Stihl MS 390 for milling lumber???

[Snowman]

Stihl MS 390 for milling softwood???

Hi all,

I have been reading and learning from your postst for the past few months and I have to say this site is the best of it's kind I found.
So. Here is my question. I want to build bridges over some small streams that cross my property. I'v been thinking about using my MS 390 in an Alaskan mill to cut slabs for the decking on the bridges. I have found a lot of duscussions on the large saws used in these mills and I would love to be able to buy one, but I'm not in the position for that kind of spending. I have a lot of blown down cedar and some pine on my land and that is what I want to use. Do you think that the 390 would be able to handle cedar/pine up to about 12-14"? The majority of the downed trees are in the 8-12" range. The setup I thought of was to get a 25" bar, rip chain (if you can give advice on a good one to get) and a 30" alaskan mill.
I understand that for the same size oak or maple this saw may not be powerful enough, but what about softwood? Is the 25" bar too long for the power I have? I really don't want to kill the saw!
Just to give an ide about the size of the project, for now I'm thinking of building four simple bridges about 5' wide ranging from 15-30' long.

Thank you
the Snowman

 

[njforestfire]

Bigger is better when milling. But with what you are proposing....IMO...you just might make it. Give it a try.

 

[DirtTroll]

If you already have a 390 give it a try. What do you have to lose? It is definetly way below what I would consider mininum for hardwoods though. If it doesn't work look for an older 070, 076, or an 084. These can be had rather cheaply and will do the job nicely. If you've got money to burn, nothing beats the 090 in milling. It's a beast for torque. Milling is all about torque. RPM's mean nothing.

 

[timberwolf]

You are likely set up with a 7 pin sprocket anyway, but if not you would likely want have use one.

Keep the chain sharp, wedge your cuts, and avoid hot weather just to keep the saw temp down

 

[JamesTX]

You can use a chain saw to cut planks? Do you free hand it, or do you use some sort of jig?

Any pics?

 

[Blowdown1]

James, he is talking about using a small bolt-on milling attachment. Go to Granberg.com to see their Alaskan mill.

 

[Snowman]

I just made a quick change in the title of the post, to make sure the question is clear. I do not intend on milling any hardwood with the 390. Thank you for your responses.

 

[Rancher]

While we are at it, Older huskies for milling?

The 070, 076 etc were mentioned as milling saws. While we are on the subject, what are some high torque older Huskies.? I too have just recently found this site and you guys are a great source of knowledge. I use chainsaws alot here on the ranch but never really figured them out.I also want to start milling which is why I am interested in the larger saws.

 

[tawilson]

Snoman,
There are others here with a lot more milling knowhow than me, but as I have an 039 and a small alaskan mill, I'll pipe up. The saw should be ok for what you want to do, but for the size of the trees you'll be cutting do you need the 25" bar? If you've got a 20" on it now, shouldn't that handle up to 14" trees? Maybe you need that size bar for the 30" Alaskan, and you're looking to the future and then I understand. Or you are looking for an excuse to get a bigger bar, and I definitely understand. I did take the dogs off mine for a little extra capacity. Also, for that size logs, I wouldn't worry about getting ripping chain. I even used my old homelite 360 for some milling too, but not having a side tensioner was a pain.

 

[Lawn Masters]

The 070, 076 etc were mentioned as milling saws. While we are on the subject, what are some high torque older Huskies.? I too have just recently found this site and you guys are a great source of knowledge. I use chainsaws alot here on the ranch but never really figured them out.I also want to start milling which is why I am interested in the larger saws.

The most likely saws to be used for milling from Husky, are probably the 288, or maybe if you can find it, a 2100. I'd personally go with the heavy duty 090 direct drive version, finding .404 sprockets for the 090G is like looking for the end of the horizon. I would think that for milling anything, I'd go with a saw larger than an ms390, more like an 046 or something.

 

[Snowman]

"If you've got a 20" on it now, shouldn't that handle up to 14" trees? Maybe you need that size bar for the 30" Alaskan, and you're looking to the future and then I understand."

Thanks for the post Tawilson.

It is good to hear that my idea is not just a crazy daydream. As for the above quote. You have a good point and yes I do use a 20" bar on the saw. I thought about making some rustic bookshelfes, benches and such out of pine and that led me to think. (rare moments in my life) If I have more "room on the mill" I might be able to leave some small stubs of sidebranches on the slabs to serve as something or just to look neat. So that was the reason for the longer bar and larger mill. It might just be a good idea that wouldn't work. I don't know. I have not bought the mill yet so your input is certainly helping.

the Snowman

 

[tawilson]

Stand a 5' log on end and slice her down. That's how I got started playing with making slabs. I think it's on Woodshop's excellent thread on milling there's a pic of a man freehanding mahogany slabs. Check it out.

