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Noodling: milling or crosscut chain

JMoney

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Sort of a spin off from the 3rd world milling thread, Hammered states he uses a 15 degree top plate angle to do his freehand milling work, doing noodling cuts with the grain.

Just wondering for those who noodle a lot, since I'm a wimp with a maul and like to make firewood 2-4 feet in length depending and don't want to buy a splitter. Would I be better off setting up or buying a milling chain for my noodling cuts? Probably less than 50% of the cuts I make with the saw by a good bit, but well over 50% of the run time.

Thanks,
Justin
 

paragonbuilder

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Sort of a spin off from the 3rd world milling thread, Hammered states he uses a 15 degree top plate angle to do his freehand milling work, doing noodling cuts with the grain.

Just wondering for those who noodle a lot, since I'm a wimp with a maul and like to make firewood 2-4 feet in length depending and don't want to buy a splitter. Would I be better off setting up or buying a milling chain for my noodling cuts? Probably less than 50% of the cuts I make with the saw by a good bit, but well over 50% of the run time.

Thanks,
Justin

I did some tests a while back, and the only gain was smoothness of the cut. For firewood I stick with regular angles. If anything I'd switch to square ground chain. It's mostly all I use now


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Marshy

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I have no issues noodling with a cross cut chain but I've n never tried it with a milling chain. For your sake, because you are going to do a lot of cross cutting also, I would stick with using a cross cut chain. You can play with the top plate angle and see what you think but I think any advantage you get in noodling might be at the sake of efficiency in your cross cuts. Try 25 degrees and let us know.
 

JMoney

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Ahh, just going off something I saw on Madsens. I'll have to try it out with the granberg next chain. Mine will accept a triangle guide I believe.
 

paragonbuilder

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Ahh, just going off something I saw on Madsens. I'll have to try it out with the granberg next chain. Mine will accept a triangle guide I believe.

Might be worth getting one from someone that knows square to try and then you have something to match. First sq chain I tried sucked and I was turned off to it. Turns out it was just not filed well...
Icepick69 sells a good chain very reasonably


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JMoney

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I sense I may be about to open a big can o worms, but how would that be different from buying Oregon CL?
 

JMoney

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To be honest semi chisel is probably fine for my firewood needs. I was thinking of setting up one chain for noodling on the 359 and having one for crosscuts the 440 husq can't handle. Was also thinking round chisel would be fine for noodling (less dirt and bark) but it still seems to dull quickly. I did reset the top plate to 25 degrees with the granberg guide, so I'll see how that does this weekend.

I'm still quite curious how different hand filed/converted square is from off the roll square and why I would want to start with one vs the other. Also would a triangle in the granberg guide be a waste of time vs the w bevel free hand. I am very nearsighted and always seem to have trouble keeping lines and angles straight due to the amount of refraction in my glasses.
 

CR888

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Does the OP know the difference between milling & noodleing? Why would one consider 10° milling chain to noodle with? Am I confused....:idea::nusenuse:
 

JMoney

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I do. I hadn't until a gentleman who goes by Hammered who free hand mills using a with the grain or noodling technique does so with a 15 degree top plate angle.
 

Philbert

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Maybe @Philbert can be of help I know he's some where in the Dakotas.
I have limited personal experience with square filed / ground chain, so I will defer to others.

I do know that different angles are used on square filed and round filed chains, because the cutting bevels are different, so comparing these can be confusing.

The angles that dedicated milling chains are filed at, are also different than standard cross cutting chain.

So it would be best to compare these different chains by performance, rather than just by looking at the numbers.

Philbert
 
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paragonbuilder

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To be honest semi chisel is probably fine for my firewood needs. I was thinking of setting up one chain for noodling on the 359 and having one for crosscuts the 440 husq can't handle. Was also thinking round chisel would be fine for noodling (less dirt and bark) but it still seems to dull quickly. I did reset the top plate to 25 degrees with the granberg guide, so I'll see how that does this weekend.

I'm still quite curious how different hand filed/converted square is from off the roll square and why I would want to start with one vs the other. Also would a triangle in the granberg guide be a waste of time vs the w bevel free hand. I am very nearsighted and always seem to have trouble keeping lines and angles straight due to the amount of refraction in my glasses.

I was just referring to the possibility that your first hand converted chain may not impress you and you might give up. I've never used off the roll sq, just converted


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Wilhelm

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I find that my round filed chisel loops for bucking are great for noodling too.

Lately I am impressed how smoothly my Stihl Rapid Duro3 loop noodles, though it better be impressive considering how much it costs.
 
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