The chainsaw thread...

[XXX-er]

I did that. Welded myself an Alaska mill to plank out logs for wood features on trails.

It works, but I concluded that my saw just isn't big / strong enough to efficiently rip logs. It just takes too long. Went back to buying / hauling planks.

did you mill the wood on the site where you were going to use it, what was the logistics like getting the gear and fuel out there if thats what you did or is a mill better used at home ?

[char_]

did you mill the wood on the site where you were going to use it, what was the logistics like getting the gear and fuel out there if thats what you did or is a mill better used at home ?

The other solution is to fall something heavy into the birch and knock it out of the maple.

Or fall the maple along with the birch as a pair.

[toast2266]

did you mill the wood on the site where you were going to use it, what was the logistics like getting the gear and fuel out there if thats what you did or is a mill better used at home ?

I never got that far. I milled a few planks in easy to access locations as a test and concluded that hauling stuff in wasn't worth the effort.

[XXX-er]

how big of a saw ?

one of the guys ( ex- faller type ) i was cutting runs with brought his bigger saw for a spare i assume that he had used in a mill it was a great big powerful husky with a super long bar

I picked it up and it weighed a ton but he never used it cuz his 56cc 0290 was plenty to cut at treeline

[BCMtnHound]

I looked into a saw mill some years ago, and felt that it would only be useful for making cants. Too much kerf with a chainsaw, for efficiency it’s recommended at least a 90cc saw, and of course packing all that into a site make it a poor/costly endeavour. I’ve had success cutting short planks (~20”), cutting along the grain (bar parallel with the log) vs across the grain like a mill. Used these as decking for bridges and such. Makes cool long shavings too.

[bodywhomper]

Another friend who’s been a pro tree guy for >30yrs used to use his biggest saws for ak milling. He’s told me that at some points he’s had dedicated saws for the task. He does not do it anymore. Lots of exhaust and dust.

[XXX-er]

a buddy had some big stems on her property ( not on the crown land behind ! ) so they processed it all with a portable bandsaw mill, used the timbers to build a nice post n beam house and eventualy she sold the mill when there was no more use for it

Maybe if you got a lot of wood to mill don't fuck around just get a bandsaw mill ?

[DougW]

I've spent a fair amount of time with my mini mill and it takes a lot of time and is hard on bars. I was just trying to create one flat side or create a beam out of logs. It worked well and got a look that dimensional lumber just would not give. But I would never try to create dimensional lumber with one.

[neufox47]

I've spent a fair amount of time with my mini mill and it takes a lot of time and is hard on bars. I was just trying to create one flat side or create a beam out of logs. It worked well and got a look that dimensional lumber just would not give. But I would never try to create dimensional lumber with one.

That is about what I’m trying to do. Maybe some planks too. I got a bunch of softwood that has to come down / is down. And it’s on my property, where I want to make a little mtn track, so either I have to drag the logs up the hill with a tractor and get them chipped, or I could use them for features. I currently have a massive pile of rounds so I really don’t need more firewood.

[wendigo]

good hangup resource?
finishing a build and want to start clearing a view. thick with spruce and hemlock, a few birch thrown in. mostly same age trees. property steps down in tiers.
i'm ok at dropping trees, the big ones freak me out a bit. small/medium ones are guaranteed to hang.

[Meadow Skipper]

Google this: hung up trees falling

Here’s a good start:
https://www.nwcg.gov/sites/default/f...zard-trees.pdf

https://www.husqvarna.com/uk/forest/...-with-hang-up/

[wendigo]

Perfect, thanks. Been mostly reviewing BC tree felling videos. Those things are awesome. Extra info is bonus for a hack like me.

[Meadow Skipper]

Cool. Just be careful and take your time. Hung up trees can be frustrating...and kind of potentially dangerous.

[XXX-er]

Perfect, thanks. Been mostly reviewing BC tree felling videos. Those things are awesome. Extra info is bonus for a hack like me.

yes, the BC vids are well done with clear concise engrish ... as opposed to listening to some cracker thanking god the tree didnt kill him

[wendigo]

they freak me the fuck out. I typically use a come-along from far far away...

