If you could buy any saw? For CSM of course.

[brookpederson]

If I could buy any saw?

166 Sachs Dolmar.

I have several 153s, I would really like to see what that extra 6mm of stroke would pull.

I have gone 28" wide White Oak with 100ccs. Milling 40 inchers will humble the biggest baddest saws ever made.

Thats a good question then. What is the biggest a log CSM can do regularly? And what is the biggest slab you guys have peeled off? I know i've seen some 60" or greater slabs before. If you had trouble w/ 28'' oak, what are they running?

 

[BobL]

Thats a good question then. What is the biggest a log CSM can do regularly? And what is the biggest slab you guys have peeled off? I know i've seen some 60" or greater slabs before. If you had trouble w/ 28'' oak, what are they running?

I've cut 52" Jarrah with my 60" bar and it was not a big deal. More significant than width is the hardness of timber. Some of the logs I cut at 30" take longer to cut than the Jarrah (a relatively soft wood - about the same as Hickory) at 52"

 

[sachsmo]

I'm talking about bigger than 28", the 1220 can only cut up too 28". I want to slab some 40" stuff with ease.
I missed out on a 880 a week or two ago. A buddy told me he saw an add in the local advisor for one, to late. Damn

Good luck,

"slabbing 40 inch stuff with ease" will take a saw that has not been made.

An 090 , 880, 3120, 125 Mac none of these will slab 40 inches "with ease" they will cut it, but slowly at best.

 

[qbilder]

Anybody regularly cutting 40"+ slabs is either seriously looking at a Lucas slabbing mill, already has one, or something similar. I took my 084 to the mountain last weekend to cut a giant juniper stump & all I was doing was splitting it. The 3' bar just barely went through the narrow side. Juniper is soft and cuts nice, kinda like a soft maple, but even still it took a few minutes to get through a 5' long cut through 3-4' material. That was just to split the log so I could handle it on my band mill. The band mill by comparison made 30" slabs of the same juniper in about 15 seconds each. Granted I would never have been able to get that juniper without the 084, but it's not something I'm going to look forward to milling with "regularly". I will use it for big stuff to cut down to size for my other mill, or possibly an occasional wide slab of root ball or crotch.

 

[sachsmo]

Thats a good question then. What is the biggest a log CSM can do regularly? And what is the biggest slab you guys have peeled off? I know i've seen some 60" or greater slabs before. If you had trouble w/ 28'' oak, what are they running?

The 28" White Oak was no problem, it was actually 36+ but we had to freehand quite a bit off the side since my CSM would only do 28" max.

It was pretty slow going, but we got 5 nice slabs. (3" by 9 foot long each)

I now have rails and a 50+ bar that will do 46", just haven't ran across a log to try it on. 28" with 100cc is not a cake walk. 46" of Oak?

I may need to get a double powerhead bar if I was to do much of that. and I bet at 200cc it will still be slow going.

 

[brookpederson]

Good luck,

"slabbing 40 inch stuff with ease" will take a saw that has not been made.

An 090 , 880, 3120, 125 Mac none of these will slab 40 inches "with ease" they will cut it, but slowly at best.

I guess I shouldn't have said with ease. But with efficiency. One would think their would be a easier way to slab a big log. Other than buying 1 or 2 100 cc saws plus mill, Lucas mill plus slabing atach( and you might as well get the surfacer as well) or a huge bandsaw. The biggest timberking only cuts to 36" wtf.
Now don't laugh, but how would a two man rip saw work? Undoubtably alot of work but I'm only thinking about 6-8 40" slabs a year. It would need a guide to keep it level though the cut. It would be very portable. And I would have to hire a couple of tight ends to run it. OK now I'm laughing.

 

[brookpederson]

I will check my manual but I have had 30 inch logs on mime. I think it will handle a 34, but like I said I will have to check my manual.

Just checked TK website 1220 has a 29" throat. But I have found that 28" is about max, unless you pencil cut the to logs. But I'm looking to have slabs with two live edges.

 

[sachsmo]

Just checked TK website 1220 has a 29" throat. But I have found that 28" is about max, unless you pencil cut the to logs. But I'm looking to have slabs with two live edges.

Get an 84" bar, then you can noodle 12 foot+ slabs.

Noodlin' would be loads faster than rippin'

 

[qbilder]

Just checked TK website 1220 has a 29" throat. But I have found that 28" is about max, unless you pencil cut the to logs. But I'm looking to have slabs with two live edges.

My mill will slab 30". A Hudson Oscar 52 will handle a 52" log. Big band mills are around, but you'd need a WM1000 or a slabber mill to do really big stuff.

 

[BobL]

Anybody regularly cutting 40"+ slabs is either seriously looking at a Lucas slabbing mill, already has one, or something similar. . . . ..

Lucas mills are the most common portables mills in Australia and are also used by commercial slab cutters.

Juniper is soft and cuts nice, kinda like a soft maple, but even still it took a few minutes to get through a 5' long cut through 3-4' material.

Some of the 12 fit Aussie hardwood slabs I have cut can take 20 minutes or so but I'm not pushing.

I'm only an occasional miler and don't want to go into commercial lumber making but a major decider for me is secure storage space. I have plenty of low security space to store timber but nowhere secure and convenient to put a band mill or Lucas mill close to where I live (1/8th acre of inner city residential block) but I can store 4 CS mills and do all my maintenance in my home shop.

 

[qbilder]

Very nice, Bob! What kind of log is that? Looks like it'll maybe have some nice crotch figure. Looks big, too.

 

[BobL]

Very nice, Bob! What kind of log is that? Looks like it'll maybe have some nice crotch figure. Looks big, too.

All the grimy details are here.
http://www.arboristsite.com/milling-saw-mills/122147-2.htm