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needed: milling chainsaw

Started by pdoubleu, August 31, 2012, 11:29:48 AM

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pdoubleu

I'm looking for a saw dedicated for milling, preferably old school. Just the head, some work needed ok. I've been trolling eBay/CL. Would love to hear some "wisdom " on what to look for,ease of repairs etc. Thanks!

pdoubleu

Also I kinda want to fix one up myself, but don't want to end up with a mess. I'm very handy, but have no experience here.

Al_Smith

Well if you're serious about it need at least 100 cc .Now while some perhaps "old school " like Homelite or McCulloch might have the power they are collecters saws .As such depending on the model and condition they can fetch a pretty good chunk of change plus the fact you're going to have a time finding repair parts if you need them .

Now you get into to newer stuff that has the power like 2100-2101-3120 Husqvarna ,066,084,088 Stihl or even older Stihls like 075-076 you're still talking a pretty good chunk of change .What I'm saying is for all intents there are no inexpensive large saws that amount to much .

pdoubleu

Do you think its worth finding something to fix? Or am I asking for more trouble than worth?

Ianab

Rebuilding a saw is an option as long as you are able and willing to do it properly, and fix what caused it to die in the first place.

Doing a 1/2 way patch up job, like replacing a piston, but not the crank seals that caused it to run lean and score in the first place is just wasting your time and $$.

A large part of the cost of repairing a saw is labour, if you have the skills to rebuild one yourself, and don't count the Saturday it's going to take to do it, then you can come out ahead.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Al_Smith

I find them cheap because quite frankly I'm a cheap . skate .Often times taking several junkers and making one good runner out of it .

Keep in mind though that those of us who do same firstly are adept at repairs plus we know how to scrounge parts .If you had to pay a shop to do a rebuild you'd be better off just purchasing a saw that was in good shape to begin with .

Let me give an example .Take a very popular small arborists saw,the Ms 200T Stihl .The piston and cylinder alone are about half the price as the saw cost new .Once a shop gets through with the repairs which would include new bearings  ,seals everything you'd have more in it than it cost new .

Now you get to milling size say 084 Stihl .You don't even want to know what parts cost for that monster .As of this time that I'm aware of there are no aftermarket parts for this saw,all OEM ,costly .

mad murdock

If you have friends and acquaintances that you can inquire after any old saws around, that would be a good place to start.  After milling with my 372XPW for a few years off and on, I decided I needed a larger powerhead.  After putting several "irons in the fire", (inquiring around amongst my friends/neighbors), I came up with several saws, an 075 Stihl, a PM700 Mac, several 10-10's, a Homlite 360, a Sears (Poulan) 5.2/28, and a few other craftsman saws(mostly Poulan, one Solo), and another Stihl, an 044 Mag.  All needed work, but not a ton, mostly general cleanup/TLC, a carb kit, maybe a clutch bearing, or some such item, but then fire them up and tune em.  I have several runners now.  Kind of a disease, be careful you don't end up like me and start looking for maybe 1 saw and end up with a dozen ;D
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

Al_Smith


mad murdock

Quote from: Al_Smith on August 31, 2012, 03:40:45 PM
Well a dozen is a start .
I have seen some of your vast collection Al, and i would have to say I would almost mortgage my left arm to have a collection of saws like yours!  Nice bunch of good old american built saws, and a few euros thrown in.  And good on ya for taking the interest in preserving an important part of the modern age for future generations to appreciate.  I always cry a bit when I see all the good old stuff getting scrapped. 
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

Al_Smith

I'm just a small player among collectors .Some have them by the thousands .

shelbycharger400

are you doing remote sawing, or just hobby sawing in your backyard?
You can take a look at my pictures and see I built my chain bar slabber. a 36 in bar is not big enough!  I have done a 24 in dia in it, My mill is too small,  I have access to bigger logs than that. You will find that soon as you build or buy a mill, It will be too small and need a bigger one!  If you build one, buy a 5 ft bar.  In my case a future tree, well several I need atleast a 6 footer .  Over build,  the logs will come later!  If you build one I can tell you what to do and not do, others here will tell you what they know as well.

