Logosol

[SpaceBus]

I'm also finding that the Carlton chains stretch significantly, which is not helping my cause. As I get better and better at sharpening the chains the saw moves through the cut faster and faster. For my last session I cranked the chain tension as much as I thought prudent and that seems to have helped significantly.

 

[Deets066]

Skip isn’t going to help you on a 20”or 24” bar.
Run whatever combo you want, and keep it sharp.

 

[Deets066]

You should get you a few double bevel files and just start filing. If you make it a point to learn it, after a while it’s second nature.

 

[SpaceBus]

You should get you a few double bevel files and just start filing. If you make it a point to learn it, after a while it’s second nature.

I'm not very good with hand filing. I bought the Granberg File N' Joint and Grind N' Joint because of this. When I started cutting firewood with my Husky 460 I bought one of the cheese Husky file guides and proceeded to really butcher three chains.

 

[Deets066]

I'm not very good with hand filing. I bought the Granberg File N' Joint and Grind N' Joint because of this. When I started cutting firewood with my Husky 460 I bought one of the cheese Husky file guides and proceeded to really butcher three chains.

A chain vise really helps.

 

[SpaceBus]

A chain vise really helps.

Right now I'm stuffing all of my gas tools in a 6x6 garden shed since it is all we have at the moment. Once we build a real shed I'll have a work bench for dirty stuff. Right now I use a hitch mounted table vise whenever I need to clamp the bar and my tail gate is a work bench. When I don't have any logs I lay boards across my log loading table for the mill and make that into a table. We basically bought a homestead built in 76 that was given up on right after it was built. We've actually demo'd more than we've built at this point!

 

[Lightning Performance]

Right now I'm stuffing all of my gas tools in a 6x6 garden shed since it is all we have at the moment. Once we build a real shed I'll have a work bench for dirty stuff. Right now I use a hitch mounted table vise whenever I need to clamp the bar and my tail gate is a work bench. When I don't have any logs I lay boards across my log loading table for the mill and make that into a table. We basically bought a homestead built in 76 that was given up on right after it was built. We've actually demo'd more than we've built at this point!

I stick my saw in the next tree to be removed when sharpening outside or a post.... on a lose table or tailgate, sucks! One bore cut in something solid and your all set to file chain. You can make up an in ground post with a clamp pretty quick.

Try Vicegrips in a vice, on your bench, bolted to a heavy slab or chunk of something. It does help like the man said.

I started with converting square on the bar and that was a bust. Much better in a solid mount with light and my 5x lens. Round is easy to file and is cut from the opposite direction. Get comfy with that outside in a solid mount and then switch to square. If your sharpening on the bar make your chain very tight first then loosen it after your done. Sharpening on the last third of the bar is usually better imo with the chain still on.

 

[SpaceBus]

I stick my saw in the next tree to be removed when sharpening outside or a post.... on a lose table or tailgate, sucks! One bore cut in something solid and your all set to file chain. You can make up an in ground post with a clamp pretty quick.

Try Vicegrips in a vice, on your bench, bolted to a heavy slab or chunk of something. It does help like the man said.

I started with converting square on the bar and that was a bust. Much better in a solid mount with light and my 5x lens. Round is easy to file and is cut from the opposite direction. Get comfy with that outside in a solid mount and then switch to square. If your sharpening on the bar make your chain very tight first then loosen it after your done. Sharpening on the last third of the bar is usually better imo with the chain still on.

Thanks for the tip about using the last third of the bar. I've been mounting my sharpening jig close up to the power head to make balance easier. Sometimes I clamp the bar in my vise with the powerhead resting on the tail gate of my truck and then I mount the jig closer to the tip.

We are on the top of a hill and all the flat ground has been taken over by trees, so I'm just working on reclaiming the fat areas and milling lumber to build a chicken coop, saw shed, and then a proper tool shed. Everything is very lumpy here. I didn't even own any power tools until we moved in here fall 2018. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much logging work done last winter, I was helping my wife recover from surgery. I really don't like doing tree work in the summer, but gotta work while I can. Hopefully this winter is cold and the ground freezes solid, skidding logs on ice/snow is much better than loam and clay.

 

[kneedeepinsaws]

I'm not very good with hand filing. I bought the Granberg File N' Joint and Grind N' Joint because of this. When I started cutting firewood with my Husky 460 I bought one of the cheese Husky file guides and proceeded to really butcher three chains.

