Custom 90 degree chainsaw mill

[motolife313]

Started on it last week. Kinda heavy duty like I make everything. The tube is DOM and the round stock is 5/8 and has .008 clearance but luckily didn’t warp. The round stock slides like butter. I got orings on the ends so chips can’t get in grease should stay in also. Going to run it on my 171 for now. I got a 7” thick oak slab I wanna square up the sides, and I’m planing on welding the grade 8 bolts on the bar mount so I’ll just have the bolts to tighten, I’ll get some pics up tomorrow of it working

 

[Ancient One]

Nice welds. And a very nice Lincoln Tig unit in the background! I also like the aluminum stand with the cooling water tank. I have a Miller Tig unit, got it cheap in a trade.

I have been thinking of making one, got lots of metal shorts to use us. But I bought a cheap Archer Bar to drill, can't think of the thought of drilling one of my Oregon or Stihl bars. The Archer bar is a 20 inch 404x.063 and I have both skip chisel and 10 degree top angle milling chain to make loops for the 20 inch bar. I figure 20 inches is long enough for edge trimming, a longer bar would be difficult to keep out of the dirt.

Loctite the bolts instead of welding, welds are bad for alloy heat treated bolts, can cause cracking. Red Loctite (use Loctite primer first) will never slip.

 

[grizz55chev]

Interesting setup, my buddy bought a commercially available unit that’s similar. It uses an aluminum trac as the guide, works very well with my Husky 350 for the power head. We built a complete sun deck in my front yard using an Alaskan mill and that setup, came out beautiful!

 

[motolife313]

Squared up this white oak and going to turn it into a simple sitting bench. Can I use it now or does it have to dry. I plan on having it outside I think, I was hoping to Put a stain on it to protect it from rain. It was a touch much for the 171, kinda wanted to be lifted up a tiny bit to keep rpm up, going cross cut with no problem it is a touch rich at 40-1 on oil mix

 

[motolife313]

 

[Ancient One]

End seal it with Anchor Seal, $38 a gallon from Amazon. We used Anchor Seal on several hundred maple gunstock blanks back in the 1990's, never had a split. Recoated each month. We used a moisture meter to monitor the drying.

Must be dry before you put finish on the wood, otherwise the wood will crack and the finish will lift.

Try some Spar Varnish on a few small trial pieces, dry wood of course. Use Pre Stain first, let it soak in, the apply spar varnish.

Or Teak Oil: Teak sealer first, several coats, let dry, then several coats of Teak Oil. Expensive but good stuff.

Below, a hatch on my boat. Some fool put varnish over the teak years ago, not compatible. Teak has a naturel oil content.

Before sanding and finishing:

After: 4 coats Seafin Ship N Shore (sealer)

6 coats teak oil.

Let dry between coats. Takes long time to dry in the winter, dries better in the summer but still some time involved. The beauty of Teak Oil is you can wipe on another coat anytime to spiff up the finish.

 

[motolife313]

wow that’s a lot of coats. That’s sucks I will have to wait a long long time. Maybe I’ll build a kiln. How long do u think the 7” thick slab with take? It’s little over 3’ long in think. I’m very surprised you get no cracking. Are putting the sealer on right after cutting the wood? Like minutes later? Seems like it starts splitting instantly out in the sun

 

[Ancient One]

On the Maple, we put the end sealer on the same day as we stacked the blanks in the drying shed with stickers.

Do not leave your slabs in the sun, get them under cover as soon as possible. Don't drape a tarp over the slabs, this just holds in moisture, you need a lot of circulation and air space between the slabs.

Air cure is best for gunstock blanks, heat will weaken the internal fibers. With softwoods I do not think you will have as much of a problem, but I would not use a conventional kiln, fast drying causes cracking. A warm dry shed with circulation should be OK. We had dehumidifiers in the drying sheds.

The teak oil takes many coats as it is oil and soaks into the wood. The more coats the better it looks. Spar varnish will not take long as it stays on the surface of the wood.

Buy a moisture meter with a set of the probes that you hammer into the wood. This one has the contact probes that you push into the wood and I also have a set of the hammer in probes. Bought this one on Amazon.

11 or 12 per cent is about as low as the maple will dry to in my area when air curing, a long hot summer will bring it down little more. I bought a walnut blank from Idaho that was air cured 3 years, it was at 4 per cent when I got it, Southern Idaho is hot and dry in the summer!

Try some sample pieces and see how you like the finish. Spar varnish is made for outdoor use, originally made for the masts and spars on sail boats. Using pre stain before applying spar varnish gives a darker, richer color.

 

[Ancient One]

BobL should be able to give us more information on drying time, he has cut a lot more slabs than I have! But I think where he lives in Western Australia is fairly dry and is an excellent area for air curing slabs. He also has a lot of experience on finishing the thick slabs.

 

[motolife313]

Wow 3 years and that’s fast? I plan to just make some tables and put no finish on and they will be for indoor. I’ll plane them and that’s it or is ok to put a oil on like the teak or boiled linseed oil? I wanna make these into tables

 

[Ancient One]

Your soft wood will dry a lot faster than hardwoods used for gunstocks. We cure gunstocks for a long time to preserve the strength of the wood and for the wood to be able to take the hand rubbed oil finish that so many guys want on their custom rifles. Google "Purdy Finish" for gun stocks. High strength is required for the big bore rifles I used to play with, like 458 Lott, 450 Ackley, 500 Jeffery and the likes. Big recoil!!!!