milled for first time last night

[headleyj]

Well I finaly got time to put the 395 on the mill and try it last night. Worked well. Not as easy as I thought, but the satisfaction was GREAT seeing a 2"x 12' red oak board come from a tree on our place.

No pics yet - wife took the dang camera.

Setup- 36" Granberg Alaskan...395xp w/ 36" b/c....oregon ripping chain (dealer ground to 10° for me)

Observations:
- Gotta get the log up higher for sure....it was only ~1' off the ground.
- Used 1/2 of my 22' extension ladder as top rails - think it would slide easier with Delrin attached to it and the mill.
- Was real tough to push mill on 2nd cut.
- Oak log was ~12' long....20" on one end (fork in tree) & ~12" on other
- Beautiful grain especially in crotch wood


Question:
- When the saw is pulling itself into the wood, it was tough to push it through I thought, especially on 2nd cut.....tougher than I expected any way.....finesse of pushing on the mill helps I'm sure, just couldn't seem to find that sweet spot.....is this just the way it is?


Now I gotta get more tools to build the outdoor furniture wifey wants

 

[gr8scott72]

- Gotta get the log up higher for sure....it was only ~1' off the ground.

If you work on getting at least one end up, it will really help. Like this:

That was red oak. My favorite.

- Was real tough to push mill on 2nd cut.

Time to sharpen your chain. Yes, even after just one cut. Get used to it. You'll be sharpening your chains often. :greenchainsaw:

 

[headleyj]

If you work on getting at least one end up, it will really help. Like this:

That was red oak. My favorite.

Time to sharpen your chain. Yes, even after just one cut. Get used to it. You'll be sharpening your chains often. :greenchainsaw:

cool, thanks - chain seemed to be real sharp still but I'm sure you're right - ripping requires a sharper chain than blocking - esp sicne you're going for a smooth cut

 

[mtngun]

Question:
- When the saw is pulling itself into the wood, it was tough to push it through I thought, especially on 2nd cut.....tougher than I expected any way.....finesse of pushing on the mill helps I'm sure, just couldn't seem to find that sweet spot.....is this just the way it is?

What was different about the 2nd cut ? Was it wider ? Had the chain dulled ? Was the Alaskan hanging up on the side of the log ?

When you hear BobL talk about his saw feeding itself into the cut, bear in mind he is using a 120cc saw with very aggressive rakers. Plus, his mill has rollers that keep it from hanging up.

The 90cc saws with 0.023" rakers (typical for Carlton milling chain) are not what I would call self-feeding.

You could try FOPing the rakers, but that may make the chain too aggressive and lead to bogging. There is no black and white formula for success, because it just depends on your powerhead and your wood.

I'm puzzled why your dealer had to regrind the Oregon milling chain since it is normally ground to 10 degrees at the factory. If he reground crosscut chain, make sure it is semi-chisel, not round chisel, which will dull faster.

You'll figure it out with practice. If you aren't already good at sharpening chains, you will be soon.

Thanks for the report.

 

[headleyj]

I'm good at sharpening chain - not a problem there.

I bet dealer didn't have a true milling chain otherwise it would have already been at 10°.....you're right - I'm sure that didn't help.

thoughts on 2nd cut .....in 1 place it was a touch wider.....I was sliding the mill along the wood not the alum ladder rails (more friction)....also the ladder wasn't long enough to rest both rails on when startign the cut so I had to eyeball it to start the cut - coulda got it a touch off kilter...know what I mean? Chain was dulled from 1st cut too.

I'll learn as I go

 

[hazard]

Are you putting wedges in the cut as you move thru the wood? If not the weight of the wood could be pressing on the bar. Do you have an auxiliary oiler? If not I would get one.

Chris

 

[Kicker_92]

Check your raker depth, especially if you re-ground a standard chain to 10°. The tip of the cutter will have been ground back a long ways and the rakers will need to come down significantly. Milling makes finer chips, but most of it is still chips unless the wood is very dry.

If you get mostly dust, drop the raker depth.

 

[headleyj]

Check your raker depth, especially if you re-ground a standard chain to 10°. The tip of the cutter will have been ground back a long ways and the rakers will need to come down significantly. Milling makes finer chips, but most of it is still chips unless the wood is very dry.

If you get mostly dust, drop the raker depth.

ah ha, I AM getting a powdery dust! Thanks!!

 

[discounthunter]

Are you putting wedges in the cut as you move thru the wood? If not the weight of the wood could be pressing on the bar. Do you have an auxiliary oiler? If not I would get one.

Chris

2nd that.

 

[Andrew96]

It took me a very long time to get a feel for how much cutting, in what wood, my chain would take before I should sharpen it. During that learning curve, I watched the saw chips. I made cut after cut as long as I was making good chips (even though sometimes the wood felt hard, or things didn't go smooth). As soon as you are not making chips, time to sharpen...well, you should have sharpened before this but this exercise helped me get a feel for it all.
Now the important thing...did you have fun?

 

[headleyj]

It took me a very long time to get a feel for how much cutting, in what wood, my chain would take before I should sharpen it. During that learning curve, I watched the saw chips. I made cut after cut as long as I was making good chips (even though sometimes the wood felt hard, or things didn't go smooth). As soon as you are not making chips, time to sharpen...well, you should have sharpened before this but this exercise helped me get a feel for it all.
Now the important thing...did you have fun?

hell yeah it was man - it's great. Just finding the time is the hard part.

 

[BobL]

Check your raker depth, especially if you re-ground a standard chain to 10°. The tip of the cutter will have been ground back a long ways and the rakers will need to come down significantly. Milling makes finer chips, but most of it is still chips unless the wood is very dry.

If you get mostly dust, drop the raker depth.

If you want to cut chips rather than make dust then you should use a progressive raker setting tool like a Carlton FOP or similar tool.

To illustrate this here are some specs.

Grinding or filing a top plate from 30 to 10º will increase the gullet size about 1.6 mm. A normal gullet on a new 3/8 chain is about 6.3 mm so the new gullet will be nearly 8 mm wide. To maintain a 6º cutting angle a raker depth of 0.8 mm will be needed which is equivalent to 0.031" raker depth setting