Thread: First Timer

Well done. Looks like a go-a.Why do you think the bar stud snapped? Are you getting more leverage on that point than "normal" chain sawing operation? When side shifting are you limited to the hole spacing or can you lock it up wherever you want?

looks good

Good job Worlo, it looks really well put together especially for a first timer. One question - how many times did you sharpen the chain in making those cuts?

Originally Posted by Worlo

Due to the 36" bar moving too much I had to do the first cut with the 24" bar and then finish off with the 36" to go all the way through. I got half way through finishing when the rear bar stud snapped and the saw started swinging on the mill. I had to finish off the remainder of the log by hand. Hard on the back but hell that saw cuts!

It sounds like using the 36" bar did something to the rear bar stud and the thing just happened to go while you were using the 24"? Looking at this picture I can see you are cutting with the lower half of the bar. This will place enormous shearing leverage on the bar studs (red arrows) and may contribute to stud breakage

Attachment 143987

A lower stress way to use the 36" bar would to lift the log off the ground and get the saw down closer to the log, or adding a bar support such as shown by the blue lines . Another way would be to angle the saw so it sits lower down - this increases the length of the cut being made but it should take no longer to make the cut as it gets slightly easier to cut as the bar is rotated.

On my beam mill which I use with a 441/066 I don't use a bar longer than 25" exactly because of the leverage placed on these smalerl bar studs is just too great. Using a bigger bar mount CS (076/880/090) would be stronger but the standard slabber or Alaskan design mill is even better since it holds the bar at both ends. The other things I don't like about vertical mills are, they shower the operator with sawdust, and they can't mill a log as effectively downslope as an Alaskan. The other thing the picture above shows the bar skewing sideways out of the side of the cut when trying to make too thin a pass. The bar moving out at the tip will put additional sideways stress on the rear bar stud and would explain why it became loose and could also contribute to the rear bar stud breaking. Again alaskans and slabber mills rarely suffer from this problem.

I hope you don't take these comments as being too critical. I'm sure you can iron out the bugs so hang in there, it gets better and better, and before long it will be like this.

Hi Stumpkicker and thanks for the reply. I have two lock bolts for the sideways adjustment. I had predrilled spacing holes but after that figured it wouldn't give me enough adjustment. So now just measure and lock into place.

Yes I do think it puts more pressure on the rear stud due to having the log cutting on the end of the bar. If i lifted it up higher I think it would be less stress on the saw or I just get a smaller bar

The other problem is how I mounted the saw to the mill I just used longer nuts with washes instead of the stihl ones and bolts to then mount it onto the mill. I forgot about how often I would have to fill the fuel and oil. The loosening and tightening of the bolts every 2 cuts also put extra stress on the studs. I did take some photos to explain the mounting and the new way I want to change the mounting next time but the battery is flat on the camera and I can’t find the charger.

Thanks BobL I really appreciate the input.
Yes all of your suggestions are spot on and I have been thinking about replacing the chain guard with a custom one that incorporates a mount on to the saw instead of using the bar studs as the mount. This would also help with the getting covered in saw dust problem hopefully.

I covered the mounting problems in the reply to Stumpkicker which you also covered. The bar skewing sideways was also the reason why I changed back to the smaller bar. I do like the Alaskan mill design of mounting at the tip of the bar and the saw so there is no movement. I just had to prove to the handbrake that all the time spent on design and making the mill was worth it and eventually be able to slip in another mill one day. Hopefully it will be that easy BobL something to aim for.

I forgot about the refueling issue especially if you run out mid-cut. On my rail mill the rail ends are open so the saw bracket can easily run off the ends. Sharpening would be similar PITA

Worlo, have a listen to Bob, he has this c/s slabbing thing down to being no work at all now

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Worlo, have a listen to Bob, he has this c/s slabbing thing down to being no work at all now

You might be amused by a comment a mate made on seeing the picture below, " . . . how many logs do you get from one slab?"

Finally found the camera charger and here are the photos of the curren tmount of the saw to the mill.

Looking looking..... think you might of left the lens cap on. I don't see any photo.

might help if you plug the charger in.

have you tried cutting with teh top of teh bar?

as in backwards.

should direct sawdust into teh ground. the oil would work better as none gets flung off around teh nose before the cut.

Clicked the wrong button!!!!

I also have some photos of the slabs and one of the break down cut with some water to show off the grain.

As I got into the middle cut there were a few splits in the hart wood but the slabs have stayed together and should be a good feature for the table top I have some ear marked for.

How log would I let them dry before use? The tree was green and very wet the day it was felled.

Wood looks good but I would get at ;least 2 more stickers in between those slabs if you want them to dry straight. I try to use stickers around every 600 mm of slab length.

For some reason I thought you used both bar bolts as mount points. With only one bar bolt being used that explains why you had problems.

Here is my 3 point bar bolt and bar mounting mechanism for my rail mill.


By loosening the bolts ontop of the black blocks the whole saw can rotate allowing me to refuel and also sharpen while the mill is on the rail.


The jagged finish on some of the slabs is consistent with bar wobble. If you could reinforce the mounting mechanism that will help reduce this problem.