Just a complaint..

[vtfireman85]

I do a fair amount of things with my FIL, including making maple syrup. He was complaining about his back, and how his 041 farm boss was too heav/hard starting/bad vibs. So I bought him a 550xp for Christmas a few years back, thought it would be nice to have a little saw to carry on the tractor, lighter for him, convenient for me.
First day with it, it’s running like poop, i said let’s take it right back and have it fixed, it’s brand new, he said I think it is this bad gas i am trying to use up…..
Over the next few years i have bought half a dozen chains for it, full chisel, because i like it. I also dump his saw gas in the tractor and replenish it a couple times a year, because he won’t…evidently.
First thing he does, every time is put it full into the dirt, first cut, like there is no other way. Also has this weird rocking technique ad though he is always trying to free a pinched bar. It drives me nuts.
So today there was a tree on the pipeline, i grab the saw that not 2 days ago i had put a freshly ground chain onto. One of the semi chisel ones , because oli knew what he was going to do. Sure enough, you could the carnage 10’ away, i blew up with “ honestly, wtf do you do? Saw asphalt? “
As much to keep myself from blowing up further, or from killing him I trudged back out to the truck and got my saw and trudged back.
Some people…

 

[pining_fir_yew]

So I bought him a 550xp for Christmas a few years back, thought it would be nice to have a little saw to carry on the tractor, lighter for him, convenient for me.

i love the 550xp. great general use saw! it's a favorite on the crew, and see's plenty of abuse (guess who has two thumbs and does the saw maintenance...so i feel your pain. truly.) We are currently running an xforce 18" bar the .325 pitch .050 gauge x-cut semi chisel husky SP33G chain on it which does hold up fairly well with heavy use. Not as well as the Oregon Duracut chain but for as often as the saw see's use i've replaced the bar more than i've needed to replace the chain. (lol don't ask) In my opinion it is easier to ding up the cutter face of the full chisel chains, especially the corners (that mostly happens if the crew throws it back in the saw box without the scabbard on ugh) but the trade off in my experience is easier sharpening.

 

[rogue60]

I do a fair amount of things with my FIL, including making maple syrup. He was complaining about his back, and how his 041 farm boss was too heav/hard starting/bad vibs. So I bought him a 550xp for Christmas a few years back, thought it would be nice to have a little saw to carry on the tractor, lighter for him, convenient for me.
First day with it, it’s running like poop, i said let’s take it right back and have it fixed, it’s brand new, he said I think it is this bad gas i am trying to use up…..
Over the next few years i have bought half a dozen chains for it, full chisel, because i like it. I also dump his saw gas in the tractor and replenish it a couple times a year, because he won’t…evidently.
First thing he does, every time is put it full into the dirt, first cut, like there is no other way. Also has this weird rocking technique ad though he is always trying to free a pinched bar. It drives me nuts.
So today there was a tree on the pipeline, i grab the saw that not 2 days ago i had put a freshly ground chain onto. One of the semi chisel ones , because oli knew what he was going to do. Sure enough, you could the carnage 10’ away, i blew up with “ honestly, wtf do you do? Saw asphalt? “
As much to keep myself from blowing up further, or from killing him I trudged back out to the truck and got my saw and trudged back.
Some people…

With age comes wisdom... Yeah nah it doesn't always work like that!

 

[ElevatorGuy]

I hear ya! My cousin bought a house from a friend of mine about 5 years ago. My cousin tells me he needs a chainsaw, I asked why as I know the yard only has one large oak on it. No other trees at all lol. My cousin says so he can cut the surface roots out so he wouldn’t trip on them anymore haha. I talked him out of buying a saw and cutting any roots.

 

[GenXer]

I hear ya! My cousin bought a house from a friend of mine about 5 years ago. My cousin tells me he needs a chainsaw, I asked why as I know the yard only has one large oak on it. No other trees at all lol. My cousin says so he can cut the surface roots out so he wouldn’t trip on them anymore haha. I talked him out of buying a saw and cutting any roots.

