Who Needs A Sawmill With Skills Like These....

[Freudianfloyd]

Ran across this video the other day and thought it was pretty cool. Specifically the first guy, as my wife is wanting me to make her a rough cut mantle, and I dont have a mill, I may have to give this method a try.

He makes it look so easy, and you've got to love his PPE.

 

[NCPT]

This guy does it without a mill and explains how he does it. He also has a great YouTube channel.

 

[Capitalist]

I was gonna link the second bideo I saw it the other day too.
I may try it some time on the right piece

 

[cuinrearview]

I think you've told me but I can't remember how far into Ohio you are. I have a 36" Granberg on the shelf you could borrow if you get ready. It could be set for a smaller bar and your 461 would probably be ok with some light milling.

 

[Remle]

I’ve thought for awhile now that chainsaw mills are terribly inefficient due to the way they make end cuts. End cuts just tend to be very slow and produce dust rather than chips, even with a good sharp chain. Ripping along the grain like they do in both these videos is obviously much quicker.

 

[Ax-man]

WOW, I am impressed and it looks so simple . I have tried freehand slab sawing in the past but never did I get results like these guys do.

 

[Freudianfloyd]

I think you've told me but I can't remember how far into Ohio you are. I have a 36" Granberg on the shelf you could borrow if you get ready. It could be set for a smaller bar and your 461 would probably be ok with some light milling.

I appreciate the offer and may take you up on it at some point. I'm about an hour east of Cincinnati on the Brown county Highland county line.

 

[Freudianfloyd]

I did attempt the technique in the first video with my 660 and it was easier but I'd say the wood I was cutting must be alot harder than the wood that guy was cutting. Either way it did the job, just not quite saw mill quality. I will clean it up some and the wife will be happy.

 

[kjalaska]

I am thinking these skills come from cutting and running those saws every day from an early age! Like the saying goes necessity is the mother of invention! They use what they have and get good at it.

 

[bayard]

what kind of wood is it?looks very soft.

 

[user 122190]

My neighbor friend cut this for me with his Husky 460. Just by eye, all cuts were damn near perfect. He cut 2 for me, one is the reloading bench I use often, the other I use nearly everyday for about everything else. Was cut from a red fir that was leaning towards another neighbors house. Guy even paid us $50 to drop it and remove it.

 

[Busmech]

Ran across this video the other day and thought it was pretty cool. Specifically the first guy, as my wife is wanting me to make her a rough cut mantle, and I dont have a mill, I may have to give this method a try.

He makes it look so easy, and you've got to love his PPE.

There are two guys running saws with left hand drive that look like stihls, what model might they be?

 

[motorhead99999]

There are two guys running saws with left hand drive that look like stihls, what model might they be?

Idk but I think they should invest in some shoes

 

[Woodslasher]

#1 is an 070/090, #2 is an 026, I think. Only one is "left hand drive", and it is in a mirrored video. Look at the bar lettering and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Freudianfloyd]

Here is the mantle I cut from a cherry log today. It's not fully dry but is pretty close. I hope it doesnt twist and crack too much but we have a party next week and wanted to put it in before then. It's not perfectly flat, but my wife loved it.

 

[Remle]

I played around with these techniques for an hour or so today, just cutting marginal logs that had been lying on the ground for too long. A couple of 12” alder logs about 5’ long and a bigger 8’ cedar log.

I was just experimenting with it and not trying to make anything worthwhile, but the cuts actually turned out surprisingly good. Not as nice as with a mill, but much closer than you would expect.

I found the best guide to be a straight piece of lumber and the best technique was to make the cut right alongside it. If you use the rear handle to do almost all the guide work left to right and let gravity keep the cut vertical, it really does do an excellent job of making parallel and vertical cuts.

What I kept screwing up was that as I drew the saw through the cut over and over again inevitably I would wander just a little bit left to right and that would cause ripples in the cut. Also, the deeper you make the cut the harder it is to sight along the bar and keep it perfectly lined up. I was using a 28” bar for it today. I’ll try a longer bar when I get the chance.

 

[user 122190]

I played around with these techniques for an hour or so today, just cutting marginal logs that had been lying on the ground for too long. A couple of 12” alder logs about 5’ long and a bigger 8’ cedar log.

I was just experimenting with it and not trying to make anything worthwhile, but the cuts actually turned out surprisingly good. Not as nice as with a mill, but much closer than you would expect.

I found the best guide to be a straight piece of lumber and the best technique was to make the cut right alongside it. If you use the rear handle to do almost all the guide work left to right and let gravity keep the cut vertical, it really does do an excellent job of making parallel and vertical cuts.

What I kept screwing up was that as I drew the saw through the cut over and over again inevitably I would wander just a little bit left to right and that would cause ripples in the cut. Also, the deeper you make the cut the harder it is to sight along the bar and keep it perfectly lined up. I was using a 28” bar for it today. I’ll try a longer bar when I get the chance.

I looked into the guides, that look quite simple. In actuality are fairly complex to get set up. Better to take a free hand stab at it, and if it don't quite meet your expectations, it is firewood. Try it again on the next piece, and maybe it will turn out better.

 

[user 122190]

Here is the mantle I cut from a cherry log today. It's not fully dry but is pretty close. I hope it doesnt twist and crack too much but we have a party next week and wanted to put it in before then. It's not perfectly flat, but my wife loved it.
View attachment 776937

Looks straight enough to me. I bet it won't twist or crack. I cleaned up the tops of my planks (planed and sanded), applied a coat of polyurethane on the top, and the underside bled sap for a year or so, and now 5 years later it is still perfect on the side that matters.

 

[Remle]

I looked into the guides, that look quite simple. In actuality are fairly complex to get set up. Better to take a free hand stab at it, and if it don't quite meet your expectations, it is firewood. Try it again on the next piece, and maybe it will turn out better.

When I was referring to a guide, what I actually meant was simply an old piece of 2x6 that I nailed to the log as a reference so that my cut would be straight. I found the best method seemed to be to run the chain right up alongside it. After making a shallow groove the length of the log I then removed the 2x6 and followed the groove I had just cut as my guide. The Russian guy in the second video used string for his reference, but I found that a string was harder to see when the chips were flying and it also tended to move around a bit.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Ran across this video the other day and thought it was pretty cool. Specifically the first guy, as my wife is wanting me to make her a rough cut mantle, and I dont have a mill, I may have to give this method a try.

He makes it look so easy, and you've got to love his PPE.

That’s fooken awesome!