[Game Over]

Speaking of BC felling vids-> I love me some Buckin’ Billy Ray Smith. Dude breaks down what he does and why.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsI...Oz99GMitW4vD_g

[~mikey b]

[toast2266]

how big of a saw ?

one of the guys ( ex- faller type ) i was cutting runs with brought his bigger saw for a spare i assume that he had used in a mill it was a great big powerful husky with a super long bar

I picked it up and it weighed a ton but he never used it cuz his 56cc 0290 was plenty to cut at treeline

Just a husky 455. Works fine for firewood and some trail work, but definitely not enough saw for milling.

But even if I had a big saw that could run through a cut at, say, 3x the speed, it'd still be pretty tedious work. Setting up the mill takes a little bit for each cut, and ultimately, for the quality of plank that I needed for a trail feature (i.e. didn't need to be super flat or pretty) I could just freehand the cut without fucking around with the mill.

[DougW]

That is about what I’m trying to do. Maybe some planks too. I got a bunch of softwood that has to come down / is down. And it’s on my property, where I want to make a little mtn track, so either I have to drag the logs up the hill with a tractor and get them chipped, or I could use them for features. I currently have a massive pile of rounds so I really don’t need more firewood.

Some picks from the two wood sheds i've built from wood on property. Not the posts as they are seconds from a pretty nearby utility pole manufacturer ( PT cedar) . Second pic with skid steer the back beam didn't come from property but was a blow down in a cut block. Wanted 3 flats with base to match post. One cut make a perfect back diagonal.

[bodywhomper]

I really like those sheds!

Neofox, when we had more than 20 dead and large pondo pines sitting on our property, I looked into milling them. I ended up calling a local with a portable mill and high recommendations and experience. His advise was to pre-plan the board sizes that you’ll want. He also strongly urged against using dead (standing) pondo because of how they partially dry out in that situation. His experience was that some of the trunks could be “checked” and not make good lumber. During the drought he was felling and partially milling green trees that even had that problem. He strongly recommended milling green trees or recently green trees and going through the drying process once they were milled. The outdoor drying process is another interesting feat up here. Want to keep covered but with plenty of air circulation.

[jackstraw]

Cut up 5 more blow down areas today. This one in particular was a bit of a fun puzzle for me. I credit this thread in helping me solve it. I really enjoyed getting it done. One thing learned that really helped was clearing other trees out of the way. I had one dead and one partially live in the way. I still kinda suck at cutting the notch to the right depth. Working on it.

Finished

[bodywhomper]

If u saw my posts in the who’s cutting wood thread, you’ll see that I had a friend drop two oaks overhanging my garage. It involved a lot of climbing and rope work, and one of the oaks was pretty rotten. Here’s the related little saw story that I find interesting.

The friend is retiring. He gets pretty sick from exhaust exposure and is throwing in the towel after about 40 years of climbing and running saws for a living. He wears a mask now when he’s running a gas saw. Currently, he has a battery Oregon saw that he uses for climbing, an old ms250, and a 66. The 66 is hooked up to an Alaska mill, in use by one of his helpers, and wasn’t at my place. He calls it “stinky” because it smokes a lot. The ms250 was acting up when his helper and I were brushing and bucking limbs, so the helper and I were trading between my two saws until my ms361 started acting up, too. At the time for dropping the trees, my friend got my ms361 to fire up and we got the first tree on the ground with no problems. The second oak, we rigged a come-along to help counter lean. tied at the top of the tree. We knew this tree had a little rot at least showing on the outside bark, but his notch only showed a little piece of bad wood at center. When cutting the back cut, the tree started pinching the bar about half way through the planned cut. He stopped, set the saw down idling, and scurried to check on our rope tension. While retieing the come-along, my idling saw died. We got the rope set up, and I fetched some wedges. The saw still had fue but would not fire up. He could have finished his back cut with my other saw, but instead, he drove in the wedges, noticed how easily they went it, then came back to us and we pulled the tree over with about 4-6 inches of hinge/ “holding” wood left. The holding wood was all rotten and stayed with the tree. He said that my saw dropped him a hint that a saw was no longer the right tool to get the oak safely on the ground.... we did some initial troubleshooting and couldn’t get the spark plug in my saw or his ms250 to spark. Hopefully, that’s the only problem with the saws.

