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Double cutting w standard 8" Lucas

Started by chainsaw_louie, September 17, 2012, 11:08:04 PM

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chainsaw_louie

I know , I know , I should get a bandmill or a Peterson but I had to give it a try and see for myself.
I got some nice  big cherry logs that I want to cut larger than the 8.5" max cut of the standard Lucas without spinning the carriage or removing guards etc.
Without going the modification route , I did some halfway cuts then w the chainsaw mill freed up the top of the log,
spun it around and tried to match up my cuts.  Results were so-so and it was slow going with all the fussing to get the indexing right.  Even with the fussing I could not get a perfect matching cut to join the opposite side.

Next attempt will be spinning the carriage.

Here is what I did.....made the cuts  past the halfway mark:


cut the cant free by cutting through the bottom w cs mill , kerf is the same.


Drive in a strip of wood to raise the cant free and allow it to spin


spin it around, then cut again with the Lucas after carefully indexing to align and match the cuts:


Done. phew that was a lot of work !


-t


logboy

I like Lucas Mills and big wood.  www.logboy.com

sigidi

Louie, that's very ingenious, but to be honest it is a lot of extra work and when I saw you're first pic, I could have told you the cuts wouldn't line up - sorry.
I have in the past thought it would be quicker to only spin the head once, so I cut down a few cuts like you did, then turned the head around, tried to line them up and release the double cut boards, but it doesn't work out so well - the problem being the log tension changes as you take out each cut, so when you come to complete the cuts around the other side, the tension characteristics are totally different and the cuts just don't match up properly. I find to save the amount of turning, you can undercut one board, turn the head, finish that board, then undercut the next one, turn the head again, finish the second board then undercut the third board etc... 1 turn for 1 board.

On a side note, your chainsaw mill, looks like you are running single skip chain? and with it being the same kerf as the mill, you may find it to be quicker than the mill to use a standard full compliment chain with 3 cutters ground out leave 2 cutters, then grind out 3 again, this will be less teeth to sharpen, but will cut a lot quicker than single skip and being the same kerf size as the mill you wont lose any valuable timber and by the looks of your cs mill it will nicely handle boards this wide... just a thought
Always willing to help - Allan

chainsaw_louie

Quote from: sigidi on September 18, 2012, 03:27:43 AMyou may find it to be quicker than the mill to use a standard full compliment chain with 3 cutters ground out leave 2 cutters, then grind out 3 again, this will be less teeth to sharpen, but will cut a lot quicker than single skip and being the same kerf size as the mill you wont lose any valuable timber and by the looks of your cs mill it will nicely handle

Thanks for the idea on the ripping chain, it is skip tooth and I sure wish it would cut faster. Then I could forget about double cutting and single cut and finish with the cs mill when I need to . Doesn't the fewer cutters cause the engine to bog down . I flat grind the cutters at 15 degrees and get pretty smooth cuts.

sigidi

Louie, quite the reverse, the fewer cutters means the engine works easier in the same cut with more teeth, although having said this if you are cutting something small in width the single skip chain will be better as it wont bounce around so much, but for stuff the width you where cutting in the pics a 3 skip would be much faster than the single skip. but also fewer teeth will need a touch up more often, good luck with it.
Always willing to help - Allan

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