gonna give it a go Saturday

[excess650]

I've been reading a bit here, and finally bought a mill. The plan is to take it to a friend's property on Saturday, and work on a hemlock blowdown. Despite the opinions to the contrary, I opted for the 24" mill. It has 21.5" between the rails and I don't forsee cutting anything that wide. Saw choices are a 272xp with 28", and 066 with 25" or 32". I'm hoping the 272xp has enough grunt, as its quite a bit lighter than the 066. Wish me luck!

 

[Trigger-Time]

Good luck..........but IMO you will have better luck with 066, lot more grunt.

Weight is not a problem milling.......it can even help with one end
of log elevated, so you are milling down hill.



Gary

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

066 all the way. I started milling with my 460 and a 20" bar and liked it. Went to the 066 and 20" bar and loved it, as there is no stopping that saw.

 

[stevethekiwi]

hmmm... 24"



didnt know they made trees that small

 

[Zodiac45]

I've been reading a bit here, and finally bought a mill. The plan is to take it to a friend's property on Saturday, and work on a hemlock blowdown. Despite the opinions to the contrary, I opted for the 24" mill. It has 21.5" between the rails and I don't forsee cutting anything that wide. Saw choices are a 272xp with 28", and 066 with 25" or 32". I'm hoping the 272xp has enough grunt, as its quite a bit lighter than the 066. Wish me luck!

Good luck and I think you'll really enjoy milling. Either saw will work with a 24" mill/bar but the 066 is certainly the better choice. By the way, none of those bars you listed is going too fit a 24" mill. (I'm sure you knew that):greenchainsaw:

 

[Trigger-Time]

Good luck and I think you'll really enjoy milling. Either saw will work with a 24" mill/bar but the 066 is certainly the better choice. By the way, none of those bars you listed is going too fit a 24" mill. (I'm sure you knew that):greenchainsaw:

Stihl 24" and 25" bars have same drive link count.

 

[excess650]

Good luck and I think you'll really enjoy milling. Either saw will work with a 24" mill/bar but the 066 is certainly the better choice. By the way, none of those bars you listed is going too fit a 24" mill. (I'm sure you knew that):greenchainsaw:

Baileys site indicates a 28" bar is the minimum necessary for the maximum width cut, so it seems to me that either the 28" on the 272xp or the 25" on the 066 should work just fine. Am I missing something here?

 

[excess650]

Good luck and I think you'll really enjoy milling. Either saw will work with a 24" mill/bar but the 066 is certainly the better choice. By the way, none of those bars you listed is going too fit a 24" mill. (I'm sure you knew that):greenchainsaw:

I needed to tune the 272xp, so broke out the tach and set it for 13,000 with the 20" bar and chain. I decided to put the 28" on, and tried it with the mill. I have the rails on the 24" mill set to maximum width, and that is 21.5" between the rails. With no bark dogs on the saw, the 28" bar will allow that 21.5" width, and that is clamping behind the sprocket nose bar on the solid part.

Oh, yeah, I put the tach back on the saw with the 28" bar and chain in place to see how many revs it would lose. It GAINED 600rpm, so I richened it back to 13,000.

 

[stevethekiwi]

By the way, none of those bars you listed is going too fit a 24" mill. (I'm sure you knew that):greenchainsaw:

Im curious. Why?

If the bars too big, the nose sits out a bit further.

if the bars too small, you slide the end bracket on the mill back to accommodate.

mill still works

 

[Brmorgan]

Im curious. Why?

If the bars too big, the nose sits out a bit further.

if the bars too small, you slide the end bracket on the mill back to accommodate.

mill still works

+1
You should be able to use a bar at least 3-4 inches longer than the rails and still keep the bar nose guard intact. If you aren't worried about the safety risks of exposing the bar tip, you can remove the guard and use whatever length of bar you want (within reason!).

 

[woodshop]

...Oh, yeah, I put the tach back on the saw with the 28" bar and chain in place to see how many revs it would lose. It GAINED 600rpm, so I richened it back to 13,000.

Interesting... you put a longer bar on the saw, more chain to pull around, and it gained RPM's. Richening a milling saw is a good thing though... so you're ahead of the game. That 272 will be fine milling hemlock that width. I've milled plenty with a 365/28 bar. Good luck with you're first time milling... only thing I would have done different is spend the extra few bucks for the 36 inch mill. Unless you're in an area that just never ever sees a tree larger than 20 inches, there is a good chance that you will bump into a larger one at some point. But... don't want to tell anybody how to spend their money, especially these days.

