This study presents an experimental method for detecting and avoiding chatter vibrations that occur during general milling processes. The main idea is to capture the so-called dominant spectral properties from the transient vibrations of the milling process, which gives a good approximation for its dynamical behavior and provides a quantitative measure of stability. To induce transient vibration, the machining process is momentarily interrupted. Therefore, the method offers the possibility that the stability limit can be forecasted by extrapolation from stable and accurate measurement points without reaching harmful vibration on the machine tool. We present laboratory tests with momentary interrupted straight tool path to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method.