Are you prepping?

The useful part

I find it a bit dusty to use now, though I employ a powered air mask for such tasks. Much as I tried I never really mastered filing the ripping chains (as opposed to crosscuts). I used to drop them in at the dealers but it's wasteful of chains to regrind all the time.

How it works

• I once got asked to resaw 2 reclaimed monstrous French oak beams for a farmhouse restoration (thatched and all) on a site top of the cliffs of Guernsey.
• I had to rip 50mm off the tops so they could insert them under the floor joists.
• There were a lot of guys on site and they manhandled the monsters onto the Logosol frame, mostly resting on blocks because of the weight.
• The main problem was the shakes (open splits) which unavoidably were contaminated with soil and grit.
• The first one went well, I took a plank straight off the top of it in one piece.

What to take from it

The second one was an absolute swine, I went through 6 chains to get down it and was on the last chain when I struggled to push the chainsaw over the last metre.

Details worth keeping

The mill is only 5m long so had to be repositioned for the last 3m cut. The oak was in theory denailed and like iron.