 

[Zodiac45]

+1
You should be able to use a bar at least 3-4 inches longer than the rails and still keep the bar nose guard intact. If you aren't worried about the safety risks of exposing the bar tip, you can remove the guard and use whatever length of bar you want (within reason!).

Yep sorry about that. I was just thinking of the nose guard. Sounds like you're ready too go and mill some planks Excess. I'd say that was a smart move tuning it a hair too the rich side also. I can pull a 24" bar with my Dolmar 120si which is comparable too the 272xp. It does well on 20" and under softwoods. For bigger stuff you'll want that 066.

 

[excess650]

Interesting... you put a longer bar on the saw, more chain to pull around, and it gained RPM's. Richening a milling saw is a good thing though... so you're ahead of the game. That 272 will be fine milling hemlock that width. I've milled plenty with a 365/28 bar. Good luck with you're first time milling... only thing I would have done different is spend the extra few bucks for the 36 inch mill. Unless you're in an area that just never ever sees a tree larger than 20 inches, there is a good chance that you will bump into a larger one at some point. But... don't want to tell anybody how to spend their money, especially these days.

I probably should richen it a bit more. Do you have a good feel as to how rich, how many rpm it should be down from max?

As for the smaller mill, I hadn't figured on milling cants over 20", but I guess a bit more width could be handy for table tops and such. I was also thinking the narrower mill would be a bit more handy, less bulky, and lighter. Lighter is also the reason to try the 272xp before the 066 Magnum. Bailey's has 30" rails for ~$42.

I think that I've already cut the biggest tree on my property, and it bothered me to have to make firewood out of a 30" poplar, so I now have the mill. There are some small pines that will make 4x4s and 6x6s for some building projects.

Your milling rig looks pretty slick, but I don't have a place to house something like that right now.

 

[woodshop]

...Your milling rig looks pretty slick, but I don't have a place to house something like that right now.

Are you getting me mixed up with one of these guys that has a stand alone bandmill or maybe a Logosol mill? Along with a few horses, toolboxes and several chainsaws, my milling equipment consists of a 36" csm and a handheld Ripsaw bandmill... you can fit all of my milling equipment in the back of my van with room for 1600 lbs of wet lumber.

...before

...after

 

[stevethekiwi]

Are you getting me mixed up with one of these guys that has a stand alone bandmill or maybe a Logosol mill? Along with a few horses, toolboxes and several chainsaws, my milling equipment consists of a 36" csm and a handheld Ripsaw bandmill... you can fit all of my milling equipment in the back of my van with room for 1600 lbs of wet lumber.

...before

...after

great stuff!

 

[excess650]

I was thinking of the Logosol. The little Echo is a 3450? My underpowered, POS Echo 3450 takes a beating and comes back for more. I love it for limbing. I cut bigger stuff with it than I probably should. Now that I have some non-safety chain, I'll see how much of an improvement it makes with the little bugger.

As for hauling, I have a Jeep Cherokee and a shortbed F150, both capable of towing my 5'x8' aluminum trailer(2000# capacity). They'll do for now.

 

[woodshop]

... The little Echo is a 3450? My underpowered, POS Echo 3450 takes a beating and comes back for more...

That's about how I would describe mine... can't say enough good things about my little Echo 3450... it's just a great little 33cc saw that starts and runs EVERY time I ask it to in all kinds of conditions... cold, hot, wet... it's a great well engineered little saw. It's light and easy to handle, great limning saw, but in a pinch will power through 10-12 inch oak fine, just a little slower than my bigger saws. Yeah you need to put some serious chain on it that's not afraid to bite into the wood... I run Oregon 91VX.

 

[excess650]

The first try was successful! I didn't get any pictures because I forgot the camera, but the first cant is 10-1/2" x 10-1/2" x9' 9". The top of this hemlock was probably on the ground less than a year, so was still solid. Ants were working at both ends, and another section has a crack through the center, but it should still be salvageagble. The trunk is still standing but dead, and must be 30" in diameter.

We loaded the cant into the back of Mike's truck, and made room for it in his garage. The ends are painted with latex paint. He and his wife have been wanting to build a timber frame house, so hopefully, this will be part of it.

I did use the 272xp, and while it did fine, it was definitely being worked. I'll try the 066 the next time.