Big J

Thanks for the number for the spares Tom. I put my order in for a DCS9010, so looking forward to getting the 'battleship' out on a few jobs. It will be nice not to have to keep switching between the 18" and 28" bars for the DCS7901 at the yard. Jonathan

I'm almost certain that I know who it is. If I'm right, it's the dealer locally who I sought to build a decent business relationship with by discussing with them the reality that online purchasing. I bought a blower from them (£20 over the odds, an investment I thought) and then had the 2 month balls up servicing my friend's 261. I remember the boss of said dealership being very hostile to online sales. Given the quality of their service, no wonder they perceived it as a threat. I have not been back since, and would recommend them to no one.

Holy thread revival Batman! (Google is a wonderful tool for finding stuff on Arbtalk - google anything chainsaw related and the first entry is nearly always Arbtalk). Quick question - does anyone know if the running gear (chains, bars) are the same between the DCS7901 and the DCS9010? I ask because my 7901 is presently a bit poorly (AV mount buggered) and the hundred quid between a new 7901 and 9010 makes me think that a bigger saw might be a good option. Jonathan

Lot of tension generally. Whilst it's a nice timber to cut and is beautiful to behold once worked, it's the inbetween bit that is tricky. I remember felling a stunning 24" dbh cherry, 19ft to first branch a few years ago. Due to the tiniest of kinks in the first length, almost every board split up the heart. Second length was better, but still not ideal. Jonathan

Please don't think that I'm annoyed! It's just having gone through the back breaking chainsawmilling everything stage of my milling career, I'm keen to try to help others through it too. It's important to do your own milling, but equally important to know when to delegate it out as well. Good idea on the first cut +1. Hadn't thought of that.

I started with an MS181. Thought highly of it when I had it. A couple of years elapsed and I bought a pro saw and thought I ought to have a spare, so I bought an MS181 again. It was so painfully slow that I immediately got rid of it. I'd honestly just sell it on eBay and get an MS241/261 or Husqvarna 550XP. You won't believe the difference.

And he isn't asking you to. Perhaps there is a gap in the market here. We seem to have established that the dealer network is hit and miss at best. Why not have a network of skilled servicing technicians rather than dealers that also service? My local experience of dealers has not been good - I took a friends MS261 to the local Stihl dealer, and it took them two months to replace the needle bearings in it. This included a 4 week Christmas holiday that they decided to take without telling me. The other dealer, which is a little better, is a 30 minute drive away (at best - traffic could easily make that 50min). Leave the retail and bulk spare parts to the big online sellers and have local servicing techs. Alternatively, it costs £15 to get a chainsaw set to a dealer anywhere in the UK and then sent back to you. It would cost me considerably more than that in diesel for two trips to my local dealer. Why bother when you get attitude like this? You cannot expect to foster any customer loyalty with an 'I'm going to tell on you if you sell online' policy - it just seems petty.

Say you are starting with 45cm diameter logs. For a bandsaw mill, total cut thickness include sawblade kerf is 28mm. For a chainsaw mill (assuming the usual MS880), it's 35mm. So, assuming two inches waste on the way in and out (usually more on a chainsawmill as you can't mill that close to the outside of the log due to risk of hitting the screws holding the ladder onto the log), you have 350mm of sawable timber. A bandsaw will give you at least 12 boards (I'd expect 13) and a chainsaw mill will give you 9-10. So assuming that log size, you need 33.6 logs for bandsaw milling and 44.2 for chainsaw milling. I'd expect to get through the 34 logs in two days with the bandsawmill, whereas you're stating it will take you 15 days with the chainsawmill. I don't know of anyone in that area, but you need to find a local mobile bandsawmill.

That's madness. With the amount of boards you're needing to produce, you'd actually make more money (and need fewer trees due to sawdust related wastage) hiring in a bandsawmill.

God damn it. I was just about to go and order one of those toy Stihl chainsaws as well - does that count?

I picked up an Adder when I was 10, whilst my father, brother and I were staying with friends in Epsom. Bite on forefinger ensued, followed by a trip to the local hospital. I thought that it was terribly amusing and good fun until I started projectile vomiting and blacked out. Stayed in hospital overnight on observation, and the first my mum knew about it was when I called her in the morning. The silver lining was that it was just before computers were widespread in schools, and given that my right hand was three times it's normal size and every colour under the rainbow, I got out of written school work for about 6 weeks!

Good stuff! Love it when a plan comes together, and that does look like a highly valuable black walnut log!

They are very short, which is an issue. Realistically, they are best marketed to wood turners. I wouldn't buy such short logs myself, but another mill might pay £50 for them as they are. Carefully cut in half (lengthways) and then carefully cut in half again (crossways) would yield four good turning blanks from each log. You should get £10 for each of those, and that might be your best option for making some money from it. Alternatively, just convert it to firewood!

