Chainsaw Milling Gabon Ebony STIHL MS 660 or MS 880?

[Matildasmate]

wenge man 4-5kms thats a long way to carry all your gear and then do your milling and cart all your gear and milled timber , that will be some adventure , you must be real fit mate , I hope all goes well for you , sounds like a massive job . Cheers MM

 

[jake00]

dont laugh... I use a ms390 with RMC chain to cut packs of brazilian cherry, ipe and cumaru at work (hardwood floor mill) a chain usually lasts a pack and a 1/2

a pack is usually 42" wide by about 36-42" high

 

[Rob D]

I've tried both milling and cross cutting with carbide chain and can only really advise against it. I tried ripping carbide and cross cutting carbide in different hardnesses. In summary:

Yes you can easily sharpen it with a diamond wheel - that's not really the problem.

But you simply just cannot get it as sharp - that is an actual fact of science as carbide will not take an edge the same as steel.

But the main reason against it is the cost and the way you can write the entire chain off if you hit a nail or a rock. I wrote 3 whole chains off in a day on different trees.

Chain filing for a rip chain should be 5 degrees. Granberg chain I found to be the best http://www.granberg.com/ripping_chain.html but you have to sharpen correctly and it's critical to get the depth guages right to get advantage from it.

 

[Mike Van]

I'm not a carbide expert for sure - I do know though that there are different grades of it. The stuff they use to tip tablesaw blades, router bits, etc - Will grind to a very keen edge. It will not however, stand up to dirt, stone, etc. worth a darn. It's a different grade used on the 'quick-vent' type saws the fireman use, these cut pretty slow in wood from what I've seen & heard. They use carbide for the cutting edges on rock drills too, really tough, stands up to impacting solid rock. Just between manufacturers, the quality of carbide will vary a lot. A saw blade made by Forrest is going to be a few steps ahead of one by Chaing Kai Chek.

 

[Rob D]

I spent around a couple months looking on forums about carbide chain and despite the 97% of people out there who had tried it and then said forget it I had to go and try it myself.

The way chainsaws cut and the way the tooth is shaped is very different to say a circular saw and other carbide tipped machinery. Yes carbide does take a sharp edge but it just is not as sharp as your normal steel/industrial crome chain. I could get the carbide tips sharp and they would cut nicely but not the same as a steel chain.

The firefighting chains will cut wood badly as they are not designed for it. And after cutting through a roof there is a good chance the chain will be written off... a very very good chance!. Well worth it for a getting a victim out of a burning house faster but when you're looking at £200 a chain not worth it when cutting wood.

Carbide will outlast steel by 5 times in the woods but only if you do not hit any small stones. Hit a nail in someones back garden tree and you will write off the chain whereas you can usually recover a steel chain.

I bought 6 chains of different cutter types and hardness and very quickly came to the conclusion there are very few applications for carbide in a tree surgery/forest situation. All in my opinion of course....!

 

[dave k]

If you survive the experiance lets have loads of pics !
As for carbide chain, I have used it a great deal in conjunction with stump grinding and found that using it on a saw of more than say a 046 when you hit a nail or stone the carbide would just be ripped off ! as Rob D says not very cost effective. Also found that as the chain became dull it would cause a great deal of heat and boil the bar oil off very quickly.
So very good some of the time if you had dusty sandy timber to log but not much use for milling.

 

[jandc]

I also think it's best to wear a dustmask while milling Ebony?

 

[rfalk]

Heck, I'll lend you my Stihl 075 AV powerhead in trade for some ebony.

I have just recently purchased a 36" Alaskan Log Mill, 9' EZ Rail guides, and Log Wizard Debarker/Planer for the purpose of chainsaw milling 29" diameter logs of Gabon Ebony. I will be spending a week in the rainforest cutting the logs into slabs and log half's to make the wood portable and carry them out of the forest with brute strength and man power.

I have narrowed my search for chainsaws down to two choices:

1.) STIHL MS 660 (91.6 cc)

2.) STIHL MS 880 (121.6 cc)

Being that Gabon Ebony is about 3 times as hard as red oak and 40% harder than mesquite or persimmons wood, I am trying to decide if 91cc chainsaw will do the job well or if I NEED to go with the monster saw to make the work easier.

Any advice? Any experience cutting ebony logs or lumber with chainsaw?
:greenchainsaw:

Heck, I'll lend you my Stihl 075 AV powerhead in trade for some ebony.

 

[Wenge Man]

Gabon Ebony- MS 880, RMC Chain.... Does The Job

Thanks for all the tips guys, I went with the beast MS 880, RMC Chains, no dust mask, no generator, no communication. We are spending a few days in village suburb before going back to work.

More later, wanted to post some pics real quick as the connection here is not strong.

