Freehand Chainsaw Milling

in this video i'm going to show you how to cut perfectly straight boards with a chainsaw without an alaskan sawmill or any other attachment it all starts with adding a level to the chainsaw so i got a cheap level on amazon just a few dollars and i screwed it into the top of the saw and i set the saw down on a level surface just to make sure the air bubble was right in the middle and if you look underneath the saw the right there the top of it you'll see the screws coming through but they're pretty snug and after using a few times i haven't had it come loose at all so it's working pretty well let's jump right into the action so i'm following the line of the string and i'm just going to be cutting out boards by free hand and as i'm making the first line using the end of the saw i'm watching the air bubbles in the level just to make sure that they're level [Music] and you'll see i'm following a string you can use a string a chalk line or really anything else that gives you a straight line so i tied the string onto little nails and i nailed the nail into the into the into the log there and once you get those first lines drawn you can just finish the cut if you see this board this is the first cut and this one is perfectly smooth it really is about as easy as it looks in the video it's not hard to get a straight and perfectly level board so here's a more detailed look at how i'm how i'm setting up the log so first underneath i added a couple wedges just to make sure the log wouldn't roll around and then depending on the size of the board i want to make i just use tape measure measure into two and a half inches and that's where i'm going to hammer the little nails that are attached to the stream one thing to consider after cutting each board is just make sure your log didn't go out of balance so sometimes when you take a few boards off of one log it can be a little heavy on one side and it can tend to rotate so if you secure the log well you should be fine but you can just recheck after each cut as for the saw i'm running a shindawa 59 cc with an 18 inch bar and a standard chain and this log is 15 inches at its thickest point so like the first board that i cut i'm just using the tip of the bar just to make a line and i'm going next to the string not too close to the string that i might catch it but just using the string as a reference point and this board is about two and a half inches thick [Music] and the first few inches of the cut are the most important because they set the the path of the bar for the rest of the board so as i'm going here i'm being very careful watching the bubble in the level to make sure it stays in the middle [Music] [Music] so so so [Music] so now so so [Applause] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] it's good to have the log raised off the ground about an inch or more because then when your bar goes through it doesn't go into the dirt and dull your chain [Music] um [Music] do when finishing a cut i don't want to pull the board apart i want it to just fall off naturally so i don't have any splintering in the wood [Music] so [Music] hmm and even though this is just a chainsaw this is a pretty smooth finish there really aren't too many marks from the chain because the cut was so straight and here's a look at the finished product [Music]

Channel: Carolina Mountain Living

Views: 93,055

Keywords: Chainsaw milling, Freehand chainsaw milling, Alaskan sawmill, Alaskan sawmilling, Chainsaw alaskan sawmill, Wood milling, Chainsaw level, Chainsawing, Freehand chainsaw

Id: 94UnLoJ5SZw

Length: 9min 31sec (571 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 23 2021