Milling Equipment Advice

[Brigade]

After doing some more reading I believe the following should do the job for me.
1) Granberg MKIII - to remove top & bottom of the log & for slabbing..size ???
2) Beam Machine - to remove both sides of the log after step #1 - don't have to rotate the log
3) Ripsaw to cut the resulting cant to dimension lumber

If I understand all the operations correctly I believe I can go from the raw log to finished size lumber without turning the log using the above equipment & producing less waste. Correct?

For power on the Granberg & Beam machine it appears the people here favor the 044, 066 or the husky 372xp. I would be looking used for these & likely favoring the 066 for power, parts availability and price/size. I likely would be looking at a 32 inch bar (is this reasonable for logs to 3 feet max ?). Also have heard good about 056av but older & hard to get parts????

On the ripsaw which requires much less power I was thinking of using my MS390 (soon to be exhaust modded thanks to info found on this site).

Any tips, thoughts or comments greatly appreciated before I spend any money.

Regards

 

[Marmaduck]

After doing some more reading I believe the following should do the job for me.
1) Granberg MKIII - to remove top & bottom of the log & for slabbing..size ???
2) Beam Machine - to remove both sides of the log after step #1 - don't have to rotate the log
3) Ripsaw to cut the resulting cant to dimension lumber

0.5 Welcome aboard and prepare to become addicted.
1. Don't know how you'd remove the bottom of the log without turning it 180 deg. Size?: Assuming you plan to slab-off both sides, a 36" should work.
2) I have the Granberg Mini-Mill and it works well.
3) The Ripsaw is nice but big $$ to get an extra board or 3 out of the log...depends on your finances and how much milling you'll do...I'd love one...someday.

For power on the Granberg & Beam machine it appears the people here favor the 044, 066 or the husky 372xp. I would be looking used for these & likely favoring the 066 for power, parts availability and price/size. I likely would be looking at a 32 inch bar (is this reasonable for logs to 3 feet max ?).

All great saws, but you'll probably want more power/larger bar for big wood. I've used a little MS290 on my mini-mill and it worked fine, but recently replaced a Husky 570 on the MK-III mill with a 395xp. Remember that you'll lose 6-7 inches of your bar to the MK-III mill, even removing the bucking spikes on the saw. For example; I've been using a 28" bar on my 36" MK-III mill and the widest cut I can get is 21.5 in. I should get a 30.5 in. cut when I mount the 36" bar. To get a true 36 in. cut as you mentioned, you'll need at least a 36" mill with a 42" bar. I've only found 1 log that big and slabbing off 1 side with the mini-mill gave me enough room to mill the whole log.

On the ripsaw which requires much less power I was thinking of using my MS390 (soon to be exhaust modded thanks to info found on this site).

Perhaps Woodshop will be along shortly to comment on this...Woodshop?

Any tips, thoughts or comments greatly appreciated before I spend any money.

You just got them...now get busy and don't forget to post pix!

 

[dustytools]

If you dont mind spending a couple of extra bucks I would get the Granberg Mini-Mill instead of the beam machine.http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=46555&catID=196 I have never used the beam machine but I do use the mini-mill and have been told that its a lot smoother and easier to operate than the beam machine. Good luck.

 

[woodshop]

On the ripsaw which requires much less power I was thinking of using my MS390 (soon to be exhaust modded thanks to info found on this site).

Marmaduck pretty much covered it all... yes that 390 is plenty and then some for the Ripsaw. I use an MS361. You really only need a 60cc saw for the Ripsaw... anything more than that and you're just carrying around that much more weight lifting that thing up onto the log and milling with it.

Only thing I might part company with Marmaducks advice is, I don't think you can put a 42 inch bar on a 36 inch Granberg. Well... you can put it on there if you take the end guard off, the saw will stick out, but you can only mill with the amount of bar inside the Granberg, which as he said after you take into account the dogs and sprocket, is only around 31 inches. You can modify and lengthen the mill to fit larger bars, but heck if you're that handy build your own from scratch as many folks on here have.

I also concur that the Ripsaw is a bit on the pricey side. If you have the pocketbook for it, or if you mill several thousand bd ft of hardwood a year as I do for my little woodshop business, you can justify it. Mine has paid for itself MANY times over but if you're only going to mill couple hundred feet of lumber, that's pretty expensive lumber. There are other reasons for using one over a csm besides getting more boards out of your log, but it's not for every pocketbook. Again, it's major ace in the hole is extreme portability for a bandmill. At 50lbs and change, and another 50 for couple guide beams and tool box on a second trip, it's light enough to carry right to that 1000 lb log. If you use a csm to knock that log into clean bark free cants first, you're way ahead of the game. You will have to turn that log though to answer one of your questions. Several times if you want to get a little fancy and mill some quartersawn wood.

Speaking of... a plug for riftsawn or quartersawn wood... I'm just finishing a couple traditional Shaker tables for our church, and because I wanted these to be creme de la creme stable pieces, I used all riftsaw boards for the 18 x 42 table tops. Ask any woodworker and he/she will tell you that in this fall weather here in the northeast where the temps and humidy are jumping all over the place from day to day, if you dimension a flatsawn board dead flat and to specs one evening and let is sit there for more than a day, the next time you check it, it will not be dead flat anymore. Usually at least a very slight twist will develop. With this riftsawn red oak I milled that I'm using for these tables those boards have stayed dead flat for several days through all this humidity change. THAT is one of the beauties of milling and using riftsawn or quartersawn. Stability. If any body is interested, I'll take a few pics and post them in the "what are you building with your milled wood" post tomorrow after I finish them.

 

[Brigade]

Thanks all for the replies. One thing I don't understand relates to turning the log being necessary.

If a mark III is used to take off the first slab (top), remove it, use the mark III again to remove the bottom slab using wedges to prevent bar binding you have top & bottom of cant finished. Then use mini mill or similar with saw vertical to remove both side slabs....finished cant. What am I missing or not understanding?

Regards

 

[woodshop]

Thanks all for the replies. One thing I don't understand relates to turning the log being necessary.

If a mark III is used to take off the first slab (top), remove it, use the mark III again to remove the bottom slab using wedges to prevent bar binding you have top & bottom of cant finished. Then use mini mill or similar with saw vertical to remove both side slabs....finished cant. What am I missing or not understanding?

Regards

Sorry, I didn't understand your original post as thoroughly as I should have. I don't have a mini-mill, and thus don't saw vertically. Unless they are small dia in which case I saw through and through, I always get clean bark-free cants by turning the log three times. For larger logs I do this using an aluminum floor jack along with a cant hook. You are correct, if you do it the way you describe, and you didn't want riftsawn or quartersawn boards, you would not have to turn the log.