Thread: saw chain millers please(Chainsaw & Slabbers)

Can't help ya with the techo stuff, Bob L won't be far away, but thats a great price on the 66, local sthil shop here had them on sale for $1995 month or 2 ago, looks like you pounced well, congrads, you will be impressed I'm sure

Originally Posted by itsposs

The cook has just let get a new REAL chainsaw shall have it soon a shiny 066 magnum $1699. Went into Bundy to get a 395xp and saw the Stihl special

Congrat's that is a really nice saw.

I vew been looking at accerories and stuff like Home Page

To help answer your questions it would be useful to know what size and type of timber you want to mill.

The mill on the lefthand side of the pantherpro site shows what is called a chain saw carriage mill. In general, unless these mills are mounted on trailer, they are more or less a fixed site operation and logs have to be moved to them. If they are mounted on a trailer, logs have to be lifted onto them. If they are located on the ground logs have to be rolled onto them. I haven't used one but I wouldn't like to be moving logs around all the time like that.

The other mill shown is a fixed length Alaskan design which IMHO are not as flexible as variable length designs.

If the alaskan type of mill interests you, think about getting a local product ie see Westford Chainsaw Mills

Now to the questions
How good is this stuff Stihl rapid duro carbide chainsaw chain and how will it work in a skip chain set up for slabbing ?

I don't have any direct experience but from the two people I know that use it, it does work well and definitely stays sharper for longer.
BUT aside from the expense some there are problems with it
It is more difficult to sharpen than regular chain and if you hit anything hard really the cutter tips are more brittle and can snap off more easily. Reshaping a broken carbide cutter is something best left to a pro carbide sharpening place. It's no problem leaving one cutter shorter than the others, but if 3 or 4 cutters are shorter successive cutters are shorter then the other cutters have to be shortened as well ie a PITA.

The reality is, for a whole lot of reasons you will need at least 2 or 3 (some CS millers use 5 of 6) chains for whatever length of bar you go milling with. Some people find it easier to swap chains rather than touch up in the field. For the price of one of these chains you can get a 100 ft roll of chain from sawchain and make up all teh loops of chain you need.

I went back through the forums and found out about sawchain he s got a great site going there then studied further trying to find about powering double saw bars any one running one of these for slabmilling ?.
And what would be the minimum power requirement for one say about 60"?

It depends what you are cutting. In soft woods two 50 cc saws would drive a 60" double ended bar. In Aussie hardwoods I would say two 70 cc saws would be a minimum but two 90 cc saw would shine. Power is not as much an issue for efficient slabbing as torque and chain speed.

Don't forget, as soon as you go double ended its either a carriage mill or two person alaskan operation. I prefer to be mobile and operate by myself.

yes some stihl dealers have good deals at the moment just brought a ms 880 for $1900 thats with stihl $200 cash back

Originally Posted by BobL

To help answer your questions it would be useful to know what size and type of timber you want to mill.

Most of the timber is 12-20" logs.But odd local jobs require more equipment then I can afford atm
iron bark, bloodwood (pink an red),bluegum,spottedgum(might keep for firewood),messmate, macadamia nut trees mango trees quite a few I dont know the names of and various pines. 4 1.8-2m cypresspines need to be done soonish or they will just chip em

Originally Posted by BobL

The reality is, for a whole lot of reasons you will need at least 2 or 3 (some CS millers use 5 of 6) chains for whatever length of bar you go milling with. Some people find it easier to swap chains rather than touch up in the field. For the price of one of these chains you can get a 100 ft roll of chain from sawchain and make up all teh loops of chain you need.

Saw has a 25" bar I dont know what to push it too that's why I am asking? other sites dont recomend any thing bigger.I dont know why?I ve just read the Carlton book on their chains but that doesnt help with chain selection only sharpening and matinence
What chain should I order and should I worry about Skip chain yet or wait for a bigger bar ?

Originally Posted by BobL

It depends what you are cutting. In soft woods two 50 cc saws would drive a 60" double ended bar. In Aussie hardwoods I would say two 70 cc saws would be a minimum but two 90 cc saw would shine. Power is not as much an issue for efficient slabbing as torque and chain speed.

