Chass, OldSaw, & RotarySound
Greetings CSM folks,
I too am new at chainsaw milling here in the pacific northwest and have been watching and reading on this forum. Thank you for all of the excellent information. I came across this Chainsaw Milling Manual the other day and thought it may be useful to beginners on the forum especially for the person that started this thread and like myself:
www.gardenorganic.org.uk/pdfs/international_programme/ChainsawMillingManual.pdf
I really thought it covered most everything about the subject. It's a big PDF file but I think it's worth the time in downloading it. It is very comprehensive and up to date with pictures. It also describes many of the current mills available today that are often mentioned often on this forum. It's a long document.
As for myself, I am starting out with a Logosol Timberjig, Stihl MS 660 and a 25" ES Bar and two loops of Oregon 27R ripping chain. I also have several Stihl 028 Woodboss saws that I can experiment with for smaller logs. My first project was a 24" Big Leaf Maple. Probably not the best log to start on but it worked out okay I think and ended up with some nice 1x6 boards and some slabs for a milling deck. My friend loaned me a Peavy that was modified with 5' pipe welded on to it. It came in handy for moving giant logs around or out of the way. I bought a 3' Timberjack that is usable as a peavy that I will be trying out after it arrives but still may want to invest in a large stout cant hook. Those things are spendy though. $100.00 just seems like too much $ for a tool like that. Oh well. Bye for now.
Thanks everyone for all of the great reading!
Thanks for the replies,
Chass I too would like to build some nice furniture for the house and could wait for it but I need some things built in the next month and at this point I may have to buy plained wood for a very high price and rough it up.
In earlier posts I said I had ideas on building things that would be more durable and attractive than what most retail outlets sell now and stuff that a middle aged person could buy and have a reasonable expectation it would still be around when they croaked. That definetly doesn't include makeing it with green wood that will warp crack and fall apart as it dried.
Right now I could use a 100 board feet of rough 1" or 1/2" oak, the pieces do not have to be long, 1 foot trimmed would do, and 1 foot wide would be great but some of it could be 4" to 6" wide. In other words I might be able to use someone elses scraps, depending on their scraps. The pieces would not have to have a precise thickness just pretty close.
I think it was you OldChain that said there was plenty around, you are probably right. Any ideas on how to locate it?
As far as my milling. Most of the trees I will have will be 18" or less, most much less. But since the widest wood I would need is 12" 12"'s long and I could use 2 6" pieces that would be no problem. Besides the 12" pieces I will need 6" & 4" wide pieces too, so almost all the cuts of the trees would probably all get used, the wide cuts in the middle for the 12" and toward the ends I would get my more narrow cuts.
Anyway point to last paragraph is that with the CS I have I think I will just stick to a beam maker, cheap, light, and would be fine for smaller diam. I could cross the timbers into short pieces for the shorter pieces of wood I need for my crafts. Maybe later I might get a larger CS and a small mill machine.
Any ideas about the place (described in a earlier post) I will be drying my wood in for furture use. Will it work, improvements I could make? How high could I stack the wood?Any ideas on how to find wood now from CS millers that is ready to use?
Where to post oh here to find people that may have some, or other places to post to find some? At this point I think I would rather buy it and get busy with my building the projects. I can see if the fire wood is dry enough later for the next round. I havent ordered my rip chain or the beam machine yet, but probably will do it today but won't get it for a week. So even if I get a moisture meter it I wouldn't know if I could use it and if I couldnt I would be getting short on time.
Does anyone know where to even start looking for wood? Any ideas on what would be a fair price?
I know I ask a lot of questions, but I really appreciate the help.
Bill, the pesky :newbie: :newbie: