The first thing I needed to do was create a flat reference surface on the log that could guide the first cut into the log. I found a nice piece of pressure treated that did the trick so I nailed it down, set the mill to a depth that would clear the nails I just drove in, sharpened my chain and got to it.
After a few minutes I was through my first cut so I shut down the saw and took a look at wood to see if it was as nice as I thought, and if i was going to make a second pass or just turn it into fire wood. As you can see from the photo it was rather nice, in fact it was even nicer than i expected! so I fired up the saw and kept cutting.
After 4 more passes I had the log milled and laying on the ground for inspection. It looks great and I stacked and stickered them at the shop to let them dry. I started in on some of the bigger logs in the pile after this first one was done. Unfortunately they did not have quite the same character, but were still nice enough to warrant milling. I milled it all to a fat 1 inch, more like 1 1/4 inch, and after they dry I might resaw them and make bookmatched panels for cabinet doors or just plane them down into some really great cutting boards. Either way the the Alaskan Chainsaw mill proved worthwhile and I hope to get some time to mill up the rest of the stack soon.
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