This is how i learned to do it by making mistakes, i learn from mistakes
Unfortunatley it costs me, but in the end you get a really good understanding on how a chain works.

i havent touched my file and joint in a while. I went from husky guides with the rollers, to the file n joint, then straight up hand filing. Now im using your standard file guide setup and nothing else.

i will never go back to straight up hand filing or the jigs, I will only use the guide now as it gives you a superior edge. I do get the gullet by hand as the guide will not accommodate this.

get a guide with a 10 degree on it and keep your file 90 degres on chain

 

[SpaceBus]

This is how i learned to do it by making mistakes, i learn from mistakes
Unfortunatley it costs me, but in the end you get a really good understanding on how a chain works.

i havent touched my file and joint in a while. I went from husky guides with the rollers, to the file n joint, then straight up hand filing. Now im using your standard file guide setup and nothing else.

i will never go back to straight up hand filing or the jigs, I will only use the guide now as it gives you a superior edge. I do get the gullet by hand as the guide will not accommodate this.

get a guide with a 10 degree on it and keep your file 90 degres on chain

I'm thinking about using a file instead of a grinder on my ripping chain since I have both jigs. When I have some free time and I build a shed with a proper work bench I'll get one of those guides and a chain vise and really learn. The more I learn about square filed chains the more I want to set one up for my mill. The 25% faster cut speed also caught my wife's attention since she has to hear the mill as well.

 

[kneedeepinsaws]

If you are not setup with a bench vice, IMO it is a minimum. You will learn much much quicker with the saw and bar in a vice under stable conditions. I went months without a vice and it, well was ridiculous to say the least.
you can even get clamp on vices, and the standard stump vice is really good as well.
Best of luck

 

[beaglebriar]

If you plan to run 3/8 low profile chain you will need a bar and rim sprocket set up for it. .325 narrow kerf might also be something to look into.

 

[SpaceBus]

If you plan to run 3/8 low profile chain you will need a bar and rim sprocket set up for it. .325 narrow kerf might also be something to look into.

3/8 low pro runs on standard 3/8 equipment just fine. It's a .370 vs .375 profile.

 

[beaglebriar]

3/8 low pro runs on standard 3/8 equipment just fine. It's a .370 vs .375 profile.

If you say so. I can't believe LP would ride on a standard 3/8 sprocket nose worth crap. I suppose a hard nose would be fine. I have a box of Stihl picco here if you would like to try a loop. It's green chain so I'm not sure if it would be great for milling.

 

[Deets066]

3/8 low pro runs on standard 3/8 equipment just fine. It's a .370 vs .375 profile.

There is a difference, it’s hard on components

 

[SpaceBus]

There is a difference, it’s hard on components

You can tell Logosol to stop putting 63 PMX loops on brand new 660's and 880's. Also many folks on the Forestry forum run Stihl 3/8 LP (.370) on standard 3/8 (.375) equipment. Perhaps some old worn out sprockets would not do well with the LP stuff, but new stuff seems just fine.

 

[SpaceBus]

From my research over the past week about milling chains seems to be that the best option really is the Stihl 63 PMX or the Carlton chains I have. The semi chisel round ground cutters make a narrower kerf than full chisel and the 63 PMX chain could probably cut less than a 1/4" kerf with a worn chain. I'm getting pretty close to 1/4" with the Carlton loops, but I still want to get some 63 PMX when funds allow.

 

[Lightning Performance]

From my research over the past week about milling chains seems to be that the best option really is the Stihl 63 PMX or the Carlton chains I have. The semi chisel round ground cutters make a narrower kerf than full chisel and the 63 PMX chain could probably cut less than a 1/4" kerf with a worn chain. I'm getting pretty close to 1/4" with the Carlton loops, but I still want to get some 63 PMX when funds allow.

You do realize that running LP will almost require you to strip the bark. It does not like dirt at all. My main reason for going to 404 was dirt. These are not skidded logs just dirty by location from wind.

The LP will stretch a good bit but running it on new nose sprockets not designed for LP has a limited use imo. I'm going to try it on a new ES 114 in the next few weeks. Chisel seems like a waste of time because the cutters will overheat in hardwood imo. Semi chisel is the plan for longer bars with some cutters ground off the loop.
Running LP on standard 3/8" seven rims will chew up the drivers pretty fast... ask my 361 about that.

If you say so. I can't believe LP would ride on a standard 3/8 sprocket nose worth crap. I suppose a hard nose would be fine. I have a box of Stihl picco here if you would like to try a loop. It's green chain so I'm not sure if it would be great for milling.

Me thinks a hard nose will chew up the little LP chain chassis pretty quick but I can try it on 66ish dl.

Can give that green stuff a whirl if your willing to send over some from your roll.

375 + 4 presets


The one drawback imo will be the tiny 050 gauge rocks more in the bar. Not sure if will pull without breaking with zero ground chisel so ten degrees it is.

 

[Deets066]

Logosol used to make longer bars for Picco regular stihl mount. They got away from that though after a couple years.

 

[SpaceBus]

Maybe the Carlton is my best bet then. I'm pretty happy with the lumber when the guide rain and log bunks are all square. Any advice for building a saw shed on clay/glacial till? When I load up the mill with a pretty good size log it gets all out of square and I have to adjust everything again.