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Hi R.J., I once watched Will Malloff ("Chainsaw Lumbermaking" author) use his 2-headed mill and thought I'd set one up when I finally got my woodlot. Then I saw what a bandmill could do... A buddy of mine bought an Alaskan and a huge 990 Stihl power head to go with it. Unfortunately he doesn't have the shoulder to pull start it, so it's only been used here. I've got a lot of portable bandmill experience so was very interested. Generally I'll have 4-5 thousand bd ft of lumber on hand here. We tried every rip chain he could find. None cut worth a crap, producing dust not shavings. At my insistance he finally tried refiling toward a crosscut angle, cutting speed quadrupled. He also bought a bar guide, similar to a beam machine, but heavier, that I've used on my much smaller Stihl. Works very well with crosscut chain for ripping up to 4" thick lumber. Mostly we're cutting oaks, occasionally black locust. My take: chainsaw mills are great for your application, or where you want lumber longer than what a bandmill can conveniently produce. We've sawn 40 ft beams, for instance. I have no idea why our experience with rip chains was so poor. Only guess is that they didn't utilize the available power. Filing to crosscut angles, we came close to bandmill cutting speed. And of course there's a major cost difference. When cutting with his 990, we go through a lot of gas and bar oil. Your other choice would be to find someone with a bandmill willing to custom cut. If you have enough saw, or just want an excuse to buy one, a chainsaw mill will give you good lumber. My buddy spent $2k. I'm not.
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