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Live Oak on CSM: Am I crazy?

Started by mredden, February 05, 2019, 01:21:37 PM

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mredden

I am chain saw milling Hurricane Michael Oak for 16" Boards to be used in construction of pews for my church - the construction of which will not begin for one year. The red oak I have milled thus far has been 1-1/2"  that will be milled down.

A church brother has an 8' live oak trunk that he wants me to mill. It is 36" at its narrowest and about 42" at its widest. Fortunately, it does not  have the nasty buildup of living and dead ferns growing all over it like the limbs.

I have a 48" Granberg horizontal and a Logosol vertical. I use a 390xp and my largest bar is a 36". I use a nose oiler and Carleton ripping chain. I run the saw oiler on max and I have never run out of oil or gas on red oak ten foot cuts. I plan to mill the top cut with a ladder and the horizontal mill then use the vertical mill to cut the two sides so my 36" bar. I have ordered a 42" bar and chain but have chickened out on using it on THIS wood.

I'm scared of this stuff. It's hard as a rock though still green. I scarred a 372xp's piston bucking big, fern-nasty limbs on a live oak by not stopping to sharpen before a final crosscut of the day. (tired and stupid) It's in the rebuild bin (will rebuild when Summer sets in), and I don't want my 390 to join it.

Assuming I sharpen between every cut, is this task doable or should I be a wise chicken and decline the log?

YellowHammer

Double your oil mix, richen the high speed jet, sharpen the chain, take your finger off the throttle now and then, get er done.  


YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

LeeB

Live oak is pretty but as you already know, it's super hard. Even more so once it dries. Milling it is a challenge when green. Finish milling once dry is even more so. As for milling it with a CSM, I have no experience. Only with a BSM. Don't push it. If you see any reduction in feed rate sharpen the chain. Keep in mind that once dry it will punish your surfacing equipment. It can also be hard to dry straight, or at least it was for me. Prone to checking too. 
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

WDH

Of the North American hardwoods listed on the janka scale (hardness scale), live oak is the hardest.  Second is osage orange.  Third is persimmon.  Fourth is hickory/pecan ( smiley_devil). 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

mredden

Quote from: WDH on February 06, 2019, 07:45:56 AM
Of the North American hardwoods listed on the janka scale (hardness scale), live oak is the hardest.  Second is osage orange.  Third is persimmon.  Fourth is hickory/pecan ( smiley_devil).
I have two 10' pecan logs waiting on me when (if) I finish the live oak. Diameter of base is 32" with no limbs. Diameter at second base is 28". I limbed that tree. Yeah, it's hard but nothing like live oak. Much cleaner bark too. It's an old what-is-called "native" pecan around here. The first limb was at 16'. Most trees on active pecan farms have three limbs before the trunk reaches 6 feet. This pecan tree was also a Hurricane Michael blowdown

Nomad

     I've milled Live Oak a couple of times with a Lucas slabber.  Keep the chain sharp, use lots of lube, take your time, and eat your Wheaties before you start.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

YellowHammer


With my old CSM, I would start cutting in the morning and stop about the time I felt like I was going to throw up.  My ears would be ringing, my hands and arms would be buzzing, my head would be aching.  I affectionatly called it the "Puker".

Oh, what joyous memories.  Put a rope and hand crank of the thing, it will get MUCH easier.  All you need is a bent metal rod and some stretchy paracord.    



 

    
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

offrink

I have and do cut a lot of large logs on a csm. We use a stihl 880 with a 59 or 72" bar. We get 2-3 cuts on a chain before changing/sharpening. Remember to keep the rpm's up. That's when it is cutting the best and keeps the engine the coolest. Expect to stop every 15 minutes to check the oil and fuel. When you stop to fill it back up let it idle for 1-2 minutes before shutting it off. Make sure you check for tightness of the chain because lots of sawing will heat and stretch the chain. Be sure the chain is sharp before you start a cut because it is difficult to get it back out if you have it shimmed as you go. Be efficient with your cuts because both to fast and to slow are bad for the cut.

mredden

Don't know why I said "Logosol" vertical mill - it's a Haddon. Maybe because it has never been out of its box. Bought it for just such an occasion as this, and have never even played with it.

QUESTION about these vertical "beam makers." Since you are cutting from top down, does gravity cause you to lose a lot of oil on the tip sprocket that is not pulled back upward on the cutting side? Seems like no way to use a nose oiler like I use on a horizontal mill. Also, you can't really watch the bar tip for heating issues.

Is it safer on bar, chain and saw to make a series of cuts of ever-increasing depth rather than one single cut through the entire side?

Crookedkut

I have some Live Oak that that I need to mill using a CSM.   I guess I will need to get anther ripping chain before I begin.  I actually have several logs that I need to mill.  There is the main trunk that I will probably take to someone to mill on a BSM for me.   It is about 40" wide.    

mredden

Well, I "squared"  mine to 34" this weekend using a 36" bar. A very irregular log!  Heavy scraps! Had to do a lot of freehand trimming to get the top shave to work with that "short" bar. I really should have waited for the 42" bar to arrive but patience is not one of my virtues on a 60 degree day.

Squared the sides with the Haddon. Kind of tough work. Next time, I'll plane a bit off of my 2x6 guide board so the Haddon will slide better. Indeed, my guide board was about 1/16th too wide in places and the Haddon would hang up on it.

The otherwise unnoticeable sap in this wood REALLY adheres to the chain. Scrape it off of one cutter with a razor and you will definitely know where you started filing.  The file gets filthy on every fist pass through the cutters.

Ready to knock out 34" boards when the 42-incher arrives.

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