 

[weimedog]

You can mill with a smaller saw....it will just take longer and wear on you patience longer. I jerked around with an old Homelite C-7 which probably is in the same power class as your Stihl. It took twice as long to cut through my 12-14ft , 25inch diameter ash log as my big McCulloch...but I got through the process. The real casualty is my desire to go out and do it again. You spend too much time grinding thru those logs, breathing dust, giving your self a back ache; and your milling career will be short. Blast thru it with big power and things can be almost..fun. You might want to ebay a cheaper BIG saw so you don't care about the wear and tear.

To mill effectively you need a saw that can pull a 3/8 chain on a 36inch bar with enough chain speed to make something happen. Need to have enough power not to bog or loose to much chain speed when the bar is in full engagement under pressure in the size wood you are trying to mill. In my case that would be 30inches of hardwood.....my McCulloch is the ONLY saw on my list that qualifies with my work. I have NO idea how much power it has...but look at the signiture list to get an idea of the class saw it out works. (I haven't tryed the gear drives enough to know yet)

 

[Doug01]

I bought a used 394 to mill with and use a 28" bar. Get the ripping chain. It is only like $0.16 per link at Baileys. As far as bar length you may need the 24-25" bar for that size because you have to remember you will lose ~ 4" of bar due to the sprocket tip. When you clamp the mill down on the bar you need to make sure it isn't on the sprocket or you'll smash it down.

Doug

 

[DonE911]

Use your saw, you already have it..... be warned that milling is habit forming and soon you will be looking for a way to get your hands on a bigger badder saw and mill, so you can feed your addiction to saw dust.

Use the milling chain as the finish is much nicer and the chain is not big bucks.

As mentioned earlier the baileys stuff works fine, thats what I use.

For the record I have 2 066's I use on my mill, but if they were to die, I'd strap on any other saw I have until I could get the others running again. I would have to get my sawdust fix some how

 

[d.martin.]

Ive been chainsaw milling lumber for a couple of years as sort of a hobby/cheap lumber source sort of thing. I even built a carage and set of tracks around a alaskan millto make the thing more practical.Its very important to use rip chain and keep it sharp. I make my own with a dremmel and a bench grinder to change the angles slowly down to 20 degrees. dont push the saw too hard or you'll smoke it. Any thing smaller than a 088 or a 3120 and you shouldnt use a 36 in bar and you need a 36 in bar for a 30 in mill as the mill eats up a few inches of bar. I woud advise a bigger saw and still take it easy on it. A little xtra oil in the gas will foul more plugs but it'll help you from smokin a piston. Mill on brother mill on

 

[woodshop]

In my humble opinion, Weimedog summed it up best. You CAN mill with a smaller saw, it just won't be as much fun. Also, as others have said, you can burn up a saw/chain/bar pushing an anemic one with a dull chain through too much wood. It can get frustrating, and just no fun. A good analogy might be using a 1/2 ton pickup truck to haul a ton of logs. Sure, you will get down the road, but you'll be overloading the truck, you won't be going very fast, and if you did that every day you'll be replacing your truck a lot sooner. As I showed in the pics in my previous post on milling, its possible to slice through 30 inches of oak with a 365 (around 60cc)... I did it... sure it worked all right, it just took forever, and the saw was working REAL hard the whole way down the log even as I just crept along. In contrast, I sliced up a 30" wide weeping cherry tree this weekend using a Husky 395 and that same 36 inch bar, and it made quick work of it. Pure fun. The bigger saw had the torque to keep that chain moving at a decent speed. Heck it took longer to gas up the saw, set the height on the Granburg and fuss around attaching a guide beam just right than it did to push through 5 feet of log 4 times.

Pine and cedar do mill easier than hardwood though... if you go slow, and keep the chain sharp, your 390 will mill that stuff just fine.

 

[Newfie]

you need a 36 in bar for a 30 in mill as the mill eats up a few inches of bar.

No you don't. Only if you are looking to get the full 30" of use out of the mill. The 30" mill will adjust down to as small as you need to go. But I wouldn't use a 25" bar to mill small wood. I'd use an 18 or 20 tops as you are asking a lot of the saw already. Asking it to pull more chain further is piling it on.

I know getting an appropriate sized saw for milling is a big expense but how screwed will you be if you cook your 039?

 

[d.martin.]

You can adjust the mill smaller correct sir but, I started with a 066
(90cc) to use with my 30 in mill and believe me if you find bigger logs than the 12 to 14 that he has now,the temptation to cut them ,power or not (given the addictive nature of milling ) is overwhelming. I did it , smoked my saw.My next saw was a 3120 (120 cc ) 36 in bar, no problem in softwood even up to the mill capacity. Hardwood still puts a strain on it. I still would like more power, so I bought a bandmill. Sawyers annonomus is calling got to go