Dual Motors on a Chainsaw Mill

You can connect two motors of different horsepowers to one chainsaw bar, but operating the contraption is tricky. May 16, 2008

Question
They say you need at least a 90cc saw for a mill. Would two saws that total 112cc (currently have Stihl 290's) work as good or close to as good as one big saw, or would you lose power hooking them together? Not looking to run it often, just to get it to a size I could saw on a bandsaw. Sawing white oak.

Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From contributor J:
I would prefer to use one large saw rather than two smaller ones, but that's just based on my experience. Better yet, hire someone with a bandmill - then you get the job done and all it costs is money.

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From the original questioner:
I have a bandmill. The tree is over 6', though. 4' wide would be about the thickest I would have to saw with chainsaw mill, a couple cuts then flip it, a couple cuts, then I could split the middle in half, I think. I know the saw should be bigger, but I'm hoping to work with what I already have. And two 290's would have a total of 112cc, 6.9cu.in., but I am not sure if you lose a percent of the power when you combine two motors.

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From contributor D:
Big question is, how good is your help? Milling with two powerheads requires good communication between the people running them! Practice on a couple of less valuable logs. The biggest difference I have found is that one saw pulls the chain through the cut, and the other pulls the chain on the back side of the bar. This makes it harder to get a straight cut. Make sure both saws are fueled, to minimize the chance that one will stall in the middle of a cut and be driven by the other.

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From contributor B:
The use of two saws on a bar seems to make the saw run more balanced in my opinion. The saw should enter the wood with the pulling head running and the second operator should power up after the bar is fully embedded in the log. Exiting the log much the same way, the pushing saw powers down just before finishing the cut and the pulling saw finishes the cut. Using this method we have run as different horsepower saws as an 036 and an 088 Stihl. More power is always better with cs milling.