A Unique Way to Mill Lumber
Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And today we're going to be testing out A new way to Mill Lumber this is a Product I've wanted to try for a long Time and I'm finally getting the Opportunity so I'll get it all set up And show you what I'm talking about [Music] So what you see here is the logo Sol M8 Sawmill now logo Sol has actually Replaced that with a new version called The F2 And it has some advantages over this Mill but ninety percent of everything We're going to look at and do today Would be the same so this review kind of Applies to both products Now setting this log on there it's a Small log setting it on with the skid Loaders unnecessary and I probably will They have their own system with these Ramps here that you can roll your log up And not need any heavy equipment to to Set your logs on and probably for the Next log I'll test that out but I was Already carrying the log down here so I Just set it directly on Now what this is is a carriage For a chainsaw Mill And Immediately when you hear chainsaw Mill A lot of people are kind of put off by That and say A Band Saw Mill is more Efficient and has a narrower curve and
Waste less wood and all the advantages To a bandsaw mill and I'm familiar with All those advantages but I think there Are some real advantages to a setup like This that maybe aren't immediately Apparent but this is a versatile product I've got a full review from the owner Who's my friend Waldo And he told me all his experiences with It but before I really give any of my Thoughts I want to cut some wood so let's get Started as far as the power head this is A steel Ms661 really good size saw to run on This type of Milling setup and honestly My 500 would do well too But we were a little bit unsure I may Have to do some modifications for my Wrap on my handle to get this to fit Because it has a three-quarter wrap Handle I can't say enough how much I Appreciate Waldo sending his setup back Here with me so I can test it out one Thing that might be a little bit of a Negative here is that the platform you Set your log on is not that wide so if You have your log up here and you want To roll it it's a little bit tricky to Roll it without rolling it off in that Same category David mentioned to me that You're Slider your your guide bar for Your saw is close to your log stops so
What that means is you can have Everything else be good about the log But if you have a knot on this side Closest to the saw it's going to hit the Slider so you either like this knot here When I set this up this knot was Touching this rail so I would either Have to trim that knot off or roll the Log to where that's up down or out and So I rolled it up Then we pull the log up against the Stump Now that we have the log in place this Is our clamping system So this slides on pushes up against the Log and then you push this clamp down So actually you push up against the log Tighten the side handle so that it Doesn't move And then push this clamp up And it puts pressure on it now Additionally You can angle this Because like any other Sawmill you have To be careful that your Cutting Edge Isn't going to hit your your log stop So now I've angled angled that down a Little bit tighten it down Actually need to move the log a little Bit there's a little Branch right where That stop is going to set and it wasn't Going to clamp right That ain't going nowhere that ain't Going nowhere the next thing we have to
Do to set this up is get the log height Right Now On a bandsaw mill you move the cutting Head up and down on this our cutting Head which is a chainsaw is at a fixed Height so we adjust our log table Now the first thought is that that's a Negative because You're moving the heavy part right there Is an advantage to it in log leveling With a bandsaw mill it's the most to Bandsaw Mills there's variation in Designs for all of them but on the Majority of those your table is a fixed Height and it requires a little bit more Thought or Redneck engineering to level the pith on Your log but with this design these two Tables adjust separately But they have the same guide system on Them so you can put them exactly level But if you have a lot of taper and you Don't want this log to be level that's Easily accomplished so we've got a Release lever right here that lets the Log come down And we'll just turn the handle So we've got a scale on the underside Here with marks every eighth of an inch And every time you hear that click that Means it's moved 1 8 of an inch so now I'll go to the other end and set it to The same height
Which is 10 and an eighth [Music] [Music] Foreign [Applause] That was a little bit of inexperience on My part I actually talked about it and Kind of anticipated it but I thought I'd Turn that knot up enough and it's not so The knot hit the carriage since I'm Halfway through the cut I obviously Can't turn the log now so I'm going to Trim that knot off with another chainsaw Be right back it's on my way up to get The 500 and realize it's a lot shorter Walk To get little Pepe here and might be Easier to manage up next to that rail Too [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] Foreign [Music] Stop So we've got these log stops right here And you're never going to cut those Because that doesn't move and your rail Doesn't move and those pass about let's See Quarter to a half an inch Below the saw