I cut an 8" root at my place it was headed for the house. Carbide chains are great for that stuff.

 

[vtfireman85]

I cut an 8" root at my place it was headed for the house. Carbide chains are great for that stuff.

Carbide chains aren’t infallible, had a former FD member get into a mobile home frame with one, took about half the teeth fully off it. One expensive chain considering the fire was already out, but when you are in full hero mode….

 

[Old2stroke]

Also has this weird rocking technique ad though he is always trying to free a pinched bar. It drives me nuts.

Rocking motion is a technique that is developed by people who always cut with a dull chain, it reduces the contact area with the wood under the chain and makes it faster for the chain to scrape/burn its way through the log.

 

[GeeVee]

Prolly just bad timing the repeated errors hit you. Have you relayed to him about the mining being bad and making lot of extra work?

 

[vtfireman85]

Prolly just bad timing the repeated errors hit you. Have you relayed to him about the mining being bad and making lot of extra work?

I could show you a whole nail full of destroyed chains in his basement. Has no success at filing them, but he has a little dremel type thing that mostly just overheats and burns the tooth, but of course it is a stone, so it gets smaller as you go.. things that are simple to me seem to elude the most intelligent individuals sometimes… maybe i am just simple?

 

[old CB]

I do a fair amount of things with my FIL, including making maple syrup. He was complaining about his back, and how his 041 farm boss was too heav/hard starting/bad vibs. So I bought him a 550xp for Christmas a few years back, thought it would be nice to have a little saw to carry on the tractor, lighter for him, convenient for me.
First day with it, it’s running like poop, i said let’s take it right back and have it fixed, it’s brand new, he said I think it is this bad gas i am trying to use up…..
Over the next few years i have bought half a dozen chains for it, full chisel, because i like it. I also dump his saw gas in the tractor and replenish it a couple times a year, because he won’t…evidently.
First thing he does, every time is put it full into the dirt, first cut, like there is no other way. Also has this weird rocking technique ad though he is always trying to free a pinched bar. It drives me nuts.
So today there was a tree on the pipeline, i grab the saw that not 2 days ago i had put a freshly ground chain onto. One of the semi chisel ones , because oli knew what he was going to do. Sure enough, you could the carnage 10’ away, i blew up with “ honestly, wtf do you do? Saw asphalt? “
As much to keep myself from blowing up further, or from killing him I trudged back out to the truck and got my saw and trudged back.
Some people…

I feel your pain, and understand fully the frustration.

Years ago I was in farming/cattle partnership with my FIL. While he was generous in financial/business terms, he was an ignorant, troublesome thorn in my flesh in other ways. (He's been dead over 20 yrs.) Almost daily he complained that everything I did was wrong, despite the fact that I took a faltering, profitless operation and improved it, made it profitable and doubled in size. How many times did I have to drop everything to go haul his pickup or a tractor and implement out of deep mud where he had no business going in the first place? There was the time he backed a pickup into a brick shed, then told his wife I did it when she remarked about the crumpled tailgate. He drove his pickup into the corner of my steel barn one time--never could figure that one out.

Finally, a few days before Christmas in 1994, he happened to see me moving an empty diesel tank out of my pickup and it slipped to the ground (undamaged). He pitched a fit--I should have done it his way, etc. In the middle of his rant he bitched: "You ain't done a gaddamn thing all year!" (Nothing other than keeping a 1,000-some acre operation thriving.) Having held my tongue for 16 years, I lit into him in a way that I didn't like.

I went down to the house, told my wife we're done, we're moving to town, and got drunk like I hadn't done in years (or since).

I hope your relationship with your FIL ends on better terms than mine did. But I know it helps to vent. Ask my wife about hearing such from me.

 

[vtfireman85]

I feel your pain, and understand fully the frustration.

