Missed the Tennessee GTG - a tale of my attempt to console myself.
I missed the Tennessee GTG today. This morning, I went with my wife to get fodder stacks and pumpkins. After other duties were done, I told her I was going to go cut some wood. What an afternoon, nothing went as planned! Saw troubles and return to amateur status!
I just wanted to see how BETTY would run (for those who came in late, BETTY is my SP125C named after my late mother) and get a little cutting exercise as I try to get back in shape after sitting out last season. I thought I would go down to the woodlot and cut up some of the bigger stuff the others leave. I thought I might even try to shoot a video of BETTY vs PM800. I pulled BETTY off the shelf only to notice the muffler is gone. I can’t remember what I did with it so I put a new one on her although I wanted to put a good coat of paint on it before I used it. As I am running my packing list through my mind I remember that s-i-l has my 40/1 mix. Good excuse to get a new gas can. I hate the new ones that require you to hold a flimsy lever back while squeezing the handle. I go to NAPA thinking they will have something different. They did. It took the salesman and me together to get the thing to work – some plunger type operation required. He tells me that they are on sale and I sarcastically reply, “No wonder.” Any way I play with it and decide to take a chance. I filled her up with mid-grade no ethanol.
I get back home and as I let every precious drop of that St**l Ultra drain into the gas, I get BETTY out. I can’t get her to start, then on the thirtieth pull the rewind quits. I rewind it but it still wouldn’t work. I remove the entire mechanism to discover that one of the legs is broken off (appears to be an old break; the cover screw kept this hidden), the recoil spring is either broken or pulled through the housing and the recoil housing is broken where the spring end goes (also appears to be an old injury). I console myself my repeating to myself “She isn’t a new saw. She isn’t a new saw.” Fortunately I have a spare so I put it on and she fires right up. I top BETTY off with the new mix. Load her and a PM800 in the Landcruiser. By now it I have spent almost two hours and haven’t accomplished a single thing on my list. On my way to the woodlot, I decide it is too late to cut much at the woodlot so on the spur of the moment I resolve to face my adversary – the big red oak that tried to kill me last November and put me on the bench for the season.
I change course and upon arrival I size her up – I find she is just like Ripcord, mdavlee, a friend and I left her after they sawed a chunk off her to take to last January’s GTG - I set the camera up on a tripod for my first ever video. First up is BETTY sporting a 32” bar with a new .404 full comp round filed Carlton chisel. She cuts great. Even with all the weight I have to press her down to keep from over revving. No hint of bogging though completely buried. Next is a PM800 also sporting a 32” bar but with a used full skip square chisel 3/8” St**l. She cuts well but of course not as fast. Chain is not near as smooth. She also requires some down pressure but doesn’t over rev when you don’t. I stop each cut before I get to the bottom as I don’t want my round rolling off down the hill. For some reason I just remember that I forgot to shake my new gas can before topping off BETTY – who knows what the mix ratio is now in the saw or the can.
They say consistency is the key to good marksmanship – learn to group em and then dial in your corrections. This doesn’t apply very well to bucking when you have to cut from both sides as your error is compounded. I guess I was too focused on how hard I could push the PM800 that I wandered way off course on both sides. I also ran to the right with BETTY on the low side. It would only be twice the work if I just had started over and made a straight cut but “NO”, I got to try and fix it which ends up being three times the work. Against my better judgment, I use a steel wedge to see if I can simply split it – CAN”T. I carefully stuck the PM800 back in there but I hit the wedge while cutting. I have now completely devolved to an amateur. I have included pictures to prove it. Yes, pictures as the only things that got videoed were by accident - a video of my wedge, a video of two sitting saws and a video of me measuring the stem end (measured 47” and 48”, the butt end is on the right and not shown; that is the end that tried to kill me). I didn’t include them.
I finish hacking up the PM800 cut with BETTY and pull the chunk over with the Landcruiser as I am now barred from wrestling rounds this size.
