Milling Picture Thread
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GeneralKayoss
ArboristSite Operative
Oh yeah, you've got those with an extra set of hands. Just stack the slabs beside the log and get the property owner to come load them on the trailer when you're done. The biggest slab I've tried moving around by myself was a 4" thick, 26" wide and it was an absolute backbreaker just moving it end by end. Still had to use a tractor to get it in the back of the truck. 3" or less thick and under 30" wide and I can load them, any bigger than that and I'm getting too old for this **** lol
oak for a customer today
I love oak.
Also. I used a full comp chain and got a way better finish. Definitely was slower but did not seem to work the 385 any harder.
I ran the 42” bar and full comp on the 385 for the short wide slabs. They were about 36” wide. It did great but.
Cookies are 42”.
I warned her they may split.
I love oak.
Also. I used a full comp chain and got a way better finish. Definitely was slower but did not seem to work the 385 any harder.
I ran the 42” bar and full comp on the 385 for the short wide slabs. They were about 36” wide. It did great but.
Cookies are 42”.
I warned her they may split.
DGTIII
ArboristSite Lurker
Got it. Cool idea
Got back to this a bit late, but would agree with JD that any kind of multiple cut approach like that is asking to compound inconsistency. I use a ladder guide every cut just so I don't compound inconsistency. I did white oak about 9' long and 9/4 and did a lot of 28-32" slabs myself and they weren't that hard to slide off to one side and stack them. Granted, yours are going to be way heavier, but with a helper are easily stackable. Glad you figured out the minor washboarding was going too fast with skip, suspected that was most likely. There's the long held argument many CSM folks use that finish doesn't matter that much because it will have to be leveled again later, but again it's a matter of compounding inconsistency. People think that the leveling you do to take out any drying warp will take out all the washboarding at the same time. It won't necessarily. The warp and the washboarding may be compounded problems. Comes down to how much waste and extra work later one can tolerate. After doing about the same amount of work all over again as milling to router plane level a lot of my slabs, because I milled them somewhat poorly or didn't take enough care strapping and stacking and retightening the straps relentlessly, I've come to realize it saves me a ton of time in the long run to mill and dry everything as perfectly as I can.
If it's raw slabs for customers, you'll get way better money with a clean finish. If it's for yourself, you'll save a lot of work later on and waste less wood by making slabs as perfectly level and clean as you can to start with. I used to buy only skip chain when milling w the 880, wanting to get the milling done as fast as possible, but since milling primarily with lo pro I can use full comp up to 30" and get bandsaw like clean cuts and fast milling so I've lost interest in any form of skip til 30"+ slabs. Haven't ever gotten a shot at anything 40"+ so I only have theories so far on what will work best for that. Seems "double skip" may work well at that size, but yet to test any. From what I've heard from others tackling big oaks, it seems that the smoothness of full comp may offset any easier cutting that full skip gives, because if the full skip is oscillating it's taking out more of a kerf and doing more work and ultimately requiring the same amount of effort from the saw and you may not even be milling any faster. I also wonder if really fine chips from dense hardwoods are even that much of a factor as far as the clearing ability of a chain, compared to big softwood chips. Again, why it seems to me 3/8 or 3/8LP make much more sense in dense hardwoods, the chip clearing benefits of larger chain may be an non factor vs the enormously greater power that larger chain requires in dense hardwoods.
If it's raw slabs for customers, you'll get way better money with a clean finish. If it's for yourself, you'll save a lot of work later on and waste less wood by making slabs as perfectly level and clean as you can to start with. I used to buy only skip chain when milling w the 880, wanting to get the milling done as fast as possible, but since milling primarily with lo pro I can use full comp up to 30" and get bandsaw like clean cuts and fast milling so I've lost interest in any form of skip til 30"+ slabs. Haven't ever gotten a shot at anything 40"+ so I only have theories so far on what will work best for that. Seems "double skip" may work well at that size, but yet to test any. From what I've heard from others tackling big oaks, it seems that the smoothness of full comp may offset any easier cutting that full skip gives, because if the full skip is oscillating it's taking out more of a kerf and doing more work and ultimately requiring the same amount of effort from the saw and you may not even be milling any faster. I also wonder if really fine chips from dense hardwoods are even that much of a factor as far as the clearing ability of a chain, compared to big softwood chips. Again, why it seems to me 3/8 or 3/8LP make much more sense in dense hardwoods, the chip clearing benefits of larger chain may be an non factor vs the enormously greater power that larger chain requires in dense hardwoods.
I find the Granberg grind is a good comprise... make my own out of full comp with a grinder setup in a drill press
The Granberg grind seems a great idea at minimizing side forces - and thus oscillation - on a chain, which full skip seems to be the worst design for. The key is in precision and evenness, which sounds like you've managed with a drill press grinder setup. I'm not sure why "factory produced" Granberg grinds have problems with consistency - you'd think they'd have jigs/machines that get the half width teeth to be half width every time, but doesn't seem to be the case. I've seen the inconsistency in scoring tooth width on a Laser version of the Granberg grind in some 3/8LP I bought, though it still worked fine. I can't speak to Granberg's consistency, but I've seen just enough posts about folks having washboarding problems with new Granberg chain that was solved by a new other chain that I assume every so often in their process there's a lopsided grind that makes the chain dive one way. If one has the patience to make one's own correctly, it should be great stuff, I just figure for people (like me) without the patience to precisely do the Granberg grind, dispensing with the half width scoring cutters completely by grinding off alternate pairs - what I call "double skip" - eliminates any need for precision in modifying a full comp chain and achieves roughly similar results with a bit less drag. But it will likely have a bit more side forces on it than the Granberg grind, so a well done Granberg grind may be about the best compromise there is for a clean efficient cut.
