Alaskan MK III Portable Lumber Mill, Model# G776-36
4.9
5
11
11
Cool unit
I bought this device along with a stihl magnum 460 with a 36" bar to mill a huge oak tree(72" butt) felled in Isabelle in 2003. It's a lot of work,but the results are impressive. I used the same setup to mill a pecan felled by Irene last year and the eguipment still performs well. The engineering and execution of the mill exhibit well thought out ideas refined to a great degree.
April 23, 2013
Wood Out There
I bought this mill from NORTHERN TOOL a little less than a year ago. I admit I had had my eye on it for some time, hearing nothing but good about this mill from many people . Making my living by the use of wood, in homebuilding,remodalling,cabinet-making, any kind of custom work from railings to furnature gave this mill much appeal to me.
Needing some spalted birch for a special project and having the spalted birch logs in my possession gave me the excuse I needed to order the mill. Whow, was it easy to use!!
I didn't even need to use a top guide board to start as suggested, I simply took a drawknife and scrub plane and smoothed off a flat surface across the top of the log just a few inches wide for the top guide bar to ride on, made the first cut a little thicker to compensate for the thin start so my finish board would be wide on both sides and thick enough for the size I was after when I ran it thru the planer.
I set the thickness of the cuts with the mill about 1/4" to 1/2" thicker than what I wanted my finish thickness to be, than ran them thru the planer to my finish thickness size. I suggest cutting your board at least 1/2" thicker at first until you get the hang of balancing the mill with the saw in it with it running and cutting. One can get a little drift at first until use to the milling process that the planer can easily take out. The finish boards looked just like grade A lumber. And I had a product for my client that was not only custom made but unique in the fact that we had used our own trees to get special made railing parts among other things which left the client with a good story to tell about Her project.
I feel one important thing to mention is that one does not need huge long logs to make this mill useful. Everywhere I go now, I'm on the lookout for pieces of logs. Even 18" to 2' pieces about 7''-8" round are very usefull. Usefull for chair parts ,railing parts, almost anything one can think of, and there is nothing wrong with mixing kinds of wood on a project, and boards can be glued together to make wider boards, so size of log is not always that important for use.
There is wood everywhere when one's eyes are open to it. There is wind blown down trees to harvest and dead trees. One of our cherry trees lost some huge branches in a wind storm, boy was I happy to get the cherry wood instead of being angry about the mishap. There are good scraps of logs on the forest floor and even at the dump. I even used the mill to resaw pieces of thicker lumber like old beam ends. Granite the boards are not cut near as smooth as a band saw would do, but the planer takes care of that quickly. Cutting a board perfect with the mill and chainsaw is not as important if one has a planer and cuts his initial boards a little thicker to make up for the beginners' learning process that seems to be in everything. But that will not be too big a problem here since it comes with good directions on use and getting started.The more you have used a chainsaw, the easier it will be to use. But still possible with no chainsaw experiance.
This is the best investment I've ever made. It already has more than paid for itself and the savings will help you buy a planer which gives you access to completly ready to use lumber.
As far as opperation is concerned, nothing could be easier. I have no suggestions to the company for improvements. IT JUST WORKS AND CREATES VALUE FOR YOU. The best advise I can give you is get the most powerfull chainsaw you can afford. That's the one thing that can make things easier. AND I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT BRAND I MEAN.
January 16, 2012
Portable Sawmill
This is a great way to make lumber if you have only a few logs and do not want to move them. In use it is simple and easy, but tedious. A chain saw is not really a ripping tool, so a ripping chain is really helpful, as is a sharpening jig on site as you use it. If the chain is not exactly set up right I will go through a tank of gas on my saw before I make a single slab cut on a moderate sized log.
It is light, safe, accurate, and easy to use. Reccommended for casual milling or remote work.
January 16, 2012
Portability
Very simple, very effective design. What I like most about this milling system is its extreme portability. There is nowhere this thing can't go. I recently got some slabs from an island. With my 32" bar I can rip logs up to 25" dia. Love it.
January 9, 2012
QUALITY & EASY
I CAN CERTAINLY ENDORSE THIS PRODUCT BECAUSE OF ITS QUALITY MATERIAL AND EASE OF OPERATION. ALSO MADE IN THE USA!
June 1, 2010
great tool
easy to set up and makes short work of most logs. material is durable and light weight.
February 23, 2010
sawmill works good on pine
very adjustable, works good on pine slabs, works very good on stihl MS390
February 19, 2010
Great product!
I've used this mill with my Husqvarna 2100 chainsaw with great results. The mill is great and it produces lumber in any length you want. It also can produce tapered boards for siding. I have used it to cut approx. 3000 board feet of lumber for my home and other various projects, including some built in bookshelves made from a 36" dia. curly maple tree. I would recommend it to anyone.
November 2, 2009
saw mill
I first used the alaskan MKIII portable lumber mill in 1982 to slab some beautiful
black walnut now my house is full of coffee tables and bar tops I have received many compliments on there looks. since then I purchased another mill and cut enough pine off my property to build a wood shed and many other things I slabed
enough oak from My firewood logs to trim My house everyone is amazed when i tell
them how I did it.
This mill has paid for itself many times over and I'm not done yet.
December 2, 2008
The Ultimate Portable Saw Mill
I've been using this saw mill for over 10 years and have yet to find a better product for the relatively small amount of lumber I need to make (less than 500 bd ft / yr). Simple, rugged, and gets the job done.
April 21, 2008
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