Saw milling frozen wood

[t_andersen]

I am going to mill a few oak logs over Christmas with a Stihl 064 and an Alaskan. I have read that it's difficult to saw frozen wood, yet fellers do it all of the time. Can someone maybe teach us at which temperature wood freezes, how to tell whether a log is frozen, and what damage the chain will suffer?

Thanks guys and regards from Sweden
Tom

 

[TimberPig]

It is the moisture in the wood that freezes. Since it is not pure water, there is some freezing point depression from pure water, but it is close enough to say that if the temperature is less than 0 degrees Celsius, you are likely going to be dealing with frozen wood. So long as the chain is warmed up, and is filed appropriately (shallower angles for greater stay sharp ability), you shouldn't have any real problems with damaging chains.