Had a customer today mention that he was told 10 degree filed chain was recommended for milling/ripping. I did not know that was a thing. Any truth to that?
10 Degree Filed Chain
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GeneralKayoss
ArboristSite Operative
Yep, very true for milling anyway. Better finish. Some people take them back to 5 or even 0 degrees.
Yes 10 degrees or less for milling. A few companies sell it.
I use the Stihl 63PMX 3/8 lo pro chain. Gives a really smooth finish. I think it's 10 degrees on the cutters. Hard to find at a decent price though.
I use the Stihl 63PMX 3/8 lo pro chain. Gives a really smooth finish. I think it's 10 degrees on the cutters. Hard to find at a decent price though.
Is that 10 degrees sharp or 10 degrees obtuse?
My coworker tried to order it but was told it was no longer available.
My coworker tried to order it but was told it was no longer available.
10 degrees top plate. The 63PMX chain is a PITA to find in the USA and expensive. USA Stihl dealers don't generally sell it and other places that do import it. You need a picco/lo pro bar and drive sprocket to match the chain
Baileys gets $45 for a 16" bar loop. $650 100' roll
Stihl also makes a 3/8 0.063 ripping chain but that's not sold here either
WoodlandPRO and Granberg also makes ripping chains in a variety of pitches. I've not tried those.
This is most everything you need to know about ripping chain, from a UK site that specializes in chainsaw milling. No one in the US has ever assembled as much information on milling gear on one commercial website as Chainsawbars has. https://www.chainsawbars.co.uk/ripping-chain/ You can buy 10 degree ripping chain from:
Oregon
Archer
Woodland Pro
Stihl
Granberg
8Ten
Forester
Carlton
Holzfforma
and a number of other brands. The most choice is on Ebay because it's a niche thing the average chainsaw dealer doesn't carry. Frawley's Saw Shop in Iowa (loggerchain.net) is the best place for all varieties of Oregon ripping chain, Bailey's is a good online store whose house brand is WoodlandPro and carries a variety of other brands, ArcherPlus.com for Archer chain, Ebay for most of the rest.
Oregon
Archer
Woodland Pro
Stihl
Granberg
8Ten
Forester
Carlton
Holzfforma
and a number of other brands. The most choice is on Ebay because it's a niche thing the average chainsaw dealer doesn't carry. Frawley's Saw Shop in Iowa (loggerchain.net) is the best place for all varieties of Oregon ripping chain, Bailey's is a good online store whose house brand is WoodlandPro and carries a variety of other brands, ArcherPlus.com for Archer chain, Ebay for most of the rest.
Thanks for the link. Lot to digest.
Milling with a standard chain results in a rough almost choppy finish. Depending on what your doing with the lumber it may or may not be an issue. My son and I milled a large pin oak that they had a tree fort in when they were kids, we made a picnic table out of it using ripping chain and the finish was smooth enough we hit it lightly with a belt sander and stained it. Turned out really nice.
This used to be the bible for chainsaw lumber making. He presents a good description of making your own ripping chain; you don't have to buy it.
https://archive.org › details › chainsaw-lumbermaking
https://archive.org › details › chainsaw-lumbermaking
Be darned, Malloff's book is still in print.
https://www.amazon.ca/Chainsaw-Lumbermaking-Will-Malloff/dp/1626548447
IIRC, Malloff was (the?) one who first recommended filing chain to 10 degrees for milling; you couldn't buy 10 degree chain at the time, everyone made their own. When it became popular enough, manufacturers started making them. But it is still true that you don't have to buy it, you can make it. Many have had success not trying to make the entire top of the cutter 10 degrees at the start, just do a bit at a time with each sharpening. File at 10 instead of 30 with each sharpening, and within a few sharpenings you'll have 10 degree chain just like you can buy it. ('The key is in the name--10 degree FILED chain'.)
https://www.amazon.ca/Chainsaw-Lumbermaking-Will-Malloff/dp/1626548447
IIRC, Malloff was (the?) one who first recommended filing chain to 10 degrees for milling; you couldn't buy 10 degree chain at the time, everyone made their own. When it became popular enough, manufacturers started making them. But it is still true that you don't have to buy it, you can make it. Many have had success not trying to make the entire top of the cutter 10 degrees at the start, just do a bit at a time with each sharpening. File at 10 instead of 30 with each sharpening, and within a few sharpenings you'll have 10 degree chain just like you can buy it. ('The key is in the name--10 degree FILED chain'.)
