Chainsaw not working with the mill.

[Prof]

I have a friend who bought a cheap mill on line (posted a link below). I loaned him my MS 362 to use since he only has a 40 cc saw. He made several cuts on a 15 inch pine and ended up with some nice boards. A couple weeks later he went to mill another pine and the saw wouldn't cut. He says that his set-up is the same. He swapped out the chain for a new one I gave him and still not cutting. The interesting thing is that he is able to cut rounds off that tree with no problems with either the old or new chain, but no luck on the mill. He then hooked his 40cc saw up to the mill and was able to make a couple boards, but he said it was slow going. I'm going to get the saw back this week and check it out thoroughly, but I am a bit puzzled by this. I wasn't able to be there when he was trying this, but I'd be open to any ideas of what may have gone wrong?

Timber Tuff Lumber Cutting Guide TMW-56 | Zoro

Order Timber Tuff Lumber Cutting Guide, TMW-56 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.

www.zoro.com

 

[SpaceBus]

The chain is dull.

 

[Prof]

The chain is dull.

I thought that, but it wouldn't explain why a new chain wouldn't cut.

 

[stoveliker]

I thought that, but it wouldn't explain why a new chain wouldn't cut.

Unless he touches something right from the start. If I were you I'd want to see the chains before further diagnosis..

 

[SpaceBus]

Standard chains out of the box usually aren't that sharp. Milling/ripping requires a much sharper chain than cross cutting.

 

[c604]

Make sure the bar is not getting pinched as you cut the boards, use wedges as you cut. The very first tree I milled was a shagbark hickory with a 24" bar. After 2 cuts I quit because I didn't want to burn up a good saw. I upgraded to a ms661 with a 32" bar and finished cutting up that hickory. I made 3" thick planks 16" wide and 14' long. One of them is eventually going to be my fireplace mantle.