So you can pretty much use those to tell Where your Cut's going to be as you line Your log up next to those rails So now we'll just raise the log the same Number of clicks on each side I guess while I'm doing this I might as Well show you the way this works So you just have The same nuts that you normally use now If your chainsaw is a pro saw from steel It will have captive nuts And Because of those captive nuts actually I'm going to roll it up this way because Of those captive nuts you have to Actually Change the cover plate Because you need non-captive nuts So what that means Is that this plastic piece right here is Not the one that came with this saw And if you have a full wrap handle you May need to take your handle apart if That's an option on your saw or you may Need to Get a different Handle it I'm going to try it but just Looking at it it seems like my full wrap Or three-quarter wrap handle on the 500 Won't work with this Foreign So I was thinking it was a negative that To tighten the chain up you have to take This all apart but you actually wouldn't
If you have The right size open-end wrench you could Get in here and take these loose and you Can access this screw from here so you Don't have to completely disassemble it I'm also interested to see how many Passes we get off of a good chain All right [Music] Okay I realized I was making a pretty silly Mistake after the first cut but I went Ahead and did it again Now let me take some measurements Because I adjusted the height of the log by one Inch And that scale does not have a saw kerf Built into it and I'm not using the Ultra narrow ripping chain that you can Get from logosol I'm just using a Regular chain so I move that log by an Inch and then I'd probably cut a good 3 8 of that inch off Foreign That piece Because I didn't notice my clamps had Come loose I wonder if I didn't get them clamped Down tight enough or if that's a Recurring problem But I got about 7 8 on one end and Thickness and the other side's like 3 8 Because my log tilted
I literally think I may just Maybe I just didn't get the crank handle Tight enough And that's why I picked the log that I Wasn't There wasn't especially valuable or a Great log or anything because first time Using something you're probably going to Make mistakes So now I'm going to take another really Thin pass because all I want to do is Straighten it back up now Feet Weather doesn't get much more perfect Than this No wind Mill hasn't turned all day 64 degrees Overcast but not dark fantastic and of Course that means it's going to rain in A couple hours Get a good rain today and that's Supposed to cool off again into the 40s As a high temp the next couple days but Still can't complain it's January I should have anticipated that's a Thirsty saw and these are long cuts ran Out of gas on me man one of these days I'll get one full clean cut that comes Out good [Laughter] Foreign Thought maybe that was the trick to
Moving quicker is just push it off Didn't work exactly according to plan But I did get a true 7 8 Thick piece with five clicks Minus the saw curve so I think six Clicks is going to give me just a hair Over an inch which will then be able to Sand her plane down to a one by Not too shabby looking though that's no That's a good usable thickness The Live Edge I'll get good use out of That Foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] Foreign Foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] Foreign I made five cuts and on two of the five Cuts Clamps came loose he sent me two Different styles of clamps I think I'll try the other ones feels Like I'm not able to get enough clamping Pressure on the thumb screw and then the Vibration is making that come loose I'm Going to call that operator error But now what I have is a piece that's Only about four inches thick and Has a a bow to it
It's not going to be very useful really For much I'll probably chunk that piece up and Turn it into firewood and then these Other pieces down here Just need to go through the planer Except one of them is too bad but the Other ones I've got some useful pieces Here I said I had some some struggles getting This to work but I think a lot of it is Operator error Now I'm going to go ahead and get all This cleaned up before this rain drops And I'm gonna be back to work with this Thing in the next few days I think I learned a lot from the first Use which is what normally happens I can see a lot of definitive advantages To this saw Or this style of setup I can see some Disadvantages I can also there's a few things that It depends I have to have a way to get that log Locked down better so I'm going to Experiment with that But I appreciate you taking time to Watch today's video I'll put links on The screen to a couple more of our Videos and I'll see you next time
