Brmorgan
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I ran out of 8X8 timbers for the retaining wall I'm working on, so I hauled the milling gear out to a big log that's been down out back for four or five years. It's over half a mile from the house by trail, but isn't nearly that far as the crow flies. First I had to cut to length, so I decided to give the ported 371XP a rip in some decent wood for once:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-JgXVgBwY
Some folks might recognize that log from some other videos of mine. I decided to quit wasting it just cutting biscuits and mill something from it, since it was already starting to rot in from the sapwood fairly significantly.
I don't need any more long pieces for the retaining wall, so I decided to try to just use one of the 8' pieces of 2X4 aluminum tube and the vertical mill to do the initial cuts, rather than the Alaskan. I didn't feel like packing my long guide board all that way into the bush since the trail is rather narrow and twisting. In this photo, the 066 is on the vertical mill, but it only has the 24" bar on it and that just wasn't long enough, so I had to switch to the 395XP & 30" before making the cut.
Here's the first log after making the initial side cut, rolling the log 90° and taking off the squaring cut also with the vertical mill, and taking a 6" thick cant off of one side with the Alaskan. Next I took an 8" cant out of the center and a 4" cant off the bottom. For these wide cuts, I used the 084 with the 33" .404 setup on a 7-pin rim. It was hauling some pretty big chips and cut quite nicely, but was really not getting nearly enough oil. This is the bar that I originally used on the 090, and I never even thought to look to make sure the oiler holes in the bar lined up on the 084, so maybe that's it. I did have to take a couple drivers out of the chain to get it to tighten up on the 084. I hope something isn't buggered, because it seemed to be oiling the 25" 3/8 setup just fine a couple weeks ago, and I made sure it was cranked to the max for this longer bar and was even pumping on the aux. plunger a few times. It doesn't seem to have hardly any resistance to it though like I'm used to with the 2101XP and 090; is that normal?
On to log two:
This one was a tad bit longer than my guide piece, and not wanting to buck it down to put the support blocks on the end, I just notched a couple spots out to sit the blocks in. Most of that outer wood is punky and just going to junk slabs anyway, so nothing went to waste because of it. The bar on that 395 is actually a 30" .050 small Stihl mount that I'm using an adapter with, just so I can run low-pro chain on the 395. I salvaged it from the scrapyard; it had a couple fairly decent bends that I had to straighten out the old-fashioned way with a hammer and anvil (or in my case, piece of railroad track). I tried flipping it over and standing on it to bend it against the curve to straighten it, but that didn't seem to do very much and was hard to control. Not sure if hammering bars is recommended, but I got the bar straight to within less than 1/32" over its length, which I didn't think was too bad. I also tapped the rails with the flat side of the hammer to close them up a bit back to .050 since it was a tad bit sloppy. Also not sure if that's a good way to do it, but it got the job done.
Unfortunately, this log was stuck right in place due to a big spike branch jammed straight down into the ground. Since I couldn't roll it, and not having a guide suitable for using with the Alaskan, I kinda had to improvise. In reality, I've always wanted to try doing this anyway, since if it works well, I could block up logs into larger cants and timbers a LOT faster using the mini-mill jig and a smaller, more lightweight guide like this, and carry around quite a bit less gear to boot. I'm pleased to report that it worked quite well, and with some refining and maybe a rebuild of the mill jig, will probably become my preferred method of taking big logs apart. It was admittedly a bit more difficult to push down the log all from one side on such a wide cut, especially since this was right on the ground and I ended up on my knees a bit (sorry Bob, beggars can't be choosers!)
I got a four, six, and eight-inch cant out of each log, with some decent slabs for firewood. I also blocked up the shorter 5-6' leftover log freehand with the 084. Holy smokes, does that .404 ripping chain make some noodles in a hurry! But it shakes you to pieces doing it; that chain is not smooth at all when the nose is buried. I might try to get another short length out of the butt piece, but I'm not sure if I can -it's about 10' long but is quite rotten at the bottom (which is why it's on the ground). I took a couple rounds off the far end, and it's no good there, but I'll keep cutting back and see how it turns out. I got the four pieces in the foreground hauled home tonight before it got dark; they all fit on that little log trailer just great, and my quad took the load really well even down the fairly significant hill I have to navigate on the way home.
This is probably the largest log I've tackled so far at about 28" dia. (inside the bark) at the small end. I did a Spruce last year that was pretty close, but much softer wood and not nearly as much work on the saws. It took me about 3 hours from when I started brushing out around that log to make some room to work until I hauled the milling gear home to bring the log trailer back. Not super quick considering I still have to slab those cants down at the house, but I did some new things today, so I'm OK with that.
Also, I haven't had time to be around here a whole lot the last few days, so there are a ton of things that I haven't had a chance to comment on, but I have been keeping an eye on what's been going on here and there is a lot of good stuff right now; Dan's barn project comes to mind right away. Keep showing them pics, guys!
