Has anyone ever tried milling with 'full house' chain? I'm interested to hear your experience with it. If you have no experience with it please say so, I'm still interested in hearing how well you think it would work.
Milling with Full House Chain?
- Thread starter Marshy
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On my longer bars (42" and longer) I've gone the other way skip chisel. I find the rate of cut to be slightly improved due to the better rate of clearing chips which seem larger. The sharpness on each style chain appears as identical as possible for me including the rakers. Your mileage may vary (-;
I agree whatever chips it generates is likely to rapidly fill the kerf and reduce cutting speed.
Stopping and starting, fanging in and out of the kerf, seesawing the mill sideways down the log, etc are more likely to affect finish than anything else.
This is why I use log rails for every cut so I can put the wedges and a hammer on top of the log so the mill slides over then on top of the log rails.
To insert wedges I lock the remote throttle and the lean on the mill with thigh or hip and this frees my arms up to insert wedges.
If possible I avoid stopping but if I do I ease back into the cut instead of going WOT and slamming it back in.
Finish is largely operator dependent and secondarily affected by using full chisel versus semi chisel and top plate filing angle.
Stopping and starting, fanging in and out of the kerf, seesawing the mill sideways down the log, etc are more likely to affect finish than anything else.
This is why I use log rails for every cut so I can put the wedges and a hammer on top of the log so the mill slides over then on top of the log rails.
To insert wedges I lock the remote throttle and the lean on the mill with thigh or hip and this frees my arms up to insert wedges.
If possible I avoid stopping but if I do I ease back into the cut instead of going WOT and slamming it back in.
I'm after speed over smoothnes ,less sharpening/touch up . As these mid-west hard woods dry & shrink the surface becomes smoother. After a bit of time air drying it becomes hard for me to tell the dif from chain.
I am of the opinion that it would leave a smoother cut with a tight tensioner. As either of the chains I use stretch during the travel down the log the cut becomes a bit rougher. This could be from the "snakier" path a loose chain can travel. I use Bailey's rip/milling chain or oregon square chisel skip chain.
Results may vary (-;
I am of the opinion that it would leave a smoother cut with a tight tensioner. As either of the chains I use stretch during the travel down the log the cut becomes a bit rougher. This could be from the "snakier" path a loose chain can travel. I use Bailey's rip/milling chain or oregon square chisel skip chain.
Results may vary (-;
All the following were with 576 XT-XP-AT saw, assisted by Dolly PS-6100:
WoodlandPro 30RP ripping chain is full-comp and works well. It's based on semi-chisel chain, so it gives a much better surface finish than full-chisel. Off the reel, it's not sharp enough for my taste, so an up-front filing is in order. I've tried it on 28" bar in Granberg mill on black locust. It cut well, with chips liberally mixed in with dust. Saw fed well into such hard wood.
Under the same conditions, I tried "std" 30SC (semi-chisel) chain and it also gave a nice surface finish and seemed to cut well. Didn't need much improvement off the reel. Then I tried 105 DL 30SC chain on 32" bar in bigger mill on hickory. Worked well, nice surface finish, needed sharpening, to my taste, every other tankful. Next candidate was 30SCS 105 DL chain (semi-chisel full-skip) again in hickory. Definitely my choice. Nice surface finish. Let the saw run "freer", and spit nice chips. Still needed a very light filing every other fillup or so, about :35 runtime.
I really like the idea of not needing special-purpose ripping chain, being able to use chain with cutter geometry suitable for crosscutting too. We'll be doing much more milling in the near future on 27" diam hickory, 30" sugar maple and various black locust. Yeah, some will need trimming a mite to fit nominal 30" Granberg mill. No biggie. Some of the hickory logs were ripped down the middle with Granberg Mini-Mill with Dolmar 6100 running 24" bar and semi-chisel full-skip as above. That combo worked GREAT. Half-slabs of 2" thick green hickory, 7' long from 26" OD are manageable. Mini-mill worked great also for ripping one straight face on log before taking off slabs. Just gotta watch wind direction, with it spitting chips & dust UP in the air. Don't swallow the chips, folks, even if hickory tastes good.
WoodlandPro 30RP ripping chain is full-comp and works well. It's based on semi-chisel chain, so it gives a much better surface finish than full-chisel. Off the reel, it's not sharp enough for my taste, so an up-front filing is in order. I've tried it on 28" bar in Granberg mill on black locust. It cut well, with chips liberally mixed in with dust. Saw fed well into such hard wood.
Under the same conditions, I tried "std" 30SC (semi-chisel) chain and it also gave a nice surface finish and seemed to cut well. Didn't need much improvement off the reel. Then I tried 105 DL 30SC chain on 32" bar in bigger mill on hickory. Worked well, nice surface finish, needed sharpening, to my taste, every other tankful. Next candidate was 30SCS 105 DL chain (semi-chisel full-skip) again in hickory. Definitely my choice. Nice surface finish. Let the saw run "freer", and spit nice chips. Still needed a very light filing every other fillup or so, about :35 runtime.
I really like the idea of not needing special-purpose ripping chain, being able to use chain with cutter geometry suitable for crosscutting too. We'll be doing much more milling in the near future on 27" diam hickory, 30" sugar maple and various black locust. Yeah, some will need trimming a mite to fit nominal 30" Granberg mill. No biggie. Some of the hickory logs were ripped down the middle with Granberg Mini-Mill with Dolmar 6100 running 24" bar and semi-chisel full-skip as above. That combo worked GREAT. Half-slabs of 2" thick green hickory, 7' long from 26" OD are manageable. Mini-mill worked great also for ripping one straight face on log before taking off slabs. Just gotta watch wind direction, with it spitting chips & dust UP in the air. Don't swallow the chips, folks, even if hickory tastes good.
In the stuff I milled square filed chisel was the best finish. I hated semi chisel. No matter what top plate angle I used it was 30-50% slower and no better finish so I went back to square. I touch up every 2 cuts in most hardwoods that are 2' wide and 7-8' long.
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