Update on new to site & want to mill

[Trigger-Time]

I have not bought a mill yet. But I did buy a brand spanking NEW
STILH MS 460 MAGUM today. This is the biggest saw I have ever
put to wood. HOLY COW it will cut compared to my 036, it is smoother
in my hands, and easier on my hand & arm to start with the decompression
valve. I bought it with the 25 inch replaceable tip bar. My wife and I have
160 acres about 110 acres open and the rest in woods. When we bought
the farm I worked at a Tool & Die and Special Machine shop. Had to work
lots of over time and did not have time to cut firewood. I now work for DOD
as a Small Arms Inspector/Repairman. So no more overtime and with the price
of propane (OR EVEY THING ELSE) we are going to have an outside wood
furnace put in. I had to give $760.00 for the saw. Would like to know how
much they are selling for other places. Ok I need to get back to breaking
in the saw I thought I would put about ten tanks through it before try
to mill with it. One or two more things. The instruction manual says nothing
about breaking in the saw that I could find. For you experienced guys, is there any break in tips that you can give me? I know not to run it full throttle under no load but does it hurt to run it full throttle under load? And is there a non magnum 460?
I will probably post most of this under the chainsaw section.

Guys I apologize for my grammar. I’m pretty strong @ mechanical stuff and math.
And if it wasn’t for spell check I would not even try to post anything.

Thanks, Gary

 

[dustytools]

Hi Gary, I too asked this question about breaking in a new saw a couple of days ago. I was told to run 5 to 10 tanks through it with light cutting before sticking it on the mill. Also to run the mix at 40:1 instead of 50:1. What type of mill are you leaning towards when you do decide to buy one? Good luck.

 

[Trigger-Time]

dustytools, I'm thinking about a 30in. ALASKAN MKIII CHAIN SAW MILL.
But I'M also kicking the idea around of building one.

Thanks,Gary

 

[CaseyForrest]

Trigger, and you too Dusty!!!

No need to use it lightly while bucking firewood. Use it as you normally would.

The reason most of us say dont throw it right in the mill is because in a milling scenario, the saw is running full throttle for almost a full tank of fuel.

It wont hurt the saw to run full throttle in the cut. Hold it wide open, and control you engine speed by the amount of down pressure you put on the saw.

 

[dustytools]

Trigger, Ive heard so many people here say this and Ive come to agree, If you do decide to go with the alaskan get the 36 inch. I bought the 30 inch which is hopefully all ill ever need but for so little in the price difference youll always have the option to expand your widths a little if you ever have to. As far as building a mill similar to the alaskan I wouldnt think that it would be too difficult. I think that uni-strut, bolts and some u-clamps combined would make a nice little mill. Good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

 

[woodshop]

It wont hurt the saw to run full throttle in the cut. Hold it wide open, and control you engine speed by the amount of down pressure you put on the saw.

I agree with casey. I hope I didn't give the impression that you need to baby that saw to break it in. You don't and shouldn't. Run it as you would any saw, WOT (wide open throttle) but keeping a load on it as usual. I would even say you CAN mill with it if you are doing what I consider "light duty" milling, like slicing up a 10" pine log. With my 395, I can run down an 8ft pine log that is only 10 inches wide faster (read less time WOT under load) than I can buck say a 36inch oak log.

 

[woodshop]

Trigger, Ive heard so many people here say this and Ive come to agree, If you do decide to go with the alaskan get the 36 inch.

Oh yeah... don't even think of getting less than a 36 inch, as there will come a time down the road for SURE when you will wish you had spent the extra few bucks and had that capacity. Remember, you lose a few inches mounting the saw to the csm. I can only mill up to a 32 inch wide piece with my 36 inch csm and 36 inch bar. If you buy a 30 inch, you will be limited to 25" wide log. If you include a crotch piece, or irregular shaped log, 25 inches will limit what you can do. But then, who am I to tell you how to spend your money

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If you include a crotch piece, or irregular shaped log, 25 inches will limit what you can do.

So be sure to have an adz or small chainsaw to trim parts down. I was glad with my first log, yesterday, that i was only 10 ft from my tool truck.

 

[woodshop]

So be sure to have an adz or small chainsaw to trim parts down. I was glad with my first log, yesterday, that i was only 10 ft from my tool truck.

yup, the cold hard truth about milling becomes evident REAL quick... if your saw can only cut 25 inchs, and the log or part sticking out makes it 25 1/4, that quarter inch might as well be a foot, the saw AIN'T movin till you fix it.

 

[oldsaw]

Oh yeah... don't even think of getting less than a 36 inch, as there will come a time down the road for SURE when you will wish you had spent the extra few bucks and had that capacity. Remember, you lose a few inches mounting the saw to the csm. I can only mill up to a 32 inch wide piece with my 36 inch csm and 36 inch bar. If you buy a 30 inch, you will be limited to 25" wide log. If you include a crotch piece, or irregular shaped log, 25 inches will limit what you can do. But then, who am I to tell you how to spend your money

Thank you brother woodshop, I've been preaching the 36" sermon for a few years now, nice to see someone is either listening or helping my cause.

Mark

BTW, I showed Chopwood some 10/4 x 36" x 96" walnut "boards" I cut for a friend of mine while he was over on Saturday. He was impressed. Can't do that with a 25" mill.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Ok 36 inch mill it will be.

Now what chain or brand?

My bar is 25 in. do I need the oiler kit?
The bar takes a 24in chain 84 links I do'nt under stand that.

