My day milling

[Semi-Hex]

First, the day was really nice. It was in the mid seventy's and not a cloud in the sky. I took a couple of shots (with the camera) and set up the saw. One thing I need to remember is to bring every spare known to man. I ended up losing a bolt, that was metric and had no spare, because the rollers kept falling off. Vibration I think. Else-wise the miller works just dandy and am very happy with it. I'm using a ms361 which worked well but I can see an upgrade may be necessary. I cut these 1" thick 9-10"wide by 5' long. There was also so much moisture in them that the sawdust were getting my boots wet. I took a photo of the tree in the background centre which the top fell off, there is a little over thirty feet left standing.

 

[00juice]

Nice Job, looks good.

 

[woodshop]

Nice job loweecey. It was a nice day here in PA also... wish I could have been milling. On pine, and that size, your 361 will do fine. If you were cutting up hardwood, and wider than 12 inches, you would be pushing that 60cc saw to its limits. I agree, when you go milling, take lots of spare parts and tools. Nothing worse than being couple hours from home or a saw shop and need a small part to keep going and don't have it. I carry a little parts box full of selected nuts and bolts, some proprietary and unique to my saws and mills. That's in addition to the standard stuff you should always carry like spare spark plug, filter, couple extra chains in case you rock one and don't want to burn daylight spending time sharpening it by hand.

 

[Semi-Hex]

I just didn't think through enough about bringing spare parts. We have a shop there with bolts galore... I need to go back up there to re sticker the stack. The drive is less than an hour, but I want these to dry nice and straight. The wood was so wet the 361 was bogging down around the knots though most of the wood was cutting like butter. I'm really pleased with this so far.

 

[tawilson]

I plan on using my 441 for some small milling like you are doing here. What size bar are you using? I've got a couple of 20" milling chains. I wonder if it would push a 25" chain ok, or could I switch to a skip tooth milling chain?

 

[stonykill]

I plan on using my 441 for some small milling like you are doing here. What size bar are you using? I've got a couple of 20" milling chains. I wonder if it would push a 25" chain ok, or could I switch to a skip tooth milling chain?

I use an old 031 all the time for milling. Its only 48 cc's. I run a 24 inch bar and low profile milling chain from baileys. It works good in pine and even better in birch up to 20 inches in diameter. I suspect it works better in the birch for 2 reasons. 1st, the birch I mill is clear, pine rarely is, and a knot will slow you down big time. 2nd the pine pitch seems to slow things down, again, not a problem in birch. I have milled small cherry and maple with the same saw, 18 inches and smaller. It will do it, but its slow going. I use a 266xp for that now, and that works much better. Again with a 24 inch bar and baileys low profile ripping chain.

If you set up your 441 with a 24 or 25 inch bar and use lp ripping chain, it should work just fine. My step dad, insists on using his 029 to mill when helping me. Even that thing will mill with a 24 inch bar and lp chain. Not as well as my smaller 031, most likely because the 031 has a longer stroke, smaller bore, good old school stihl. My point being, if an 029 can mill, most anything in the 50 cc class will. I have even milled with my old mac 10 10. Works darn good, with the added benefit of the exhaust exiting on the ground, not in your face. Your set up will work on smaller wood just fine.:rockn:

 

[stonykill]

I plan on using my 441 for some small milling like you are doing here. What size bar are you using? I've got a couple of 20" milling chains. I wonder if it would push a 25" chain ok, or could I switch to a skip tooth milling chain?

I see your about 3 hours or so away from me. If your ever as far east in NY as you can go, and want to mill for a day, try your saw with my 24 inch bar and lp milling chain, you are more than welcome. I need to mill a bunch of birch as soon as the rest of this snow is gone.I have 2 alaskan mills and a home made csm as well, so plenty of mills to go around. My supply is getting low, so I will be milling a day or 2 a week, most of April and may, possibly all summer. In the nice weather I mill a minimum of 6 hours a week, so most any time is good for me. Its a long drive, but if you have reason to be out here anyway....just thought I'd offer>>>>>>>>>>>>>Tom

 

[tawilson]

That would be the very tip of Long Island, wouldn't it? Just kidding, I knew what you meant. Sometimes work gets me over in the Plattsburgh area. Thanks for the offer and I'll let you know.

 

[Semi-Hex]

As you saw in the pic there are plenty of knots in these logs. I have a 19" bar with a pmx chain. The rest of that particular tree is 18" dbh. It will work but I don't want to toast the saw for the rest of the work I need it for. I sure as heck don't want to lug a 660 around all the time either. I've been looking at all of the trees in a different light, whether they be fir, redwood, bay which are soft and madrone and oak which are hard. I can start cutting slabs for camp signs and posts for other things. I have someone interested in a 3x12x72" redwood slab with a living edge for cash, so this can start being a hobby I won't lose too much money on.

 

[scottr]

Loweecey , for information on stickering check your PM box .

 

[dustytools]

It was a beautiful day here yesterday as well. I had planned on putting the 041 on the small log mill and slicing up a 14 inch x 10 ft. long Cedar but instead I was stuck on the couch with the flu bug. Oh well theres always next weekend. Nice looking milling by the way Loweecey.

 

[Semi-Hex]

Loweecey , for information on stickering check your PM box .

Got it! Thank you for the help. I thought I had enough sticks but forgot most of them.

I found the replacement part and am ready to go again.