Stihl MS881 or Husqvarna 3120xp

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

jump on you tube and look up some of those native type people in the jungle making beams, they are inspirational.

When I first started milling living in southern Mexico, little wiry indigenous locals could run circles around us freehand milling vs us with an Alaskan. They cut unbelievably straight, they kept their chains razor sharp, and they could mill all day with a 365 or 372XP. All the massive parota/guanacaste slabs they did for local tables they did freehand.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Am reminded from that pic you have a huge plus on your side already - gravity. Those logs on that hillside mean you can mill downhill letting gravity do the work. Your only challenge to this at all is assembling a nicely leveled long first cut guide. Mill a 3-4" deep first cut to level it. Then maybe do a 6" deep slab for whatever 6x beams you can get from that, those cuts easily manageable with a 36" bar. At that point I'd probably freehand vertically mill the excess off the butt ends so it was closer to the width of the tapered ends. Then use a Haddon Lumbermaker or knockoff on some long straight 2x4's screwed as far out on the edge as you can to vertically mill the edges off nice and straight. You should end up with 24-34" cants depending on the log, so a 42" bar could do the whole job as Sean said. Normally lumbermakers are a PITA to use as you're pulling the saw toward you, unless you use the Granberg edging mill you can push, but on a steep slope a cheap lumbermaker device would be pretty easy to use.

 

[smcowboy1974]

Nah, just going by what you posted. I've never tried square grind because of the filing hassles which is what keep most people away from it (and sensitivity to dirt). With a Simington grinder though, absolutely no reason not to use it all the time as long as the wood is relatively clean. No question square grind cuts cleaner and faster. I use lo pro chains and bars and sprockets to get the same effect, which mills 30-50 percent faster in most of the tough hardwoods I mill w an ultra clean finish, and requires dramatically less power. (I've milled plenty with a 64cc saw and 36" lo pro bar in 18-30" logs where I would have needed a 661 to run normal 3/8 to even close to the same effect). But it's more suited to sub-36" wood than milling big PNW softwood. People have insisted well it's a tradeoff, smaller teeth means quicker dulling and more time sharpening but I don't find that's the case. Far as I can tell, the less time you spend cutting the less time your teeth are engaged, so it's always a win to reduce time spent cutting.

Forget if you have a 42" bar for your 661, but this is a stellar deal on a top quality titanium GB for it if you need one. https://www.harvesterbars.com/colle...cts/gb-titanium-protop-chainsaw-bar-sn42-63pa

So that 42 inch bar is .063 but 3/8" Can you run .404 chain on it since it's .063?

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

So that 42 inch bar is .063 but 3/8" Can you run .404 chain on it since it's .063?

Not without switching out the nose sprocket for a .404 sprocket. They sell those for another $26. Would be the only way to get a Stihl 12mm slot bar mount version of that bar in a .404 configuration, otherwise I think they just sell their .404 bars with the large 14mm mount slot for the 881 where you need a bar mount adapter to reduce it. And most folks want $150-$250 for the 42" .404 bar.