Milling with an MS250

[Cedar Eater]

I'm building a farm wagon out of hardwood (black oak) cut from my property and it isn't a big enough job to justify getting a local bandsaw miller, so I decided to try milling it myself. I only have an MS 250 and only had a 16" bar for it, but I bought an 18" bar and chain. I needed two 8 X 12 X 22' beams and a number of other 2X boards, so I felled an 18" dbh tree (with the 16" bar) that had a hard curve up at the 13' level and was straight for 25' above that. This gave me a large buttlog for making the 2X boards. After a little practice with freehand milling, I started on the big log.





I was able to get a 12 X 12 cant from it with the 16" bar, but I didn't feel good about trying to mill that down freehand, so I whipped up a homemade chainsaw mill from some bed frame angle iron and some 2X4s. For that, I needed the 18" bar and I filed the chain to 10 degrees.



The first board had a lot of wane and was thinner at the nose end of the bar, so I added another flat washer to adjust before tackling the second. I'm pretty happy with how that one turned out.



It takes almost an hour to make each pass, so I ordered a ripping chain to see how much of an improvement I get.



The End.

[cbla]

nice work

[thecfarm]

You got the job done.

[John Mc]

Looks like nice work. Your freehand results are impressive - a lot better than what I can do freehand.

All a ripping chain is is a regular chain filed at 10˚.  I don't think it's any faster (in fact it may be slower). What the ripping chain gets you is a somewhat smoother finish. I've only used one once, and that was years ago, so what I'm repeating here is just what I've read here on the FF. Others with more experience have have better info.

[Cedar Eater]

Looks like nice work. Your freehand results are impressive - a lot better than what I can do freehand.

All a ripping chain is is a regular chain filed at 10˚.  I don't think it's any faster (in fact it may be slower). What the ripping chain gets you is a somewhat smoother finish. I've only used one once, and that was years ago, so what I'm repeating here is just what I've read here on the FF. Others with more experience have have better info.

Thanks. For the freehand cuts, I used guide strings and a forward scribing technique with high rpms about a 1/4" from the string to make a straight line about 1/2 of the bar nose in depth and then cut mostly backward along that line with some forward plunges to angle the nose in when needed. It takes some practice and you end up with a wide kerf and a rougher cut, but it goes faster than milling.

The Granberg ripping chain is a little more complex, but I received it and used it today and it does a very much cleaner cut than just angling the top plates at 10˚. It's made from semi-chisel and has two opposing scoring cutters angled at 20˚ followed by two opposing clearing cutters angled at 0˚ for .325 chain. It did actually cut slower and the air filter plugged much quicker. I made two 11' cuts and they are very smooth, but I will be very glad when I make the final cut of 2X12 oak and then take the mill down to 8 inches or so for the popple deck boards. I'm thinking about rigging the saw with a picco drive sprocket and bar and a Granberg ripping chain for those. For the 12" cuts, I had to go slower than 2" per minute and refill the gas tank twice per cut.

[mad murdock]

Milling will go better using a smaller saw if you use low profile "picco" chain. Stihl ripping chain 63PMX. It is a tad expensive vs regular chain, but it will speed up your process. The other thing that will help you is getting a larger saw. 50 cc is feeble at best for milling. I am amazed st your results though, for what you had, you done real good. At least 70cc is a minimum for much less painful chainsaw milling. Look in your area for a used saw any brand. Just look for 70cc plus.

[Cedar Eater]

Milling will go better using a smaller saw if you use low profile "picco" chain. Stihl ripping chain 63PMX. It is a tad expensive vs regular chain, but it will speed up your process. The other thing that will help you is getting a larger saw. 50 cc is feeble at best for milling. I am amazed st your results though, for what you had, you done real good. At least 70cc is a minimum for much less painful chainsaw milling. Look in your area for a used saw any brand. Just look for 70cc plus.

Thanks. I'm getting up there in years and have some joint pain, so I'm sticking with smaller saws. I have an old Stihl 031 AV with low hours on it that I might turn into a milling machine, but it needs a carb overhaul and I don't see myself doing much milling wider than 8". I know that with a bigger saw I can save myself the trouble of making square cants, but I do cut the slabs up for firewood.