Rob D

Yep thanks will get this changed to: ..... but run 3/8 .058 as standard on bars up to 36” and 3/8 .063 on 36” and longer bars.

Weird Jon - that never comes across in your posts at all But - you never used the winch kit I think? I almost stopped chainsaw milling until this little beauty arrived and it takes 80% of the work out of it and (other than the fumes) makes chainsaw milling almost a pleasure! And we are making in roads into making chainsaw milling even easier for the future - yes sir!

It's better - but really this is dicey territory - it's better but error margins become much smaller as generally speaking .404 is 120cc territory and you're not supposed to use that small a chain on that big a saw. 3/8 lo pro chain is fine to sub in for 3/8 standard but to change it on a big saw running .404 - not sure.

Haha! But honestly the proof is there in the vid - we did x20 planks. We re set using the first cut rails on the 3rd plank. The planks all came out pancake flat and even. Cutting was smooth and easy. Both powerheads are working to push that chain round the bar - as soon as any saw cuts wood it is never working at max rpm - same in this scenario. Ok - yes you could easily knacker the powerheads by over revving etc. but as long as you know what's what the system works really well. That tree would have been a slog with a single powerhead style set up but it felt pretty easy cutting with the double set up.

We are thinking we may enlarge the range of Maya chain to add some chisel chain in as well....

We've sold a few Maya chains now. I've tried using them and found them to be pretty good - quite hard to distinguish between them or Stihl and Oregon but would be interested to hear others feedback. Had this from one customer Sam Barnes who liked it. Maya 3/8 .063 chain Stihl MS361 with 18” Sugi-Hara bar I thought I’d give this chain a go as there wasn’t much to lose for the price at nearly half what most other chains are costing. The first Maya chain I got I used on some heavy coppicing so it took quite a beating, hitting stones and soil through out the day so I didn’t hold out much hope that the cheap chain would have any use left after that. However I was amazed that just a few strokes with a file the chain was as good as new! The teeth had stood up well to the stones and kept a good edge through the dirt and soil trapped between the hazel stools. This chain lasted me another 3 weeks of felling and cross cutting and yet more hazel coppicing and still continued to file back to a razor sharp edge. I have been using them ever since for forestry and it rips though any wood just as any other chain would, holds its edge for just as long and doesn’t stretch any quicker. Overall I think its great value for money and haven’t got a bad word to say about the Maya chain.

It's a good point to make - in the case of our budget mills we have visited the factory ourselves and also have a quality control agent in China who has visited the factory. Conditions seem ok as far as China is concerned - we didn't see anything that we would say is unacceptable (similar to that you have described above). But even visiting the factory doesn't tell you much and what goes on behind closed doors is another matter... But I suppose better than nothing.

We'll have some budget mills in soon - they won't be as cheap as the other firm. There will only be a 36" Alaskan style option at £120-00+vat And a 36" 'kit option' at £160-00+vat which will include a basic winch kit and oiler kit. These will be in around the 27th May onwards.

May go and give this a test this afternoon if I get a chance!

Yep well a bit of copper slip anti seize grease will sort that on the U bolt threads. Here is a better video on the new quick release system.

The Stihl PMX is very fast and clean cutting indeed. Ref .404 vs .325 I would say the .404 is 'a bit' quicker but not hugely faster. It should hold it's edge better. But then I expect the planks surface would end up being a bit rougher - so a bit of 6 of one and half a dozen of the other!

Jon I don't want to disagree with everything you just said... but I disagree with most of it! Double ended milling is fine with x2 different powerheads - I've used it multiple times successfully. You can manage the flex in the bar and still get large flat planks. Have you actually tried milling with x2 different powerheads? Yes there is more strain on components and lesser margin for errors than a single set up - but in the right hands - it works! And works well.

If we can source the bits and vibration doesn't cause the clamping handles to fall to pieces over time this should not be too expensive.

They don't quite work I'm afraid - however we think we may have a work around on the new end brackets which is pretty quick and easy. I've been using on a small log mill and seems to work pretty well but still need to test on an Alaskan. Only added the vid to facebook - but effectively to loosen you flip the black clamping handle, then use the finger nut to loosen the other side. Downside? Well the Granberg ones are empirial and we need metric so we are sourcing some metric U bolts.

Well I managed to watch around 3 mins of it (combined flicking through).... I think there are worse things in the world than having to wear a branded T shirt.

Have you gone to a 3/8 lo pro set up Bill? I'd say it is around 25% to 30% faster than standard chain.

Yep the 3/8 lo pro with Stihl PMX chain is a fast set up compared to standard 3/8 chain. With ref to the OP - your 661 should work fine with your 362 and be a good set up for double ended milling. You could do to a 72" double ended bar and 60" mill - change the rims to .404. I think I have now used x5 different set ups running different size saws at each end as well as x3 with the same saws at each end - they all worked well. If you get a double ended set up working right it is x3 as fast as any single powerhead (that is from feel rather than from fact). A recent vid of a log we did..... [ame] [/ame]

PS - a pretty long vid so one of the end of the day I reckon - well worth watching all the way through as his is an engineering background so he does come from things in from a non traditional type background.

Often get the sentence 'Sugi carving bars are alright but they don't last as long as Cannon carving bars' - which may well be true although the Sugi bars people are comparing are around 40% lighter than the Cannon equivalent. We now have the Sugi tough carvers which have been built thicker, no light weight area cut outs and thicker stellite at the tip. Anyways this fellow seems to know how to look after his bar - the body is in good condition and the nose stelite has only 1mm left to go! 2 and a half years of pretty regular use. No doubt some could disagree with many of the techniques but hard to disagree with the results. [ame] [/ame]

What a shock to hear this! Met Dave a couple of times - he did a bit of chainsaw milling and he dropped some wood for us to mill at a show once... motivated, up beat and genuinely nice down to earth bloke. One of us. A sad and tragic loss. Thoughts and prayers are with his family.

No we won't be at the arb show but you'll see Sorbus there and they will be displaying the Sugi bars....

Yes can do that - we have the 1/4 sprockets and you can have that 10" GB bar running Stihl 3670 59 drive links or Sugi 10" running 60 drive links of Sugi chain. I'll have to get the sprocket up on the CSB website..

This is not the 'final version' so if you can spot any mistakes answers on here please Is there anything missing? Is there any other info you'd like to see? We will be going to print with this in a month or so. Chainsawbars - Selectors for chainsaw guide bars, chains and sprockets

Like a lot of things there is no black and white answer. There are folk that can knacker their saw milling no matter what size bar they use. Others that have no issue with oversize bars on smaller saws. I broke a couple of saws in my early milling days - and it was pretty much entirely my fault - but at the time I didn't think so (cause I was a tree surgeon don't you know with a collection of 12+ chainsaws - course I must know what I'm doing!) You can pull a 36" GB Lo Pro bar on an MS461 as long as you know what you're doing. But there is certainly a greater chance of you buggering up the saw. There is less margin for chain sharpening errors/bad mill set up/saw abuse ie full speed with the saw screaming all the way down the log and then switching straight off at the end/poor sprocket/bar maintenace/poor saw maintenace..... So there isn't really a direct - yes you can run a 36" bar on an MS461 - because it depends on who is running the 461 !

You should be able to get Oak to 18% before putting it in to kiln further. But not sure how you would re sticker it to do this as the planks would usually have warped a little. You may have to stack them vertically.