Years ago I was in farming/cattle partnership with my FIL. While he was generous in financial/business terms, he was an ignorant, troublesome thorn in my flesh in other ways. (He's been dead over 20 yrs.) Almost daily he complained that everything I did was wrong, despite the fact that I took a faltering, profitless operation and improved it, made it profitable and doubled in size. How many times did I have to drop everything to go haul his pickup or a tractor and implement out of deep mud where he had no business going in the first place? There was the time he backed a pickup into a brick shed, then told his wife I did it when she remarked about the crumpled tailgate. He drove his pickup into the corner of my steel barn one time--never could figure that one out.

Finally, a few days before Christmas in 1994, he happened to see me moving an empty diesel tank out of my pickup and it slipped to the ground (undamaged). He pitched a fit--I should have done it his way, etc. In the middle of his rant he bitched: "You ain't done a gaddamn thing all year!" (Nothing other than keeping a 1,000-some acre operation thriving.) Having held my tongue for 16 years, I lit into him in a way that I didn't like.

I went down to the house, told my wife we're done, we're moving to town, and got drunk like I hadn't done in years (or since).

I hope your relationship with your FIL ends on better terms than mine did. But I know it helps to vent. Ask my wife about hearing such from me.

That sounds like a worse situation than mine. He drives me nuts and when hes here for more than a week i am
Ready for him to go south again.

I just stopped and ordered 2 Stihl chains, hopefully they last a bit longer than the Oregon. Time will tell.

 

[user 122190]

I have a neighbor exactly like you describe. We cut together, he has a truck and a winch, I don't. I've learned to just cut and ignore what ever he is doing. Unless he is cutting his leg off, it's none of my business nor anything that I need to get involved with.

 

[user 122190]

I could show you a whole nail full of destroyed chains in his basement. Has no success at filing them, but he has a little dremel type thing that mostly just overheats and burns the tooth, but of course it is a stone, so it gets smaller as you go.. things that are simple to me seem to elude the most intelligent individuals sometimes… maybe i am just simple?

My neighbor has 3 nails (big ones) full of chains. Most if not all have never been sharpened and are as dull as can be. I once told him about rakers, and how to check them. He says he checked the rakers and they are fine and he doesn't know what is wrong with the chains hanging from the nails.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

You stole his little girl- he probably does what he can that he know pisses you off so he can sleep a little easier at night.

 

[GeeVee]

That sounds like a worse situation than mine. He drives me nuts and when hes here for more than a week i am
Ready for him to go south again.

I just stopped and ordered 2 Stihl chains, hopefully they last a bit longer than the Oregon. Time will tell.

Wait..... Goes SOUTH? no, you keep him. I had a Gram simliar..... I'd get a call once a month, her irrigation isn't working right. I'd go find the problem and fix it, and be forced to have lunch- or something to eat, even if it was 9 am...... Then, one day I was replacing an indexing valve she was sure my guys had hit with a mower, which were green. I went into the laundry room to wash up and spied the baseball bat sitting next to the slop sink, in all its orange glory. The next month it was easier to find the orange paint on one of the zone mains, so I took the baseball bat and replaced it with a blue painted Horseshoe stob from another part of the LR., the next month it was blue paint on the backflow preventer. My guys had 3/4 of the entire street to do and they were there all day, so I'd go check their work three times a month after that. (every time I showed up at different times of the day, there would be one of my guys at her kitchen table. Not all at once- she'd feed one and send him out to get the next guy between 11 and one she'd feed the whole crew).

 

[vtfireman85]

You stole his little girl- he probably does what he can that he know pisses you off so he can sleep a little easier at night.

He should thank his lucky stars every single day of his life for me.

 

[Karrl]

He should thank his lucky stars every single day of his life for me.

My FIL is cool as heck, more reasonable than my father usually. That said I’ve learned good mental/personal fences make good parents… if that makes sense

 

[JohnL]

OP, Get him one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Gilmour-Inch-Bow-524-Teal/dp/B00002N688/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8