As far as just a chain saw with a long bar. the alaskan looks nice, but Its too small for what I need. Look at 8020.com Very nice extruded aluminum. Thats what im going to make my next portable mill out of, track and all.

pdoubleu

Well I'm more willing than able,and don't mind the time. And that's just it. If I do the work, I want it done right top to bottom. I feel like I should know everything about it as important as it is too me. Not having any of this experience makes me Leary, and don't want to end up with a pile of parts.

Al_Smith

What little I've done with chainsaw milling is it might be the least expensive but it's the most labor intensive of all methods of making lumber except perhaps a pit saw from the 1700's .Now it has it's place and it is an option whereby the lumber can be milled right where the tree fell .It also makes it affordable for the average person to salvage usable lumber from what would either rot on the ground or be cut into firewood .It is an option and it has it's place .

pdoubleu

That's just it. I only get whole of a nice log once or twice a year. So I can't really dump a ton of money. I know its crazzy but I love the chainsaw method.

mad murdock

I have looked into methods to increase cutting speed milling with a chainsaw, logosol sells a low profile milling chain and bar combo that fits on the euro saws, from what others have said, allows you to mill at a decent speed( for a CSM), would be worth looking into, that way you could easily mill with a saw in the 70cc class. Bailey's sells them on their site in the "Logosol store".
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

pdoubleu

Great input, will definitely check that out!

pdoubleu

Called baileys. Said was unavailable, when asked if they knew when they'd get them ..."we have no restock date".  ??? ??? Guess i'll try back later.

mad murdock

If you have a saw of that class size, you can search out a bar, chain and drive sprocket so you can use the low profile chain. That is the key to faster milling speed, smaller kerf less power required and less waste.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

pdoubleu

Will check it out. Until I find one, I'm going to start cleaning up my double eagle 80!

pdoubleu

I looked into thin kerf bars. They mostly (except logosol) get bad reviews. Seems their life is way short. Ill keep looking though, and hope bailyes does some stocking!

mad murdock

The logosol branded thin kerf bar is made by stihl. Talk to Greg @ Bailey's he can possibly get you squared away on the same B/C from stihl stock. Might have to do some adapting to use it on the DE80, but with the low pro B/C set up it would mill nicely, me thinks.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

pdoubleu

Thanks for the contact! I think you definiltely have me on the right track. Awesome help, love this forum!

Al_Smith

Good luck finding any thing to mount up to that DE except another McCulloch bar unless adaptations are made .Some Husqvarna mounts might match depending on how they are made .

The 81 cc Macs are good fallers but again they're are tad to small for good millers .Again though you could probabley mill with a mini Mac but it would take a coons age to cut a 4 foot 2 by 4 .

jteneyck

Well, like Al, I'm cheap.  Unlike Al, I only have 6 saws.  One of them is a Husky 385XP with a 28" bar that I run in an Alaskan Mill.  I've milled around 4000 BF of hardwood lumber with it over the past 8 years or so.  Hard work, but fun too.  Logosol used to recommend the 385XP with their mill, and I've been happy with it for the logs I mill which are never bigger than 24" dia. and more frequently in the 16 - 20" range.  Well, I did do a walnut about 28" dia. once.  I would not want anything smaller for what I do.  I also would not run low profile chains out of fear of them breaking.  A big saw driving a LP chain is not a good combination if you think about safety.  A sharp ripping chain is the key to efficient milling with a chainsaw mill.  That, and plenty of lube. 

If you plan to mill much the saw will pay for itself in short order, in which case it's better to buy a new one than try to resurrect an old one unless you've done it before.  Or buy a rebuilt one from someone here.  Milling is really tough on a saw because you're running WOT for several minutes on a big, long log, not seconds like in crosscutting. 

John   
   

mad murdock

About running LP chain on a larger saw, according to Logosol's own reccomendation, they will go up to a 660 Stihl with their picco chain, nothing larger. The whole concept of thinner kerf is less hp required with more ease and more lumber recovery from the log. I have not used it yet, but had studied the concept in depth and spoken to guys dt Baileys who have used it, I am going to purchase my next millig bar/chain setup in low pro. I will post my results.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

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