First Beach Milling Oct 2012

[Daninvan]

Normally the city opens up the log dump at the beach to chainsawing and milling shortly after Labour Day. This year because the weather was so darn nice the beach was still full of people through September so they did not open up the chainsaw area until Oct 1.

I had spent a lot of time (a LOT of time) in the past week sharpening my four loops of milling chain (my bars are 36", so the chains have 60 cutters on them). I used my micrometer to ensure that each tooth was sharpened to the same length, then I used Bob's DAF method to set each raker to 6.5 degrees (one chain I did 6 degrees). The rakers on one of the chains had become quite flat-topped, probably from my previous use of a FOP-like device, so I reshaped them all to a more correct curved-toothy kind of shape. It is also strange how when I hand file in "the field" I wind up over time with the cutters on one side consistently shorter than on the other side. Anyways, the chains are all good now. I also filed all my bars and cleaned up all my power heads. But it sure took a LOT of time.

So off I went to the beach this morning, wanted to test everything out, make sure all the saws were running well, and also test out the new 48" Granberg mill I bought. Previously I had been using a couple of simple homemade mills, but I had a lot of trouble last year with one of them starting to dive into the log and getting jammed. I am pretty sure it was racking. I tried several times to fix it up and in the end decided it was not worth it. I had also injured my back quite badly in March so I wanted to test out how it would react to the milling work.

As some of you might recall, I have a pretty sweet location on the beach to mill at. Last night there had been a bit of a wind storm and there were still some waves coming in. First time I had ever seen that. But it was a lovely day, cool to start, but warming up in the sun with a few clouds.

Today's log was a Deodar cedar, it was quite short but I have a ton of Deodar already and I really don't love it that much any more, so I figured it would be a good one for testing stuff out.

The new Granberg worked grand, er great. The log was pretty smooth so I couldn't really assess how it dealt with lumps and bumps. But it seemed to slide down the cut with way less pushing required than my other mills. Which is definitely nice for my back!

I cut six or seven fairly thin slabs out of it, I left several at the beach which were scooped up by passersby before I was even gone. They had way too many knots in them for me.

One problem I did have was with my 3120. I have always found getting the chain properly lined up on the drive sprocket-doodad to be a real nuisance. And of course it was misaligned again this time and I think I may have damaged it. Otherwise things went well. I am looking forward to a great milling season!

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[mad murdock]

looks like you won't have a lack of breeze to carry the exhaust/chips away from your face while milling as long as you set up your work space accordingly.

 

[terryknight]

never seen that before (milling or chainsawing on a beach). good luck

 

[peterrum]

Very nice as per usual.

 

[GeeVee]

Any waves for surfing?

 

[BobL]

Good to see you are back in action.

One problem I did have was with my 3120. I have always found getting the chain properly lined up on the drive sprocket-doodad to be a real nuisance. And of course it was misaligned again this time and I think I may have damaged it.

Is this a rim sprocket?

 

[discounthunter]

nice ,as usual.

 

[Jim Timber]

Are these just the logs that wash a shore? And will they let you haul them away whole, or do you have to work them in place?

 

[Daninvan]

Is this a rim sprocket?

Hi Bob, it is a rim sprocket, the problem was that the chain was not in it, so the chain was being driven by the splines on the drive shaft. I thought I had damaged the shaft, but upon closer inspection it looks like it is OK. I will give it another go next time, making sure things are lined up properly first!

Jim, the logs are a combo of logs that wash up that are basically log boom escapees, and trees that the city cuts down in parks, on the boulevards, in schoolyards, etc. Most of the log boom escapees are rounded back up and sent to a mill, or the skinny/short one guys buck up for firewood. The city crews are happy to load a whole log on your truck for you, otherwise they have to pay to get it taken to a disposal place.

The Deodar cedar, being native to the Himalayas, would have been a city tree, or possibly a private tree that a a private company dumped illegally. Definitely not growing natively here!

There is often a good breeze blowing so it is possible to take advantage of it by aligning the log with it for cutting so the dust and exhaust blows away. That was the case on this day. However I still managed to get a chip that bounced into my eye, which reminded me that I had failed to put on my goggles . . .

 

[Can8ianTimber]

Hi Bob, it is a rim sprocket, the problem was that the chain was not in it, so the chain was being driven by the splines on the drive shaft. I thought I had damaged the shaft, but upon closer inspection it looks like it is OK. I will give it another go next time, making sure things are lined up properly first!

Jim, the logs are a combo of logs that wash up that are basically log boom escapees, and trees that the city cuts down in parks, on the boulevards, in schoolyards, etc. Most of the log boom escapees are rounded back up and sent to a mill, or the skinny/short one guys buck up for firewood. The city crews are happy to load a whole log on your truck for you, otherwise they have to pay to get it taken to a disposal place.

The Deodar cedar, being native to the Himalayas, would have been a city tree, or possibly a private tree that a a private company dumped illegally. Definitely not growing natively here!

There is often a good breeze blowing so it is possible to take advantage of it by aligning the log with it for cutting so the dust and exhaust blows away. That was the case on this day. However I still managed to get a chip that bounced into my eye, which reminded me that I had failed to put on my goggles . . .

I have had that very same issue with getting the chain to line up on the sprocket. I don't like how there is too much room between the clutch and the saw so the chain can get stuck instead of dropping into the sprocket. First time it happened I scratched my head for a while before I figured it out. Now checking the chain on the sprocket is on the pre milling checklist. Wish the sprocket was on the outside of the clutch like the Stihl 880.

Nice work there on the beach.

 

[Jim Timber]

That's cool they let you do that. Thanks for sharing!

 

[WidowMaker1]

got a few logs to slab there. nice looking backdrop, cool climate must be nice... .wish Aus was a lot cooler like canada, looks like where heading into a killer summer at the moment, its shaping up for a Bad Bushfire season in the south