Thread: back to grass roots milling.

Woud that CS mill that you've got there be safer than a lucas mill? Nice logs too by the way!!!

not with that bar in it it only sticks out 400mm with no gards.

neither are dangerous.

jsut like chainsaws the machine is verry safe its the operator thats dangerous.

Running the Husky in now I see Carl

yer

i decided to keep it.

wish i hadnt now thow.

Why?

its a POS.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

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it wasnt taht bad really i got more dusty and snifed soem 2 strok fumes but it wasnt hard or slow.

That's a problem with modern saws with forward pointing exhausts. The exhaust bounces off the log (particularly when milling the top half of the log) and ricochets up towards the operator. The crap coming out of the exhaust also turns my chaps black. Saws like the 076 with their back and down pointing exhausts are much better.

With a modern saw one solution to this is adding a down and back pointing pipe then you don't have the sawdust falling into your boots or have to walk in or on top of the sawdust either. By the time you mill a significant size log I find I am walking on 6"+ of sawdust

Like this - that pipe really blows that sawdust well out of the way.
Attachment 109102
I milled this whole log and I was never walking on more than 2" of saw dust.

When you have to fall timber with the 076 thats when the exhaust becomes a real pain, for in commercial logging you have to cut really close to ground level for maximum log volume & the fumes, dirt & dust surround you, not so bad if there is a breeze but with still air in a gully or heavy undergrowth you have got to hold your breath for a long time or have a break between cuts
regards inter

Originally Posted by InterTD6

When you have to fall timber with the 076 thats when the exhaust becomes a real pain, for in commercial logging you have to cut really close to ground level for maximum log volume & the fumes, dirt & dust surround you, not so bad if there is a breeze but with still air in a gully or heavy undergrowth you have got to hold your breath for a long time or have a break between cuts
regards inter

Yep I agree the 076 is not a good falling saw for close to the ground especially in dusty conditions but it is a good design for a milling saw. For milling I like the pipe on my 880 the best.
If I'm working in a gully or heavy undergrowth or in still air I find it doesn't matter where the exhaust comes out, it just seems to fills the space I'm in.

Carl,

Can you tell me how you mounted the timber rails to the log in the photo?
I cant quite work it out


Steve

You are right about not using the Lucas for this one - the slabbing bar creates so much force as it pulls through the log and with it being braced back to the rails and not the log, the logs would have been hard to keep still.

The biggest log for what Carl mentioned would have been up to 80kg, not much to keep it still while the slabbing chain ripped through her from a Lucas.

Good on ya Carl

Originally Posted by Sigidi

You are right about not using the Lucas for this one - the slabbing bar creates so much force as it pulls through the log and with it being braced back to the rails and not the log, the logs would have been hard to keep still.

The biggest log for what Carl mentioned would have been up to 80kg, not much to keep it still while the slabbing chain ripped through her from a Lucas.

I realize there are other issues with slabbing small logs with a lucas (eg bigger kerf) but I've seen a Lucas slabbing small logs using a U shaped wooden frame fixed to a heavy wooden base?

Yeah Bob that'd work, I tend to use my iron bar on the exit side of the log to hold it in place while slabbing smaller logs, I just dig it in the ground a bit and hold the top of the bar.

Personally, I don't know how you guys do chainsaw milling with.........chainsaws? (FC, I must be too lazy, LOL) I'd still use my Lucas, but you know me - I love my Lucas!!

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Yeah Bob that'd work, I tend to use my iron bar on the exit side of the log to hold it in place while slabbing smaller logs, I just dig it in the ground a bit and hold the top of the bar.

Personally, I don't know how you guys do chainsaw milling with.........chainsaws? (FC, I must be too lazy, LOL) I'd still use my Lucas, but you know me - I love my Lucas!!

Sure I can understand why people like Lucases but CSMs have many advantages, especially for someone like me. In terms of practicalities, my house/block is so small I have nowhere to put a lucas. Along the same lines I can get my mills into places that a Lucas cannot go or would require using serious cranes, trucks or trailers. While I do use all that stuff when I mill at the milling yard I like to keep my operation as simple and as mobile as possible.

Unlike most of you I am also not milling for a living or side business - I'll leave that to young blokes like Carl, you and Burnsy. I'm also not interested in bulk production of timber. I already have access to way more timber than I will ever use during the rest of my life so I can't justify the cost of a Lucas. I can't even really justify the gear I currently own eg chainsaws etc. Most of what I will build/make using wood in the future will probably be with salvaged timber rather than what I mill. I'm milling for the fun of building and modifying CS mills (I'm basically an amateur tool maker) and the milling process, as much as I am to access the odd log, including big ones, and producing useable timber. I especially like the challenge associated with breaking up a big (50"+) diam log.

It horrifies people when I tell them this but I wouldn't be that upset if all the timber I ever milled was to suddenly vanish. I have enjoyed myself so much in producing the mills and the timber that I already have most of the satisfaction out of the process and experience. If I have time and I like the situation, and the look of the log, I have been known to mill for the cost of fuel/oil and beer.