Chain saw Mods?

[T-Dozzer]

I knew I would lose some bar length, but though it was closer to 2".
Great info, thank you.

I just went and measured mine, 36” bar on a 660 with spikes in place and I am at 28” cut width.

Alright Ill go with the 36" on the granberg.
I have a beat up 044 with a 36" bar as a back up saw. Still not sure if my 461 can pull off the 32" bar I have for it. What do you think? I planned on buying a 25" lightweight bar as well.
I ordered a chainguide dresser.

A buddy told me to look up a shop called  "westcoast saws" for any work. Not sure on their details.
Appreciate your feedback

[j_h_nimrod]

We used an 046 with a 32” bar for years cutting cured yellow cedar and had no issues.  Keep the chain sharp and adjust your rate of cut so you can keep the saw pretty wound up. Make sure the Oiler is maxed as others have said. If you are needing to push hard to get it to cut then stop and try to figure out the issue, it should cut with no more than moderate pressure needed.

Milling chains are typically at least semi-skip, ground at ~5* across the cutter, and usually have a shallower raker depth (.045 vs .060 IIRC). They make more of a dust than a chip and produce a smoother plank without as much wastage, narrows your kerf by about 3/32” which adds up on the amount of sawdust and gains you a bit if you are trying to cut thin boards.

Use wedges on longer cuts to keep pressure of the back side teeth, not sure if it really matters but I have always done it anyway.

Best cutting I ever did was a 4” thick x maximum width (~25”) yellow cedar slab ~40’ long. I’ll have to see if I can find the pictures.

[T-Dozzer]

Sounds like you have some experience under your belt. Thanks for sharing!

[LG]

Scott was the guy at harpers in Roslyn, he retired. I haven’t run one but putting a 460 coil on those 461’s is supposed to make a big difference. Also with those light bars when you’re bucking it is a lot harder to match up your cuts than with a standard Oregon bar, I don’t know if you would have the same problem milling or not.

[T-Dozzer]

Scott was the guy at harpers in Roslyn, he retired. I haven’t run one but putting a 460 coil on those 461’s is supposed to make a big difference. Also with those light bars when you’re bucking it is a lot harder to match up your cuts than with a standard Oregon bar, I don’t know if you would have the same problem milling or not.

Spoke to a guy down at westcoast saws. He recommended only putting on a dual port muffler plate to reduce heat and not do anything else as it could increase heat in saw. Makes it easy for me.

[T-Dozzer]

HD air filter setup, DP muffler and tune. That’s the most bang for your buck. After that your cost/gain ratio falls off. 046 is a great saw but your still going to be limited on your log size for milling 24” or so? Granberg chain makes a nice smooth cut but it’s expensive and takes time to sharpen. Baileys ripping chain doesn’t provide as smooth of cut but cuts fast,sharpens fast and fairly cheap. I’m selling a 288xp (good milling saw) pm me if interested. Make sure you turn your bar oil output up when milling.

Yeah, air in/out was pretty much all Im after. Along with a compression check etc...
The saw came with a 32" bar, but I planned on using around a 25" bar for milling. I'll probably just go with the 30" alaskan mill.
Learning as I go...

I used a pretty stock 046 with 32” bar for years and had good luck milling.  I would recommend going with the 36” mill frame though, I always found bigger wood I wanted to cut and the longer mill runs fine with shorter bars.

If you leave your bucking spikes on the saw about the biggest wood you will be able to cut with a 25” bar is 18”, you lose about 4” for the front and another 2-3” at the rear. Removing the spikes will gain you ~1.5”.

Keep an eye on your bar rails and invest in a rail dresser or learn to clean them up with a file. Milling is rough on a bar and has a tendency to start making your rails wear unevenly and then your cuts go to crap and it is a fight. Also a small burr on the edge of the rail can almost stop your progress and make you pissed until you figure out that little burr is catching wood in the kerf.

It is a lot of fun, good luck!

That rail dresser is nice. Cleaned up 4  bars last night.