455 Rancher

[curdy]

Just bought a new 455 Rancher w/20" bar. I've been used to using 16" and 18" Craftsman's. Just thought it would be a good topic to ask for any tips on owning and operating my new saw. Its obviously in a totally different league, I just put it together last night and could tell that right away. Can't wait to fire it up and take care of the 18"-40" logs that are sitting everywhere in my yard!

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Do a search on here for "PPE," "kickback," and "safety." Read up in your owner's manual and get familiar with the saw and don't let your guard down. Use all your PPE all the time. All saws are dangerous for the same reasons-kickback, broken chains, dropping trees on yourself and so on. Keep the chain sharp, keep the saw clean and taken care of and you'll have a good saw for alot of years with no problems.

And take your time with those 40" logs. That's alot for that saw, and wood that big will mess with you, either pinching your bar, rolling the wrong way on you or whatever. Of course you can pinch your bar in 8" of wood, but the 40" can pinch it and not give it back!

Welcome to the site.

Jeff

 

[curdy]

Thanks Jeff,

I was reading up on the manual last night. I fully expect the kickback threat to much much greater on this saw. The 16" I was using a lot was only 36cc. I tossed that thing around like it was nothing. The kickback was next to nothing. I know the 455 will be different.

The 40+" guys are 2 nice oaks. Got a friend that wants to try to make into lumber. He bought an Alaskan mill and we gave it a trial run on a smaller log. We used a 357? 359? w/ 20" bar and regular chain and got about 6" down before throwing in the towel. We figured a rip chain would make a big difference, and we're going to need a MUCH bigger saw to go through the big boys. Any experience with an Alaskan mill?

 

[Lawn Masters]

for logs that big, if you're milling em, you'll need a 395, or 3120 size to actually get anywhere on them. otherwise, you may as well try to slay a dragon with a can of gasoline.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Any experience with an Alaskan mill?

I don't own my own, but run my buddie's often enough. He's got a 660 with a 32". Works well. The 660 has enough grunt to handle most jobs, and isn't so big as to be overly cumbersome. JMO. I've posted pics on here somehwere already. Do a search for "660" and "Alaskan Mill" and you should find it.

Jeff

 

[curdy]

Thanks for the info. I have some smaller logs, maybe 20" or less that we wanted to use for lumber too. That was what we used for the trial run. We knew we're going to need something bigger for the 40+ guys, but we were shocked to see how much trouble it had on the smaller stuff too. It was a white oak. Would a rip chain let that 359 get through the smaller logs? Or in general are we just trying to do a job with too weak of a saw?

 

[pinus]

I don't own my own, but run my buddie's often enough. He's got a 660 with a 32". Works well. The 660 has enough grunt to handle most jobs, and isn't so big as to be overly cumbersome. JMO. I've posted pics on here somehwere already. Do a search for "660" and "Alaskan Mill" and you should find it.

Jeff

The fuel tank (on pic behind the mill) is some 20m3. Enough for miiling several years

 

[curdy]

The manual for my 455 said to use 90+ octane. I was going to follow this anyway, but does anyone have any input on the importance of this?

 

[computeruser]

Thanks for the info. I have some smaller logs, maybe 20" or less that we wanted to use for lumber too. That was what we used for the trial run. We knew we're going to need something bigger for the 40+ guys, but we were shocked to see how much trouble it had on the smaller stuff too. It was a white oak. Would a rip chain let that 359 get through the smaller logs? Or in general are we just trying to do a job with too weak of a saw?

From what I have read, I would guess that the answer is yes, but very tediously. I think that the prevailing wisdom is that 70cc would be a minimum for small work, with 90cc+ being preferable.