Am testing out my 36" lo pro bar on the biggest slabs I can mill with it, given a max cut width of about 30". I've been curious for awhile at what point there are diminishing returns from lo pro, when tiny full comp chain just gets too clogged with chips by a wide cut. Up to 25" or so it has been amazing, just way faster (and smoother) than regular 3/8" or .404 chain. The power requirements too are a fraction of what people conventionally believe you need for milling. With my 64cc Makita I went all the way up to milling 29" wide short blocks of ash today, cutting up rounds for into big blanks for turning, or side tables, or future resawing for cutting boards, etc. Ash is seriously hard wood, and it didn't have too much trouble with it. Most people wouldn't dream of taking on 29" wide hardwood with a 64cc saw.
Since I hit a nail on one stump and resharpened I've had trouble keeping the cut going without rocking the saw a little. Assumed it was uneven sharpening but the final cuts were still smooth, none of the ridges and digging you get with most chain when you sharpen the teeth on one side better than the other. I think my sharpening could be better and have had to rock it less the more I've resharpened, but I also think part of it is I'm starting to hit my chip throwing limits of the little teeth. It doesn't want to engage the whole bar at once cause that clogs the teeth, but is fine engaging only part of the bar.
One stump I milled was wider (29") than it was long (24") so my wife looked at what I was doing and said "why don't you mill it cross-wise so it's not as wide a cut?" Huh, I thought, reasonable suggestion. Never had a piece wider than it was long before, so it had never come up. Bogged down halfway through, had to rock it a lot to get through the cut, and completely jammed up the sprocket area with shavings. Realized milling in that direction you get huge shavings instead of sawdust/chips. Mighta gotten away with doing it with a big saw and .404, not a chance of it working with lo pro. Don't know if those results were particular to ash, or that happens with anything.
Plan on upgrading the piston and cylinder on the Makita to 79cc one of these days so I have no qualms about abusing the 64cc piston/cylinder mercilessly in the meantime. In the last two pics it shows the results of milling across instead of with the grain (but not cross cutting). The huge shavings to the upper left of the log were from milling across where the sawdust at the bottom of the frame was when I was milling in the conventional direction. And that's how badly the saw got jammed up with shavings.
Since I hit a nail on one stump and resharpened I've had trouble keeping the cut going without rocking the saw a little. Assumed it was uneven sharpening but the final cuts were still smooth, none of the ridges and digging you get with most chain when you sharpen the teeth on one side better than the other. I think my sharpening could be better and have had to rock it less the more I've resharpened, but I also think part of it is I'm starting to hit my chip throwing limits of the little teeth. It doesn't want to engage the whole bar at once cause that clogs the teeth, but is fine engaging only part of the bar.
One stump I milled was wider (29") than it was long (24") so my wife looked at what I was doing and said "why don't you mill it cross-wise so it's not as wide a cut?" Huh, I thought, reasonable suggestion. Never had a piece wider than it was long before, so it had never come up. Bogged down halfway through, had to rock it a lot to get through the cut, and completely jammed up the sprocket area with shavings. Realized milling in that direction you get huge shavings instead of sawdust/chips. Mighta gotten away with doing it with a big saw and .404, not a chance of it working with lo pro. Don't know if those results were particular to ash, or that happens with anything.
Plan on upgrading the piston and cylinder on the Makita to 79cc one of these days so I have no qualms about abusing the 64cc piston/cylinder mercilessly in the meantime. In the last two pics it shows the results of milling across instead of with the grain (but not cross cutting). The huge shavings to the upper left of the log were from milling across where the sawdust at the bottom of the frame was when I was milling in the conventional direction. And that's how badly the saw got jammed up with shavings.
