Anybody milling with old MAC's?

[LostMontanan]

So Ive had some experience with CSM's. A friend and I milled a bunch of pine and larch back in Montana for his summer cabin with a big ol nasty Stihl... 056 I believe. I live out in Oregon now, and have a fair bit of rough milling to do for all the outdoor furniture I have to make for our wedding next August, benches and the like. The wood will be mostly fir, with some maple possibly. Problem is with the aforementioned wedding im hurting for funds, and out here Im having a hard time finding a saw 80+ cc's for under 500 in ANY condition really, some are totally hashed and going for the "bargain price" of $450... So Im looking at older MAC's. Specifically the Pro Mac 850. I can get it for around 200, runs strong. I just wanted to know if im cutting my nose to spite my face here, and just need to suck it up and work 7 days a week instead of 6 to afford a better saw...?

Thanks for the input, and happy cutting...

 

[Dave Boyt]

The older saws won't have some of the safety features, such as chain brake, so I wouldn't recommend using it for anything other than the mill. I'm doing the same with an old Husq 2100. Make sure you can get the bar you'll need for the CSM. Other than that, if it it runs strong, there's no reason not to use it. Parts are still available.

 

[sachsmo]

A determined man with a mini mac and a smidgen of skill could mill some rough cut furniture. (you would need a bunch of skill to keep a mini running)

If you want to get into milling it would be wise to find a saw with many aftermarket (cheap) parts available for it.

But hey $200 for 80+cc is pretty good to start eh?


Welcome

 

[rarefish383]

I use a Homelite 1050 my Dad bought new back in the early 70's and works fine. It's a 100cc saw and if I had to replace it with something new I wouldn't be able to mill, couldn't afford it, Joe.

 

[sachsmo]

agreed,

necessity is the Mother of all invention.

Milling isn't the easiest thing to do, but most things worthwhile aren't.

Kinda like deer hunting, you can have the best equipment money can buy, but that will not assure success.

Do your homework, give yourself a good set-up, learn from your mistakes and keep at it.

The rewards are all about what you are willing to put into it!

Happy Holidays!

 

[LostMontanan]

Thanks guys! I figured like in all things just pushing forward was the key... and hey look what I picked up for $120 yesterday and got her cutting again... Ill post pics of the milled lumber soon.

 

[BobL]

That 051 looks like it has safety chain on it. I have done a bit of milling with safety chain on my 041 and it clearly does not cut as fast as regular chain. I think it has something to do with saw dust clearance.

Older saws won't be anywhere near as high revving as modern saws but they have good torque but to take advantage of this requires a bit of finesse with the raker depths. The rakers should not be set using a constant height method using a standard gauge, but using a constant angle method. A Carlton file-o-plate raker setting device does this but I find that these are not aggressive enough. The easiest way to start working with the constant raker method is to set the rakers 1/10 of the gullet width. For softer wood you might even try 1/8 of gullet width.

 

[mad murdock]

One thing that will increase milling production would be using a .050"gauge chain and bar.'that way you could refit your milling chain wih the stihl 63x picco ripping chain and maximize the power you have, increase feed rate and improve recover all st the same time, because your kerf width will be 1/4". I did this with my Alaskan set up and it made a marked difference in all of the aforementioned areas! A PM850 for 200.00 is anlot of saw for the $$! They are one cuttin machine!