Need milling tips

[BIG JAKE]

Don't worry about chip ejection, since it isn't "chips" but dust unless you get some internal grain transistion (usually a knot) that will give you some chips, but mixed in with the dust. Mine is rock stock, with the flapper intact, complete with teethmarks where it had tossed a chain for the prior owner. I'd never really thought of it before, but the prior owner apparently got real hurt or real scared, or both on mine. it had kicked back so hard that he had broken the chainbrake handgard and shattered the chainbrake, then took some healthy chunks out of the rubber flap as the chain ejected.

Anyway, you won't see a lot of long fibers.

Mark

Mark what do you mill with and what is your chain preference? On the fibers I was speaking of cutters were at 35 deg. No dust anywhere actually plugged the chute up.

 

[oldsaw]

Mark what do you mill with and what is your chain preference? On the fibers I was speaking of cutters were at 35 deg. No dust anywhere actually plugged the chute up.

066, Alaskan, 42" Oregon bar, and a blend of modded Stihl full skip, full comp, and Bailey's rip chain. I'm still experimenting with the chain thing. Going to do some further mods to standard chains here this summer. Going to get a roll of chain and get it over with.

Those 35 degree cutters won't stay sharp long in a ripping situation. Learned that early on when the Stihl skip was sold to me as ripping chain. I was new and hadn't figured it out yet. The next day when I was sharpening the chains up, it struck me that the angles were supposed to be on the short side of 10 degrees. Harbor Freight had their chain sharpener on sale, and I ran out and bought one to mod the skip chain. Started out slower, but by the end of the next run, the difference was pretty easy to see. Logevity over speed, means more work done in the day. Stopping to sharpen before you should have to, or even change the chain just doesn't pay off. Keep the chain sharp, but use a grind angle that will help you, not hurt that process.

Now, if you come in at a tight angle to the log, you will get long strands that will plug up a saw in no time flat. Dust from ripping will be much smaller since you are shearing off the ends of the wood fibers, not cutting with them or across them. I've never had a problem with plugging at all on the mill.

Mark

 

[BIG JAKE]

066, Alaskan, 42" Oregon bar, and a blend of modded Stihl full skip, full comp, and Bailey's rip chain. I'm still experimenting with the chain thing. Going to do some further mods to standard chains here this summer. Going to get a roll of chain and get it over with.

Those 35 degree cutters won't stay sharp long in a ripping situation. Learned that early on when the Stihl skip was sold to me as ripping chain. I was new and hadn't figured it out yet. The next day when I was sharpening the chains up, it struck me that the angles were supposed to be on the short side of 10 degrees. Harbor Freight had their chain sharpener on sale, and I ran out and bought one to mod the skip chain. Started out slower, but by the end of the next run, the difference was pretty easy to see. Logevity over speed, means more work done in the day. Stopping to sharpen before you should have to, or even change the chain just doesn't pay off. Keep the chain sharp, but use a grind angle that will help you, not hurt that process.

Now, if you come in at a tight angle to the log, you will get long strands that will plug up a saw in no time flat. Dust from ripping will be much smaller since you are shearing off the ends of the wood fibers, not cutting with them or across them. I've never had a problem with plugging at all on the mill.

Mark

Yep, I had an angle on it. Had some big sections too heavy to get on the splitter-no sense wearing out the back. What chain u running?

 

[Stu in Tokyo]

Great advice.

I finished my Logging in Tokyo project and when all was said and done the whole deal worked really well.

I ended up filing a normal chain to the Granburg style of ripping chain, and this worked VERY well in HARD wood, up to 20" wide (as big as my bar and homemade mill would handle).

All of the advice given here is spot on.

Being a biker as well, I would check my sparkplug color once a day, just to make sure, (should be light brown, NOT white, or black) and I usually had to tweak my HS mix screw after lunch when the temps warmed up.

Make sure you keep your chain adjusted right, and use the wedges, make a big diff in the smoothness of your cut, and ease of pushing the saw.

One more thing, let gravity work for you, if you can, make one end of the log higher than the other, and start at the high end, then you are pushing downhill.

You may not "need" an aux oiler, but I found it helped in my case, but my old Husky saw does not have an adjustable oiler.

I did not have the Granburg filing guide but an Oregon one, works the same way. I would use this to file my chain every tank of gas, sound like a lot, but the wood I was cutting is VERY hard, Sakura, and Keyaki mainly.

Make sure when you are filing your chain you keep the length of all the top plates the same, I found out the hard way that if you don't the chain cut to one side.

I'd also flip your bar every day, if you are doing a lot of cutting, to keep the wear even on it.

Yes it is hard work, but hey, I got a lot of wood for very little money.....

(The tarps are temporary)

Good luck, I'll look forward to your milling reports!

Cheers!

 

[BIG JAKE]

Great advice.

I finished my Logging in Tokyo project and when all was said and done the whole deal worked really well.

I ended up filing a normal chain to the Granburg style of ripping chain, and this worked VERY well in HARD wood, up to 20" wide (as big as my bar and homemade mill would handle).

All of the advice given here is spot on.

Being a biker as well, I would check my sparkplug color once a day, just to make sure, (should be light brown, NOT white, or black) and I usually had to tweak my HS mix screw after lunch when the temps warmed up.

Make sure you keep your chain adjusted right, and use the wedges, make a big diff in the smoothness of your cut, and ease of pushing the saw.

One more thing, let gravity work for you, if you can, make one end of the log higher than the other, and start at the high end, then you are pushing downhill.

You may not "need" an aux oiler, but I found it helped in my case, but my old Husky saw does not have an adjustable oiler.

I did not have the Granburg filing guide but an Oregon one, works the same way. I would use this to file my chain every tank of gas, sound like a lot, but the wood I was cutting is VERY hard, Sakura, and Keyaki mainly.

