The Forestry Forum

I just put a brand new Oregon ripping chain on my Stihl 311.  I've cut a couple (roughly 8 foot) beams and they're wider in the middle than they are at the ends.  I could understand if the chain was going to walk up or down but both directions - I'm not sure what to think about that.  Any ideas?  


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Isn't your work held in place and your chainsaw running on a track? Something has got to be loose/moving surely? Didn't notice the beam peeling off the log when you cut it or something?

Quote from: JoshNZ on September 13, 2020, 05:28:50 PM
Isn't your work held in place and your chainsaw running on a track? Something has got to be loose/moving surely? Didn't notice the beam peeling off the log when you cut it or something?

Yes, it's held in place on each of the cross members the log rests on - nothing was moving that I noticed.  There's not that many pieces that can be loose on a Logosol.  The saw is tight on the bracket, the log is squarely on the mill.   ???

And I should note - I only saw this happen with the new chain, it didn't do it before.

Well a chain sure as heck can't deviate 1 inch haha. Your stock is moving relative to your bar (or vice versa). Work backwards from there.

Is there any play in the bar on any part of the track? I can only think you've got a banana shaped cant and it is rocking as your cut progresses, or you're getting bending as you release tension, something like that. You should be able to tell if the bar is happy in its cut, i.e. if you back up an inch and everything is sitting happily in its kerf (bar is not being bent or chainsaw head twisted off its track), and you're still out of thickness then you know your stock has moved.

I don't know anything about the logosol mill so I'm only offering very generic advice. Hopefully someone with some experience chimes in.

Solved!
I had moved the mill a couple feet back on the concrete pad it sits on just a couple days before getting the new chain.  When I did one of the legs was out of alignment so I adjusted it not realizing that when I did that I also changed how the beams the saw rides on butt up to each other.  Live n learn.

Nice one!