# biggish red/pin oak milling pics



## mrbentontoyou (Aug 3, 2010)

this tree came down late last march and was sitting in a pile of logs since. the ends were unsealed but at least it was off the ground... still, there was a good deal of checking.

it took about an hour for us to pluck this log out of the pile and about two hours to get it into 9 slabs @ 8/4 thickness, widest of which are two pieces at 35". filled up on gas and oil every two passes, and it was a brand new chain so i had to pull the saw out of the mill twice to adjust tension. damn husqvarna and granville for not collaborating on the chain tensioning access on this saw/mill combo!!! all in all it went well and the 394xp ran like an absolute champ.

i wish i had asked one of the guys get photos of each slab as they came off the log so we can remember what they look like and start coming up with plans for them. the slabs towards the middle were nice looking, good quarter-sawn figure going on around the edges. 

so this log was located right up at the top of the wood pile in the first pic, with some pretty meaty chunks on top of it. we shredded a ratchet strap trying to pull it out with the pickup, finally managed to yank it out with an old climbing rope.

in the last pic you will see my fred flintstone guide rail system. the ladder i usually use is 10' long and this log was 65" so i went with the 2x4's and it worked out. i should have positioned the long rails closer together so they were touching the log so they would have less tendency to flex during the cut. the other thing i'll try for next time is to get one end of the log even higher than i have it here. in this setup we were already on a slight incline and i had one end of the "log horses" on 4x4 blocks but there could have been a steeper slope yet. still learning the ropes!

in that last pic you can also see the gross rubbery fungus that was all over the pith. it literally felt like rubber foam, like weatherstripping. we sealed the ends as soon is i got the slabs back to my shop. 

still new to the world of the csm but it sure is fun. enough blabbing:


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## MAPLEMAN (Jan 21, 2009)

Nice looking slabs guys,impressive finish.You obviously know how to sharpen your chain properly,again,well done,keep on milling on!!:sweatdrop:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Cool pics. I hope those ends don't keep checking even though you sealed them. For extra insurance I prolly would have cut the ends off to get to "fresh" wood and sealed that. I bet it was a pain to get out of the pile, even a short like that is 2000 lbs+. To repeat MAPLEMAN, keep on milling on...:icon_smile:





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## mrbentontoyou (Aug 3, 2010)

thanks mapleman,

that chain was fresh out of the box,
i've since put a grinding on it, we'll see how good or bad of a job i did on the next milling project, hopefully a couple cherry logs at the end of next week. 

-roger


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Nice. Thanks for sharing.


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## mrbentontoyou (Aug 3, 2010)

Daren said:


> Cool pics. I hope those ends don't keep checking even though you sealed them. For extra insurance I prolly would have cut the ends off to get to "fresh" wood and sealed that.



yeah that dawned on me as we got it back to the shop. live and learn. 
the checking in the middle slabs is pretty severe but there is still a decent amount of good material on them. 

and yeah, getting it out of the pile was an exercise in over exertion and ******* engineering. but preserverance prevailed!
thanks!


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I agree that's a great finish. Do you buy milling chain or modify your own crosscut chain? I have done both but what I like best (so far) is the crosscut chain I modify myself. I grind the top plates to 5º, and the cutter faces to 50º from vertical (40º from horizontal) so it's pretty aggressive. But rougher than what yours is too. I've ground the plates to 0º but the 5º seemed to work better for me, but that could just be in my head I have never timed the two. I also grind the rakers .010 lower than the recommended depth of the crosscut chain I am modifying and that made a huge difference. It makes the 395 work harder but it seems to still stay within the bottom of it's power band as long as I don't put too much of my weight into it. 


Your setup makes me want to say good bye to free-handing though and build a mill -I like that simple design. I would need one wider though as I like to mill wide logs with crotches in them mostly, and outside of the forks can get real wide. Really that's what prompted me to stick with free-handing because a 6' bar is the longest I have. Suppose I could build a mill like yours though for the narrower stuff. 


Great job on taking it apart. Thanks for showing us - looking forward to hearing your answers. 






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## mrbentontoyou (Aug 3, 2010)

TexasTimbers said:


> I agree that's a great finish. Do you buy milling chain or modify your own crosscut chain? I have done both but what I like best (so far) is the crosscut chain I modify myself. I grind the top plates to 5º, and the cutter faces to 50º from vertical (40º from horizontal) so it's pretty aggressive. But rougher than what yours is too. I've ground the plates to 0º but the 5º seemed to work better for me, but that could just be in my head I have never timed the two. I also grind the rakers .010 lower than the recommended depth of the crosscut chain I am modifying and that made a huge difference. It makes the 395 work harder but it seems to still stay within the bottom of it's power band as long as I don't put too much of my weight into it.
> 
> 
> Your setup makes me want to say good bye to free-handing though and build a mill -I like that simple design. I would need one wider though as I like to mill wide logs with crotches in them mostly, and outside of the forks can get real wide. Really that's what prompted me to stick with free-handing because a 6' bar is the longest I have. Suppose I could build a mill like yours though for the narrower stuff.
> ...



that chain was 3/8", .063ga ripping chain from baileys, the woodpro or woodland pro, 33rp. totally stock chain, right out of the box. 
it's full comp, standard teeth (non- chisel), 10º top plate angle, and i joint the rakers according to my carlton file-o-plate. so far so good. i read up and asked around on another site and this chain was recommended to me by guys who have milled literally thousands of feet of material as being good bang for the buck.

you grind top plates to 5º, and i've read of others running 5º-6º plates too with notable success- i'll probably try that on one of these 33rp's at some point. when i get around to that i'll A-B the two, timing the cuts and try to see which is quicker, compare the surfaces and post up here.

i haven't ponied up for a granberg chain or reground one of these to their specs yet but i kind of want to just to see the difference for myself. 

then there is all the experimenting one can do with raker depth....

on a side note, i may be meeting with another member of this forum tomorrow to mill up some chestnut.:thumbsup: i have my fingers crossed- if all goes well we'll get some pics of that up here.


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