Cherry and my Chainsaw Mill

[TJB]

Howdy Group
I had a guy call me this morning and tell me the power company cut a row of cherry trees on his property under one of their lines and I was welcome to them for my mill. I hope to have some pics up next week showing us milling them. I have only cut cedar so far and have been wanting to try some hardwood on the mill. Here's a few pics showing the cherry and the mill. There's one pic showing a cut on a cedar, I always hear about how rough cut a board is when milled with a CSM so I wanted to post this pic. This is cut with a Woodland Pro 10 degree ripping chain straight out of the box

[sdunston]

Great job on building the mill, I went to your site(good pictures).
Sam

[Jim Spencer]

Yes,  You will hear people who own band mills say how rough chainsaw mills are but I would put the finish I get on my Logosol up against any band mill that I have seen.
My chainsaw mill is strictly for a hobby and if someone wanted to make money with a chainsaw mill I would feel awfully sorry for them.
Chainsaw mills are slow and a lot of work but they have their place in the pecking order.
I can get a finish that looks like it was run through a planer if I am careful sharpening my chains.
Jim

[TJB]

Thanks Sam!

Jim the guy that gave me the cherry has a Logosol, it was the first chainsaw mill I ever saw someone operate.  He likes cutting cedar and isn't interested in hardwood so he called me.  If I still lived in the country where I could have a stationary mill I would have bought a Logosol myself.

[customdave]

Yes very good job on your mill! Interesting web page & pics, keep up the good work & play safe!.....

                                             Dave

[TJB]

Thanks Dave!  Hey Jim the guy that has the logosol built a cordwood garage, here's a pic of it.

 

[Coon]

Just wondering what # of chain and sprockets you used.  Looks to be a nice mill.

Coon.

[TJB]

Coon
I used #40 roller chain and 36 tooth sprockets on the 1 inch all thread. I put a 20 tooth above one of them and connected it to a 50 tooth on the handle which worked out to 4 turns of the handle to 1 inch of height adjustment. I bought the hardware for the big bearing store, looking back I could have used bicycle chain and sprockets for less money.
TJ

[Coon]

Thanks,  I kinda thought that was about the size but wasn't sure.  I am building a chainsaw mill with a bit of a different design as it will be more of a stationary set up on timbers.  The head set up will be much like yours except I will be using a shorter bar for the most part.  I will be able to use up to a 28" bar.

Have you got an auxillary oiler set up?  If so, do you have any pics of it? 

Coon.

[TJB]

I dont have one yet. Trying to figure out if I need that or a water drip cooling system. I am planning on milling some cherry this afternoon and try water to cool the bar.  I'll let you know if it works.  You can search for procut sawmills and when you go to the website look at the picture page. Theres another link saying something like see more photos.  Click it and you can see where some builders there have rigged up and extra oiler

[Magicman]

 ???  Water my cool it, but what about lube?  If the chain is sharp, is there that much heat?  I'm just asking out of curiosity.

[TJB]

Magicman, it has the regular oiler for lube but the bar and chain still heats up. Some people that have CSMs with longer bars have put a water drip on it like a bandsaw has and it seems to improve the cutting speed.  I'm not real worried about the cutting speed because I built my mill for the fun of it and bragging rights and not production, but I am playing around and trying different things out of curiosity.
TJ

[Magicman]

Thanks, I have no experience with a CSM, and was just wanting to know.  If you don't ask, you may not find out.

[TJB]

The water did help more than I can believe. My buddy brought a pump up sprayer to spray water on the tip of the chain while I was cutting and I could tell almost instantly when he started spraying, the saw started cutting better and cutting speed went up.  The chain I used today was sharpened at 10 degrees and I'm going to resharpen it to 5 degrees and see if that does anything tomorrow.
TJ