Make sure when you are filing your chain you keep the length of all the top plates the same, I found out the hard way that if you don't the chain cut to one side.

I'd also flip your bar every day, if you are doing a lot of cutting, to keep the wear even on it.

Yes it is hard work, but hey, I got a lot of wood for very little money.....

(The tarps are temporary)

Good luck, I'll look forward to your milling reports!

Cheers!

Thanks Stu-You the man! Haven't heard the down hill thing yet. Was thinking I could make some log stands with a hi lift jack and some creative welding to be able to get the log where I want it. Only a thought I haven't looked at one yet-some way to easily manipulate height on a log quickly to put it where it's easy to work on. Also plan to put a rack off the side of my trailer to hold logs for milling at a comfortable height. I'll post some pics if I come up with anything I figure is worthwhile.
On the woods you're milling I know just what you're talking about . Don't grow well in my neck of the woods though.
What are your plans for the lumber and how long you over there for? Permanent?
Great detail here thanks again!

 

[Stu in Tokyo]

Thanks for the Kudos Jake!

I found these on the web..........

a stand for logs, now this one is designed to do quarter sawing, thus the space in the middle, so you can cut the logs into halves and then quarters, but something similar would work for straight milling as well.

Hard work this milling is, but worth it, IMHO, so if you can get the logs off the ground, it would be much easier on the back for sure, and if the ground is wet/frozen/muddy/snowy so much the better.

On the same site I found this little rig.....

Simple tripod with a chain hoist, would work like a charm.
(found at Bill's Wood Creations)

If I were going to be doing this a fair bit, I'd build these two tools for sure.

The stands have to be overkill well built, and you have to have a solid flat piece of ground to work on.

Something to move the logs around is also needed, a cant is nice to have (I built one as I could not find one for sale here).

Good luck!

 

[oldsaw]

BTW Jake, if you haven't figured it out, Stu "rocks". For a guy who has everything going against him for this hobby, he gets to do way more than I do.

Nice update, Stu. One word...amazing.

Mark

 

[Stu in Tokyo]

BTW Jake, if you haven't figured it out, Stu "rocks". For a guy who has everything going against him for this hobby, he gets to do way more than I do.

Nice update, Stu. One word...amazing.

Mark

Hey Mark, thanks a lot, means a lot to me to hear others appreciate the sh_t I go through to do what I want to do here in Japan.

I look at it this way, I'd much rather struggle to get it done than give up, because it is a struggle.

Also, I could not have done it without a lot of help from a lot of great people right here on this site.

Cheers!

PS

One of the reasons I get so much done is that Japanese TV, SUCKS!!!

Get rid of your TV, and you will be AMAZED at how much free time you have!

 

[BIG JAKE]

BTW Jake, if you haven't figured it out, Stu "rocks". For a guy who has everything going against him for this hobby, he gets to do way more than I do.

Nice update, Stu. One word...amazing.

Mark

Oaksmoke and I were checking out that post and while I was looking at the lumber on top of the skyscraper I said to Oak "Now theres a guy I can relate to". Does what he loves no matter where he lives. I like that. Thanks Stu and Mark. The hoist gave me another idea. :blob5:

 

[Stu in Tokyo]

Oaksmoke and I were checking out that post and while I was looking at the lumber on top of the skyscraper I said to Oak "Now theres a guy I can relate to". Does what he loves no matter where he lives. I like that. Thanks Stu and Mark. The hoist gave me another idea. :blob5:

Dunno if I'd call it a Skyscraper, 7 floors.

From the elevator at the 6th floor to the roof top is 30 steps, and when you are packing up all that wet green wood, those are 30 steps too many

But we got it done.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."- Teddy Roosevelt

Words to live by.

Cheers!

 

[BIG JAKE]

Great advice.

I finished my Logging in Tokyo project and when all was said and done the whole deal worked really well.

I ended up filing a normal chain to the Granburg style of ripping chain, and this worked VERY well in HARD wood, up to 20" wide (as big as my bar and homemade mill would handle).


All of the advice given here is spot on.

Being a biker as well, I would check my sparkplug color once a day, just to make sure, (should be light brown, NOT white, or black) and I usually had to tweak my HS mix screw after lunch when the temps warmed up.

Make sure you keep your chain adjusted right, and use the wedges, make a big diff in the smoothness of your cut, and ease of pushing the saw.

One more thing, let gravity work for you, if you can, make one end of the log higher than the other, and start at the high end, then you are pushing downhill.

You may not "need" an aux oiler, but I found it helped in my case, but my old Husky saw does not have an adjustable oiler.

I did not have the Granburg filing guide but an Oregon one, works the same way. I would use this to file my chain every tank of gas, sound like a lot, but the wood I was cutting is VERY hard, Sakura, and Keyaki mainly.

Make sure when you are filing your chain you keep the length of all the top plates the same, I found out the hard way that if you don't the chain cut to one side.

I'd also flip your bar every day, if you are doing a lot of cutting, to keep the wear even on it.

Yes it is hard work, but hey, I got a lot of wood for very little money.....



I finished my Logging in Tokyo project and when all was said and done the whole deal worked really well.



Hey Stu-Looked at your mill and alot of the pics from the link you posted. You might consider a circular saw to rip off those board edges on the small boards. Just use a straight edge to run it up against. Also, if you haven't thrown that variable router speed controller yet, don't. Jumper that trace using 14 or 16 gauge wire(or whatever necessary for amps), solder it in and you're good to go. If you don't have many components in the circuit you can lose the circuit board all together and hardwire everything. Each component is replaceable when you burn them up but to keep the heat down you could mount a small fan in the box if heat is a big problem. Cut a few louvres and your done. I also checked out the pics on your mill set-up. Way to go. I need to fire up that welder!