Helping a coworker

[Marshy]

Hi guys, thought I would make a thread to share the progress my co-worker is making on milling a tulip popular I took down for him. He's kind of novice to begin with but is a fast learner. I got him hooked up with a 394XP and a mill. I took down the popular at the edge of his property and turned him lose. The tree is quite spectacular for this area and measured 55" on the stump. I could be considered a novice when it comes to milling but I've lurked around here some and have helped my uncle year ago CSM lots of pine. Well, here are some pics of me taking the tree down, I hope to put together a video of it falling and combine some of these pictures in the future.

 

[Marshy]

Here is some of the more recent progress. He's been really feeling his age after pushing this mill and hoofing the slabs around. I got him to add a block and tackle to the mill. Now I think he appreciates and work that it takes and the convenience of "power feed" lol. I think he might wimp out and have the rest cut on a band saw. He's made it through a few branches and one 8' section of the log. The slabs are 2.5" and some are all of 35" wide. Maybe with some words of encouragement from you folks we can convince him to finish out the log before he folds lol.

 

[Marshy]

So up until this point he was milling with a new off the shelf stihl chain. It's was round filed, full skip, full comp chain. The rakers weren't even touched. I took a spare loop he had and filed it with my file-a-joint. I use 15 degrees top plate angle and 0 degrees side plate. The hook came out almost an exact match to the new Stihl chain. I then used a Husqvarna blue roller guide to set the rakers. I used the notch for soft wood on the raker gauge. I have not heard the saw run but was hoping to hear him saw it's a better cutting chain. He said it's been having to refuel before the end of his cut and that the totals time is approximately 30 mins per slab cut using the off the shelf chain.

Does anyone have any insight milling tulip popular and what do you think about my filed chain? I think I'm going in the right direction but would like some input.

I watch a guy on here make some really funky chain for milling by narrowing some of the cutters... Idk who but is that just bull malarkey or does it work?

 

[JTM]

Scroll down to the vids and links posted by BobL
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/mill-setup-questions.304321/#post-6091050

 

[Marshy]

Thanks for the link about chain.

I got a chance to go see how everything was going for him. The chain I gave him seemed to do fine. He seemed to be plowing through them easily enough but by doing so he was getting a really rough finish. Partially because he was seesawing the mill through the cut and going as fast as he could. I suggested if wanted a better finish that he needs to change his method but he didn't seem to care. Maybe because they'll need to be finished anyhow, idk. It's not how I would do it. I did half a slab and showed him the difference in the finish...

Anyways, the next chain I do I'm going to drop to 5° top plate filing angle and make a gauge to check the top plate cutting angle (hook). Im not sure what I'll do for the raker in the near term.

Here's a crotch section he milled out.

 

[Garrit]

Thats one clean 298!

 

[Marshy]

Thats one clean 298!

Thanks! It cuts like a mo-fo too. It was a blast taking that tree down. Got to use the 298 for what it's meant for. I wish I had more opportunity to use it like that.

 

[Garrit]

@Marshy, Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain. Out of your 285, 2100 & 298 in your signature, is their a big performance difference from the 285 and the rest? Any noticeable difference in the 298 and the 2100?

Thanks!

 

[Marshy]

@Marshy, Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain. Out of your 285, 2100 & 298 in your signature, is their a big performance difference from the 285 and the rest? Any noticeable difference in the 298 and the 2100?

Thanks!

No problem.
I don't have a 2100 together and running. I need to change that soon. I haven't made any fair comparisons between my 298 and a 2100. The one time I did we had different chains and the 298 punished the 2100. I could say the same between the 298 and my 285. This weekend I'll do some cutting and I'll swap bars/chains and capture the difference between the two. Maybe I'll run a 24" on each then the 36" on each... The 285 is a good saw, it actually has a better "signature" idle sound than the 298 but I believe the 298 will walk all over it.

 

[Garrit]

Thanks @Marshy. Good luck putting that monster of a saw back together.

 

[Marshy]

 

[Marshy]

Well, the log is headed to get band saw.


Here is the last of the CSM planks. He hit a nail in this section so I'm glad he found it and not the mill.


@Garrit, I ran out of time to time test the 298/285. Likely this weekend I'll get a chance, had a full plate this past weekend.

 

[Marshy]

Well, he got his lumber back from the saw mill. Here is less than half of the 8' log. Largest board measured 36" at the narrowest and 42" at the widest.

 

[Marshy]

@Marshy, Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain. Out of your 285, 2100 & 298 in your signature, is their a big performance difference from the 285 and the rest? Any noticeable difference in the 298 and the 2100?

Thanks!

 

[Garrit]

@Marshy........ WOW, the slabs look AMAZING!!! those are going to make killer tables! Thanks for the videos! I love hearing the screams of a chainsaw on a Monday afternoon! lol

 

[Marshy]

All stacked and drying.

 

[Garrit]

Nice! I bet that stacking those slabs was no easy task! Looking back at the pics, I am really impressed with the milling capabilities of the 394xp.

 

[Marshy]

Nice! I bet that stacking those slabs was no easy task! Looking back at the pics, I am really impressed with the milling capabilities of the 394xp.

So he did send 3 logs to get band saw, one 10', and two 8'. The pics of the boards standing on end were band saw.

 

[Marshy]

View attachment 585039

The full stack on the left and the upper half of the one on the right was band sawn. He has more than what's in the picture, mainly small stuff that he used the 394 on.