First proper attempt with small log mill and mini mill

[Chris Sheppard]

Friday saw us having a play in the yard with the small log mill and mini mill for the first time - neither of us really knew what were doing but it went OK considering.

 

Brett's got some photos so will try and get a few up.

 

Over the day we tried various saws on each mill, including 550 on a 13", 372 on an 18", 181 on a 20", 066 on a 25" and a 3120 on a 20".

 

All were using standard chains left at standard angles (372 and 066 on full chisel), but by far the best finish was using the tiny 550

 

372 had an 8 tooth sprocket and full chisel and was an awful scratchy finish - is a fast chain speed a bad thing?

 

General straightness and squareness wasn't too bad I didn't think.

 

On the 181 and 3120 we were using the same bar and chain and found it was leaving rounded ridges along the boards nearly every time (both on Larch and on Oak) - is this most likely because of chain type or operator error?

 

We couldn't resist giving the 3120 a whirl at crosscutting with the small bar on - it's a bit rapid

[Rob D]

Great to see some experimentation with different combos...

 

 

First off I'd hazard a guess that the 550 uses .325 chain? And a lively saw so high revs, high chain speed. That combo will give more teeth cutting the wood at higher speed = smoother cut.

 

 

Fast chain speed is a great thing but with full chisel - was that grabby, aggressive and difficult to stop the saw bogging in the cut? All the ripping chains from the manufacturers are semi or micro chisel - full chisel (unless in softwood with an over powered set up and sharpened to 5-10 degrees) will not be great in a mill.

 

Try a micro chisel chain sharpened to 10 degrees and you'll find the boards come out much smoother and are nicer to cut.

 

 

Looking forward to the pics - if you can get some close ups of the boards that's be great as a question often asked is 'what's the difference in smoothness between ripping and non ripping chain'