Chainsaw mill saw question

Jking

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It seems weird to post here but this forum is full of people with a variety of knowledge. I just bought a chainsaw mill to use on my property. It is all pine and juniper and the largest that I will mill is likely 20 inches or less in diameter. I have a Stihl MS 301 that is not powerful enough (59 cc) so I am looking at getting a new saw. The local shop made some recommendations but they really just seemed like they were naming off random saws without any real thought.

I am seriously thinking about the Stihl MS 462. Hopefully someone on here has experience with chainsaw milling and can help me make a smart choice. Thanks.
 
We use 460 series saws at work. We do not mill with them but cut trees that come down and use them for fire suppression activities like cutting holes in roofs (comp, tin and aluminum backed with carbide chains).

They have a ton of power and for 20 inch trees should be more than adequate. Chain selection is almost as important as saw power in your operation. Skip tooth chain may be your friend for milling. We downgrade out bars to 20" and they have 66 teeth on a normal chain. If you were to remove half those teeth you almost double the saws power. Less teeth biting the material at one time requires less power.
 
It seems weird to post here but this forum is full of people with a variety of knowledge. I just bought a chainsaw mill to use on my property. It is all pine and juniper and the largest that I will mill is likely 20 inches or less in diameter. I have a Stihl MS 301 that is not powerful enough (59 cc) so I am looking at getting a new saw. The local shop made some recommendations but they really just seemed like they were naming off random saws without any real thought.

I am seriously thinking about the Stihl MS 462. Hopefully someone on here has experience with chainsaw milling and can help me make a smart choice. Thanks.
I have a mill with a 32" bar. Get the biggest power head you can afford. I have a Sthil MS 661. I wouldn't want anything smaller. I'm usually milling 20"-24" diameter logs in the Northwest. Get purpose-made ripping chains. There are a couple good brands besides Granberg.
 
I have a mill with a 32" bar. Get the biggest power head you can afford. I have a Sthil MS 661. I wouldn't want anything smaller. I'm usually milling 20"-24" diameter logs in the Northwest. Get purpose-made ripping chains. There are a couple good brands besides Granberg.
We're not too far apart. I'm in Oregon. For me 20 inch would be the exception. Mostly it will be 12 to 16 inch logs. The 661 is a lot of money but its more expensive to buy the 462 then still not have enough saw and buy the bigger one anyway. We did one log with my dad's Echo and a ripping chain. I just don't think that saw will last long because it was working too hard. I wouldn't even try my smaller stihl on it. I am having a hard time letting go of the money. Lol

What brands make the chains you like? For my other chains I just have the local shop make them up for me but they don't do ripping chains. Not many people running geese mills around here I guess.
 
We use 460 series saws at work. We do not mill with them but cut trees that come down and use them for fire suppression activities like cutting holes in roofs (comp, tin and aluminum backed with carbide chains).

They have a ton of power and for 20 inch trees should be more than adequate. Chain selection is almost as important as saw power in your operation. Skip tooth chain may be your friend for milling. We downgrade out bars to 20" and they have 66 teeth on a normal chain. If you were to remove half those teeth you almost double the saws power. Less teeth biting the material at one time requires less power.
You are working those saws hard then but I suspect its a different kind of wear than holding them wide open throttle for several minutes on a mill. I don't know for sure. I think just running a carbide chain works the saw harder too.
 
What brands make the chains you like? For my other chains I just have the local shop make them up for me but they don't do ripping chains. Not many people running geese mills around here I guess.
Woodland PRO has been good. I got some on Amazon. Get more than one, because they dull fast and sometimes you would rather change the chain than sharpen it in place. I should clarify that all brands of ripping chains dull fast.
 
I don't recommend carbide for your operation. I would use a ripping or skip tooth chain though.

Depending on what we are doing they can be wide open for quite a while and often better part of 12 hour days or longer. Summer time we are doing a lot more conventional work, falling, limbing and clearing dead and down. All of which we do with conventional tooth chain. The fire service settled on the 461/2 (used to be the 440s) because of the reliability under severe use.

Having used a wide variety of stihls the power increase into the 461/2 is pretty noticeable. I have run the bigger saws also but many of the factors that go into what will work for what you are doing at this point will be determined by bar/chain size. You can always rent a 461 and see how you like it for what you are doing. If it's close to working as a rental you can dial it in with chain and bar selection.
 
I was using my MS362 and it did ok, until I got my MS661. What a difference. I could easily stall the chain on the 362 but in pine I can push the 661 almost as hard as I can with a 32" bar (about 26" or cut capacity) and not stall the chain. It's nice because both saws are 3/8 and use the same bar mount so I can swap bars / chains easily. My 661 stays in the mill most of the time and I keep the 362 for trimming and regular saw use, fire wood and felling. I have 20", 25", 32" and 42" bars. I use either chisel chain, skip tooth or preferably ripping chain. I've had good luck with Oregon and woodland pro chains off amazon. I have also been using the premix Husqvarna fuel. Its expensive but I have not been able to find a source of ethanol free 92 (or more) octane fuel in my area. It also keeps for a very long time and has synthetic oil in it. In my opinion, running a "Pro" saw for 5-15 minutes (or a whole tank of fuel) at wide open, the good fuel is affordable (not cheap) insurance. The 661 can put quite a bit of oil out as well which is important for the longer than normal bars milling requires. a 32" bar is probably beyond what a 462 oil pump is made to accommodate. I feel the 661 was worth the money.

