Thread: Chainsaw mill questions

Originally Posted by crowash

Hi Guys,
I'm looking at getting a Granberg to start slabbing some timber from the farm for personal use at first and also maybe some rails etc for fencing.
At this stage I'm not sure what length to get as I haven't bought the saw for it. I have my eyes on the Husky 395xp and reckon the 36inch bar would be the way to go.

If I select the 36 inch setup from here: http://www.forestrytools.com.au/index.php?id=703 does that mean I can't use a 24 inch bar? It kind of looks like you can adjust the brackets on everything? I have a 24 inch saw I'd like to sue first to get a feel for it before I drop good $ on a Husky.

You can use any size bar on such a mill The length of the bar should be determined by the size of the logs you are going to tackle.
The clamping mechanisms used on such mills usually result in a loss of about 6" of bar so a 24" bar will be limited to about 18" diameter logs.
Likewise aA 36" bar on a 36" mill also loses about 6"

I would go the other way, and get a 42" bar for something like a 395.
The milling is 36" long but you should be able to get about 34" of cut, you might also have to modify the nose guard to cover a longer bar.

The other alternative is to drill a holes in the 36" bar and modify the mill to use a "bolt the bar onto the mill" rather than using the stander clamps.
This will give you about 32" of cut PLUS make it possible to swap the chain without removing the saw from the mill

I understand for the initial cut you need a guide. I've seen ladders used for this, will a ladder fit this system?

Have a look at this
http://www.arboristsite.com/communit...-tricks.93458/
Unfortunately many of the pics have been lost but mine have been put back,
It covers chainsaw milling basics and a whole lot of technical stuff including post #15 talks about bar nose clamping mechanisms.

I've used Granberg Alaskan mills on and off for over 20 years. With a big saw you can mill anything. I used Stihl 090 because the first one mill got had 1 fitted, so I just stuck with them. This one will cut 34-36".
IMGP6480.jpg

Originally Posted by mikesmith

I've used Granberg Alaskan mills on and off for over 20 years. With a big saw you can mill anything. I used Stihl 090 because the first one mill got had 1 fitted, so I just stuck with them. This one will cut 34-36".
IMGP6480.jpg

Yeah I understand the whole setup now, no real reason to get a smaller mill when you can adjust them smaller, I am waiting on one of these http://www.pantherpros.com/panthermill2.html in 42", initially I'll shove my 24 inch chinese 038 copy in to it to test the waters but the mill will grow with me when I get a decent saw and longer bar.
Planning on slicing up some flooded gum as a tester.

Originally Posted by BobL

I would go the other way, and get a 42" bar for something like a 395.
The milling is 36" long but you should be able to get about 34" of cut, you might also have to modify the nose guard to cover a longer bar.

The other alternative is to drill a holes in the 36" bar and modify the mill to use a "bolt the bar onto the mill" rather than using the stander clamps.
This will give you about 32" of cut PLUS make it possible to swap the chain without removing the saw from the mill
.

I just realised I got the widths of cut the wrong way around.
Drilling holes in the bar will get you the 34" of cut, the conventional clamps with get 32" of cut.

Originally Posted by crowash

Yeah I understand the whole setup now, no real reason to get a smaller mill when you can adjust them smaller, I am waiting on one of these

Originally Posted by crowash

http://www.pantherpros.com/panthermill2.html in 42", initially I'll shove my 24 inch chinese 038 copy in to it to test the waters but the mill will grow with me when I get a decent saw and longer bar. Planning on slicing up some flooded gum as a tester.

I'd be a bit worried about using a chinese copy on a CS mill but it should be OK for a quick test.
Milling is very hard on saws so make sure
- the chain is sharp and the rakers are properly set and touch up after every tank of fuel
- bar is dressed square and no burrs on the rail sides
- the engine is tuned to be a touch on the rich side - just above the 4 stroke burble.
- The 24" bar means you will be limited to a 20" cut but that can still kill a small saw if pushed too hard. I suggest practicing on some 12-16" diameter logs first.
- even on narrow cuts I recommend using a auxiliary oiler.