Don't forget, as soon as you go double ended its either a carriage mill or two person alaskan operation. I prefer to be mobile and operate by myself.

I ll give this one a miss for abit and cut cants for a bit I thnk

good onya

i would put up to a 40" bar on a 660 for slabbing. it wont cut fast at that length but you can never have to bigger bar.

i would run single skip on it it makes a big diferance. make it up ya self dont buy it it works out mutch cheeper.

i would steer clear of the carbide chain if i were you i run it on my mortising saw (ms210) for making post and rail fences but it is a pita to sharpen at that size.

Originally Posted by tlbsg

yes some stihl dealers have good deals at the moment just brought a ms 880 for $1900 thats with stihl $200 cash back

Where from?

Originally Posted by weisyboy

good onyai would put up to a 40" bar on a 660 for slabbing. it wont cut fast at that length but you can never have to bigger bar.

i would run single skip on it it makes a big diferance. make it up ya self dont buy it it works out mutch cheeper.

i would steer clear of the carbide chain if i were you i run it on my mortising saw (ms210) for making post and rail fences but it is a pita to sharpen at that size.

What do you call single skip? Is it cut off every second cutter?

Originally Posted by torech

What do you call single skip? Is it cut off every second cutter?

If you cut off every second cutter... there will be no cutters on one side of your chain

but if you cut out every second 'set' (both left and right cutters) then you'll get a 'single skip chain', should be something like L,R,skip,skip,L,R,skip,skip,L,R, and so on

Originally Posted by Sigidi

If you cut off every second cutter... there will be no cutters on one side of your chain

but if you cut out every second 'set' (both left and right cutters) then you'll get a 'single skip chain', should be something like L,R,skip,skip,L,R,skip,skip,L,R, and so on

NO!!!!!!!

Allan is right if you remove every second you wil end up with -

L, _, L, _, L, _,L


if you leave 2 then remove 2 you end up with all leading teath on one side. witch will cause the chain to pull.

L, R, _, _, L, R, _, _, L, R, _, _,


you need to leave 2 and remove 1. so you end up with opposing leading teath.

L,R, _ , R,L, _, L,R, _ R,L

teh trick is to always remove an odd number of teath.

on my lucas i run 3 skip, L, R, _, _, _, R, L _, _, _, L,R, _, _, _,

clear as mud

Originally Posted by Sigidi

If you cut off every second cutter... there will be no cutters on one side of your chain

Ooops! Didn't think about that one cause I was looking at my keyboard and not chainsaw. Yeah, what I call single skip is the stuff you buy. I prefer to make my own too but I'd go with leave 2 and take one or three though, to alternate leading cutters.
Cheers

All good guys worked it out the first time. All under control

Originally Posted by itsposs

Most of the timber is 12-20" logs.But odd local jobs require more equipment then I can afford atm
iron bark, bloodwood (pink an red),bluegum,spottedgum(might keep for firewood),messmate, macadamia nut trees mango trees quite a few I dont know the names of and various pines. 4 1.8-2m cypresspines need to be done soonish or they will just chip em

Wow - that is a nice little selection of trees you have there!

12" is on the small side for CS milling and you will end up turning a lot of the log into sawdust - but I guess if they are going to be dumped anyway what does it matter - what I tend to do with these is just to break then down to managable sizes with the CS mill and then use a bandsaw after that.

Saw has a 25" bar I dont know what to push it too that's why I am asking? other sites dont recomend any thing bigger.I dont know why?I ve just read the Carlton book on their chains but that doesnt help with chain selection only sharpening and matinence
What chain should I order and should I worry about Skip chain yet or wait for a bigger bar ?

I reckon a 660 can comfortably take a 42" bar, which on a conventional alaskan can thus make a 36" wide cut. Now while you may never cut this wide, occasionally you will come across a tree crotch or lump or bump on the side of a tree that you may want to get around. And having some spare capacity means you can tackle something bigger if the occasion arises. The other benefit of a longer bar is it helps to balance the mill during the cut and while this makes it slightly heavier to lift on and off the log it does reduced operator fatigue in the long run.

I ll give this one a miss for abit and cut cants for a bit I think

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it at this stage.