On a side note its an addicting hobby and I am already looking at bandmills (or making my own).
 
I was using my MS362 and it did ok, until I got my MS661. What a difference. I could easily stall the chain on the 362 but in pine I can push the 661 almost as hard as I can with a 32" bar (about 26" or cut capacity) and not stall the chain. It's nice because both saws are 3/8 and use the same bar mount so I can swap bars / chains easily. My 661 stays in the mill most of the time and I keep the 362 for trimming and regular saw use, fire wood and felling. I have 20", 25", 32" and 42" bars. I use either chisel chain, skip tooth or preferably ripping chain. I've had good luck with Oregon and woodland pro chains off amazon. I have also been using the premix Husqvarna fuel. Its expensive but I have not been able to find a source of ethanol free 92 (or more) octane fuel in my area. It also keeps for a very long time and has synthetic oil in it. In my opinion, running a "Pro" saw for 5-15 minutes (or a whole tank of fuel) at wide open, the good fuel is affordable (not cheap) insurance. The 661 can put quite a bit of oil out as well which is important for the longer than normal bars milling requires. a 32" bar is probably beyond what a 462 oil pump is made to accommodate. I feel the 661 was worth the money.

On a side note its an addicting hobby and I am already looking at bandmills (or making my own).
I already had to stop myself looking at band saw mills. My wife thinks I'm crazy because I'm looking at ways to make a kiln at home.
 
I too already have a kiln drawn up in my head...
 
You'll want to use the biggest, fastest saw you can handle. You can get good ripping chains from Baileys woodsman supply. You'll actually be cross-cutting end grain, which is why the chain dulls fast, but they call them ripping chains. Make sure your saw oils the chain real good. My milling saw was over 6 cubic inches.
I've cut a lot of pine with a chainsaw mill. It's a lot of work, but you can make some nice boards. There are some tricks to make it a little easier (remote throttle, helper handle, winch setup) I made 1x12 siding for my hunting cabin with the chainsaw mill.
I eventually got a bandsaw mill, and made wide-plank flooring for my house. But then it got stolen ? Still looking for it.
My latest mill has a 5' diameter circular blade and runs off a 6 cyl Chrysler engine. I haven't set this one up yet, need to recruit some younger members of the family. ?
My friend had a kiln he made from the box off a refer truck, worked good.
 
You'll want to use the biggest, fastest saw you can handle. You can get good ripping chains from Baileys woodsman supply. You'll actually be cross-cutting end grain, which is why the chain dulls fast, but they call them ripping chains. Make sure your saw oils the chain real good. My milling saw was over 6 cubic inches.
I've cut a lot of pine with a chainsaw mill. It's a lot of work, but you can make some nice boards. There are some tricks to make it a little easier (remote throttle, helper handle, winch setup) I made 1x12 siding for my hunting cabin with the chainsaw mill.
I eventually got a bandsaw mill, and made wide-plank flooring for my house. But then it got stolen ? Still looking for it.
My latest mill has a 5' diameter circular blade and runs off a 6 cyl Chrysler engine. I haven't set this one up yet, need to recruit some younger members of the family. ?
My friend had a kiln he made from the box off a refer truck, worked good.
Great info. Thanks for that. I think it would be fun to have a more serious mill. Post a picture when you get the new one set up. So far we have done just one pine tree and one juniper. Both made beautiful wood.
 
All good info above. Definitely go with the biggest saw you can afford. I’ve been milling with my husqvarna 395xp for about 8 years now. I wouldn’t consider using a smaller saw. (I always have an eye out for a 3120xp) I’ve milled hundreds of boards from pine to oak. I built a 12x16 post and beam shed in my back yard, all with alaska milled pine. I’ve always run 93 octane (with ethanol, all that is available here) and husqy sunthetic oil. Saw has more compression now than when it was new. If you’re serious about it, highly recommend getting a spinner and breaker and a spool of chain. Also, a chain grinder saves hours of hand filing.
 
All good info above. Definitely go with the biggest saw you can afford. I’ve been milling with my husqvarna 395xp for about 8 years now. I wouldn’t consider using a smaller saw. (I always have an eye out for a 3120xp) I’ve milled hundreds of boards from pine to oak. I built a 12x16 post and beam shed in my back yard, all with alaska milled pine. I’ve always run 93 octane (with ethanol, all that is available here) and husqy sunthetic oil. Saw has more compression now than when it was new. If you’re serious about it, highly recommend getting a spinner and breaker and a spool of chain. Also, a chain grinder saves hours of hand filing.
Awesome. Thanks. So far we have been using a 60 cc Echo that they made up until 1987 so a new saw is in the works. I'm almost certainly going to get a Stihl 462. All of the Stihl professional saws are backordered. I'll likely stay with Stihl anyway because that is the only brand with a shop in my town. I like having support locally. Plus I use a Stihl 310 for firewood already.

Good point on the grinder. Its already starting to add up. I'll have to research those some because I've never used one.

Thanks
 
I have an MS880, its a bit of an expense, but time is money and you are not stalling it.
 
All chainsaws are divided into domestic, professional and semi-professional. Domestic saws are designed for cutting firewood, down trees on the site. Their power is usually less than 2 kW. This`s quite enough for simple everyday tasks. You won`t be able to cut down centuries-old pines with their help, but to cut down the limbs of fruit trees in the homestead plot, they are quite capable. So choose a professional one. I use this model https://trimthatweed.com/husqvarna-450-chainsaw-review/ on my property. It handles all tasks perfectly.
 
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