Stihl 056 AV super any good for use with an Alkaskan Sawmill?

[BobL]

agreed, isnt it easier to push with bodyweight than pull?

That's right - I'm not pulling or pushing, I just lean on the saw.

 

[BobL]

Does anyone set the alsakan samills so they take an angled cut through the trunks?

This is easy in principle - just use a longer bar. There are positives and negatives. This has been discussed several times on this forum such as here.

Basically when the blade is angled significantly the cutters make more of a shaving than a chip, this is easier on the cutter and saw, but the length of the cut gets longer so there is no overall advantage.

If the angle is 90º ie cut completely parallel to the log then it can make noodles but you will be limited to the length of the bar a 8ft length log - there are not many saws around that will pull an 8 ft bar not to mention physically handling a mill with an 8 ft bar!

So theres a bark edge all the way around?
What do they use to guide the saw if they do as the "ladder guide" part would have to have "Rungs" missing.
Or cut into the outside of a bend in the tree which would give the same effect?
If so is there any pics showing how they do it?

I have done this on a 1ft long log using my baby-milling-rig (see sig for link to that mill) which can hold a small log in any orientation while it is being cut. I also did it once using the BIL mill (with 42" bar) I put the 3 ft long log on the ground, placed two saw horses either side of and parallel to the log and used 2, 4 x 2" sitting on top of the saw horses as milling rails. It was a PITA getting the mill onto the rails but once I had done that it worked OK - lotsa noodles. Unfortunately the day I did this I did not have a camera with me. It did not cut as fast as I hoped it would, noodle clearance is an issue and I was not using skip chain. The other thing is holding such a short log in place while it is being cut is also not that easy, especially when cutting the lower half of the log. If I did this on a regular basis I would make a dedicated clamping device. I might do this again some time just so you can see all the noodles!

 

[demographic]

This is easy in principle - just use a longer bar. There are positives and negatives. This has been discussed several times on this forum such as here.

Basically when the blade is angled significantly the cutters make more of a shaving than a chip, this is easier on the cutter and saw, but the length of the cut gets longer so there is no overall advantage.

If the angle is 90º ie cut completely parallel to the log then it can make noodles but you will be limited to the length of the bar a 8ft length log - there are not many saws around that will pull an 8 ft bar not to mention physically handling a mill with an 8 ft bar!

I don't think I explained that properly, I was meaning to cut through the log to give a bark edge all the was around, like the bit you answered below.
The section I was thinking about getting would be an elipse of wood, sutable for the back of a bench or something like it.
I understand that it will lose quite a bit of usable timber but if you get the wood for free it might be something nice to do.

I have done this on a 1ft long log using my baby-milling-rig (see sig for link to that mill) which can hold a small log in any orientation while it is being cut. I also did it once using the BIL mill (with 42" bar) I put the 3 ft long log on the ground, placed two saw horses either side of and parallel to the log and used 2, 4 x 2" sitting on top of the saw horses as milling rails. It was a PITA getting the mill onto the rails but once I had done that it worked OK - lotsa noodles. Unfortunately the day I did this I did not have a camera with me. It did not cut as fast as I hoped it would, noodle clearance is an issue and I was not using skip chain. The other thing is holding such a short log in place while it is being cut is also not that easy, especially when cutting the lower half of the log. If I did this on a regular basis I would make a dedicated clamping device. I might do this again some time just so you can see all the noodles!

It would be nice to see how that goes, thanks for taking the time to reply to my daft questions.

Scott.

 

[BobL]

I don't think I explained that properly, I was meaning to cut through the log to give a bark edge all the was around, like the bit you answered below.
The section I was thinking about getting would be an elipse of wood, sutable for the back of a bench or something like it.
I understand that it will lose quite a bit of usable timber but if you get the wood for free it might be something nice to do.

It would be nice to see how that goes, thanks for taking the time to reply to my daft questions.

No worries about the questions. Yep I understand what you mean now. The cut down the log is not parallel to the grain but at an angle so you end up with an ellipse. This has been before but I do not recall a post about it before on this forum although I have only been a member since 2007. In Australia we call these cuts - surfboards. The way to do this is with a vertical rail mill so the log is placed at angle relative to the milling rail

There are many reasons why this is not common. One is it renders the rest of the log more or less useless for anything else. These cuts are also prone to cracking in the same way that rounds or cookies crack. Long wide pieces cut in this way need special handling and need to be carried in a much more supported manner otherwise they just snap like carrots. Smaller pieces are usually OK. The amount of cracking is less the longer and narrower the slab is but once they start cracking they often cannot be stopped and may continue to crack even after the piece is dry and has been made into furniture.

I have seen a 4ft wide table top made like this from River red gum and it was stunning. Another piece of furniture I saw made in this way was a drinks bar with the top and sides made from surfboards of Aussie Blackwood - that too was amazing

Once I have built up a big enough stash of regular lumber I will probably have a go at something like this

 

[Brmorgan]

There IS a way of cutting diagonal sections from a log with an Alaskan, but it's a bit of a chore to set up (especially with bigger logs) and it's hard to get the log stable:

This is basically the way that Will Malloff does it in the book. It helps to freehand-cut a flat spot on the top point of the log where the guide board will contact, so there's a flat area to nail/screw the board down to keep everything square. Same goes for the base of the end support board at the bottom edge of the log. I've only done this a couple times and it's finicky. One thing that can help is to find an old tree stump that you can cut up to lean the log against. Sometimes this can also be used for extra support for the guide board, in which case you would just cut the top off the stump along with the first cut of the log.

 

[BobL]

There IS a way of cutting diagonal sections from a log with an Alaskan, but it's a bit of a chore to set up (especially with bigger logs) and it's hard to get the log stable:

Yep - this is a neat method. It is limited to short lengths or narrow logs for most alaskans because they don't have the cutting depth that a rail mill has. For an alaskan to cut a surfboard from the full length of a log requires a cutting depth about equivalent to the diameter of the log. For example if you want full length surfboard from a 2ft wide board the mill has to be able to cut 24" deep. BIL mill could do it - just!

BTW I use the same method to get a start on awkwardly shaped logs like this.

 

[demographic]

Those two ^ examples are what I was meaning, unfortunately I'm not quite as good at producing handy pictures that would have shown what I meant so thanks folks for working out what I was on about.

I understand that it renders most of the rest of the wood pretty useless but thought that on the very odd occasion with the right bit of wood it might produce something very nice to look at.

I like the term "Surfboard" for it, very descriptive.

 

[BobL]

I understand that it renders most of the rest of the wood pretty useless but thought that on the4 vert odd occasion with the right bit of wood it might produce something very nice to look at.

Yep - done right it looks just awesome, IMHO much better than those 4" thick glossy burl tables.