Are the clone saws good enough for milling?

[Hickahollar]

Hey everyone I have about 40 8to10foot long logs ranging in size from about14'' to 32'' in diameter. I have a ms362 but I don't really want to push it through that many logs milling. This is most likely a one and mostly done kind of thing. I don't want to justify buying say a ms661 or ms881 so the question is how good are these g070 g660 and g888 chainsaws? Will they be fine milling or will my 362 be able to run say a 36inch bar with auxiliary oiler and still live for the next 15 to 20 years? I was personally thinking I want the g070 because I just like the old school type saws and was thinking that a sub 9000rpm saw would last longer milling than one that gets up to 13000 plus rpm. If I was going to spend 2000 dollars on a chainsaw I would be better off buying a $3000 dollar mill. But for $400 dollars I'd get a 070 or 660 clone saw.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

With that much lumber I’d suggest seeing if you can rent a portable bandsaw mill or the services of someone with one. The China clones may work, but you more likely find you end up with an expensive door stop and a mill with nothing to go on it and still have not milled your lumber. I’d rather spend money and be certain the job will be done rather than uncertainty and possibly losing many hundreds of dollars on junk

https://woodmizer.com/us/Tips-and-How-To/how-to-hire-local-sawmills

 

[mountainlake]

Hire a bandsaw. You'll be money ahead. Steve

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

What kind of lumber?

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

Limited coil is 11,500K on these.

122cc G888. One just left going to a guy that mills with 2 G660.

Pics with a G070 in it are from a US dealer I deal with too.

 

[Hickahollar]

What kind of lumber?

Mostly pine short leaf pine it's considered a red pine but it looks yellow to me.

 

[Hickahollar]

I have about 25 pine logs here at my house and about 15 or so of various different logs at someone else's place that an assortment of sycamore. I think sweet gum and red oak.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

The G660 my friend got last year has been flawless and milling ever since.
You might not have much problem with the 362 until you get to anything other then the pine.

 

[angelo c]

I'd buy a small mill before I bought a big saw....that being said and I don't know what your finances are or what the long term plans are for the logs and if there are other projects that could be completed with future logs....I'd buy the saw that has the most availability for parts. Those clones have cut quite a few corners to be so cheap. You'll be replacing stuffs soon enough

 

[Hickahollar]

I could go out tomorrow and get a ms881 or 880 but yeah it would put a big dent in my wallet I'd have to work every Saturday for about 2 months to recover my savings. I'm going to rebuild my shed and make it into more of a man cave/shop. I'm also gonna use the wood to build new houses for my farm animals. I'm sure I will keep milling as needed. My ms362 I could justify paying $800 for it I burn alot of wood and come across a lot of downed trees for clean up and I sale the occasional pickup load of firewood. It paid for itself in a year. But milling I don't think it will pay for itself but it will make me happier because I won't have to spend so much money at the lumberyard. My buildings I plan to build would easily cost me $5000 or more so in that respect I guess buying a bigger saw is gonna pay for itself. Might just see how far I can push that poulan pl3314. So far it's doing good in the smallest logs I have. I think I might get a simple $35 beam cutter mill the top of my big logs use the beam cutter on the sides then use my 362 and if it blows it blows(might have to push my bar size too 28 or 32) I still have a ms250. It shouldn't cost too much to rebuild a ms362.....? Right

 

[Hickahollar]

I have my poulan set up to run 40 to 1 gas mix and I'm running it slightly fatter than I would while cutting firewood. My stihl I'll have to pull the limiter caps and retune it for 40 to 1. I'll run it like I've been running the poulan cut about 20 seconds then idle for about 5 seconds. I don't mind messing up a $110 chainsaw, but it is at its limit with that 18 inch bar about 17 inches diameter is its max size. I had to modify my mill to get it to clamp up about 15 inches of bar. The tip is to skinny. I guess if I'm gonna be cheap I'll have to send my 362 use my 25 inch bar until I need bigger. Will let you all know if it let's go. Oh it's a carb 362.

 

[Hickahollar]

Well might of found a slightly used ms880 with 36 inch bar. I work with a young man whose dad bought one to cut up a big tree that fell at his church. He said they have only used it 3 different times. He wants 1100 think that's a decent price. I was hoping for more like 800 but it is what it is.

 

[angelo c]

That's a fair price. Get to milling

 

[Hickahollar]

Well I got that ms880 off my coworker. Been sick since Wednesday (tested negative for covid) finally found time and felt good enough to take a good look at it today. Other than some minor carb adjustments it runs good. Definitely gonna have to go down on the rakers because it wouldn't cut worth a crap unless I dug the dogs in but I couldn't bog it in a 20 inch stump. Came with the 41 inch bar and 404 chain.

 

[Hickahollar]

Here is a picture of it. Big heavy. Seems awfully slow but I believe its coil limited I believe at right around 10500 maybe 11000 rpm. After I took 2 hours hand filing the chain and getting it sharp I can bog it pretty easily with the 41inch bar and about a 20inch chunk of pine. Is this pretty normal for a big 880 I figured it would be very hard to bog yes it does have more torque than my ms362. But it seems to have a mid range power band and you can't push it to hard and that 9k rpm its cutting at just seems slow compared to my ms362. Will find out when I run it in 40 plus inch red oak sometime this week. Maybe I need skip tooth on a 41 inch bar?

 

[J D]

I can bog it pretty easily with the 41inch bar and about a 20inch chunk of pine.

Something ain't right

 

[HumBurner]

Nope, especially since he said it didn't bog before sharpening and depths being lowered.



Just for information: I've milled up a couple trees (Doug fir) now and have been using a 372 w/24" bar and ripping chain. A couple times I had to setup the 390xp (32") to make the first cut, then do the edges and boards with the 372. I've tuned it rich, though I'm not checking my rpms, and she hasn't skipped a beat yet.

There's lots of posts around of people milling small logs with smaller saws. Big saws are nice and handy, but not necessary for smaller wood.

Keep it rich, and let them cool. Stay sharp.

That's the gist of it.

 

[Hickahollar]

I may have went a little to aggressive on the rakers I didn't use my height gauge was just eyeballing it. I mean it cuts fine as long as I keep it above say 9000rpm but I just can't put alot of pressure on it using the dogs. Before I sharpened it a lot of teeth were at about a 15° angle obviously sharpened with a grinder of sorts. Like I said it took me 2 hours to file it by hand to get a 30° angle on it. That's why i lowered the rakers. Just figured that a 880 could handle a full comp cross cut chain with 41" bar a little better heck it acts like a unbroken in saw. At how boggy they are at first. Will run a few tanks in her today or tomorrow. If I can hold it up long enough.

 

[Hickahollar]

Just timed it vs my 362 in a 20 inch chunk I had laying around and the 880 cut it in about 10 seconds the 362 was at 13 seconds just seems slow because it isn't revving as high I guess. I did lean into the 880 to try to bog it but it didn't bog. Guess I was expecting it to be a big step up in speed like I got when I went from the ms250 to the ms362. Well I'm gonna go cut some big oak that will test it out for sure. At the very least test me out....

 

[Hickahollar]

Just a few chips it might be sharp. Not sure tho..