What's better for milling?

[Lightning Performance]

90 ccs is enough. I switched to an 084. It is the lightest saw made that big. I have a bad back. Buy the 660 oe and a big saw later. You will need the full wrap R HO oil pump and a muffler mod to mill with the 066/660 large crank saw. 40mm with big bearings. Or just go buy a new 3120 and get to it with that block of all orange.
661 if you don't like to tune a saw for work.

 

[huskyhank]

Chainsaw milling is a good way to get lumber that you might not be able to otherwise. Things like big live edge slabs, etc. For wood you can buy from a lumberyard, its probably not worth the effort or expense to mill your own. Even if you have free trees to start with.

You might check around for local bandsaw milling folks. It might be worth having them come to your trees and make some lumber for you.

 

[MustangMike]

While I think the 500i and 7900 are great all around saws, I agree with the comments that milling is very tough on saws, and light weight spring AV saws are not ideal for this task.

I would recommend either a 395 or 660 for milling. They can be had for not that much (used) and are very durable saws.

I also thing square file chain works much better, and drop your rakers more than normal. Milling is a whole different thing than cross cutting wood, especially when the diameter increases in hardwoods.

If the mill is wide enough, I often try to work it angling left then right to avoid always taking a "full bite" of wood, and take the pressure off now and then to let things cool and properly re oil.

The advantage of a chainsaw mill is low cost, and you can access logs that would not be accessible by other means.

 

[heimannm]

 

[Bigmac]

View attachment 272837

That’s what I was thinking! Dual powerhead mill...ftw! Lol Mark, did you get that bar on one of your Oregon trips, I they are/were made near here


I am considering some milling too, have been thinking dual 660’s, lots of parts and I have two.lol

 

[heimannm]

It came to me from Sheldon, he said they had two 795's on it, that's 206 cc connected.

Mark

 

[Al Smith]

I've said before I've used a Stihl 048 that wasn't very good at all . Mac 125 at best on 12-14 " white oak it could do about foot a minute using standard round chisel . I was given a Grandberg mini mill which was the only reason I even tried it . I cut two planks, 3" thick 8 feet long and they weighed a ton .I'm not even sure where they are, maybe my shop which is 22 miles away .

 

[av8or3]

I’ve heard it said that a large mass to help dissipate heat is a prerequisite for milling saw. Like the larger
and more powerful bigcc saws all seem to have. The 500i absolutely misses the mark there. I wasn’t around when it was designed, but I’ll bet they never considered it would be used for milling. Don’t know anything about the 7900.