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Chainsaw marks on slab

Started by Rabland, April 21, 2021, 05:05:01 PM

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Rabland

Retired at 70 two years ago and moved to northwest Wisconsin on 160 acres of timbered property. Just bought a Granberg Small Log Mill and cut several 2" slabs from red oak. Used Stihl MS-271 with a ripping chain, but find the surface of the slabs have grooves from the chain. Obviously, I have no clue what I'm doing, despite becoming a YouTube expert, so what can I do to minimizes these ridges? Thanks to those who respond.
Rick

dogbo2013

Unfortunately, that is about as smooth as it gets using a chainsaw. Even a smooth cut on a bandsaw mill is still rough. 
GMB

farmfromkansas

You just need a widebelt sander to grind those slabs down. 
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

Ianab

Once it's dry it will be even worse. Even the most accurately cut wood will move in some way and shrink unevenly as it dries. 

For a home workshop a "router bridge" is the most practical way to level and smooth a large slab. You could quite likely end up with 1/4" of cup in the slab, and a router in rail will take care of that (and the chainsaw marks at the same time) . 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

TKehl

How wide are your slabs?  Just thinking that with a 271, we might be talking about narrower slabs, and you might be able to find someone locally to plane them.  24-in planers aren't uncommon, and there are bigger than that out there. I've got a 30-in in my project queue... ::)
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

Don P

It is called "rough lumber" for a reason  ;D. Once it is dry, cupped and gnarly it is time to surface it flat and smooth. The smoothest finish with a chain will come from a full comp ripping chain, a full compliment of teeth. It can produce a finish close to bandsaw smooth but is slow and uses a lot of power. We can more than double our ripping speed by using a hyper skip chain that has a pair of cutters then 9 empty links till the next pair of teeth. That is the other extreme, a rougher finish, grabby, high vibration, fast cutting chain that will break down rough lumber as fast as possible, not a learner chain, it is aggressive. There are several different skip chain choices between those two ends of the spectrum.

Brucer

I used kerf wedges to keep the top slab from closing the kerf and pushing down on the chain. Small pieces of hardwood about an inch wide and a couple of inches long. Mine were tapered for half their length and then flattened out at 1/32 to 1/16 inch thicker than the kerf. On most species you can insert a pair every four feet, one on each side of the kerf. Put them in the cut about 18" behind the bar.

I painted mine "Fire red" so's I could find them all at the end of the day.

My timbers with the CSM were smoother than my Wood-Mizer can produce.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Rabland

Man, I've got so much to learn after reading all these replies and the other information on this forum. Maybe I should have started this when I was in grade school! Too late for that.
I do enjoy learning new things and this forum has been so helpful. At least it will keep me very busy (in addition to having two new Lab pups to chase after) in my old age. Thanks to everyone for their help and advice!
Rick

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