I get all excited about the Idea of having one and almost talk Myself into buying it and then I'm I'm Going through and looking at all the Information and see that it can only Handle a 23 inch diameter log with a 21 Inch Max cut width I think what when was the last time I Had a 20 inch log that I wanted to Mill I mean I would come across them some of The stuff I use for firewood I could Turn into saw logs but what would I do With these I'd have to turn these into Saw logs or I'd have to continue using The chainsaw Mill
And I don't want to spend 2500 to 3 000 on a mill that doesn't Mill the type of logs I come across the Most often And I can't spend seventy thousand Dollars on a mill So The products I would be looking at that Would handle a wider log but not be Fancy enough or have all the added Features that you might want That drive up the price It's possible to get a mill like that Maybe six thousand probably closer to Ten to twelve thousand you're going to Be able to get a sawmill that can handle These big logs It's a pretty major investment now I've Actually been Milling quite a bit of Lumber by taking logs to other people And things like that But I don't know if it's twelve thousand Dollars worth and I've I've got so much Money and equipment That it's really tempting to just Continue to use what I have so now let's Talk about pros and cons between A Band Saw Mill and a chainsaw mill then Let's talk about your cost and getting Into a chainsaw Mill setup So obvious advantages for the bandsaw Mill It's faster It's more precise
It's going to give you a cleaner cut It's less manual labor And there is less waste from the saw Kerf Disadvantages or Will say it as advantages for the Chainsaw Mill you can get set up much More cost effective The other things that people may not be Factoring in is a chainsaw Mill Is highly portable so that means if I Get a phone call someone says hey I had This massive tree fall down and I I Don't need it you know would you do you Want it or even whether they're trying To sell it to you or whatever the case Is I can take this just set it in the truck And go to the log rather than having to Have a way to lift and and transport This log that might weigh 5000 pounds So the ability to take your Mill to the Project On a whole nother level even then the Bandsaw Mills that are built onto a Trailer and that sort of thing the Ability to take this to the project is a Big Advantage the next thing as I've Already talked about is that while still Remaining cost effective you can Mill Much wider Lumber so there are some guys Who are real pros at milling and Slabbing and they might be doing five And six foot wide slabs and for those
You either have a really high-end Sawmill or you're using a chainsaw Mill And those guys are running an 881 Not a 500i and that's an expensive Chainsaw but still nothing compared to The mill So there are real advantages to this That would make you choose it So what does it cost to get set up with One so if you have a nice homeowner Grade saw like a 261 Or a 362 or something in that range Then you can run a shorter bar and for Less than 200 I think you can pick up an Inexpensive chainsaw Mill and start Milling Lumber with the saw you already Have now ideally you're also going to Buy a ripping chain and a special bar But those are not required at all and The truth is I'm not crazy about using Them in my experience the ripping chain Does give you a smoother finish cut but It also Cuts much slower And I figure I'm going to be running it Through the plane anyway and those Chains are different to sharpen because They have a different angle on them and I prefer to just continue using my Regular cross cut chains So In that scenario if you already have a Nice chainsaw You can get set up for under two hundred Dollars
And you can be Sawing Lumber tomorrow that reminds me Of another advantage to the chainsaw Mill is storage I mean this is my Chainsaw Mill It hangs on the wall down in my Equipment shed and takes up essentially No space at all whereas if you buy a Bandsaw mill you now have to dedicate a Spot for it you gotta level out a pad And you know clean up the under the mill And everything so there's a lot more of A Time investment in that middle setup Whereas this Doesn't take up any space and doesn't Require much setup but I've been Operating off the premise that you might Want to handle wider material with your Chainsaw Mill and in that case you're Going to need a minimum Of a 70 to 80 cc chainsaw and maybe Bigger than that this is the steel 500i It's a 79 CC chainsaw fuel injected and I paid a thousand seventy dollars or Something like that obviously there was Tax and then I bought chains and stuff But I think the sticker price was like a Thousand seventy dollars now this same Chainsaw year and a half later is Fifteen hundred dollars crazy inflation On all equipment and that definitely Applies to chainsaws but if you don't Have a bigger chainsaw and you need to Buy the saw you are going to spend quite
A bit on a chainsaw that's big enough to Handle it and honestly if I was buying a Chainsaw with the primary purpose of Milling Lumber I would get at least a 661. And I think those are running around Twenty one hundred dollars don't quote Me on that but I think they're I think They're in that price range so your cost To get started in this is completely Dependent on whether or not you already Have a good saw to use because Your last console Mills are going to Cost between 100 and 300 I'll put links In the video description to the two Mills I use and tomorrow I'm gonna work that log up and I hope You come back and check that out now Most of the Chainsaw Milling I've done I Just worked straight down it and just Slabbed it with the Live Edge and that's Not my plan for tomorrow tomorrow I'm Going to try to do this The right way which will be more Challenging that is to square off all Four sides and get a cant and make true Dimensional Lumber and go through the Process the same way you will with the Bandsaw mill and I expect that to be a Lot of work And I'll find out if it's worth it or Not so come back and check that video Out I appreciate you taking time to Watch this video I'll put links to more
Of our videos on the screen and I'll see You next time
