Chainsaw milling a very large oak

[agg221]

Went over today for the next phase and found I had some company.

 

I did wonder whether I could harness them up to drag it out for me, but didn't have enough bits of rope.

[agg221]

A pretty good day on the whole.

 

The 090 pulls the 88" bar with skip-link full chisel ripping chain like a train. It's an absolute monster. When I got within a foot of the ground I had to stop every 30 seconds or so to clear away the pile of sawdust.

 

There's a bit more rot than ideal, although it can be dealt with. The lump is now 2' thick, having cut deliberately a bit oversize to give myself something to play with, so the face in the first picture still contains some bark in the centre. I reckon the middle 1' or so should be pretty clean, so three boards 7' square should be acheivable (alongside some useful bits and pieces from the side sections).

 

Also found that the 076 needs a slightly lower drive link count on the 52" bar than the 070 does, so the chain doesn't fit, and then the starter on the 070 stopped working properly so the only back-up saw was the 066 with 36" bar. It did a lot of work today, but it would be better with a larger saw, preferably the 076 as I'd rather have the chain brake.

 

Anyway, first stage dismantling was achieved, so pretty good all things considered. I now have a few hours sharpening to do!

[Big Beech]

looking good Alec,

you found a 90 in the end then, did you have that bar in stock or did it come with the saw?

mine has breathed some life, just awaiting for a carb kit, then we should be up n runnin!

good to hear she pulls an 88" bar ok:biggrin:

[burrell_]

nice pics alec i love that big bar on the 090 mate :thumbup:

u have got some realy big saws on that site mate :thumbup1:

had trouble with both 076 today thought i would start them for tuesday

got 1 running and the over fuel needle sticky hope to have it done tomorrow

 

how long did it take u to cut from top to bottem with the 090

[spudulike]

Nice job Alec:thumbup:

[agg221]

Thanks All,

 

The bar is a bit special - I think it's longer than even GB sell. It came from the US for handling really big stuff and this is its first real outing. The tree was just a little bit too wide to go clean through so I had to make a series of fan cuts down, then go round the other side to see where it broke through and finish off from there. The main cut took about 1.5 tankfuls on the saw, so say 25mins. It's a 226 DL skip-link chain but Rob D can't get the ripping one at the moment, so I had to re-grind a crosscut, which took about 3hrs!

 

Alec

[Copford sawmill sussex]

Noice lump that

 

 

http://Www.Copfordsawmill.co.uk

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[WoodWright]

Feel free to come over and count the rings..........

 

During a quiet moment before NPT arrived to move the timber, I had time to count them. Much younger than I expected: I got to 219 before reaching rot within a few inches of the heart. It's definitely not over 250. At its peak it was putting on 3/4" rings a year!

 

Alec, really interesting to see what's going on with the top. I thought the 4' bar I used to cross-cut it was quite impressive but 88" is a different league! I don't envy you seasoning the planks though. Hope the next phase goes well.