Can my DIY Chainsaw Mill Cut 20" Diameter Oak Logs?

Hi, I'm Mike with Wind Ridge Wood Crafts. Thanks for dropping by.

Contacts:
Email - [email protected]
Website - https://windridgewoodcrafts.com

I'm using my chainsaw mill to slab up a short log in this video. Here's the backstory to the chainsaw mill and the log I'm slabbing.

I posted a previous video showing my first cuts with this chainsaw mill, which uses Izzy Swan's plans. Since the first video, I've adjusted the chainsaw mounting plate to level the bar horizontally with the log and to keep the bar from angling up or down through the cut. I also replaced some #10 screws with 1/4-20 bolts to make the plate stiffer.

I'm milling a log from a pin oak tree, which is a red oak variant, that was felled in our yard a few months after we moved here in 2023. The tree was around 105 years old and was leaning about 20 degrees toward our house with our power lines in between. I asked the arborist to save some of the trunk if it was healthy enough to use for some woodworking projects. Turns out, the trunk was in good shape, so he was able to set aside about 30 feet of it in 6 foot chunks for me. Check the description for a short video of me cutting those in half and moving them from the front yard to our pole barn in the back.

I'm cutting the flitch off this log to create a flat surface for subsequent slabs. Ideally, after cutting this off, I would roll this log so the flat part was on bottom and start cutting from the top again. However, I ran into a large knot hole that needed to be avoided so I could use these slabs to create a walkway under a wooden arbor. Since folks will be walking on this, I need to avoid big physical defects.

I'll be quiet now and let you listen to the chainsaw doing its thing. Enjoy the rest of the video and ask any questions or leave any comments and I'll get back to you. Thanks for watching.