Now for the good parts of the day: BETTY proved to be a good saw. A PM800 and patience is all I really need. BETTY is more fun though. The square chisel chain suffered only minor damage. And the gas can actually turned out to be a good purchase. Ron
I missed the Tennessee GTG today. This morning, I went with my wife to get fodder stacks and pumpkins. After other duties were done, I told her I was going to go cut some wood. What an afternoon, nothing went as planned! Saw troubles and return to amateur status!
I just wanted to see how BETTY would run (for those who came in late, BETTY is my SP125C named after my late mother) and get a little cutting exercise as I try to get back in shape after sitting out last season. I thought I would go down to the woodlot and cut up some of the bigger stuff the others leave. I thought I might even try to shoot a video of BETTY vs PM800. I pulled BETTY off the shelf only to notice the muffler is gone. I can’t remember what I did with it so I put a new one on her although I wanted to put a good coat of paint on it before I used it. As I am running my packing list through my mind I remember that s-i-l has my 40/1 mix. Good excuse to get a new gas can. I hate the new ones that require you to hold a flimsy lever back while squeezing the handle. I go to NAPA thinking they will have something different. They did. It took the salesman and me together to get the thing to work – some plunger type operation required. He tells me that they are on sale and I sarcastically reply, “No wonder.” Any way I play with it and decide to take a chance. I filled her up with mid-grade no ethanol.
I get back home and as I let every precious drop of that St**l Ultra drain into the gas, I get BETTY out. I can’t get her to start, then on the thirtieth pull the rewind quits. I rewind it but it still wouldn’t work. I remove the entire mechanism to discover that one of the legs is broken off (appears to be an old break; the cover screw kept this hidden), the recoil spring is either broken or pulled through the housing and the recoil housing is broken where the spring end goes (also appears to be an old injury). I console myself my repeating to myself “She isn’t a new saw. She isn’t a new saw.” Fortunately I have a spare so I put it on and she fires right up. I top BETTY off with the new mix. Load her and a PM800 in the Landcruiser. By now it I have spent almost two hours and haven’t accomplished a single thing on my list. On my way to the woodlot, I decide it is too late to cut much at the woodlot so on the spur of the moment I resolve to face my adversary – the big red oak that tried to kill me last November and put me on the bench for the season.
I change course and upon arrival I size her up – I find she is just like Ripcord, mdavlee, a friend and I left her after they sawed a chunk off her to take to last January’s GTG - I set the camera up on a tripod for my first ever video. First up is BETTY sporting a 32” bar with a new .404 full comp round filed Carlton chisel. She cuts great. Even with all the weight I have to press her down to keep from over revving. No hint of bogging though completely buried. Next is a PM800 also sporting a 32” bar but with a used full skip square chisel 3/8” St**l. She cuts well but of course not as fast. Chain is not near as smooth. She also requires some down pressure but doesn’t over rev when you don’t. I stop each cut before I get to the bottom as I don’t want my round rolling off down the hill. For some reason I just remember that I forgot to shake my new gas can before topping off BETTY – who knows what the mix ratio is now in the saw or the can.
They say consistency is the key to good marksmanship – learn to group em and then dial in your corrections. This doesn’t apply very well to bucking when you have to cut from both sides as your error is compounded. I guess I was too focused on how hard I could push the PM800 that I wandered way off course on both sides. I also ran to the right with BETTY on the low side. It would only be twice the work if I just had started over and made a straight cut but “NO”, I got to try and fix it which ends up being three times the work. Against my better judgment, I use a steel wedge to see if I can simply split it – CAN”T. I carefully stuck the PM800 back in there but I hit the wedge while cutting. I have now completely devolved to an amateur. I have included pictures to prove it. Yes, pictures as the only things that got videoed were by accident - a video of my wedge, a video of two sitting saws and a video of me measuring the stem end (measured 47” and 48”, the butt end is on the right and not shown; that is the end that tried to kill me). I didn’t include them.
I finish hacking up the PM800 cut with BETTY and pull the chunk over with the Landcruiser as I am now barred from wrestling rounds this size.
Now for the good parts of the day: BETTY proved to be a good saw. A PM800 and patience is all I really need. BETTY is more fun though. The square chisel chain suffered only minor damage. And the gas can actually turned out to be a good purchase. Ron
