Looking to get into milling

[Wolverine]

Finally got a few hours of free time and good weather today. Made my first slabs. Decided to start with some madrone. Selected a 52" log about 12" diameter.

Used a straight 6' 2x6 screwed down and wedged as a guide. Not ideal, but it worked. Used a 28" bar and Woodland Pro ripping chain. Cut two 9/4 slabs and one 5/4. I'm hooked!
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Awesome! So what did ya think of the process? Did anything take you for surprise?
One thing that I wasn't expecting was the fumes. I ended up changing oil brands till I found one that didn't irritate me as bad and I also try to have a leaf blower on hand to direct exhaust away from my head.

 

[Dougbert]

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to cut. I know green madrone is much easier than dry (I've cut my share of both for firewood). The first cut setup was slow for me. Subsequent cuts were more challenging to start accurately without guide overhang to help. Depth adjustments on the mill are a bit of a fiddle.

Fumes, yeah. I ran 40:1 so there were some. I didn't mind much. I was surprised how well my first cut turned out, frankly. Fun stuff!

 

[Altamaha]

Madrone. Dropped a Madrone several years for firewood. Split most of it green, left a few trunk sections for later. Dried it was a beast to split with the hand maul.

Dougbert, Nice looking wood once milled! I will keep my eye out for a Madrone that needs to come down.

Good comment about blowing fumes away. I will set of one of my big shop fans just in case the fumes get nasty.

 

[Stihl Potlicker]

@Dougbert I put a hand winch on mine. then i put a loose zip tie over trigger, so i am out of the fumes better. but the winch came in handy for that log in the background

 

[muggy461]

@Dougbert I put a hand winch on mine. then i put a loose zip tie over trigger, so i am out of the fumes better. but the winch came in handy for that log in the background

+1 for the winch!

 

[Dougbert]

I'm keeping it simple for now. Weather isn't cooperating tomorrow so I plan to touch up my chain, adjust my oiler, and work on a DIY aux oiler setup. Got some tubing, valves, fittings, etc. and wife donated a nice 16oz drinking bottle. That plus my junk collection might be enough to get 'er dun.

 

[jacob j.]

Finally got a few hours of free time and good weather today. Made my first slabs. Decided to start with some madrone. Selected a 52" log about 12" diameter.

Used a straight 6' 2x6 screwed down and wedged as a guide. Not ideal, but it worked. Used a 28" bar and Woodland Pro ripping chain. Cut two 9/4 slabs and one 5/4. I'm hooked!
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Looking good so far Doug. It looks like you're getting a good kerf pattern with your ripping chain.

 

[BrettL]

If any of you have a Northern Tool store close, they sell a decent peavey. I have one and it's very robust. They also sell off brand Alaskan mills, I dont know what kind of quality they are.

 

[Dougbert]

I have ordered a few things from NT over the years and used to get their catalog. I think that may be where I first found out about Alaskan mills. I ended up getting a 60" steel LogRite cant hook from Bailey's. It will outlast me!

Weather here is killing me. Rain last weekend. Rain this weekend. I'm ready to mill, damnit.

 

[BrettL]

I have ordered a few things from NT over the years and used to get their catalog. I think that may be where I first found out about Alaskan mills. I ended up getting a 60" steel LogRite cant hook from Bailey's. It will outlast me!

Weather here is killing me. Rain last weekend. Rain this weekend. I'm ready to mill, damnit.

I hear ya. The fields are soft here and it's too warm to drive on them. I want a hard freeze! Unfortunately, we have more 50 degree weather and 2 or 3 ways of rain forecasted.

 

[Dougbert]

Got a few more hours of free time and good weather today. Milled two more madrone logs both just under 3' long. The bigger one was 19" at its wide point. Only had 1/2" of clearance with the 28" bar. Could probably get another inch plus on the tip end, but I'm paranoid about pinching the roller.

Got two 13/4 slabs from the smaller log and two 9/4 and two 5/4 from the big one.

Things I learned: a round nose shovel is a decent bark spud and mud remover. You can never have too many wooden wedges and scrap wood of various thicknesses when setting up a wooden guide on lumpy logs. Madrone is usually pretty lumpy. Yes, tightening the chain on a 288xp in the mill is damned near impossible. Thinking about a custom tool mod for that. Chaps are nice, but heavy. My legs were sweating and it was only around 60F.

I'll sleep well tonight after slathering on some Ben-Gay and taking ibuprofen. Tiring, but enjoyable. Still need to finish my aux oiler project...

 

[Dougbert]

More pics. The center slab from the big log had awesome grain.

 

[Altamaha]

Good looking wood.

And to think, many years ago I dropped a large Madrone and cut it up for firewood. Two mistakes: One, I did not know how hard Madrone was to split with a maul!!!!
And two, I had never heard of the Alaska Mill and had no ideal of how nice the color and grain would be.

There is a huge Madrone in the center of town, I will take a photo next time I am near. Of curse it is untouchable, sort of a local legend and has a historical sign next to the trunk. Sure would love to have a section of the trunk!

 

[Stihl Potlicker]

If any of you have a Northern Tool store close, they sell a decent peavey. I have one and it's very robust. They also sell off brand Alaskan mills, I dont know what kind of quality they are.

i made my 60" mill from free 80/20 from work. i am sure they are just as good as the Alaskan, just less expensive.

 

[BrettL]

i made my 60" mill from free 80/20 from work. i am sure they are just as good as the Alaskan, just less expensive.

I'm keeping an eye out for scrap that might work. I saved the bottom and top frame from an old storm door. I also have some long clamps from Harbor Freight that use aluminum channel.

 

[Dougbert]

Two logs, eleven slabs, one tired sawyer. Did a 36" and 40" today. One was the base of the big tree and it had a small hollow which I arranged to put in one slab. I'm pretty beat.

 

[Dougbert]

More pics. Check out my three saw plan!

 

[Al Smith]

Some of the Macs have great torque and will plug right along. It’s still an old platform though to get parts for

If I had a choice of saw killing it certainly would be a 288 instead of a Mac 125 or 797 .Blasphemy I say ,unforgivable .

 

[Semotony]

Got a few more hours of free time and good weather today. Milled two more madrone logs both just under 3' long. The bigger one was 19" at its wide point. Only had 1/2" of clearance with the 28" bar. Could probably get another inch plus on the tip end, but I'm paranoid about pinching the roller.

Got two 13/4 slabs from the smaller log and two 9/4 and two 5/4 from the big one.

Things I learned: a round nose shovel is a decent bark spud and mud remover. You can never have too many wooden wedges and scrap wood of various thicknesses when setting up a wooden guide on lumpy logs. Madrone is usually pretty lumpy. Yes, tightening the chain on a 288xp in the mill is damned near impossible. Thinking about a custom tool mod for that. Chaps are nice, but heavy. My legs were sweating and it was only around 60F.

I'll sleep well tonight after slathering on some Ben-Gay and taking ibuprofen. Tiring, but enjoyable. Still need to finish my aux oiler project...

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Nice work; I've found 2 ways of extending the throat of a CS'mill. 1st is drilling a 1/4" hole in the center of the rivets. Allows a schedule8 bolt to feed into d&t 1" square aluminum bar for the upright. Or with circle marked onto upper & lower clamps grind away outside of circle to keep the clamped area on the rivets and then off the turning area of the sprocket
Enjoy safely

 

[Dougbert]

I have one easier way...mount my 36" bar. . But seriously, I'm aware of the center drilling option. Never heard of the second one. Wouldn't that effectively reduce the clamped area to just the rivets? Would that be more likely to slip than using the full clamping pads?