If anyone is interested...
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/setup-to-make-granberg-style-chain.349371/
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/setup-to-make-granberg-style-chain.349371/
Looks like a really stable setup. Exactly the kind of thing you want to get even results.
Yeah, I was quite happy with the results... far better than any other methods I had tried. Took very little time to knock together & pretty much everything there was salvaged at some point so didn't really cost anything either 
DGTIII
ArboristSite Lurker
I meant to imply that while using his ladder guide or whatever, he could begin with the deepest cut to be made from that position. Subsequent cuts would be made shallower and necessarily with the guide still in place. If your mill has enough vertical adjustment to suit, you could make a few good cuts off of the ladder without moving it.
So if the ladder remains screwed into the same spot throughout multiple cuts, one eliminates some unnecessary movements/adjustments, screwholes in each board, and perhaps even some minute tolerance stacking (compared to resetting the ladder for every individual cut.)
I see only an improvement there when it comes to quality control, and improved efficiency as well!
Gotcha - hadn't entirely thought that approach out but see your point. If your ladder guide setting on top is maintaining the same level through every cut, I can see starting deepest and working your way up should stay fairly consistent. The only way it goes wrong is if you fail to clean out each cut with a blower or something properly, or if one of the bottom slabs takes a warp from a cut that the weight of the wood above it fails to flatten out completely. But yeah, otherwise makes sense. I'd definitely still make the standard first cut first a few inches deep to get rid of the edge wood and establish a solid flat platform for the ladder guide before doing those kind of cuts though. Intriguing, will have to try it sometime. Granberg does make 36" extra long posts that seem designed more or less for that purpose so you could do entire logs that way, because I can't see anyone is making cants that big to need posts that long.
DGTIII
ArboristSite Lurker
As another user mentioned, using shims sized to your kerf rather than wedges will eliminate the possibility of the load above pinching the work (or that of prying the wood apart.) But as long as your wedges are (and stay) placed well, a heavy cut should be no different than any other.
Also, chips left in a cut below aren't going to effect the goings on above. That would only be a factor if you tried this approach "backwards," stacking cuts from the top down which we all know is a terrible idea.
I had no idea that a tall granberg jig was an option and love the idea, I just might wind up with one sometime down the road!
I really didn't think this out completely. You're right. This doesn't seem to have been discussed much before but seems kinda obvious once thought through. I did post awhile back on the CSM 101 tricks and tips thread how I cut from the bottom when resawing warped slabs because it allows me to effectively plane one side level much faster and easier than router planing, with a pretty good finish using lo pro chain. I use sacrificial blocks under the slab to support it that it's okay for me to cut into. I have to flip the slab over and cut the bottom again to level the other side though because I can't just move the mill setting up. You can't skim level the top side because there's nothing for the mill to screw onto on the top side if you try to take only a thin layer off the top. When you get sick of taking a million slow 1/32" passes through badly warped incredibly dense hardwood with a router planing setup, leveling slabs again with a chainsaw gets a lot more appealing.
The long post idea has a lot of merit for those of us who use a ladder guide every cut, because it's a small chore resetting the ladder each time. Also due to ladder flex it's easy to get one cut a little different from the next when screwing the ladder down if you're not careful. So if the ladder was just set once and you were accurately readjusting the posts each time, seems it would be a lot more efficient and accurate.
DGTIII
ArboristSite Lurker
I have looked into the granberg extended posts, thought it out, and took the plunge. Granberg sure is proud of their USPS shipping options, though.... 105 bucks for priority or 30 for the low grade option - ridiculous! Anyhow, I couldn't find them elsewhere 
4
Good thinking on planing with the CSM, I will be using that technique!
4Good thinking on planing with the CSM, I will be using that technique!
Priority USPS is the biggest scam because it's not even a guaranteed time. I sent a 92 lb low slung assembled live oak coffee table from here to upstate NY using Pirate Ship's UPS discount rates, and that was only $111 and got there in 3 days! Fact is, FedEx ground or UPS Ground deliver most places in the country in 3 days or less so there's almost no reason for places to offer way overpriced non-guaranteed USPS Priority as an option.I have looked into the granberg extended posts, thought it out, and took the plunge. Granberg sure is proud of their USPS shipping options, though.... 105 bucks for priority or 30 for the low grade option - ridiculous! Anyhow, I couldn't find them elsewhere
That 42” diameter White Oak i milled for the customer was ok. Customer still wanted it after lots of pictures and explanations of all the crack. Hard to see them all in the pictures i did not show you all of it. Still a good amount of wood in it that is usable. Just not the glamorous log i was dreaming it would be. LOL
Yes still some washboarding. Still the skip chain. Customer could care less he said.
Yes still some washboarding. Still the skip chain. Customer could care less he said.
Got'r'done, that's the important thing, and customer was okay with it. It probably will look ten times better planed and dried. My big poplar slabs looked like nothing when fresh milled and are gorgeous wood dried and planed. Bigger the wood often the more chance of cracks, rot, flaws. Part and parcel of big old trees. The largest mesquite burl I ever got to mill turned out to be absolutely full of rot.
100%
Yah so long as he is happy! And i got future business out of it. He said he has a 47” diameter oak he wants me to mill at some point. So its a win win!!
I think the road i plan to take with this (if the money follows) is the large diameter stuff as a portable setup.
