Granberg mill... anyone using a 661 and wish they'd gone with the 880?

[Wal Nut]

how does 1 operate a dual head saw by themselves? a cable throttle for the other saw, or a dual cable connected to both saws with 1 throttle lever?

The only way one could operate one alone is to hire 2 people to run it while you sit back and watch. 
:-)

[charles mann]

how does 1 operate a dual head saw by themselves? a cable throttle for the other saw, or a dual cable connected to both saws with 1 throttle lever?

The only way one could operate one alone is to hire 2 people to run it while you sit back and watch.
:-)

Im cheap. Id rather jerry rig a dual cable control lever first. Even before asking a neighbor for help, id rig something up. 
Where there is a will and lack of help, there is a way. Id rather load a 350# pump and hose by myself before waiting 5+ min for other (2-3) to come help. It sucked, but i figured a way to do it that didnt suck as much as waiting around

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I have my granberg set up with a MS661C-M Mtronic.
I have 42 and 50" bars and it works fine for me.
I only need it a couple of times a year to mill big wood.

I also use Yellowhammer's crank handle setup like I did in the below thread. Some sort of a crank will make it soooo much easier to use your chainsawmill. (see reply #3)

Stepping back to a chainsaw mill. in Sawmills and Milling

Jon

[ESFted]

...I have 42 and 50" bars and it works fine for me.
I only need it a couple of times a year to mill big wood.

Jon, Thanks for that link.  Good info on the winch and the oiler set up.  Can you share what brand bars you bought and the source?

[Weekend_Sawyer]

The 42 is an Oregon 3/8 with a standard chain that I filed at 10 degrees

The 50 is a cannon I can't remember the size. I bought 2 loops of ripping chain for it from Grandberg. They both work well.

Jon

[shelby78]

how does 1 operate a dual head saw by themselves? a cable throttle for the other saw, or a dual cable connected to both saws with 1 throttle lever?

You can buy or make a remote throttle set-up. I personally would run a single remote set-up and hold the other throttle as normal, You set the trigger of the remote as a flat bar on the Alaskan where you would normally push anyway. That way you holding the juice and pushing in one step. If you want to let off your revving down and stopping pushing at the same time which is the way I would do it if forced to stop.

[Arenite_Boulders]

==> MOVED question to new thread

[Wal Nut]

Following up on this since I've made a lot of changes since starting this thread. Have milled a good number of logs and am still learning something almost every log.

I still have the 661 with a 42" Oregon bar on it. The saw starts first pull just about every time and I really like this setup as it's much lighter and easier to handle by myself. I've milled plenty of poplar, black walnut, cherry, pecan, live oak, cedar with this setup and it's enjoyable to run. 

I also purchased a Stihl 880 shortly after the 661 setup and normally run a 60" Cannon bar on it although I also have an 84" Granberg double ended bar with the handle/tensioner on the opposite end. I run this saw on a Granberg 72" mill regardless of which bar is on the saw. It is significantly heavier than the 661, sometimes harder to start (can be finicky at times and more than once I quit milling for the day because it wouldn't start only to come back the next day and it fire 1st pull), and generally much more wearing on the old operator (me). If I were 20 years younger I'd not worry about the weight difference. I've milled similar logs as mentioned above, just wider versions of them. I'd consider this setup a must for wide live oak and pecan as that stuff can be pretty hard. I run a granberg hyper skip chain on it and have been happy. 

80% of the time - or more - I'm milling with the 661 as it's just an easier setup to operate. It does a fine job milling and would be a great setup by itself if one didn't have a need for a wider saw. 

Hope this helps anyone interested in these options for chainsaw milling. 

[Brad_bb]

And since I posted in this thread, I found a guy about 35-40 minutes away with a Lucas mill and he can mill 6 feet wide.  I've taken about 5 logs to him so far.  He slabbed an Ash that varied from 40-54 inches(crotch), big log.   He also cut 2 logs for me that were walnut trunks with about 4-5 feet of the two arms after the crotch up top(about 4-5 foot spread).  We cut two flats on these to end up as live edge 10"  thick posts for a timberframe.  I helped teach him how to set up the log to cut the best two flats.