EDIT: I just pulled up Google Earth, and that log is 0.45 miles from my backyard as the crow flies, so it would be at least 3/4 mile by trail, if not close to 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-JgXVgBwY
Some folks might recognize that log from some other videos of mine. I decided to quit wasting it just cutting biscuits and mill something from it, since it was already starting to rot in from the sapwood fairly significantly.
I don't need any more long pieces for the retaining wall, so I decided to try to just use one of the 8' pieces of 2X4 aluminum tube and the vertical mill to do the initial cuts, rather than the Alaskan. I didn't feel like packing my long guide board all that way into the bush since the trail is rather narrow and twisting. In this photo, the 066 is on the vertical mill, but it only has the 24" bar on it and that just wasn't long enough, so I had to switch to the 395XP & 30" before making the cut.
Here's the first log after making the initial side cut, rolling the log 90° and taking off the squaring cut also with the vertical mill, and taking a 6" thick cant off of one side with the Alaskan. Next I took an 8" cant out of the center and a 4" cant off the bottom. For these wide cuts, I used the 084 with the 33" .404 setup on a 7-pin rim. It was hauling some pretty big chips and cut quite nicely, but was really not getting nearly enough oil. This is the bar that I originally used on the 090, and I never even thought to look to make sure the oiler holes in the bar lined up on the 084, so maybe that's it. I did have to take a couple drivers out of the chain to get it to tighten up on the 084. I hope something isn't buggered, because it seemed to be oiling the 25" 3/8 setup just fine a couple weeks ago, and I made sure it was cranked to the max for this longer bar and was even pumping on the aux. plunger a few times. It doesn't seem to have hardly any resistance to it though like I'm used to with the 2101XP and 090; is that normal?
On to log two:
This one was a tad bit longer than my guide piece, and not wanting to buck it down to put the support blocks on the end, I just notched a couple spots out to sit the blocks in. Most of that outer wood is punky and just going to junk slabs anyway, so nothing went to waste because of it. The bar on that 395 is actually a 30" .050 small Stihl mount that I'm using an adapter with, just so I can run low-pro chain on the 395. I salvaged it from the scrapyard; it had a couple fairly decent bends that I had to straighten out the old-fashioned way with a hammer and anvil (or in my case, piece of railroad track). I tried flipping it over and standing on it to bend it against the curve to straighten it, but that didn't seem to do very much and was hard to control. Not sure if hammering bars is recommended, but I got the bar straight to within less than 1/32" over its length, which I didn't think was too bad. I also tapped the rails with the flat side of the hammer to close them up a bit back to .050 since it was a tad bit sloppy. Also not sure if that's a good way to do it, but it got the job done.
Unfortunately, this log was stuck right in place due to a big spike branch jammed straight down into the ground. Since I couldn't roll it, and not having a guide suitable for using with the Alaskan, I kinda had to improvise. In reality, I've always wanted to try doing this anyway, since if it works well, I could block up logs into larger cants and timbers a LOT faster using the mini-mill jig and a smaller, more lightweight guide like this, and carry around quite a bit less gear to boot. I'm pleased to report that it worked quite well, and with some refining and maybe a rebuild of the mill jig, will probably become my preferred method of taking big logs apart. It was admittedly a bit more difficult to push down the log all from one side on such a wide cut, especially since this was right on the ground and I ended up on my knees a bit (sorry Bob, beggars can't be choosers!)
I got a four, six, and eight-inch cant out of each log, with some decent slabs for firewood. I also blocked up the shorter 5-6' leftover log freehand with the 084. Holy smokes, does that .404 ripping chain make some noodles in a hurry! But it shakes you to pieces doing it; that chain is not smooth at all when the nose is buried. I might try to get another short length out of the butt piece, but I'm not sure if I can -it's about 10' long but is quite rotten at the bottom (which is why it's on the ground). I took a couple rounds off the far end, and it's no good there, but I'll keep cutting back and see how it turns out. I got the four pieces in the foreground hauled home tonight before it got dark; they all fit on that little log trailer just great, and my quad took the load really well even down the fairly significant hill I have to navigate on the way home.
This is probably the largest log I've tackled so far at about 28" dia. (inside the bark) at the small end. I did a Spruce last year that was pretty close, but much softer wood and not nearly as much work on the saws. It took me about 3 hours from when I started brushing out around that log to make some room to work until I hauled the milling gear home to bring the log trailer back. Not super quick considering I still have to slab those cants down at the house, but I did some new things today, so I'm OK with that.
Also, I haven't had time to be around here a whole lot the last few days, so there are a ton of things that I haven't had a chance to comment on, but I have been keeping an eye on what's been going on here and there is a lot of good stuff right now; Dan's barn project comes to mind right away. Keep showing them pics, guys!
EDIT: I just pulled up Google Earth, and that log is 0.45 miles from my backyard as the crow flies, so it would be at least 3/4 mile by trail, if not close to 1.
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) but it all looks good brad.
