Brush Ape Makes his Stand

[treeslayer2003]

If hand filing I just use my vise. Swivels too.

I just usually turn saw 180 for other side.

View attachment 359074

that is exactly what i do at home..........on the truck box lid on the job.

however..........very good brush ape.

 

[rmh3481]

Very Nice!

 

[user 122190]

Looks like overkill to accomplish something that is not that difficult to begin with.

 

[Philbert]

To change chains, he had to loosen the clamps, take it out of the clamps, switch chains, put it back in the clamps, tighten the clamps, put back on the tensioning head, tension it and advance the chain with his hand.

More detailed info on the Chainmeister in this thread (below). He has an option for drilling a bar and mounting it to the outside of the clamps for quickly changing chains that fit the same bar.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/introducing-the-new-chainmeister.239225/


Lots of creative ideas out there. Good to have options, depending on how you cut, where you sharpen, what type of fabrication skills you have, etc., etc., etc. Thanks for sharing this one.

Philbert

 

[Mastermind]

Nice work BA.

Looks right good.

 

[Philbert]

As long as you are open to suggestions . . .

. . . I'm dumb enough to not verify the hole size on the .325 rim sprocket to see if it fit the same shaft?

Does it need to be a sprocket? Could you use a set of 3 stacked washers, like a roller nose bar, so that any pitch chain would fit?

That's what I thought of when I first saw the home made one Jerimiah Johnson referred to in an earlier post.

Philbert

 

[Brush Ape]

With the stand mounted to concrete with redhead wedge anchors and several good chains to its credit, I began adding some new features. Grease fittings were the first order. For the one to lube the drivers, I tapped through the bar retainer plate for this zirc, duplicated the plate for an inside spacer and made gaskets from some fel-pro universal sheet. I drilled a passage parallel to the bar rails through the bottom of the slot into the bar stud slot so the grease would reach the chain.





I also tapped and fit a zirc to the drive block.

 

[Brush Ape]

Sharpening chain is a perpetual topic with sawyers from all walks. It is the most relevant issue in the pursuit of stumpage so you might as well get good at it, particularly if you like to fit in on Arboristsite. You can master it much faster today as there are plenty of experienced guys here who like to help, many of whom in fact have a disdain for any type of chain besides sharp chain, lol. And you know who you are. ROFL.

If you are just learning, here's a couple nuggets. Raker files are smooth on the edges so you don't mar up sharp teeth. Get the proper tools.



What I've got at the moment are Pferrd and I like them. I've used and have some of their round files, never wanted to speak ill of the Germans, but the Pferrd round files are crap and one good file out of five don't fly around here. So I'm just leveling with ya now, try another kind. But the Pferrd depth gauge files are excellent.

 

[Brush Ape]

I like Pferrd file handles, also. In particular the wooden ones for about $2. The rubber ones are cool, too. If you was a beginner free hand sharpener and want to get good fast, get the blue rubber ones from Bailey's. These have a gauge for 25 and 30 degree angles on the front until they fall off. I usually just eye the laser-engraved witness line atop the tooth occasionally. Do what works just don't get cut. The light kevlar gloves like in the pic are awesome.

You might notice on the raker file, I use a short hardwood dowel. I like the control the uniform shape gives me and the torque the fat diameter provides.

 

[Brush Ape]

..........very good brush ape.

Thanks.

Very Nice!

Thanks,Dude.

Looks like overkill to accomplish something that is not that difficult to begin with.

Overkill is my middle name.

Nice work BA.

Looks right good.

Thank You, Mastermind.

 

[user 122190]

From the pictures, it looks like you are acheiving your goal. When I cut wood and my neighbors are around, they can't help but remark at how well my saw cuts and how sharp the chain must be. I'm barely passing student in the lessons of chain sharpening, compared to most here.

 

[Trx250r180]

From the pictures, it looks like you are acheiving your goal. When I cut wood and my neighbors are around, they can't help but remark at how well my saw cuts and how sharp the chain must be. I'm barely passing student in the lessons of chain sharpening, compared to most here.

Took me years to get a chain to what i consider sharp ,and am still finding better ways ,main thing to start with is keeping them all the same size ,and not to file too deep into the gullet ,a grabby chain is hard on the saw and operator ,Aim for smooth and fast in a cutter .

A jig like Brushape made helps to see what you are doing better ,I need to fab one up myself some day .

 

[Brush Ape]

Took me years to get a chain to what i consider sharp ,and am still finding better ways ,main thing to start with is keeping them all the same size ,and not to file too deep into the gullet ,a grabby chain is hard on the saw and operator ,Aim for smooth and fast in a cutter .

A jig like Brushape made helps to see what you are doing better ,I need to fab one up myself some day .

Very true. There is always warnings on everything nowadays. They have to jack up the cost of stuff in order to recover the cost of warning everybody not to be a dumbass with the result that the warnings get consequently thrown out. Then 90% goes back into dumbass mode and ends up bleeding or sitting around on the couch because they do nothing. The other one out of ten of us like y'all who are interested in an active pursuit like cutting wood for timber or heat, are on the prowl to continually find more advanced technique. Like MontanaResident's first post; doing something right is very simple. Yet, to paraphrase what Brian said, doing it right while consistently beating a path toward improved methods requires experience, thought, effort and perspective. I reckon I just elongated Brian's point more than paraphrase. Haha. Who cares. You have to stand back sometimes and look at what you've done. Try minuscule variations and find what gets you in the groove in various scenarios. A smooth running machine is as close to man's potential as most of us woodsman-like guys get to see in this life. There is nothing like a sharp edge to meet the work at hand.

