smallest saw for milling?

[agg221]

Andrew - All good points on grading, where your experience is significantly greater than mine. My engineer inspected my logs before milling and satisfied himself of the quality of my material. He also took the view that I was going to live there and it would be my problem if I didn't do it properly! I am an engineer, although not civil, so I work to the same general approach - I tend to err very much on the side of caution with tolerancing as I know I don't have the experience to know how far out of tolerance I can go (my blockwork is +/-1mm across 3.6m x 3.6m x 4m height). I took the same approach with my structural timber - it was milled for the job and would all pass visual grading at the next class up. Structural timbers were specified to a dimension for the calculations but most of them are installed oversize (e.g. rafters needed to be 4" x 2" for structural calcs but are 4" x 3" for aesthetics). I discussed this with my engineer who took it into account for weight allowances, but it gives me yet more leeway. Beams were milled boxed-heart to get maximum strength but calcs assumed they are not. I pre-slit the biggest beam which needs a flitch plate installing so that the slit widened rather than getting additional cracking as is inevitable in the drying of a boxed-heart beam. The excess gap will be filled with a wedge, bolted through alongside the flitch plate. Specs are also available in building regs for non-structural timbers such as battens, but given that this applies to softwood with the consistency of cheese rather than cleft oak or chestnut heartwood I must admit I took a slightly more lax approach to the specification here on things like the odd waney edge Every step was agreed with my engineer.

 

I agree that smaller timbers are often suited to construction - for boxed heart there isn't much advantage in having an oversize log as the outer parts are so far from quartersawn that they will cup badly so tend to go to waste. However, I think there might be a skewed view from this forum which is much more at the speciality end of milling and furniture construction than production of standard joinery softwood and Ikea style furniture where a lot of small softwood is used.

 

Breaking down a log for construction timbers other than beams, I would tend to take say an oak butt with 18" of heartwood and mill two 3" slabs out of the centre to lose the pith and get a near quartersawn 6" joist out of each side of each slab (4 in total), then mill a 4" slab from each half which would get split the other way to get two near quartersawn rafters out of each. My log would therefore yield 4 joists and 4 rafters. Slightly bigger (20") and I would take a third set of joists out of the middle, slightly smaller (16") and I would take a joist and a rafter out of each of the two centre slabs. You always need more rafters than joists so I sometimes took a 4" slab from near the centre and ripped it into 3off 4"x4", then split them into pairs, changing the direction of the cut to keep them near quartered. All the remaining bits would then get ripped down at 2" or 1" depending on location. I would get some poor grade 4"x2" (flat sawn or waney corners) for stud walling but mostly 2"x1". I also needed a number of counter-battens for warm roof construction. These were made from the cleanest, straightest lengths as 2" x 1.25". All the small ripping down was done using a circular saw with a guide fence to keep the kerf narrow.

 

I used a slightly different cutting sequence to you when making a single boxed-heart beam from a log - most of the time went on the set up and first cut, then I took a second cut at the required depth for the beam. That gave me a slab which I could edge. I didn't even have a mini-mill at the time so did this by rolling up it up by 90deg and using a spirit level on the side to get it vertical, propped using offcuts, and then levelling the rail horizontally. With a mini-mill I would just edge it before rolling. This sequence reduces the amount of rolling and means you are rolling a lighter section. You are also rolling/sliding the slab off the bottom section which means it drops a bit, making it easier as gravity is on your side. I could probably process 3 15"-18" butts in lengths of around 15' average in a day but would still want an 066 or similar for this.

 

Alec

[ucoulddoit]

Thanks for the comments Alec and I realised ages ago that you had milled the timber for your house. Sounds like you found a good engineer to work with who had a pragmatic attitude to this sort of project. Have you ever posted pictures of it?

 

Sounds like my milling rate is a bit slow, and I'm conscious that I am probably a bit of a small saw fanatic! But it stems from my suspicion that buying a big saw might be a barrier to getting started with milling for many people who, like me have daydreamed about milling timber and seasoning it themselves to make stuff for the family which they can enjoy for years..... Although my milling rate is a bit slow, in terms of enjoyment, it has been fantastically fulfilling to start with logs that were free and destined to either be left to rot or turned into firewood, and now have an 'engineered' structure! Albeit in my daydream it was an oak frame, not larch, but it should outlast me.....

 

Andrew

[pyro_John]

Regarding the smallest saw - I've got an MS260 with a 16" bar. I originally bought it for logging up tree surgery waste into firewood. Some time later I bought a logosol timberjig and use it a couple of times a year with the ms260 to cut boards out to make into blanks for turning the odd bowl or platter.

 

I go pretty easy on the throttle as I don't want to bugg%r the saw and the cutting speed is sometimes incredibly slow. The maximum I can go is about 11" which is OK as the lathe has a maximum of 12" diameter over the bed. The smallest stuff I cut up is 5 or 6 inch diameter and it goes through that a bit faster. Spock would have said "Its milling Jim but not as we know it."

 

Yes I'd love an MS660 or 880 but for very the very occasional use "milling" I just can't justify spending that sort of money, even for a decent second hand saw. If you are just cutting up small bits to get some pretty blanks for turning - and you are willing to be incredibly patient - you can get away with a smaller saw. It has rescued some lovely pieces from the firewood pile.

[Eddy_t]

Regarding the smallest saw - I've got an MS260 with a 16" bar. I originally bought it for logging up tree surgery waste into firewood. Some time later I bought a logosol timberjig and use it a couple of times a year with the ms260 to cut boards out to make into blanks for turning the odd bowl or platter.

 

 

 

I go pretty easy on the throttle as I don't want to bugg%r the saw and the cutting speed is sometimes incredibly slow. The maximum I can go is about 11" which is OK as the lathe has a maximum of 12" diameter over the bed. The smallest stuff I cut up is 5 or 6 inch diameter and it goes through that a bit faster. Spock would have said "Its milling Jim but not as we know it."

 

 

 

Yes I'd love an MS660 or 880 but for very the very occasional use "milling" I just can't justify spending that sort of money, even for a decent second hand saw. If you are just cutting up small bits to get some pretty blanks for turning - and you are willing to be incredibly patient - you can get away with a smaller saw. It has rescued some lovely pieces from the firewood pile.

 

 

You're more likely to bugger up your saw by NOT running the saw on full throttle.

[billpierce]

if you keep you eye out you can get older 80cc plus stihls, dolmars and occaisonally huskys for £200 or less - just seen an stihl 050 for £20 on gumtree. ideal milling saws - often no brake, but torquey and spray oil everywhere!