Here’s a picture showing the “hinge/holding wood” attached to the wrong side.

[bodywhomper]

Saw problems.

My old ms361 is acting up. Currently, engine floods often. The ease of flooding the engine is a known issue for this saw that I’ve sometimes struggled with in the past, but not recently until the past few days.

A few days ago, i replaced the spark plug (see earlier post) because it was pretty fouled, and I adjusted the idle LA setting and L setting a little bit because it seemed to be idling too rich and stalling when idling. It ran well for a few tanks and a day and a half after that.

Then came flooding issues yesterday afternoon and today. Today, I started tearing down the saw and carb, but I’m wondering if I’m heading in the right direction to troubleshoot and fix it up.

Today, I gave one pull fully choked (I didn’t hear a blip of anything), then quickly set to the high throttle/half choke setting and started pulling with no results. (Yesterday, in the late morning, it fired up super easy this way (like 3 total pulls). I removed the spark plug, it was wet. With saw control in “on” setting, plug out, I held the saw plug-hole down and pulled many times to clear out the piston. I wiped the plug dry and walked away to do something else to let the piston dry even more. I put it all back together, and I tried starting with the half choke/high throttle setting (didn’t use the fully choked setting this time) and got no firing. I pulled out the spark plug and it’s soaked. Maybe I’m missing a fundamental about my saw’s function (totally possible) but my understanding is that the piston should not be filling with fuel in that setting (it’s also the “warm start” setting) and that maybe something is stuck like a needle valve in my carb that’ll allow a lot of fuel to get into the saw when in that setting.

When my saw is warmed up, I always pull start it from the “on” setting and not the “warm start” half throttle/high idle setting. I’ve been using the saw the past week in 90+* air temps and low humidity.

While I have the saw broken and carb broken down, should I do anything else?

I’ve been using ethanol-free gas for many tanks (months).

I’m on my phone. I hope that all made sense.

Thoughts?

[char_]

Saw problems.

My old ms361 is acting up. Currently, engine floods often. The ease of flooding the engine is a known issue for this saw that I’ve sometimes struggled with in the past, but not recently until the past few days.

A few days ago, i replaced the spark plug (see earlier post) because it was pretty fouled, and I adjusted the idle LA setting and L setting a little bit because it seemed to be idling too rich and stalling when idling. It ran well for a few tanks and a day and a half after that.

Then came flooding issues yesterday afternoon and today. Today, I started tearing down the saw and carb, but I’m wondering if I’m heading in the right direction to troubleshoot and fix it up.

Today, I gave one pull fully choked (I didn’t hear a blip of anything), then quickly set to the high throttle/half choke setting and started pulling with no results. (Yesterday, in the late morning, it fired up super easy this way (like 3 total pulls). I removed the spark plug, it was wet. With saw control in “on” setting, plug out, I held the saw plug-hole down and pulled many times to clear out the piston. I wiped the plug dry and walked away to do something else to let the piston dry even more. I put it all back together, and I tried starting with the half choke/high throttle setting (didn’t use the fully choked setting this time) and got no firing. I pulled out the spark plug and it’s soaked. Maybe I’m missing a fundamental about my saw’s function (totally possible) but my understanding is that the piston should not be filling with fuel in that setting (it’s also the “warm start” setting) and that maybe something is stuck like a needle valve in my carb that’ll allow a lot of fuel to get into the saw when in that setting.

When my saw is warmed up, I always pull start it from the “on” setting and not the “warm start” half throttle/high idle setting. I’ve been using the saw the past week in 90+* air temps and low humidity.

While I have the saw broken and carb broken down, should I do anything else?

I’ve been using ethanol-free gas for many tanks (months).

I’m on my phone. I hope that all made sense.

Thoughts?

Are you getting a spark? You can ground the plug to the piston head (don't do this with fuel everywhere obviously).

When is the last time you put a new air filter on?

Fucking with the carb settings to fix problems always led to saws that didn't run right in my experience.

[LHutz Esq]

Sounds like it could be a needle/seat issue? If the seat and or needle gets worn it will allow too much fuel through.


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