Any chainsaw mill folks out there?

[Pullstart 62,803]

I don’t have much to do these days.  (That was a big fat joke!)

 

I have wanted for quite some time a sawmill of some type.  The other day I ordered an Alaskan Chainsaw Mill kit and a new Oregon 20” bar for my Husky 346XP.  I plan to remove 1/3 of the tops of the teeth of an old chain and 2/3 of them from another to see what performs best.  I have an electric grinder wheel style sharpener and have read that a 10 degree tooth works best for this type of cutting.

 

Any other tips or tricks, I’m all ears!  I have some big oak logs and black walnut as well that I’d like to play with.  

 

@The Tool Crib @JAinVA @WVHillbilly520H @formariz @Ed Kennell @ebinmaine?  

 

I also have a 12 or 13” planer too that I might employ to clean up the boards when the time comes.

 

 

[Herder 2,354]

I hope this doesn't turnout to be another bumps and bruises thread.      

[ebinmaine 67,309]

33 minutes ago, pullstart said:

don’t have much to do these days.  (That was a big fat joke!)

So you're bored/board....

 

 

 

 

Hehehe

 

 

 

Had to.....

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

The chain for a chainsaw mill is a "rip" chain. Ill check mine, but I believe it has no angle on teeth at all. Compare it to a ripping handsaw vs a crosscut. Same principle. The angle at which the teeth edge is ground is also different. It all has to do on the direction teeth are contacting wood fibers. Going right into the end of fibers rather than across.If it is not right it will wonder not making a straight cut and overheat immediately dulling the chain. Let me look at the instructions for mine. It may have all you need to know in there .If so I will post it for you. I also have a sharpening jig which uses a 12 volt battery for it. It uses very fine diamond burrs in it to touch up chain. You want to touch up chain frequently before it dulls. Its not the same as cutting across the grain, but much harder to do.

[posifour11 723]

Definitely get a purpose made ripping chain. It causes less strain on the saw and moves along faster than a crosscut that was ground into a ripper. 

 

I use Archer brand from Amazon. 

[posifour11 723]

16 minutes ago, formariz said:

The chain for a chainsaw mill is a "rip" chain. Ill check mine, but I believe it has no angle on teeth at all. Compare it to a ripping handsaw vs a crosscut. Same principle. The angle at which the teeth edge is ground is also different. It all has to do on the direction teeth are contacting wood fibers. Going right into the end of fibers rather than across.If it is not right it will wonder not making a straight cut and overheat immediately dulling the chain. Let me look at the instructions for mine. It may have all you need to know in there .If so I will post it for you. I also have a sharpening jig which uses a 12 volt battery for it. It uses very fine diamond burrs in it to touch up chain. You want to touch up chain frequently before it dulls. Its not the same as cutting across the grain, but much harder to do.

Mine have a 10° angle. 

[formariz 11,987]

Looks like a 10 yes. Looking for paper work it’s been a while. Frequency of teeth very important I remember.

 

 

[posifour11 723]

This is the package mine come in. Maybe the specs will help, maybe not. This is for a Stihl MS290.

Edited April 28, 2020 by posifour11

[formariz 11,987]

Here is what I use

 

[JAinVA 4,619]

Kev.

    I will keep my opinions about chainsaw mills to my self.I tried one 30 years ago and as you know built a band mill.With that said I will address what you need to do after the boards are cut.Make sure you stack the lumber where it can get air to flow through it while its under cover.Use dry stacking strips to allow air space between  layers and avoid board to board  contact while drying.If you air dry the recomended  drying time is 1 year for every inch of thickness.There is a periodical that is called Sawmill and Woodlot management you might want to check out.It is aimed at homeowners and small operators.With the exception of the salt treated posts all the lumber for these structures came off my mill.

Edited April 28, 2020 by JAinVA

[formariz 11,987]

6 minutes ago, JAinVA said:

Kev.

    I will keep my opinions about chainsaw mills to my self.I tried one 30 years ago and as you know built a band mill.With that said I will address what you need to do after the boards are cut.Make sure you stack the lumber where it can get air to flow through it while its under cover.Use dry stacking strips to allow air space between  layers and avoid board to board  contact while drying.If you air dry the recomended  drying time is 1 year for every   inch thickness.There is a periodical that is called sawmill and woodlot management you might want to check out.It is aimed at homeowners and small operators.

The chainsaw mill is a good way for you to start and get familiar with the whole process beginning to end. However if you are going to stay at it and get serious with it, as @JAinVA alluded above the band-saw mill is the way to go. Chainsaw milling is wasteful due to the wide kerf. It is hard, dusty,noisy  backbreaking work. The only worst thing than it is a saw pit sawing regardless whether you are on the top or the bottom.. I got mine because I wanted to mill real wide logs with crotches as shown on photo above that were in peoples backyards and other wise would go to firewood. Got a lot of really precious stuff with it but I could not do it any more today. Mine uses two Stihls 90 and it is just a beast to handle. Any way we'll provide as much help as we can to make it sucessfull for you so then you graduate to a band saw mill.

[posifour11 723]

2 minutes ago, formariz said:

The chainsaw mill is a good way for you to start and get familiar with the whole process beginning to end. However if you are going to stay at it and get serious with it, as @JAinVA alluded above the band-saw mill is the way to go. Chainsaw milling is wasteful due to the wide kerf. It is hard, dusty,noisy  backbreaking work. The only worst thing than it is a saw pit sawing regardless whether you are on the top or the bottom.. I got mine because I wanted to mill real wide logs with crotches as shown on photo above that were in peoples backyards and other wise would go to firewood. Got a lot of really precious stuff with it but I could not do it any more today. Mine uses two Stihls 90 and it is just a beast to handle. Any way we'll provide as much help as we can to make it sucessfull for you so then you graduate to a band saw mill.

