chainsaw milling

[76gmc]

hello, iam new to this forum. looking for your 2 cents on all aspects of milling with a granberg mill. been using mine off and on for about two years. so far so good. but any and all advice would be welcome. i live in new england so tempatures here can vary greatly. some of my questions are about sharpening rip chain, hard,soft wood? green vs dry? frozen? which angles work better then others?  chain tension? carb settings  for the saw. bar oil, home brews for winter mixes. the list goes on! thank you in advance. oh yeah i almost forgot, metal detectors

[scouter Joe]

There is a book called Chainsaw Lumbermaking By Will Malloff . Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82-80556 . This book gets into all aspects of chainsaw lumbermaking from the saw , chain ,setting up , precision milling and specialty milling . It was my bible before I got a band saw mill . scouter Joe

[76gmc]

thanks and happey new year

[mad murdock]

Welcome 76gmc. I too have an Alaskan III, had it for about 5 yrs now. I find that if you lead the cut with the tip of the bar maybe a 30 deg angle to the log, the cut goes quite a bit quicker, the chips are bigger and less fine dust. I sharpen with a file. Fastest way for me to sharpen, and sharper chain too.

[76gmc]

thanks alot!

[fuzzybear]

If you use the search function you will come up with a ton of information on chain milling. There are alot of us here that have done it and are still doing it.
  Angles of your cutters is one topic open to a lot of debate. Some prefer 25 degree some prefer 0 degree. The one thing I will say on this is keep ALL your cutters the same length. If you want a smooth cut with less "chatter" They must be kept the same. A chain saw used like this is nothing more than an oversized skill saw. It just has a flexible blade rather than a solid blade.
  Bar oil is important. There must be LOTS. Again this is one subject that is open to a lot of debate. I myself use canola oil in temperatures above -5c. After that I use winter weight oil thinned slightly with diesel fuel. When you are milling there should be a slight spray coming of the end of the bar. If not, turn the oiler up as high as it can go, or add an external oiler at the tip of the bar.
  If you do not run enough oil the bar and chain will heat up to the point that the chain will stretch and the bar will wear out. As the cutters heat up the thinner cutting edge will loose it's temper and dull out faster.

Welcome 76gmc. I too have an Alaskan III, had it for about 5 yrs now. I find that if you lead the cut with the tip of the bar maybe a 30 deg angle to the log, the cut goes quite a bit quicker, the chips are bigger and less fine dust. I sharpen with a file. Fastest way for me to sharpen, and sharper chain too.

As mad murdock stated try starting and cutting at a slight angle. You should see LONG chips coming out. When you have these the saw is cutting at it's best.
Hope some of this helps. Again do a search and you will find TONS of info.
FB

[76gmc]

thanks.

[jwillett2009]

Welcome to the forum. I am also a Granberg mark III user. I have been learning alot since joining the forum a few months ago. A few things I will emphasize (and maybe repeat)... Good sharp chain, lots of chain lube are definitely a must. Do a search for Jaythecelts intro, he posted some pics of his frame that he's built. I've just finished a more rudimentary frame based on his postings and have cut the initial setup time down ALOT! No more nails, or leveling boards ect. I'll get you some pics first chance I get.

I've also found that choosing my logs the right size helps alot too. That may be a bit of a luxury but I cut my own logs on my woodlot so I can go after the ones I want. Ive found that the biggest logs aren't the most productive.... Middle sized logs up to say 12" diameter work best for me.

My major goals now are to become a better filer and to work on smoothing out the finish.

Good luck, have fun, be safe.

[losttheplot]

Use a "progressive" raker gauge, such as the Carlton file o plate or the little blue one that husky sell.
As your cutters get shorter you need to make the rakers progressively more aggressive.

Use a farm jack or such to raise the starting end higher than the finish end.
Rest the log on a couple of log rounds, with notches cut out of them, to get it to a comfortable height

If every thing is set up right you should not have to push hard.

If your making fine dust that blows in the wind your rakers are to high or your chain is dull.
You should produce a coarse saw dust.

[Brucer]

There is a book called Chainsaw Lumbermaking By Will Malloff ... It was my bible before I got a band saw mill.

Same here . Highly recommended.