My first milling

[mdavlee]

You can mill with skip. Just have to lower the rakers a little more to bite when milling.

 

[MustangMike]

When I stripped the bark off the 2" thick pieces of Shag Hickory, I notice it would likely make for some wicked wicker work. Anyone got any experience or advice on using this bark for wicker? Gotta be a way to soften it up so you can bend it into shape, warm water???

 

[MustangMike]

Al, did you ever get the time to return to your milling?

 

[MustangMike]

Did some more splitting today for next year's wood, and made 4 more Shag Hickory Boards (2" X 7' about 8" wide).

Took a pic of the Brewster location I'm working from up on the hill, along with the new pool they installed.

Above the right of the pool is a 7' Shag Hickory log that still needs to be milled. Above the pool just left of center are the boards I milled today, then the 12' large diameter Red Oak (over 40" on the big end), then above it, in the woods, another Red Oak log that will become boards or firewood, the firewood pile for this year (five cords have already been removed), above that in the woods is a Pig Nut Hickory log that will be milled or made into fire wood, then a stack of pallets and the split wood for next years fire wood.

With the remaining logs, I plan to mill any straight sections w/o branches that are 6' or more, and make firewood of the rest.

The firewood at the Brewster location is all Oak, Hard Maple, Hickory, Black Birch, sand Beech.

I've only been to the Carmel location once this year to bring some firewood to my daughter, but have Red Oak, White Oak, and Cherry over there. Have to do some cutting there when I have the time.

 

[RI Chevy]

Looks like nice Country there Mike

 

[MustangMike]

Thanks, the owner (standing in the pic) has about 2 acres, and lots of trees. I've known his parents since he was just a squirt, and now they are down in FL, and he and his wife have triplets. Been cutting wood at that location for 3 years now, a lot of nice trees.

 

[MustangMike]

Made some more boards on Thurs, 4 more Shag Hickory (2" thick, 7' long), then started on some Red Oak. Made 2 boards 7' long, 2" X 19". Hickory is harder, but the Oak is wider, and really made my saws work!

The Oak is in the pic, cut a 7' piece from the log, and some of it remains after taking 2 sides & 2 full thick pieces from it.

 

[MustangMike]

This is not all of the 2" boards I have cut, but it is most of them. Shag Hickory, Pig Nut (Smooth Bark) Hickory, and a couple pieces of Red Oak.

None of them are light, but had to move them all myself, and one of the slab sides from the Red Oak (top left) almost made me drop a nut!

I also have to seal the ends.

 

[RI Chevy]

Nice job Mike. Looks good.

 

[MustangMike]

I did another 2" X 18" x 7' Red Oak board today when I went over to PU a 1/2 cord of fire wood that I will deliver tomorrow morning.

Even thought the board came out nice, I have come to the conclusion that 18" of Red Oak is more than I care to mill with a 77 cc saw. I am gonna narrow this log before I cut any more boards from it, I just don't want to kill my saws. Besides, I could use a 4" wide piece for legs.

If I get a 90 cc, we will see what it is comfortable with.

 

[TimRD]

That's some nice work. You have a good bit of lumber stacked there.

Just try that 660 out before you give it back. You will need to make sure it's all working correctly...right?

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[mdavlee]

I did another 2" X 18" x 7' Red Oak board today when I went over to PU a 1/2 cord of fire wood that I will deliver tomorrow morning.

Even thought the board came out nice, I have come to the conclusion that 18" of Red Oak is more than I care to mill with a 77 cc saw. I am gonna narrow this log before I cut any more boards from it, I just don't want to kill my saws. Besides, I could use a 4" wide piece for legs.

If I get a 90 cc, we will see what it is comfortable with.

That shouldn't be a problem with a 460. None of my chains fit my 394 with the bars I have so a 24x20 sycamore is going to be milled by it again today. Just keep it tuned down around 13-13.3k and go at it.

 

[MustangMike]

Sycamore is far softer than Red Oak, I don't think I would have as much problem with it.

The 9 & 10" Hickory was not a problem, I notice the faster the saw goes, the smoother the cut.

I'm still learning, will try different things.

While I would like a 90 cc saw, I'm not going to mill with someone else's saw, but I till try it out on something! He seems smitten with the 044 I loaned him, asked me to show him how to do square file, etc, so we will see.

 

[mdavlee]

Correct. It is gummy and harder to clear chips. I've milled cherry and oak that wide with mine. Barely slower than a 660. A 394 is a step up but I don't have chains to fit my bars that I can find so I'm stuck not milling it or using the 660 with a front muffler outlet.

 

[MustangMike]

I just got the 660 dp covers, gotta say I much prefer the 046 style! Oh well.

One of the posts for my upstate cabin is Cherry, the rest are Ash. Whey you drill a 1/2 hole in the Cherry, it goes 2X faster than drilling the Ash.

 

[TimRD]

I can vouch for that. I milled some 30" ash with my 660 and it was really working. The tree had been standing dead for a couple years so it was already pretty dry. It is also the fastest splitting wood I have seen. Within an hour the ends started to split on that stuff.

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[mdavlee]

Ash is hard. I've milled a good bit of it in the 16-18" wide. 7900 was what I used and it was faster than a 395. It was turning about 10.5-11k in the wood.

 

[MustangMike]

I decided that big 40" by 13' Oak Log was too much of a problem to mill, and I have other (smaller) Oak & Hickory to mill, so my Dr Al 460 got the 36" bar and cut it all to length. It also noodled some of the rounds with the 24" bar.

Also used my Smittybuilt 046 to mill some of that smaller Oak log. I cut it to only 12" wide and milled 2 boards, works a lot better than trying to make 19" wide boards.

 

[MustangMike]

Milled a couple of more 12" Oak boards today with my Smittybilt 046, finished cutting the rounds up with my 440, then noodled 12 of them is about as many minutes with my MMWS 460 (it takes turns with my Dr Al 460). The 046 (with a 24" wide nose bar) mills the 12" X 7' boards in about 5 minutes each.

I gotta say, those ported 77 cc saws with square file chain make things go so much faster than stock saws and regular chain like I used to use!

Then the splitting began, and although I really like my splitter, it is very time consuming! But we are making progress.

 

[quietfly]

Looking good up there!!!