Nice info! Thanks.
I could be wrong, but I believe WoodlandPro is rebranded Carlton chain.
Any photos? What was your cure time before building with it?
I have a pin oak or two slated for removal at my Mom's in Tennessee. Too close to the house. Both are straight as arrows, healthy, and have no metal in them. Be nice to do something with them, since she doesn't burn firewood.
I stickered the boards and stored them in my greenhouse for 2+ years. 3 ratchet straps around the pile to hold things nice and tight. The tops still twisted, I had to install 1" angle iron and carriage bolt thru the top to atraighten them back out. I don't know if kiln drying those 2 pieces would have helped or not.
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"Gradually" reducing the top plate angle over successive sharpenings is generally done by reducing the angle by 5-10° each sharpen. I'm not exactly sure how a dull 30° chain having cutters partially sharpened at 10° will mill, but I'm fairly confident a properly sharpened 20° chain would do a better job
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
Nice work!! Only thing that I know about drying out wood on the cheap, is that you can always just build a plastic tent, and put a de-humidifier in it. It'll get the job done in a couple of weeks, or so, depending on the thickness of the wood. As long as you've got a semi decent seal, you either have to empty the de-humidifier every couple of days, or plumb it to exit into a bigger container, or outside.
Flat sawn oak, especially wide boards thinner than 6/4, is one of the hardest things to dry straight I've come across. Kiln drying might or might not have worked out on them, depending on the quality of the kiln drying. Very easy to dry too fast. Oak is always going to be way more stable quartersawn, but then you're not going to get wide boards and not going to get it done chainsaw milling.
I sort of duplicated this with my greenhouse, minus the dehumidifier, which I'm not sure how much help would be being outdoors and in ambient Temps. I did keep both ends of the green house open for air flow. Lumber can only dry out to the point of its surroundings....I suppose the dehumidifier would hasten the process to a point but not likely enough to prevent the boards from twisting after 2+ years of drying.
Something I need to learn is the stresses of boards and how best to cut.
I've got some nice long hickory logs waiting to get cut into something.
Also some white oak.
GeneralKayoss
ArboristSite Operative
Thinner stuff is going to move if it wants to. The good thing about it, it's thinner so it's not hard to pull it back into place usually. You get a twisted thick piece, well, time to start slinging sawdust! What is that, 5/4? How was the end checking on them? If that table is going outside, you probably could have used that stuff a while ago. Just saying.
White oak is the most stable of oaks, which is why it's a favorite of woodworkers. Good source of info on wood characteristics I refer to all the time to see what to expect from a given wood. https://www.wood-database.com/true-hickory-and-pecan-hickory/ Don't know which type yours is. Hickory's going to shrink a lot when drying, so could be a bit difficult to keep straight. The ratio of radial to tangential drying is pretty low though meaning it should shrink somewhat evenly in both directions. My experience is any wood with a ratio above 2.0 is incredibly prone to twisting. 1.4-1.6 is a pretty stable ratio. But I like volumetric shrinkage to be below 13 percent to be predictable, when it's 17 percent or higher as a lot of oaks and hickories are, that's going to be a lot of shrinkage, some of it unpredictable. I love working with mesquite because it's so ludicrously stable. Volumetric shrinkage of 4.8 percent, almost nonexistent. Nothing in the world even close, really. Seems the most important thing to keeping twisting down on chainsaw milled flatsawn wood is getting rid of the center pith. The natural instinct is to prize the biggest center slab of a log but that's usually going to dry the worst. Best thing to do with slabs with the center pith in them is to saw them in half lengthwise and trim an inch or two off the inside edge of each one with a circular saw before stacking, to remove the pith. Even still, I find every time I trim or plane oak, even if fairly dry, it changes the stresses of how the fibers are connected and opens it up to warping some again.
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