Wenge Man

 

[mtngun]

Thanks for the pics.

Love that coffee colored sawdust ! ! !

When you have time, tell us what you have learned, what works well, what doesn't.

 

[TheKid]

cool pix! can't wait to see more! would love also to hear how you made this all happen.

 

[mikeb1079]

cooooool thread!

this is one of the more interesting threads on the milling forum. hey wenge, not trying to get into your personal business, but how the heck do you get this opportunity? sounds awesome, btw. thanks for those pics, and keep em comin. also, care to elaborate on intended uses for the wood?
cheers
mb

 

[akennyd]

Cooool thread, I've never seen pics of a live ebony tree before. I had no idea the outer wood was light colored!!!

Thanks for the pics and as the others have said, please send more!

Kenny
John 3:16

 

[rusty shackel]

exc. pictures , man that was a blast . those rubber boots must have been hot everybody else had sandles or no shoes on .

rusty

 

[Wenge Man]

this is one of the more interesting threads on the milling forum. hey wenge, not trying to get into your personal business, but how the heck do you get this opportunity? sounds awesome, btw. thanks for those pics, and keep em comin. also, care to elaborate on intended uses for the wood?
cheers
mb

My family is spread through western and central/eastern Africa. Most elder members are farmers and politicians. This is how I come to have the opportunity to legally harvest ebony in a quantity not to exceed 250 cubic meters per year.

My small brother, my cousin, and myself are looking for partners in USA to start a small business for furniture and lumber. We want to market lumber to small companies (mom n pop shop), woodworkers, and interior designers. One main focus is the promise to deliver under-market price points. A big thing for us is to give more people opportunity to buy/use/work with, ebony without paying the extreme high price.

We obviously cant cut enough to offer the good price to the whole country but many persons I think will benefit from what we are doing. For this reason we do not plan to advertise.

We plan to take 20% of revenue to invest in planting ebony, wenge, Ngola, and bois rouge for future generations. I want to start trend to tradition of cutting AND PLANTING. Many woods are rare because one only cuts but one does not plant. We will cut and plant. This philosophy has drawn support from, and created good relations with, different rural/indigenous villages.

The main thing is to plant trees, offer excellent wood at the good price below market, and gain exposure for my countrymen who are wicked artisan and woodworkers.

My small brother Wenge Jr. is in USA now, we are waiting for him to send us some supplies before returning to work. He will be joining the site soon.

I will post more photo today.

Thanks for interest and enthusiasm. Makes me think I'm not crazy for trying this.

:greenchainsaw:



also-

Yes it was extremely hot, but much cooler at night. I whore boots, some requested rubber boots, others whore sandal and barefoot. Most of my crew come from villages who make living partly by catching alligators (tough bunch).

MTN GUN,

More to come...

 

[BobL]

The main thing is to plant trees, offer excellent wood at the good price below market, and gain exposure for my countrymen who are wicked artisan and woodworkers.

I agree, cut one and plant 5 and at least one of those 5 should make it into a tree.

How often are you sharpening?

 

[mikeb1079]

wow

awesome, awesome. been checking back to see when you'd be able to post some more photos/info. i'm just jealous of this whole experience. that's a rad photo of that little canoe in the rainforest.

The main thing is to plant trees, offer excellent wood at the good price below market, and gain exposure for my countrymen who are wicked artisan and woodworkers.

who could argue with such an excellent idea?!
good luck and keep those pics comin!

 

[ray benson]

Very interesting photos.

 

[Wenge Man]

Cutter Filing? Anchorseal and shrinkwrap?

Thank for all et positive feedback. Rains and camp floods have caused longer delays than we expected but we have successfully transported 13 cubic meters into two storage location to prepare for shipping. Applying anchorseal should be finished today, and we return to the forest to cut another 20 cubic meters.

This time we are going to square the boards, apply anchorseal, and wrap them in plastic. One importer from California said that this process will control surface and end checking. Has anyone heard of doing things this way?

On advice of a STIHL guy who has milled ebony with chainsaw we have been using 45 degree filing on the cutters. Cuts fast but a lot of skip patterns on the boards as a result.

I am wondering if I file them to 20 or 25 degrees will I get a better cut? Will this make the cutters dull faster?

Trying to post some pics but having difficulty with the connection….

Try again later tonight

 

[Can8ianTimber]

Very Cool, I love the picture, personally I don't think I would take as much of the sap wood off. You are bound to get into some of the heartwood. Althought it is probably a very small amount, you are working with ebony and sawdust is like gold.

Here is the only project I have ever done with ebony. I could not afford to do any more of it with ebony b/c it was so expensive. Woods are ebony, kingwood and maple burl.

One more pic