Very much dislike cutting larch if I'm honest. Even high quality logs have a huge amount of tension in them. It's almost impossible to get a true cut. Add to that the fact that the sawdust is very irritating to your respiratory system and that it moves even more when it's drying that when it's getting cut, you've got an undesirable saw log! Much prefer douglas fir.

I suppose when you put it as 166 cube it doesn't sound so bad. Today and yesterday I cut 52 cube of Elm, 25 cube Douglas Fir and 106 cube spalted beech. All cut slowly and carefully (I tend to cut slowly as even a sharp band won't be quite as true when pushed very hard). That was done on 25 litres of petrol, and would have been about 15 litres had I not been going slow. Only two bands too, and the second one is still roaring along after 120 cube. Total length of the Logmaster is 37.5ft, width 8.5ft and height 11ft. Weight, 2.8t. Jonathan

Champion Stove Company I've got two stoves myself, one in my office (4kw) and a monster at home (20kw). You'll not get a better stove for the money and I rather suspect that you won't get a better one for twice the price. I got a 7kw stove for my elderly ex neighbour and she is utterly smitten with it. £285. Scroll through the gallery for pictures - my monster and her 7kw stove both have the art deco sunburst glass doors. Best thing for me is that as one British chap with a small business (not going to say that I'm a small businessman!), I'm buying from another British chap with a small business. Jonathan

That is a hell of a lot of fuel for 120 cuts (though I don't know what length they are). Would be worth having a proper look at it as 0.25l per cut is going to work out very expensive in the long run.

I think that I must just be a lazy barsteward, not working as hard as the rest of you! I must admit that I'm more than happy with a day where I cut 100 cubic foot/3 cubic metres of planking grade hardwood (I would cut more with softwood so long as it wasn't dimensioned). I'd rather cut slowly and well than quickly and badly. Related to the debarker, can I recommend to all sawmillers to get a good pressure washer? Having previously had a debarker on the Woodmizer and not having one now on the Logmaster, I can tell you a pressure washer wins hands down. £400 plus VAT got me a 3000psi 5.5hp machine that near enough strips the bark. A debarker can never remove as much much and costs three times as much, as well as sapping power from the machine. Very impressed!

That is a lot. Given that we have pretty much the same engine and very similar sawmills (all direct hydraulics here too) there must be something to it. I do find I use a hell of a lot more fuel when the band is no longer very sharp. It will merrily cut a cubic metre an hour otherwise (or more with helpers). Can't think of any other variables other than band - my band will be wider too (2") so more to push through the wood. Do you have a debarker? That uses a fair bit of power (about 7hp I was told). Jonathan

Very good to hear. The only issue that I have had with the mill was some of the bands actually! As is happens, Dakins Flathers accepted that their bands were sub par, refunded me for them, came up for the day with several different set ups and changed their manufacturing spec afterwards. Also a top company. I've gone from a machine which would cut well when all things were running well, but you would constantly be worrying what would break next. £8 per machine hour in machine maintenance and repairs during the time I had it. The Logmaster (which I appreciate that it's new) has needed nothing. It's just about to get it's first spark plug and oil change and that's it. Interesting that you pick on the diesel engine as a point of improvement - we must have the same engine (38hp, it says on mine) and it's pretty frugal as well as being quite powerful. I don't find it holds me up or uses more than 15 litres in a day. The Logmaster cost £21k plus VAT new to my yard and I got a bad exchange rate. Jonathan

Over 10kg and only 7hp. Not sure that it's worth the effort.

Very interesting link there Rob - I'll have to have a proper read of their site later on. Quite a new organisation and one worth us in ASHS (Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers) linking up with. There is already the Scottish Working Woods label, but I don't qualify for that as I don't sell 95% Scottish timber. I don't think that I will ever be able to get down to the prices that American oak is offered at, and nor would I want to. All I want to do is get sufficiently close that it makes people think about native timber as an alternative. It's those people, the people that just look for the cheapest option that are probably the largest untapped market for us small scale millers. There is a big resurgence in the use of local timbers. As a consequence, I don't think that it is so niche any more and it should be possible to increase turnover of stock. Increased turnover of stock should bring efficiencies that should reduce prices. I would regard myself as being fairly productive for being just one chap doing 95% of the physical work in my business, but I know that if I was just a touch busier, I could take someone on 3 days a week permanently, which would free up a lot of extra time for relatively little cost. Shoveling sawdust, tidying and other manual tasks that aren't really a good use of my time. Anyway, I'll see how things go for the next few months and report back! Jonathan

Anyone had any further thoughts on this? It's not just because of a price reduction, but I have lowered my prices and March was my best month by turnover by 60%. Jonathan

Still got this log. Hint of ripple in the upper lengths that were cut for firewood. Still the same price!

How are you getting on with the Timberking Clinton?