Thread: Milling Black Wattle

Originally Posted by gonetroppo

Having had a good look at some books I now think its actually Acacia celsa also called Brown Salwood. Guess Black Wattle covers a multitude of stuff depending on where you are

Acacia celsa - WATTLE

Yes I would tend to agree with you on that one. did you have a go at cutting it?

I would reccomend back cutting it for furniture use or if any luthiers would be interested in it cut it on the quarter minimum of 5 inch wide.

Yes I did have a go at cutting it. Made me realise what an absolute beginner I am at this milling lark.

I cut the base of a branch off the log maybe a 1m lenght diam 400mm put some notches into some old fence posts to hold thing. nailed some 18mm ply on top to guide the alaskan like i've seen in the videos. Worked like treat!! now have the filcher off and a nice smooth square log surface.

Any mug can do this........saw with mill attached is a bit heavy but going good.

Bugger next cut is all over the place mill guide bars not parralel to top surface.

Getting the cut started right is the biggest hurdle.

Seems to me you have to have a rail/guide setup to make the start of the cut right so as to have any show of having a even thickness in the slab you're cutting.

As other people here have said alaskan mills look easy but can be hard work.
It's all a steep learning curve.

On a positive note I'm really happy with the Husqvarna 395 it sure has grunt. Bit of a handful to control but it sounds like it means business, nothing quite like the "crackle" sound of a large 2 stroke (guess I'll always be a bit of a petrol head)

Originally Posted by gonetroppo

Yes I did have a go at cutting it. Made me realise what an absolute beginner I am at this milling lark.

I cut the base of a branch off the log maybe a 1m lenght diam 400mm put some notches into some old fence posts to hold thing. nailed some 18mm ply on top to guide the alaskan like i've seen in the videos. Worked like treat!! now have the filcher off and a nice smooth square log surface.

Any mug can do this........saw with mill attached is a bit heavy but going good.

Bugger next cut is all over the place mill guide bars not parralel to top surface.

Getting the cut started right is the biggest hurdle.

Seems to me you have to have a rail/guide setup to make the start of the cut right so as to have any show of having a even thickness in the slab you're cutting.

As other people here have said alaskan mills look easy but can be hard work.
It's all a steep learning curve.

On a positive note I'm really happy with the Husqvarna 395 it sure has grunt. Bit of a handful to control but it sounds like it means business, nothing quite like the "crackle" sound of a large 2 stroke (guess I'll always be a bit of a petrol head)

Honestly I can almost cut as good freehand as with an alaskan mill and considerably quicker. I did say almost, once you get the hang of them you can cut very smooth slabs and with a bit of thought you can even cut dimensional lumber. You picked a hard log to start out with. you would have been better off trying to cut redgum than a part dried wattle. I am FULLY envious of the saw you have however I would have bought a stihl (for little reason other than I already have stihl and would make my bars etc. exchangeable, and there are a few things I do not like about the huskies. They rank nearly as good as stihl to me but not quite. I am a stihl nut, who has owned huskies.)

Start your cut at about 30 degrees to the end of the log this does help if you feel the need extend this to 45 degrees. BUT for NO instance think that you can start the cut with the whole bar. once you have buried the thickness of the bar at the powerhead end then start to square the saw to the cut gradually over say 6 inches. some people then "work" the saw in the cut to 45 and back to 90 but you should have the power to drive a full complement chain with 30 thou cleanly at 90 degrees to the log. get the saw to full revs (not necessarily full throttle) then load it up till you need full throttle to keep it at peak HP revs (your saw should be able to rev to 13500 to 14000 revs but produces peak HP at 9600 rpm( bobL will probably correct me on this )) do not try to overly force the saw as this will reduce your capacity to control what it is doing in the cut. You want to let your saw work at where it is happy without it spiking to full revs every 10 seconds but not load it up so much that the clutch suffers or you bog your saw. REMEMBER your saw will not cut as fast ripping as crosscutting so just keep it where it is happy, not bogging down but not screaming its tits off either just where it is at the "ladida I am happy with this workload" sort of revs. When you find this range of rpm you will find you have good control over your saw and what it is doing while you are cutting.

As a suggestion try to find a green cypress and mill that to learn the ins and outs of your new saw and mill.

All the best and go run that saw in by crosscuting a few logs first, At least 2 or 3 tanks of juice worth.

very nice melanoxlyn ya got there...it'll split if then sun gets on it...will make excellent loooking slabs and chainsawing right into the endgrain will be fun, even with the big husky

Hi gonetroppo,

When I was using my old chain saw mill I used an old aluminium single piece ladder for every cut. this gave you over hang at both end of the log, making starting you cut easy as mill frame + saw weight was supported by ladder all I had to do was start the cut, and the same when finishing cut. I used a few small wedges in chain saw cut to support slab and stop it from pinching bar and chain when finishing cut. Ladder was held in place with a few small tec screws 2 at each end with the use a battery drill. A few jigs to hold ladder for your first cut that screw to end of log will help, once you have the first cut straight it is all fun, hard work and saw dust in every orifice you can think of.
Hang on and enjoy the ride, because once you get the milling bug it will be very hard to stop.

Thanks TE and TT for those tips.

Unfortunately I've been desk bound so far this week. Should be able to have ago at putting both your suggestions into practise tomorrow Friday if the rain stops.
There's another three logs trimmed up ready to go when I get the hang of it. Looks like I'll be busy.

Know what you mean about the milling bug I may have cought it already. I wonder if there is anythinng you can take for it

Originally Posted by gonetroppo

Thanks TE and TT for those tips.

Unfortunately I've been desk bound so far this week. Should be able to have ago at putting both your suggestions into practise tomorrow Friday if the rain stops.
There's another three logs trimmed up ready to go when I get the hang of it. Looks like I'll be busy.

Know what you mean about the milling bug I may have cought it already. I wonder if there is anythinng you can take for it

Only prescription I can offer is a good dose of 2 stroke fumes followed by either the smell of some nice redgum or blackwood sawdust. Oh sorry thought you were looking for something to ENTHUSE not CURE...lol