MAC Question

[trimmmed]

YES,


Damn, I just got a wood lathe also... You telling me THAT's going to get expensive as well?

LOL, uh yup it sure can!

 

[coveredinsap]

forgetaboutit

 

[coveredinsap]

Boy, after putting in some hours on the old Mac 250 there is definitely something to be said for low end torque. This thing literally churns thru the wood with a low growl and a torrent of big chips pouring out the back end of the .404 chain ....with the entire 20" bar buried in liquidambar. Quite funny to see. I think the operating rpm is only something like 6000 or so. I like. And I'm hooked on .404 chain too.
(By the way if you know anything about liquidambar then you know that it is hell to cut on....hard, dense and wet...not a combination that most chainsaws take to.)

So....when did sawmakers start trading low end torque and guts for the high rpm, high revving saws of today? Does anyone still make a low rpm high torque monster like these old Macs today?

 

[WRW]

CIS,
When you say liquidambar, are you speaking of sweet gum?

 

[coveredinsap]

CIS,
When you say liquidambar, are you speaking of sweet gum?

Yup, that's the stuff. It produces those midieval looking spiked balls that are so fun to walk on in bare feet

Beautiful foliage on them though.

 

[WRW]

I'll agree on the foliage.

There is something to be said about the pleasure of cutting with a pleasant exhaust tone accompaniment.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

So....when did sawmakers start trading low end torque and guts for the high rpm, high revving saws of today?

My guess is that it's emissions related. Higher RPM, better burn?

 

[Lakeside53]

Not emissions... Higher rpm came out way before the epa even woke up. Came by user demand and market competition - same reason why AS guys want more out of their existing saws today - more (or same) hp in a lighter package.

Higher rpm saws cut well because the chain can have a smaller pitch/kerf - doesn't require as much HP or torque as a big tooth wide kerf chain. Not much point in running a small chain at 9k max. My 088 can run a full comp 404 on a 36 or 41 bar, but is a low reving machine (comparatively), really high torque, but it's also a very heavy saw. My 051 falls in the same "big old torquey monster" category. Lot's of other reasons why the move was to the higher side though...

I sure wouldn't want to go back to the old heavyweights for real work. Interesting museum pieces, but ...

 

[coveredinsap]

"Museum piece" to a guy only interested in selling you a new Stihl perhaps.

Personally, I use mine....and prefer it over a new saw.

 

[wagonwheeler]

Re: sweet gum

Yup, that's the stuff. It produces those midieval looking spiked balls that are so fun to walk on in bare feet

Beautiful foliage on them though.

Gum is a prevalent PEST around here. Never really noted it as particularly hard to cut - certainly tougher than pine. A couple of 11" gum sections is what I've used to run my saws thru when tuning, etc... Best use of gum I've found...

Deer like the young trees as browse, but it's my mission in life to eliminate as many gum trees as I can so I'll just plant soybeans for the deer..

And it's basically impossible to split w/ a maul but very amusing to watch someone try... folks on here say it burns well and if you have a hydraulic splitter it would be nothing to burn it exclusively in this area since nobody wants it.

CIS you're probably already aware that you need to grind drill and poison that stump and roots or 20 new saplings will replace it.

Chaser

 

[coveredinsap]

CIS you're probably already aware that you need to grind drill and poison that stump and roots or 20 new saplings will replace it.

Chaser

Some kind neighbor (or rat bass-turd city employee) already did, which is what killed the tree (it was pushing up the sidewalk), and is one reason why I've got to remove the summabeech'n stump in the first place. Whatever they dumped on it was potent stuff, as the tree was dead in less than a week....and this was a big liquidambar at 60' - 70' or more. There are fist-sized round black burn marks with a chemical smell on some of the roots that I stripped the bark off of.

Anyways, this one won't be coming back....and neither will the large bunch of privett that grew at the base of the tree. Ever try to kill privett? Almost impossible.

 

[coveredinsap]

(I'll put this here too because it seems to be relevant.)

OK, you asked for it...so here you go. Here's the liquidambar stump as of about 15 minutes ago. The plan is to strip the bark off as needed (I powerwashed it but the bark is still embedded with dirt) and section it up into pie shaped wedges then cut/split/lever/whatever it out in section/pieces. Everything in this picture of the stump was below grade before being dug out, as the tree had pushed up the surrounding area by several feet.

In the upper left is the new fence 'curb' the neighbor wanted in order to keep the bamboo on the property line from going into his yard. WAAAAAA!!! (He paid for it though) Posts and cross members are set, the (cedar) fence boards will go up as soon as the stump is gone.

Oh....I've got the sidewalk blocked off to keep morons from hurting themselves.

(Oh the 'nub' sticking out of the stump under the Caution! tape is a clump of privett intertwined with the stump root that also died in the poisoning.)

 

[coveredinsap]

Before anyone says anything, the voids in the concrete fence 'curb' are my neighbor's (workers) work. The only thing I've done so far is to clear the bamboo off the property line and do the layout/chalk/stringline of the curb/footing for the site work. My part will be to provide and install the fence boards. (Maybe if I take long enough he'll do that too. Hahahahaha...oops, hope he's not reading this )

 

[wagonwheeler]

Yep, that's a big-un. It does me personal good to see it's dead...

Chaser