Price wise it looks like Bailey's is best.

I have a Eastern red cedar log that wants to be milled.
It's 22 in. dia. on the big end 12 feet long and 18 in. at the small end.
This log is limb free. The tree had to come down and did'nt know what
to do with so it's been laying on the ground for about 7 years.
Cut the ends off tonight and it is good and solid.
I'm going to do some smaller logs first to get some experience at milling.

Thank you, Gary

 

[CaseyForrest]

There are allot of happy useres of the ripping chain Baileys sells. Pricewise, it cant be beat. I have several loops of it as well.

I use a 28" in my mill, and dont have the Aux oiler. But adding one can never be a negative.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

There are allot of happy useres of the ripping chain Baileys sells. Pricewise, it cant be beat. I have several loops of it as well.

I use a 28" in my mill, and dont have the Aux oiler. But adding one can never be a negative.

Ditto 2x

Bailey's had the best deal on ripping chain (Oregon) I've found.

If your saw's oiler is wide open and working properly, you should be fine with out an auxiliary oiler for bars up to 36". I'll even use my 44" occasionally without aux. oil for light cutting in softwood. If there is a chance it will get too hot, I'll use the oiler.

 

[woodshop]

Ditto 2x

Bailey's had the best deal on ripping chain (Oregon) I've found.

If your saw's oiler is wide open and working properly, you should be fine with out an auxiliary oiler for bars up to 36". I'll even use my 44" occasionally without aux. oil for light cutting in softwood. If there is a chance it will get too hot, I'll use the oiler.

As long as I turn my oiler up to max on my 396XP, I have never had lubrication problems on my 36" even when milling 32" max width it can mill. I only use sticky Stihl bar oil though, a little pricey, but it has never failed me. I often wonder if I use some of the cheaper thinner after-market bar oils I see at Walmart and such, if I would still have no lube problems milling. Don't want to possibly get the bar and chain really hot finding out!

btw aggie, I thought Bailey's ripping chain (which is all I use now) was not Oregon, but Carlton A1 chain... just like their Woodsman Pro brand. I just
looked, there is an A1 stamped on every drive link. I just bought a 100ft loop of that stuff, which brings my cost per 36" loop (119 links) down to less than $19

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

As long as I turn my oiler up to max on my 396XP, I have never had lubrication problems on my 36" even when milling 32" max width it can mill. I only use sticky Stihl bar oil though, a little pricey, but it has never failed me. I often wonder if I use some of the cheaper thinner after-market bar oils I see at Walmart and such, if I would still have no lube problems milling. Don't want to possibly get the bar and chain really hot finding out!

btw aggie, I thought Bailey's ripping chain (which is all I use now) was not Oregon, but Carlton A1 chain... just like their Woodsman Pro brand. I just
looked, there is an A1 stamped on every drive link. I just bought a 100ft loop of that stuff, which brings my cost per 36" loop (119 links) down to less than $19

Woops, your're right.:bang: I got it confused with the chisel chain I bought from them. What would I do with out ya'll keeping me straight.

 

[woodshop]

Woops, your're right.:bang: I got it confused with the chisel chain I bought from them. What would I do with out ya'll keeping me straight.

...hey we ALL keep EACH OTHER strait... if you're like me you got 12 things going on at once, each wanting a space in the Gray matter for details, facts and figures. So how are we mere mortals supposed to keep all those facts strait without confusing stuff????????? Ain't possible, which is why we have AS when it comes to saws and milling.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Thanks guys, As soon as a guy pays me the money he owes
me I will order the mill and chain. The new saw took almost all of
my toy money.

Thanks again, Gary

 

[Trigger-Time]

I ordered the 36" mill ,2 loops of chain and 2 pre-made chokers
today from Bailey's. Also bought a new Stilh MS 200 T last Friday
So it won't be long now.

Gary

 

[woodshop]

Got a digital camera tigger-time? If so take some pics of your setup, and let us see 'em.

 

[Trigger-Time]

I took the day of work Thursday to look for some saw goodies.
went to a farm store, I just bought a stihl 16" es bar for $42 at
a Stihl dealer, The farm store price for a 20" ES was $36, $6 cheaper
than the 16" so I thought that was a good deal. then I seen they
had a 36" ES bar for $62. I new I would want a longer bar than my 25" bar
some day. Took the 2 bars to check out,the woman said these are on sale.
The 20" was $28.87 and the 36" $43.37 W/tax the total for the
2 bars was $72.86. There was no really good reason to tell this
I just thought it was a very good deal.

Next stop, A small engine repair shop and picked up a used 066.
Got home and on the porch was the mill and other things I had ordered
from Baileys Cleaned the 066 up last night, today installed new
clutch springs, beaning, rim sprocket and the left front rubber mount,
also took out the H&L limiter stops, to set the fuel richer for milling.
Took the old saw out and cross cut some oak to make sure every
thing was OK, it seemed fine.

Mounted the mill and went to the Eastern red-cedar (Juniperus virginiana),
patch, and played.

The Eastern redcedar has a lot of sap, dose this cause
any special problems?

I don't have a tach yet, I set the saw on the rich side, this
Eastern red-cedar is soft wood, as the log got smaller I would
let up on the throttle a little bit, dose this hurt the saw if
its not pulling it down?

The older 066's with out the limiter stops, what is the starting
point for the H&L screws?

Woodshop yes I (WE) have a digital camera, but my wife has it with
her some where in CA. she will be back on Friday

Thanks, Gary