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Interesting approach --- I wouldn't have guessed that results would turn out as even as they seem to. I spent yesterday sawing some 20" cherry with an Alaskan

by nkurz 7y ago

Interesting approach --- I wouldn't have guessed that results would turn out as even as they seem to. I spent yesterday sawing some 20" cherry with an Alaskan Mill. I've finally got a good setup with a good saw (Stihl 462) but it's annoying how slow the process is even when it goes well. And it's discouraging how often one needs to resharpen the chain to cut effectively: at least every 30' of cut seems about right. His birch-stump-chainsaw-vice at 7:47 is incredible: https://youtu.be/8qz64ELkxdA?t=468 https://youtu.be/8qz64ELkxdA?t=468 I'm not convinced by his theory about why using the tip of the chainsaw helps. Rather than just being the effect of fewer teeth, I'm wondering if it might have a lot to do with the "increased effective raker depth" when the chain goes over the rounded tip. I'm still a bit confused how he starts the cut. Somewhere deep in the comments, he says: "First, you start a shallow straight cut along the guide wire with your chain saw’s tip. Once you have a shallow straight cut you start the swinging motions as shown in the video..." It seems like this would be essential, and hard. Guess I'll have to try it.

8bitsrule 7y ago
> how he starts the cut. He packs a whole lot into this vid; longest example of starting I found is a few seconds at 11:15.
- swader999 7y ago
  He really does. Impressed to see this on Hacker News.
hinkley 7y ago
> I'm not convinced by his theory about why using the tip of the chainsaw helps. Rather than just being the effect of fewer teeth, I'm wondering if it might have a lot to do with the "increased effective raker depth" when the chain goes over the rounded tip. I dunno. Sounds plausible to me, at least partly. With the tip you've only got a few teeth trying to take out bites of wood so they get more wood per bite. As for the lower gas usage, it's probably partly like he says and partly friction. A vertical cut means your saw isn't working so hard ejecting sawdust, and you aren't fighting gravity. I notice he wasn't using any wedges with his alaskan mill set up, so the board is trying to fall into the blade the entire time. From the videos I've seen, it seems to be a step that a lot of people omit. Also am I imagining it or is his chainsaw ingesting a lot more dust in the horizontal cuts than the vertical?
- nkurz 7y ago
  > With the tip you've only got a few teeth trying to take out bites of wood so they get more wood per bite Thinking about it more, I'm pretty sure the bigger difference is the direction of the wood fibers relative to the chain. The fibers can be visualized as a bundle of straws. In "normal" Alaskan milling, you are cutting almost perpendicular to the straws. In his approach, you are cutting almost parallel to the straws. Cutting perpendicular takes the most force, produces the smallest chips, and makes the smoothest cut. Cutting parallel rips out fibers, takes less force, and isn't quite as smooth. > I notice he wasn't using any wedges with his alaskan mill set up, so the board is trying to fall into the blade the entire time. Somewhere deep in the comments he mentioned he was using wedges, but they just weren't in the video. I don't think wedges make a big difference during the cut, though. The newly cut board is still completely supported at the joint, and bar tends to slide backward freely if the saw is turned off. Where the wedges matter most is at the very end of the cut, once the new board is no longer supported. > Also am I imagining it or is his chainsaw ingesting a lot more dust in the horizontal cuts than the vertical? It's probably a tiny bit more, but this doesn't seem to be a big issue. The air intake is well separated from the chip exit, and if your chain is sharp the chips are large enough to fall quickly to the ground. I check the air filter after milling, and it doesn't seem to get clogged any more rapidly than during regular chainsaw use.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    > Thinking about it more, I'm pretty sure the bigger difference is the direction of the wood fibers relative to the chain. You might have it there. Chainsaws are crosscutting saws by design, right? A mill is using the same chain as a rip saw. The shavings he gets by using the tip look like chisel work which is what you want in a rip saw. More material removed with fewer fibers cut. I guess there are ripping chains. Would be interesting to see him set one saw up for the rip cut and compare the two side by side.
swader999 7y ago
His ripper chain and the file angles he uses are critical as well. I too have been frustrated with the slowness of the Alaskan mill.

by nkurz 7y ago

8bitsrule 7y ago

> how he starts the cut. He packs a whole lot into this vid; longest example of starting I found is a few seconds at 11:15.

swader999 7y ago
He really does. Impressed to see this on Hacker News.

hinkley 7y ago

> I'm not convinced by his theory about why using the tip of the chainsaw helps. Rather than just being the effect of fewer teeth, I'm wondering if it might have a lot to do with the "increased effective raker depth" when the chain goes over the rounded tip. I dunno. Sounds plausible to me, at least partly. With the tip you've only got a few teeth trying to take out bites of wood so they get more wood per bite. As for the lower gas usage, it's probably partly like he says and partly friction. A vertical cut means your saw isn't working so hard ejecting sawdust, and you aren't fighting gravity. I notice he wasn't using any wedges with his alaskan mill set up, so the board is trying to fall into the blade the entire time. From the videos I've seen, it seems to be a step that a lot of people omit. Also am I imagining it or is his chainsaw ingesting a lot more dust in the horizontal cuts than the vertical?

nkurz 7y ago
> With the tip you've only got a few teeth trying to take out bites of wood so they get more wood per bite Thinking about it more, I'm pretty sure the bigger difference is the direction of the wood fibers relative to the chain. The fibers can be visualized as a bundle of straws. In "normal" Alaskan milling, you are cutting almost perpendicular to the straws. In his approach, you are cutting almost parallel to the straws. Cutting perpendicular takes the most force, produces the smallest chips, and makes the smoothest cut. Cutting parallel rips out fibers, takes less force, and isn't quite as smooth. > I notice he wasn't using any wedges with his alaskan mill set up, so the board is trying to fall into the blade the entire time. Somewhere deep in the comments he mentioned he was using wedges, but they just weren't in the video. I don't think wedges make a big difference during the cut, though. The newly cut board is still completely supported at the joint, and bar tends to slide backward freely if the saw is turned off. Where the wedges matter most is at the very end of the cut, once the new board is no longer supported. > Also am I imagining it or is his chainsaw ingesting a lot more dust in the horizontal cuts than the vertical? It's probably a tiny bit more, but this doesn't seem to be a big issue. The air intake is well separated from the chip exit, and if your chain is sharp the chips are large enough to fall quickly to the ground. I check the air filter after milling, and it doesn't seem to get clogged any more rapidly than during regular chainsaw use.
- hinkley 7y ago
  > Thinking about it more, I'm pretty sure the bigger difference is the direction of the wood fibers relative to the chain. You might have it there. Chainsaws are crosscutting saws by design, right? A mill is using the same chain as a rip saw. The shavings he gets by using the tip look like chisel work which is what you want in a rip saw. More material removed with fewer fibers cut. I guess there are ripping chains. Would be interesting to see him set one saw up for the rip cut and compare the two side by side.

swader999 7y ago

His ripper chain and the file angles he uses are critical as well. I too have been frustrated with the slowness of the Alaskan mill.