Back to the safety factor; we are constantly warned about dangerously sharp tools. Well, a dull tool is much more dangerous than a sharp one in the process of doing work. When you force things, you can lose your grip or your balance. Dull tools make you and your equipment fatigue prematurely. Keep it sharp and dripping with oil. And never give up looking for a better way.

Look at your work as being analogous with human nature and experience. Look at your tools as an extension of all that and treat them like old friends which they eventually become.

 

[Brush Ape]

From the pictures, it looks like you are acheiving your goal. When I cut wood and my neighbors are around, they can't help but remark at how well my saw cuts and how sharp the chain must be. I'm barely passing student in the lessons of chain sharpening, compared to most here.

A master is simply an advanced student. That's all. When you come to the threshold of realization that you have learned how to learn, it's a whole new day.

 

[Brush Ape]

Ah I'm a lousy detail writer. Yeah the indexing pin is just sort of a given (inside my brain)
I just like the pair of clamp screws for eliminating that last tiny bit of really irritating, file dulling chatter.
One of Your clamp screws could also be an indexing pin if it was pointed at a flat spot on the pivot tube.
maybe the far one from the chain bar and then the one closest to the bar would be a pinch type i.e. the outer tube is split and the pinch bolt pulls it closed to hold.
Seems to give a firmer, smoother grip that way as the index pin will tend to work lose as the load on the samll er contact area is hogher and it will dig in a just a miner shift there
is greatly magnified out on the bar.
And that aprox 90# weight is a positive once that sucker's been shipped!

Edit: the flat spot serves the purpose of indexing But also gives room for the inevitable cratering from the pressure point of the crew and keeps it from binding the pivot tube.
also is handy on those shafts like your stump grinders, cement mixers for *reducing* the old bearing is stuck on the shaft problem.

I can definitely appreciate getting things to be still.

You job shop guys would have liked my internal damper rings and assorted ghetto stuff in my welding fixtures.

So cool. Man, can you post some drawings?

My tractor is an Oliver 1655. 70hp diesel, loader, fluid filled tires. I use it mainly as a loader tractor with forks, grapple, boom, bucket, land plane, ... A 70 hp tractor is a handy size. You can do a lot of work with it for the fuel used.

I'm getting a TimberKing pretty soon. That 1655 sucker would be perfect for my operation. It won't be long and BA is in on all ends of this one; Logging, milling, building homes and furniture, plus heating house and shop with wood. Wood is our best resource.

I've got a P&H bumper on one of my pickups. Those are what they make in the old Oliver Plant, nowadays. I know several guys who work there, too.

Looks nice WC

Thanks Ross.

 

[LegDeLimber]

I found a couple of pics of a product line I once had a hand on (early 90's)
http://twentywheels.com/view/15179-lk_leeboy_300b_roller_169_hours_since_in_nj.html
Underneath the front (steering/pivot) yoke on the roller is a tube running from front to rear
with a pin through both the yoke and frame tube.
There are two bolts underneath the cross tube that face upwards to hold the pin,
in line along the length , not indexed at 90deg that shorter shafts usually need.
It's a common wear area and major pain for the person to remove in the field when those
bolts had burred up the shaft.
I took note of where the bolts hit and when building up the front end assy, I measured and with felt tip marked the spots and just knocked a pair of good sized flats with the 4" grinder.
A couple of details tell me this isn't one of my assemblies, But the pic serves the purpose here.
In the diagonal view: Red arrow points to the shaft, green arrow sort of at the area where the bolts would be.
Strait view: There are a pair of braces welded underneath the the frame, half by two and a half (the exact dimensions sort fade from me now)
I'll have wait till my hands aren't burning from yardwork, to do up a sketch of the welding fixture and its use of flat spots and then indexing from them with the "T" bolt.
The damper ring was for turning the rear drums of the 400 series.
The1/2 wall would start to chatterand go to a howl in a few seconds with out it.
The guys before me had been propping a wooden 4x4, with a bucket of junk hanging from it for weight, against them to try damping the problem.

 

[SquareFile]

Just curious, Is all that hassle worth a round file sharpening?
Great chain vice BTW

 

[user 122190]

Just curious, Is all that hassle worth a round file sharpening?
Great chain vice BTW

There's different round file sharpenings. Some dull the chain, mine put an effective edge on, and by the looks of it BrushApes cutters are surgically sharp.

One thing I've noticed since putting on my newest chain and having developed my "best practices" chain maintenance, the chain last a long long time. The sharper the chain the cooler the chain runs. I've cut maybe 5 cords and there is very little wear in the length of the cutters that I can see. Better for the chain, better for my aging body, and better for my wallet.

 

[Brush Ape]

Just curious, Is all that hassle worth a round file sharpening?

Not really. In my line, you could throw away dull chain and still make money.

 

[Brush Ape]

Lots of creative ideas out there. Good to have options, depending on how you cut, where you sharpen, what type of fabrication skills you have, etc., etc., etc. Thanks for sharing this one.

Philbert

Your Welcome. Looking into the stacked washer idea/making them interchangeable.