What to start with

[Thayne Teichmer]

Good evening all.

I'm needing a little bit of help here.

I just ordered a MS 661 should be here in a week. I have a 48 in Alaskan Mill. What should I get for a bar and what chain???????

I got a power head only because the dealership said I couldn't get a 48 in bar.

This saw will only be on the mill.

I milled a little bit with way too small of a saw but now I want to buy once cry once.

 

[Bedford T]

Cannon has some nice long bars. Cannon bars are the best, Stihl bars are excellent. I recently got mill and a big saw and had heck of a time deciding on bar length. There seems to be no published formula on what to buy. The 660 manual suggests 36" even a larger 070 was only a 35".

 

[BlackCoffin]

I run a 28" mainly on my 660 for milling but will also run a 36" if I have to. Now that I have an 880 anything larger than 28" I use it. While a little slower the 660 will pull a larger bar fine. If you plan on doing a lot of large cutting I'd upgrade in the future or look into double powerhead setup.

 

[Thayne Teichmer]

A little foot note on this.

Why I bought the 48 in Alaskan Mill was I have 1 storm damaged/ blown over tree that is 41 inches.

I want to make a table out of this tree because it was in my front yard and my kids played in on and around it.

Most of the stuff I will mill will be in the 20 on range.

All that being said. I Know nothing about milling lumber. And the same about chainsaw chain. I'm not wanting to learn by making the mistakes.

So that is why I ask what I should be buying.

A year ago when I started into this I picked up a MS 362 because it was the biggest thing on the dealer shelf. 60 CC ya baby. Great fire wood saw milling saw NO.

Was able to sell that saw for a ok price.
Now I'm setting up this 661.

 

[BlackCoffin]

If you have the horsepower to pull it full comp chain lets you get many more cuts between sharpenings. I have yet to run milling chain but the little milling I do the skip tooth chain works fine. I'm still building up my chain supply, then I'll dedicate some to milling and start regrinding them and finding the seeet spot with angles and degrees and whatnot. A lot of this stuff is time and experience regardless of the info you'll receive.

 

[Bedford T]

A few of us are considering trying a roll of this chain. Learning costs and to start making it affordable is Paramount.
http://www.huztl.net/25FT-Roll-Saw-...hed-Connecting-links-and-6-Boxes-p228089.html

 

[mdavlee]

50" cannon is about the only option. 154 or 156 DL of full skip square is what I would start with

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[Bedford T]

thats a lot to start with. that bar is 350 and each loop will cost about 80$, 3-5 loops used a day. the OP is using a 661. I am new to the game but that is too long for the saw. we all need some 090 or 880 and if we had trees big enough a 50" would be sweet

 

[Thayne Teichmer]

Is full skip what I want??? Less cutters in the cut. Will that be more aggressive??? Or less???

 

[Thayne Teichmer]

Why 404 vers 3/8 pitch??

Saw will be in on Monday so I have to get moving. I have a 20 inch 0.50 3/8 bar and chain to match and a sprocket that will fit the saw. So I can at least cut with it because you have to correct?

Dealer couldn't tell what sprocket even was coming on the saw.

Life was simpler before I found CSM.

 

[Bedford T]

404 I am told stays sharper longer. On the 661 you might be best to stay with 3/8. To me milling is different and seems to change normal

 

[SeMoTony]

50" cannon is about the only option. 154 or 156 DL of full skip square is what I would start with

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In my experience square chisel skip cuts & clears chips better. Bobl indicates steady feed with consistent angle of cut makes for smoother cut surface. Learning to keep chisel cutters sharp w/file can be a challenge. My ms-460 came with 3/8" .063, so it is run on my other saws, in my avatar is 60 inch cannon bar spinning square chisel skip. It is a matter of feeding wood to the cutters at a rate the saw lives with- no bog. If you are close enough I might be convinced to loan the 50" cannon w/ couple chains for you to slice the tables from your log, since you think any more milling wil be narrower. Working up a frame for 72 inch dual power cannon miller bar just now, about 213 DL per cannon.
NE No Dakota is in my reach if I can catch train lol These old bones drive poorly comped w/a decade ago

 

[mdavlee]

thats a lot to start with. that bar is 350 and each loop will cost about 80$, 3-5 loops used a day. the OP is using a 661. I am new to the game but that is too long for the saw. we all need some 090 or 880 and if we had trees big enough a 50" would be sweet

50" skip I've run on a 660, 661, 385, 390, and 394. I wouldn't go full comp. A 395 will pull it better but a 661 was 2nd best and oils better than a 660. Buying a 88 is another $500 and a huge step to mill something like that once and then switch to smaller stuff.

Loops from Madsens or loggerchain.com will be cheaper than $80 each. Madsen is buy one get one at around $.42-44 a drive link of 3/8". I square file on the mill after every other cut or every cut if needed.

 

[Bedford T]

Madsen only charges 2.50 a loop off a reel. I buy from frawleys.

 

[IyaMan]

Why I bought the 48 in Alaskan Mill was I have 1 storm damaged/ blown over tree that is 41 inches...

Most of the stuff I will mill will be in the 20 on range.

If 41" is the maximum width then you do not need a bar that will get through this unless you wish to have live edges on your table with this maximum width (that is, edges that are not squared but instead retain the edge of the tree.)

If you trim the sides to square off the log, then cut boards/slabs from this, then you'll be able to use a 36" bar for everything.

If you'll rarely if ever plan to encounter such a wide tree again, then having a shorter than 50" bar would be much easier to handle and be easier for your saw to pull. Such a big bar would be unnecessarily cumbersome when only cutting in the 20" range, and you'll eventually end up wanting to buy a shorter bar/chain while the big 50" sits and collects dust. You can also use more common type of chain on a 36" bar that won't cost nearly as much nor be as hard to find.

 

[Trx250r180]

If running a long bar .404 oils better than 3/8

 

[BobL]

If the log is 41" the max cut width needed to generate a square cant is indeed in theory ~29" but in practice is somewhat less than this when using an alaskan with conventional bar clamps and that's because the clamps themselves get in the way of sides of the log. The maximum diameter of a log that can be thus tackled in this way is about 2" less that the cut width. This also leaves the clamps jamming up against the side of the room and I've found it really pays to leave at least couple of inches of wiggle room (especially on Aussie trees) to take care of lumps and bumps in the sides of logs.

One way to increase this is to do away with the bar clamps and bolt the bar to the mill or, build a mill that connect the mill to the bar bolts.

 

[IyaMan]

If the log is 41" the max cut width needed to generate a square cant is indeed in theory ~29" but in practice is somewhat less than this when using an alaskan with conventional bar clamps and that's because the clamps themselves get in the way of sides of the log. The maximum diameter of a log that can be thus tackled in this way is about 2" less that the cut width.

True. Though I thought that with a 36" bar he'd get about 32" of cutting width, so the clamps should just about clear the edges.

 

[BlackCoffin]

You can get close to 32" with removing the felling spikes with a 36" bar. My 41" bar I maxed out my 36" granberg at 32". Just upgraded to a 56" extension set and have plans for a 60" bar eventually.

 

[Garrit]

Congrats on your new saw purchase! Lucky dog!! If you are milling on your own property then you could get away with one chain. I'm running a standard chain sharpened to 10 degrees. Most long bars like that are not used much, so a used one might be an option?

Good luck!