I agree with you and @JAinVA, I actually have a bandmill that I bought while deployed and was flush with extra money. I still haven't set it up, but really need to. Most of what I have done is resawing cedar slabs I bought from a guy that makes his living with a woodmizer. If was doing any volume, I'd be sure to be into the bandmill by now. 

 

At the moment, I'm turning $20 a pickup load into lots of useful roughsawn stuff around the house. When I start sawing my own timber, I'll definitely have my bandsaw ready for that. 

[formariz 11,987]

Found literature but having issues with my scanner now. Anyway tooth angle on mine is Zero. I know from experience that that is critical along with number of teeth. Ripping creates dust not chips and you need to allow dust to escape efficiently so it does not overheat chain therefor the very few teeth compared to a regular chain. If I cant eventually scan it if you want I can copy the whole thing and send it to you. Lots of great insight into the whole process of chainsaw milling.

[Pullstart 62,803]

Is it anything Caz that you can take pictures of and post instead of scanning, or is there too much?

[formariz 11,987]

8 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Is it anything Caz that you can take pictures of and post instead of scanning, or is there too much?

Give me a little time. Working on it.

[WHX?? 48,795]

When my Dad and I built the cabin back in the eighty's we had one of those early version of the Alaskan style mills but quickly realized what you guys are mentioning about the cons. 'Course we didn't have the correct chains nor the internet or you fellas to educate us. I think we used about four times and threw in the towel. My uncle hooked us up with a guy with a woodmiser and it set in the corner till I gave it away to a neighbor  who actually had pretty good luck with it. 

Woodmizer guy came in and had the whole cabin and then some cut in a day. I think he charged us 300 for the whole day. Lucked out and never hit a nail or common in our woods a bullet meant for a whitetail. You hit anything but wood with a bandmill yer done. I still have timbers, planks and board I use to this day. 

[formariz 11,987]

@pullstart

Here you go. Just pick what applies to your unit. You don't have the sharpener listed here. I numbered pages on top corner to make it easier. I can tell you that the chain I have sharpened to those specs would cut really well leaving a very smooth finish without any deep gouges. Don't let what I said before discourage you. Its a lot of fun and useful. One of the greatest things about it is that you can mill logs where ever they fall and don't have to move them, which for me would have been impossible. Keep extra chains on hand. Inevitably you are going to find some presents inside logs that are not too kind to the chain. You would be surprised as to what also. For me incredibly regardless of how much I cursed when that happened, some of those slabs were awesome pieces with the objects inside sometimes remaining on the finished work becoming what clients loved about it.. Some of the metal objects also created a lot of character by the stains they left in the wood. Eventually you may also have to upgrade that planer to a stationary one with larger capacity.

You can have these chains made for you. I used to do that. I even have some here somewhere that are carbide tipped.

 Keep in mind also a very important thing in chainsaw milling. Power and more power. Use the biggest chainsaw available to you. It’s not the same as cross cutting a log. 

 

Ripping chain information.pdf

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by formariz

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,296]

@pullstart Once you start the planing part of your project , check every board upside down and backwards for metal . A few years ago I purchased some rough cedar for a project , pulled the tag off the end thinking the staple came out. WRONG it bend upward ,over the edge of the board . Ruined the planer knives.

[JAinVA 4,619]

Jim's right and ruined knives can be the least of damage.That is a good reason not to stand in front of or behind the direction of feed of any planer.Think of shrapnel!

[formariz 11,987]

14 minutes ago, JAinVA said:

Jim's right and ruined knives can be the least of damage.That is a good reason not to stand in front of or behind the direction of feed of any planer.Think of shrapnel!

Good point to bring up.That goes for any tool but specially any big stationary tool. I have here holes in drywall as a testament to that. Always think about the worst it may happen.

[formariz 11,987]

Ironically shortly after our last posts warning you about shrapnel 

while using a 3HP router one of the depth set screws walked itself out from vibration came out hit cutter and smacked against dust guard breaking it into pieces. No injuries except a fast heart beat.

 We can not only tell what to do but more importantly what not to do even by example.

 

[CCW 1,292]

4 hours ago, formariz said:

Found literature but having issues with my scanner now. Anyway tooth angle on mine is Zero. I know from experience that that is critical along with number of teeth. Ripping creates dust not chips and you need to allow dust to escape efficiently so it does not overheat chain therefor the very few teeth compared to a regular chain. If I cant eventually scan it if you want I can copy the whole thing and send it to you. Lots of great insight into the whole process of chainsaw milling.

 

If your scanner does not work you can use a smartphone that you text with (assuming you are not a dinosaur like me with a flip phone).  Once you take the photo with the phone text it to your email address.  It then shows up on your computer.  I do this using my wife's phone.

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,296]

You really have to be careful with tools . My youngest brother many years ago was installing some 2 x 4 's to partition  his garage . Shot a a framing nail into his hand.

[WHX?? 48,795]

Getting back on topic here Kev check the logs with a metal detector if possible. Even then you can still miss things. These guys don't mess around they hit metal it's lights out with these rigs. Even then it happens. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by WHX24

[JAinVA 4,619]

One of the positive things not mentioned is the hardwood slabs that sawing your own lumber gives you.It is nice knowing you got it all the good out of a given log.Slabs have provided me with a lot of heat over the years.

Edited April 29, 2020 by JAinVA