thin kerf bar and chain for 066 ?

[biofix]

Hello,

 

I am new to this forum and chainsaw milling.

 

If somebody could give me some advice that would be great.

 

I recently bought a Stihl 066 and I want to use it for milling (hardwood and softwood, mostly small logs) . I thought it would be good to get a 50cm thin kerf bar and a thin kerf ripping chain.

 

My question is: will the saw be too powerful for the thin kerf chain so that the chain might/will snap ??

 

Does anybody have experience with big saws and thin kerf chains?

 

Thanks a lot

[morten]

I use a 25" thin kerf (1.3mm) STIHL DUROMATIC E bar with a 3/8" Picco chain on my MS 660 for milling.

 

The STIHL part numbers are:

25" DUROMATIC E bar: 3003 000 5531

7-pin spur sprocket (Picco Z7): 1122/06

 

The duromatic bar (no nose sprocket) allows you to clamp the Alaskan mill close to the end of the bar nose, giving you a longer effective cutting length.

 

But to be honest, you don't save that much kerf width from using a 1.3mm kerf Picco chain, as compared to a regular 1.6mm kerf 3/8" chain.

[Rob D]

Welcome to forum and interesting first post.

 

 

There's a lot of myths and legends about using 3/8 lo pro for milling.

 

 

First of all - thin kerf chains are really not that much thinner at all - they save very little wood compared to a standard 3/8 chain as demonstrated here~

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/44074-some-interesting-facts-about-3-8-lo-pro-chain-milling.html

 

 

But I think they do have their use in that a 3/8 lo pro chain requires less power to pull it through the wood than a standard 3/8 chain.

 

 

Looking at the set up you have though - a 20" bar on a Stihl 066 - there is oddles of power there so I can't see the benefit of going down the 3/8 lo pro route for that size bar/saw combo...

 

 

It's more if you were running a 36" or 42" bar on a 90cc saw I think you'd see benefits.

 

 

I have just got in some GB lo pro bars - not had a chance to run them myself yet but hopefully will be able to next week. They are in the selectors for Stihl saws here Guide bars

 

 

 

[wisewood]

I've just got one of the GB 42" bars off Rob to run on my 066. Should give me around 36" clearance on the mill.

I've not had a chance yet to mill with it but I want to do a time trial between 42" lo pro and a 36" standard 3/8

I have had a quick trial with it off the mill and found it was very grabby. It ran like it had another 20cc. I expect it will behave better in the mill. Wouldn't like to hit a nail with though!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Arbtalk mobile app

[Rob D]

I've just got one of the GB 42" bars off Rob to run on my 066. Should give me around 36" clearance on the mill.

I've not had a chance yet to mill with it but I want to do a time trial between 42" lo pro and a 36" standard 3/8

I have had a quick trial with it off the mill and found it was very grabby. It ran like it had another 20cc. I expect it will behave better in the mill. Wouldn't like to hit a nail with though!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Arbtalk mobile app

 

 

I was thinking the same thing Si - I will do a time trial between:

 

Sugihara standard 42" with Oregon 75RD ripping chain - new set up.

 

GB 42" with Oregon 91R ripping chain - new set up.

 

And cut consecutive planks off the same tree!

 

Really the GB bars are just for milling....

 

 

[wisewood]

That sounds like a more accurate test Rob, personally I just want to know how it compares with my current set up on a 36"

If I can get this current job finished I will hopefully get a spare day next week to experiment :-)

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Arbtalk mobile app

[biofix]

Whow - thank you very much guys for these responses!

 

That is very helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience.