Chinese milling.

[Lazurus]

In theory the smaller the angle, the slower the cut and the better the finish. I use granberg ripping chains in my alaskan and my lucas slabber. The finish is way better than a cross cut chain. But horses for courses. If your only making blanks finish is pretty irrelevant so stick to cheap. If you want to make boards then good finish can help. Especially on wide slabs that can't go through the thicknesser.

If your only doing narrow boars and you have a thicknesser then it becomes irellevant again.

 

That sounds like common sense...... Didn't think that was still in existence :thumbup:

[Big J]

It's worth improving the finish of the saw cut as a smoother finish equates to a smoother (and quicker) cut. I've cut with both full chisel and ripping chains and find that it's not the angle that determines it, rather chain tension, tooth length and raker depth. Get all of those right and you'll get a fine finish.

 

That being said, chainsaw milling with a 62cc (Chinese, so presumably no anti vibes) saw is my idea of hell, so I take my hat off to you. My chainsaw milling days are behind me.

[muttley9050]

It's worth improving the finish of the saw cut as a smoother finish equates to a smoother (and quicker) cut. I've cut with both full chisel and ripping chains and find that it's not the angle that determines it, rather chain tension, tooth length and raker depth. Get all of those right and you'll get a fine finish.

 

That being said, chainsaw milling with a 62cc (Chinese, so presumably no anti vibes) saw is my idea of hell, so I take my hat off to you. My chainsaw milling days are behind me.

 

Agreed chainsaw milling is hard work. I've milled with 35 and 10 degree chains on my alaskan and 10 gives a better finish. On my lucas slabber however ivec experimented with the angle of cutter more. Really because when I first got it i struggled to get it to behave. Your right that cutter length depth guage and consistent angle is important but i found that 15 degree cuts faster and leaves it rougher. 5 degrees cuts slower and leaves it smoother abd that 10 degrees really is optimum.

[Lazurus]

Well I will have a play, as its hobby milling for me the effort and time involved is irrelevant in some respects. As for vibration I have nothing to compare it to........ Well not that I would admit to........

[cornish wood burner]

If it's anything like mine then the vibes are very high.

What mix are you using?

I started off with the specified 25:1 for the first 25 tanks. After someone else on arbtalk mentioned he was using 50:1 I have also gone that way now. Seems to run faster with a bit more power but it's done the job I bought it for so I consider it a free saw now anyway.

[Lazurus]

Stihl (pun) on 25:1 figured a bit more oil may extend the life when milling as its at full throttle till the neighbours show an interest......

[cornish wood burner]

Stihl (pun) on 25:1 figured a bit more oil may extend the life when milling as its at full throttle till the neighbours show an interest......

That was my thought as well.

My first 20 tanks were full bar length used on big diameter wood cutting almost continuously.

That must be almost as hard on the saw as milling I guess.

Good move getting a better bar and chain BTW, mine was very poor. My only regret about the saw.

[Mike Dempsey]

I have only used 50:1 on all my saws for crosscutting or milling. My 066 and 880 have been run on 50:1 since they were bought many years ago and have done hundreds of hours milling. One thing I always do though is brush around the petrol spout on my can before refuelling and brush around the fuel and oil caps. For the 880 I also use a heavy duty air filter to help keep out the fine dust and that is also cleaned regularly.

Raker height is critical as is not milling a log with side to side swinging of the mill. Arboristsite has a section on milling and there is a sticky on sharpening. I follow the sticky's advice on sharpening and get boards as good as I have seen come off a bandmill. Time taken to sharpen the chain properly and with good care and attention is easily paid back with faster milling and better end product.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Mike Dempsey

[Rob D]

Agreed chainsaw milling is hard work. I've milled with 35 and 10 degree chains on my alaskan and 10 gives a better finish. On my lucas slabber however ivec experimented with the angle of cutter more. Really because when I first got it i struggled to get it to behave. Your right that cutter length depth guage and consistent angle is important but i found that 15 degree cuts faster and leaves it rougher. 5 degrees cuts slower and leaves it smoother abd that 10 degrees really is optimum.

 

 

 

Yep that's what I find - and it also changes with the wood type you are milling so there is no utterly hard and fast rule.