offgridchris

epic epic epic.

fitted the new bar chain and sproket ( 8 tooth). the cut was quicker than the 3/8 chain and should stay sharper longer. kerf sizes personaly ii think the difference between lo pro and .404 is more like an 1/8th but the small chain does dull quicker. more tests to follow in regard to speed and water cooling. as i mill more it seems to come down to feel. and out of all the setups ive tried the .404 feels nicer more glide and pull to the cut. it just feels right.

fitted a new .404 bar chain and sproket yesterday. the first few cuts on the logosol were great. then one cut was back to washboarding as i ulled a it harder on the carriage? i will try and tighten up the runners on the carriage nwxt week. and i think i just need to be a bit more gentle with the cutting pressure? the .404 was definatly quicker than the 3/8 chain.

i managed a quick test run yesterday. fitting an alaskan auxillary oiler to a new .404 bar for the 880. didnt realy notice to much difference apart from the bar is cooler after a cut. only used some offcuts so i will try with some more lawson next week. it would figure that different wood changes the effect. the real test is to try is on some old lawson and ash.

i wouldn't be milling if it wasn't for the grandberg grinder. best bit of kit. i think ive been grinding with too much of a hook so have steepened them up. water cooling testing should be underway next week using an alaskan oiler kit from rob. i will also update on progress with the pile of lawson which is causing all the problems. just had a thought that fairy liquid and oil will cause it to break down? at least the water and oil wont mix? im sure most of the water evaporates evaporates quickly where it comes out onto the bar cooling the chain?

i find it amazing that after clear felling large amounts of larch and spruce here in mid wales the commission are planning a massive program of nothing. no replanting just natural regeneration????? it's where i mountain bike and the track is great but its not gonna build houses or heat our homes. crazy. not wanting to go off the thread topic because its a goodun but who said state owned forestry is a good idea? ive brought a left handed side axe and im eying up a broad axe and some log dogs. now ive just got to tell the wife her boot room larder may take a bit longer to build

my recent problems with milling lawson cypress on a logosol has thrown up the suggestion of using water to cool the chainsaw bar and that it will improve cutting speed. it was simply a water bottle and a drip feed onto the chain at the tip. common practice in sweden with soft wood. i need to run a few more tests but i cant see why i can mill a 3 foot hard wood slab and find it the same speed as a 1 foot soft wood log?? is Lawson a pain to mill? maybe it has something to do with what Rob has suggested about chain size and keeping the chain sharper with a larger pitch?

agrimog, thanks i changed the plastic runners a month ago. i phoned logosol because i thought it only polite and ruth was not there so i was put through to sweden. after a lengthy chat he came to conclusion the hook on the chain was to much and the wood was too dry ( lawson felled last year). i adjusted the carrgiage with 4 washers, sharpened the chain steeper. cutting has now improved considerably. although its still much harder work than the alaskan and for the size of timber 12-15" diameter with an 880 it should fly through. logosol suggested water cooling the bar to improve the speed. im gonna start a post about using water.

interesting stuff. i did a similar test on some wood a while ago. also i mocked up a series of logs on google sketch up and calculated the difference in kerf when cutting thin boards for roofing shingles, and the difference in the number of boards produced. the difference between the bandsaw blade and a .404 wasn't as much as you would think, around 1 or 2 boards per small diameter log. i can dig out the file if anybody really wants it. this is why i stayed with a chainsaw rather than buy an old bandsaw mill. rob i tried to phone you on this very topic last week. i'll try again on monday. what im after to cut all these boards is speed. and i suppose the time to sharpen chain has to be included in the speed of milling. may be its a .404 ??

i am a beginner in all this oak framing stuff but one thing i have learned is that the timber doesnt have to be square or straight to frame it. rick the website of the the oak traditional oak house is very much american and their system of milling relies on perfect square timber or complex calculations to map out a square timber inside the unsquare one. all my oak timbers were milled quickly and generally on 30 degree slopes on the floor because i couldn't move them so they came out rather rhomboid and then they naturally curved or twisted. the English ( or European) method of marking out lines on each timber means the hewing can and in my opinion should be rustic and curvy. if im teaching grandmothers to suck eggs then apologies. just trying to save you a lot of time getting the timber square like the rather too perfect website timber. another idea is to chainsaw the log roughly then clean up with an axe and plane. our house was built like that and looks stunning.the bit i added on is very much sawn. although after this thread i wished id put a couple of hewn timbers in. maybe next time. chris

thanks agrimog ive got the handbook and ive followed it to the letter. the last level i mentioned i dont think is covered in the handbook. i was wondering if it was because im using an ms880 or a 064. the mill is built around using a ms660. the mill was cutting well in between problems and for the money it is still a cracking mill. i just keep finding problems which im not sure are the bar or the mill or chain or probably me. just the same as the alaskan forum problems happen and its good to talk. do you knoe why there is no logosol forum anymore? like i said the alaskan one on here is great. i will be in touch if i have no luck. im not slagging off the mill i just think problems should be aired to help others and find a solution. the design of the mill works because its been around a long time and has a great reputation for small scale milling or milling in the forest. im just not up to speed on it like i am on the alaskan, which ive been using of a while now.

thought i would update this thread to help any other poor soles who are having trouble with milling on an M7. now that i worked out the problem is with the bar and the amount of pressure placed on the saw i rebuilt the mill to its full size and mounted it on 4 posted knocked into the ground. the bar was dressed and chains filed. all was good for 2 logs then the mill played up again the bar was trying to climb up out of the wood. frustrated i tried anothe chainsaw and the same again. aftter much searching on the net ( shame the logosol forum is no longer up a running as im sure this problem would have been listed) i found logosol canda's guide to setting up and it would seem that the one level i didnt take in to account was to align the bar with the guide rail. all along the bar has been angled so it wants to climb out of the wood. and over a few logs has lead to premature wear on the bar and probably the real reason for the wash board effect. planning to fix this on friday and i hope this puts and end to it. nothing better than a good days millling nothing worse that a bad days milling

thought i would post the answer to my problem which was accidentally solved today. the rope winder on the saw carriage broke today. i think because of the saw falling off the quadbike a while ago and i had to straighten it out, which must have weakened it. i milled a few boards with my other saw until that started to play up. so i tried the 880 again. this time by pushing the saw through the wood much like on the alaskan mill. the washboarding started again so i tried pushing harder to try and stop the vibration. this made it worse and when i tried a nice comfy pressure like i use when using the alaskan the washboard stopped . i just goes to show how much tension you can put on the little winder and may also be the reason why it broke. still at least i got to find out why my favorite saw was not cutting like it should.

rob by all means use the pics. amazing what a chainsaw can do eh

milled some very big oak last week. the thinner 3" slabs were 55" x 18'. the customer wants to build a table. just wanted to thank rob for prompt delivery and sorting out the very long 59" bar. thankfully the metal was only on one side and the rest of the milling went really well. when i get paid rob i'll order a metal detector. i was having nightmares that the log would be like the cedar on your video. or like a neighbour was telling me about he tree he felled next to a house with an iron drainpipe inside the log.