Interesting Observation ripping with a chainsaw

[tburch]

I snagged a piece of freshly cut, sopping green, elm from the local dump yesterday.  About 4.5' long, 14" diameter, knot free.   My wife and I had been talking about making a rustic bench, and when she saw it, she suggested we take it home and have a go of it. 

We took it home.  I got my 12" Echo chainsaw (CS-3000, 30.1 CC engine), took off the crosscut chain and installed a chain I had reground to be a rip chain several years ago.  It was very dull.   (My last experience was ripping elm, and it wasn't pretty.)

I went out to the barn and found a small round file and resharpened the chain to something in the neighborhood of what I felt to be around 10 degrees.  No gauge was used. (And note that this is probably the 3rd time in my life I've attempted to hand-sharpen a saw chain.  I'm a complete novice.) 

Back at the log, I stood the elm on end, and and starting cutting from the top down through the middle, with the intention of halving the log into two equal pieces.   

After a several minutes of slow cutting I had progressed just a few inches.  I realized the cut was starting to curve, telling me I did a lousy job (expected) of sharpening the chain.   

I figured a good way to overcome my poor handiwork was to lightly score the outside of the log, down the edge, with just the tip of the saw, essentially drawing (carving) a reference line to guide my cut.  I found the saw cut pretty well using just the tip of the bar on the edge of the log.   I then started over in my cut, cutting deeper each pass.  I did this several times until I had cut the depth of my bar.  I noticed the chips produced by the saw were a bit larger (call them 1/4" long) than the chips I had produced during my initial cuts when I tried to saw the log from the top (call them splinters).   I flipped the log around and then cut the remainder of the log, fighting my saw to not cut a curve, wandering off my intended line several times.

Once I got the log apart (I cheated and pulled the sections apart at the end), I was left with a big protruding wedge section on one end that still needed to be removed.  It was due to my breaking the log apart and my abandoned curvy cuts.   

Probably not using the saw in the recommended fashion...  I positioned myself square with the end of the 1/2 log, flat side of the log facing up, protruding wedge end closest to me on the right side of the log.  I laid my bar flat on the left side of the log (chain rotating CCW as viewed from the top), and used the top of the chain, in a left-to-right movement, to cut off the protruding wedge. 

To my amazement, this was the FASTEST cut I made during the whole process.  The chips... no, scratch that.  They weren't chips.  They were shavings.  The shavings that were flying out were a good 2" long.  Nice long curls, and the resulting cut was the smoothest I had made, BY FAR.    And, the speed of the cut was amazing and very efficient.  And this was ELM!

I got to wondering...  it would seem to me that slicing through a log in this manner would be a desirable way to cut.  With my poorly sharpened chain, and low powered motor, the curls/shavings that were coming out blew my mind.   No fighting the saw to make the cut.  It went through like butter.

What I observed was that ripping from the end grain sucked, but ripping from the side grain was unbelievably fast and smooth.  Has anyone else observed this when using a chainsaw?    When I do woodwork, I avoid cutting into end grain like the plague.   

Do any chainsaw mills leverage this sawing-from-the-side characteristic?   The first thing I envisioned was a mill, with say, a 12' long log, with a bar as long as long as the log, slicing through that log sideways within a matter of 3-4 minutes with very little effort.   Probably not real practical, but you have to wonder if it would be possible.   

Todd

[Hilltop366]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LkEV9DEuLs

You discovered noodling!

[tburch]

Indeed - noodling!  Never heard that term before.   

Via that video, and the comments, it seems people are more interested in the chips than the speed at which you can quickly slice through wood though! 

Thanks.

[mad murdock]

Noodling is a fun way to make nice shavings. It only get better with more cc's and sharper chains =more fun 8)

[Ianab]

It's a "legit" method for splitting up small "logs". Works great for cutting bowl turning blanks, or those knotty rounds of firewood that are too hard to split. Because the cutter is actually running down the grain of the wood it's able to peel out long slivers of wood with the grain with much less force needed than cutting through all the fibres each time. Try whittling a piece of wood across the grain, vs with the grain and you will see the same effect. Now imagine the cutter on the chain is your pocket knife, and each one can peel off a nice curly noodle of wood as it slides down the grain.

Main problem is that you often cut more stringy noodles than the saw can clear from the chute under the sprocket. It clogs up, and you have to stop and clear it. If you hold the saw slightly away from horizontal (maybe 10 °) the noodles will be shorter and break up easier, and so clear the saw better.

[Dave H.]

i  love noodling,especially live oak.easier to quarter up than to try and lift those heavy rounds.these were about 2ft dia .


 
lots of noodles(fire starter)




 

more noodles.



 


live oak quarters.



 


allright finish,about the same as a csm cut.




 


old pecan quarters,tree was 3ft at the base.



 

i do noodle some rounds for the wood as it is much easier than mounting it on the mill.the problem you would come across is you would be limited to the length of the log and also you would have to build a special frame of sorts since you wouldnt have the log length for support.another problem would be bar sag.anything over 3ft will give some,4ft definately.

[HolmenTree]

I've  noodled up quite a few buckets of noodles too with the 395XP. ;D
Outboard clutch helps exit  the chips out of the side cover.


 

[Shotgun]

Dave H., Were your pictures taken on a foggy day, or does your camera lens need cleaning?  They were pretty hard to see.    ;)

[7sleeper]

Noodles make for me the best fire starters. But they are also great when improving your earth. If your soil is very dense/compact if you work in the noodles best you can do for your earth.

And last if you have clogging problems either hold at an angle as mentioned above or keep a larger distance from the log.

7

[HolmenTree]

Yes that works, but cutting the block level horizontal cuts the fastest and makes the longest noodle chips.
Back in the day with my Stihl 066 Magnum I removed it's sprocket side cover and shimmed up the 2 bar nuts with flat washers.
Noodled like crazy. 

[so il logger]

Another thing that helps discharge the noodles with a 660 is to cut the rear section of the chain cover off. I cut one off at the felling sight line and it improved drastically