Thread: Friday lunch prattle

Sorry I've missed the last few. But the couple before that there was only a couple of people? We seem to be dwindling.

we have two of us here right now.

We ended up having a good chat today.

The topic for next week - bandsaws. Setup & tuning, usage, accessories, blades, etc.

My desktop pc has been out of action (in for repair) for the last 4 or 5 fridays but when (if) I get it back then I'll be interested in joining future chats.

A couple of people today seemed to indicate that they were having difficulties making it on a Friday.

Friday is possibly not the best day for me either.

Just putting it out there - might changing the day inject some fresh life into the meeting?

Here's the videos I mentioned today for Lance:

Stumpy Nubs carving with templates.

How to carve a portrait into wood from a photograph (+ Arbortech Power Chisel review) - YouTube

Anyone can power-carve in wood! (Carving a folk-art eagle with the Arbortech mini-grinder) - YouTube


And a link to some info about the Foredom tool I mentioned, which is like a Dremel on steroids. Once you try one of these you won't want to use a Dremel again.

General information about Foredom tools

FOREDOM | Quality & Service Since 1922

They sell them in various package deals such as jewellery makers, wood carvers etc.

This is the wood carver package I have.

Foredom Woodcarving Kit, 230 Volt - My Tool Store

I hope you enjoy them.

And I might as well post the video I mentioned about making your own branding iron for a maker's mark.

Making a branding iron - YouTube

This comes from Torbjörn Åhman's youtube channel. It's well worth a look if you haven't discovered it already.

One for Pagie -

Would you think this would be a good investment?

VEVOR VEVOR Chainsaw Mill For Saws Wood Cutting 14"-36" Bar Woodwork Carpentry | VEVOR AU

Looks good, Can't see if well made or not, but should be ok.

It does look good, but there was reference in the comments about "rails." I presume this is a ladder/board equivalent, which provides reference for the first cut, but I could not find this item. Was anybody able to see that? Not having to drill the bar to hold the saw is good as long as the jig doesn't move and the nose sprocket (if the bar has one) is not compromised.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by doug3030

One for Pagie -

Would you think this would be a good investment?

VEVOR VEVOR Chainsaw Mill For Saws Wood Cutting 14"-36" Bar Woodwork Carpentry | VEVOR AU

The tubing looks on the light side. Even with the bolts tightened hard with br and chain oil flying around one good push might see the bar and chain collide with the bar clamp bolts.

Its actually better to ditch the bottom bar clamps altogether, drill the bar and bolt thru the bar to the upper clamp. That was you can replace teh chain without having to remove the saw from the mill.

bottom.jpg

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

It does look good, but there was reference in the comments about "rails." I presume this is a ladder/board equivalent, which provides reference for the first cut, but I could not find this item. Was anybody able to see that? Not having to drill the bar to hold the saw is good as long as the jig doesn't move and the nose sprocket (if the bar has one) is not compromised.

There are many ways to attach the mill to the bar nose.
#8 is the one that allows you to take the chain off the bar without removing the saw from the mill.
Nose-options.jpg

In most cases it's possible to drill right through the middle of the bar nose bearing - the middle is a fixed very hard steel disc that needs a carbide tipped drill bit - A touched up masonry bit works but be prepare for it to disintegrate.

Thanks for everyone's input. The item came up in an email I got from Vevor. I have bought a few items from them in the past which have been of surprisingly good quality for the price.

My chainsaw has a 15" bar so I probably wouldn't get much more of a slabbing capability than I can get with my 21" bandsaw and although it is tempting to get one of those mills at that price I really don't want to invest in another chainsaw. I'm not getting any younger and my back is not getting any better.

Originally Posted by doug3030

Thanks for everyone's input. The item came up in an email I got from Vevor. I have bought a few items from them in the past which have been of surprisingly good quality for the price.

My chainsaw has a 15" bar so I probably wouldn't get much more of a slabbing capability than I can get with my 21" bandsaw and although it is tempting to get one of those mills at that price I really don't want to invest in another chainsaw. I'm not getting any younger and my back is not getting any better.

A 15" bar loses ~6" of cut on those mills so the largest diameter log you could tackle without substantial repeated log turning is 9"

There are mill designs (one ended minimills) that reduce that to 2.5" shorter than the bar so that would give you a 12.5" diam cut but how many CC and what make is the saw. Anything less than ~50cc is going kill most saws.

Bear in mind that a 300mm diameter hardwood log about 2m log weighs around 140 kg - Muscling that through a large upright BS is not easy and fraught with danger. It's far easier to split logs in half or 1/4s and then put the smaller pieces through the BS. Just using a CSM to mill a couple of flats on the log makes it a lot easier on a BS.

I use my small milling rig (25" bar/72cc saw) to break up even 20-30 kg logs. It's a lot safer an easier than using an upright BS.
This is Banksia. The rig can handle logs up to 1.5m long
Milling1.jpg

My cross over point is about 15kg /700mm long logs and then I use my BS sled.
This is Pistachio.
log1.jpg

You can cut planks from a log with a small chainsaw like Advoko Makes does using a small saw. This guy does some great plank making. I have tried it and found iy works well. You cut with the tip of the bar only. Yes the rails are normally a ladder.