Adding to what Brent said
semi-sharp wont work. Sharpen after every tank of gas especially when milling hardwoods. Touch up rakers after every third tank or have multiple chains and change after every third cut. Skip chain cuts the sharpening time in half. Stump vise? Board and Bench vise? Best: Learn to sharpen while mounted in the mill. Fine tune to perfection at the end of the day or next morning.
Metal Detector" Use it between cuts if you have it. Chains ain't cheap. Neither is your grinding/heavy sharpening time. Sometimes, that old nail doesn't show up until your fourth slab.
Fight the urge. You will be tempted to seesaw. Don't! Seesawing cuts a ragged, uneven surface.
Easy with the wedges. Use wedges, but don't drive them in hard. Just a tap with your hand. If you wedge to0 hard, the face of the plank splits while you are cutting thereby leaving a fuzzy cut.
Counterweight?: Not necessary, but a counterweight near the same weight as your powerhead can help keep the end of your bar from rising up. I use an old railroad plate (from an
abandoned private line that can't be used). Fight the urge to exert downward pressure on the powerhead. Push it with your hip/knee.
Gravity is your friend. Elevate one end of the log so you are always cutting downhill. Cheap log lifter if you don't have better is a wide board and a 3 ton floor jack. I jack mine up about 18 inchs to insert a piece of log about 16 inches in diameter under the log. wedge to prevent role. Look for the video by BobL where his saw is self feeding because of his slope. Heck, look for every BobL post.
Vibration is your enemy. Wear gloves. Buy styrofoam insulation tubes of appropriate interior diameter to install on the round top rail. You will be grabbing/pushing on it. Make sure all mill bolts are tight. They will rattle off if not.
Run the saw a minute or five when you finish your cut. Cool that baby down before you shut it down!
Have a Moving and drying plan. Okay, you have cut your first usable slab. What'cha gonna do with it? Dump it to the side and keep cutting?
You gonna stack it there beside the log to air dry or are you gonna haul it elsewhere? If drying in place, build a level, well supported drying frame before you make your first cut. I usually build mine about six feet parallel to the log on the off-cutting side. Green slabs are heavy. Do you have a helper? If not, maybe cut that distance to six feet if wide heavy slabs. You can rotate the slab on the top of the log then push the slab onto the drying platform. If hauling off, slide the slab onto your truck up after each cut. Either way, clear your workspace.
Your Drying Plan is as important as your cutting plan. Why cut a bunch of beautiful slabs only to have them bow, split, cup or mold? Get them stickered, weighted, shaded and drying by the end of the cutting day. One day in our South Georgia summer sun can cause a quarter inch cup! A few days does awful things as I learned on my first log. Buy a moisture meter.
Fine dust: Even with a sharp chain, you will produce some fine dust mixed in with the chunks. Check your filter more frequently than you would when crosscutting. Why not do it every tank? keep a soft brush
REST: You and your saw. It's hard work. Most mistakes and accidents happen when you are tired. Take rest breaks. Sharpen in the shade. Drink fluids. De-hydration makes you stupid. Don't say "just one more cut" when you are dog tired. Your saw may need the rest too.
Brent is Right: Don't start with a huge bar. 36 will cut a 30 inch log (barely). That's a pretty big log. Also, your 3120 should oil it adequately without needing to add an auxilliary oiler immediately
(Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here). There is a big difference in the "feel" between a 36 and a 42 inch bar. Sure, you want a huge bar so you can cut a 48" log on your mill - but how many logs do you see that are that big?
Leeroy is right too: Run it rich (for cooling) and tune it to the mixture. It's a big, tough saw but milling is a tough job.
Have fun: It's hard work. Planning is more fun than cutting. If the fun doesn't outweigh the difficulty, I'm interested in a li
ghtly used 3120.
