# Free wood milling with a chainsaw mill



## oldtoolsniper (Feb 21, 2017)

I heat my house with wood. I get calls all the time to get wood that is free as long as I drop it, cut it, and haul it. Sometimes I get a good one. This is a very large Elm. I usually slab out the wood if it looks like it's worth it. In this case since Elm is so difficult to split I want it for seat bottoms. Using tapers on the leg holes and legs makes for one tough joint. Since Elm is so difficult to split even when a larger person sits on the chair they are safe. It just drives the legs in tighter. 

Elms this size are hard to come by. 

Trees like this are why I built this log mill for my chainsaw. 






















This is a tree service dump lot a 1/2 mile from my house. It's all free for the taking. I find a lot of crotch wood in here as well as other goodies. 








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## Herb G (Feb 21, 2017)

Man, I wish they had something like that around here.
My wife wants some nice benches for out on the deck.


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## stonepecker (Feb 21, 2017)

great idea for slabbing with a chainsaw.
By chance is there plans of that design some where?

great looking wood.


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## D.Oliver (Feb 21, 2017)

I've read that in the olden days elm was preferred for floors, especially in barns .  The interlocking grain held up to the abuse of animal hooves and what not better than most other woods.  I've only used elm a little bit in turning, but I remember that it had a rather unpleasant smell.  Looks like you got a nice haul.


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## magpens (Feb 21, 2017)

What a haul !!!! . Can't begin to think of the pen blank potential !!!!


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## oldtoolsniper (Feb 21, 2017)

stonepecker said:


> great idea for slabbing with a chainsaw.
> By chance is there plans of that design some where?
> 
> great looking wood.





It looks way more complicated then it is. It's without safeties, but I'm running a 36" bar on this one so not much chance of the end getting me. 

I can shoot some pictures for you. Takes me about two hours to build one. I make them to fit the bar at hand. That makes them all different sizes so measurements don't really mean much. I'm running a Stihl 660 for slabbing. I have a 48" bar for my biggest one. 

I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow. I can talk you through any issues. I've make quite a few of them. I do not sell them. I'm not interested in the liability issues. 


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## oldtoolsniper (Feb 21, 2017)

magpens said:


> What a haul !!!! . Can't begin to think of the pen blank potential !!!!





What's in the truck is only half of the first 8' butt section. This tree trunk is yielding three 8' sections with only one crotch. That's in the next section and hopefully will have some good figure. 

It's to warm and the ground is to muddy now to finish. 

The bottom slab is 4" thick the rest are only 2" the bottom one is going to the bench pile. The rest is chair bottoms. 


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