Thanks Bobl,

Some good advice. The saw doesn't owe me anything and I really bought it to just see what it could do, its eaten up everything I've thrown at it so far including some 24 inch diameter firewood logs. The 72cc hasn't missed a beat yet but I get your point about not overdoing it, though if I kill it its probably an excuse to get a real saw. Interestingly I've found a few Stihl copies coming out of China with 90cc and 120cc engines, its tempting to see what these bad boys can do, Chinese copies whilst still being a bit %$#$house seem to be improving year on year.

Yes I'll just be practicing on some smaller and softer stuff at first but would like to cut some rails for cattle yards eventually.

Any picks/detail on what you mean here: "bar is dressed square and no burrs on the rail sides"
Cheers

Ash

Originally Posted by crowash

Thanks Bobl,

Some good advice. The saw doesn't owe me anything and I really bought it to just see what it could do, its eaten up everything I've thrown at it so far including some 24 inch diameter firewood logs. The 72cc hasn't missed a beat yet but I get your point about not overdoing it, though if I kill it its probably an excuse to get a real saw. Interestingly I've found a few Stihl copies coming out of China with 90cc and 120cc engines, its tempting to see what these bad boys can do, Chinese copies whilst still being a bit %$#$house seem to be improving year on year.

There's a significant difference between cross cutting and milling.

Milling involves cutting the end grain with the chain cutters top plate which puts a higher load (back torque) on the power head.

When crosscutting a 24" log the saw is only actually 24" wide for a couple of seconds as it passes through the maximum diameter of the log.
Before and after it reaches that point its not cutting @ the full cutting width
The saw gets a short but useful break between each cut.
When milling a 24" cut the saw is spending many continuous minutes at full load. Temps are higher so there is greater wear and tear.

Yeah OK I understand, thanks

Still not sure what "Bar is dressed square" means

Originally Posted by BobL

There's a significant difference between cross cutting and milling.

Milling involves cutting the end grain with the chain cutters top plate which puts a higher load (back torque) on the power head.

When crosscutting a 24" log the saw is only actually 24" wide for a couple of seconds as it passes through the maximum diameter of the log.
Before and after it reaches that point its not cutting @ the full cutting width
The saw gets a short but useful break between each cut.
When milling a 24" cut the saw is spending many continuous minutes at full load. Temps are higher so there is greater wear and tear.

Hi Crowash if you haven't already googled your earlier question:

"Bar dressed square" refers to the guide bar edges wearing to leave a burr on the outer edges of the rails. The chain slowly wears the inner parts of the guide bar rails and creates a burr on the outer edge. The guide bar wears heavily near the nose and near the sprocket drive end. These burrs are usually hardened by the heat of the friction so be very careful whatever you do with burred chainsaw guide bars (easy way to slice your fingers open) . An an advanced burr can grab at the timber as you cut.

The guide bar rails will thence need to be filed back to a square surface. A guide bar dressing file and mount can help with this procedure at home. You can do it by eye if you know what you are up to. Many professional chainsaw retailers and/or saw doctors have machinery to dress guide bars.

The burr on a bar is a reason to dress the side of the bar rails but the reason to dress the bar square is a separate issue

Bar squaring is needed to avoid this problem which cad arise for a miner of reasons related to uneven sharpening.
This will cause the bar to cut in a wide curve and it can even jam the bar.
Of course a large bur will develop preferentially on the RHS in this case


Once it happens the problem will get worse unless it is corrected.

There are various commercial dressing tools around.
This is one I made in 2007 and it uses a file.



The other way of doing it is with an abrasive disc in a small table saw.
This is a good reason to keep a small table top table saw to do this sort of job.

Ahhh ok got it... Thanks. I'll let you know how I get on.