Post your helpful chainsaw/cutting tips and tricks.

[shootingarts]

Kevin,

One of my blessings too, I was always smart enough to listen to the old timers. Most youngsters know it all and want to go and blow and impress everyone, definitely the way to get hurt bad. I have always found that the worst paying people were the ones that always expected the most from you and the greatest loyalty, yours to them, not theirs to you. Always told them straight up that I was a company man . . . and my company was my wife and children. PO'ed more than a few bosses and company owners but I knew I'd be out the gate the moment they didn't need me for two days running. A bit gypo myself so I didn't mind telling bosses how the cow ate the cabbage.

Funny story about old and young, I was working by where two laborers were cleaning up three or four inches of blasting sand off the concrete and from between beams and equipment. There was an old overweight laborer looked to be in his sixties and a young hard fellow, looked to be a body builder type, muscles everywhere. The youngster would hit it and sling sand like a steam shovel for about ten or fifteen minutes then stand there with his tongue hanging out just as long. The old man only buried his shovel about a quarter to a third of the way into the sand and moved as slowly as molasses on a cold day. At the end of the day the older laborer had moved three times the sand the youngster had!

I'm just piddling with cutting down a few trees myself, mostly to feed my woodturning. I don't need a bunch of equipment and if push comes to shove I can usually find another way of doing things or leave a particular tree alone.

One saw died yesterday, brittle fuel lines from before it was mine. The other saw started acting up today. Looks like I'm going to play saw mechanic awhile. Changed out fuel lines but I seem to have a carb needing disassembly and cleaning, not sure about this other one. Days like this I hate small engines. I hate pulling on a rope more than a couple times and not getting any noise. Good fresh gas, don't know what the issue is.

Hu

 

[Real1shepherd]

Kevin,

One of my blessings too, I was always smart enough to listen to the old timers. Most youngsters know it all and want to go and blow and impress everyone, definitely the way to get hurt bad. I have always found that the worst paying people were the ones that always expected the most from you and the greatest loyalty, yours to them, not theirs to you. Always told them straight up that I was a company man . . . and my company was my wife and children. PO'ed more than a few bosses and company owners but I knew I'd be out the gate the moment they didn't need me for two days running. A bit gypo myself so I didn't mind telling bosses how the cow ate the cabbage.

Funny story about old and young, I was working by where two laborers were cleaning up three or four inches of blasting sand off the concrete and from between beams and equipment. There was an old overweight laborer looked to be in his sixties and a young hard fellow, looked to be a body builder type, muscles everywhere. The youngster would hit it and sling sand like a steam shovel for about ten or fifteen minutes then stand there with his tongue hanging out just as long. The old man only buried his shovel about a quarter to a third of the way into the sand and moved as slowly as molasses on a cold day. At the end of the day the older laborer had moved three times the sand the youngster had!

I'm just piddling with cutting down a few trees myself, mostly to feed my woodturning. I don't need a bunch of equipment and if push comes to shove I can usually find another way of doing things or leave a particular tree alone.

One saw died yesterday, brittle fuel lines from before it was mine. The other saw started acting up today. Looks like I'm going to play saw mechanic awhile. Changed out fuel lines but I seem to have a carb needing disassembly and cleaning, not sure about this other one. Days like this I hate small engines. I hate pulling on a rope more than a couple times and not getting any noise. Good fresh gas, don't know what the issue is.

Hu

Hu,
I know the young versus old story only too well! I always hire young adults for my business, because they get such few chances around here unless they stay in school, get student loans and pay them back for twenty yrs...lol. Anyway, I've had the athlete and the body builder type....absolutely dead at the end of the day and little real output over the day. I've also had slender kids who I bulked up in a couple of months to their maximum physical potential. I always gravitate to the kids who want to work & learn...the ones that come out to show 'the old man up' don't last the week....sometimes just a day or two.....and so it goes. They must like working for me, because the ones who leave that worked OK, always ask to come back at some point.

Unless you're getting premium without ethanol, this gas is killing our saws. I see more corrosion damage in a yr on the carb than I ever saw in ten back in the day with 'normal' gas. Good luck...hope it's just simple fuel/carb related problems. I don't go into the field with less than three saws anymore. We have LOTS of rocks around here from ancient seas and such...my eyes can't catch them all like I used to. I've got a brand new loop of chain that I hit a rock with. Now, I have to take all the cutters back to match that one really damaged one. Take forever with the G-107, 36" bar and all the saw shops around here just grind round file chain.....so the loop sits on a nail. Stuff like that bugs me.....almost like oppression.

Kevin

 

[shootingarts]

Kevin,

Once a month or so I stock up on nonethanol premium from a full service station that doesn't sell any gas at all with ethanol! Don't know how long he will get away with that but I have a feeling he will padlock his pumps when he can't do things his way. Pretty independent older fellow and while it is name brand gas I strongly suspect he owns the very old gas station himself.

I have some rock here, not too bad. What gets me is old wire. This area has been settled since long before the war of northern aggression. Old wire and old metal of any kind may show up anywhere. My eyes aren't as sharp as they once were and I tried to cut a piece of smooth wire awhile back that was in some brown vines the same size. Lucky that was semi-chisel on that chain so it wasn't too bad to clean up, took me about three laps around filing. No more efficient but easier on my patience if I don't file too long on each tooth. I am using a granberg but chasing a 107 or thinking about having some ends machined for one of these granbergs I have to square file like you can with the 107. I have a couple loops of full chisel but they are round ground. RSLK, RSLHK, RSLFK, chain can't be had here anymore, may be some distributers that still have it though.

Are you square filing Stihl or another brand? Unsure what chain I want with all of the RSLK chains gone. The RSL is still available.

Hu

 

[AT sawyer]

Hu,


For awhile, I had some aluminum wedges that if hit the chain, took most of the abuse without dulling the chain. Haven't seen them for yrs. The only problem with plastic wedges is that with some hard-case trees, you can pretty much demolish them by the time the tree comes down.

Kevin

I bought a dozen Littco wedges for about 4.00 ea. two years ago. not very wide, but they drive and hold much better than plastic, and resist spitting, even in frozen wood:
https://www.wilderness.net/toolboxes/documents/tools/Crosscut Saws/Aluminum Wedges for Crosscut Saws.pdf

 

[Real1shepherd]

Kevin,

Once a month or so I stock up on nonethanol premium from a full service station that doesn't sell any gas at all with ethanol! Don't know how long he will get away with that but I have a feeling he will padlock his pumps when he can't do things his way. Pretty independent older fellow and while it is name brand gas I strongly suspect he owns the very old gas station himself.

I have some rock here, not too bad. What gets me is old wire. This area has been settled since long before the war of northern aggression. Old wire and old metal of any kind may show up anywhere. My eyes aren't as sharp as they once were and I tried to cut a piece of smooth wire awhile back that was in some brown vines the same size. Lucky that was semi-chisel on that chain so it wasn't too bad to clean up, took me about three laps around filing. No more efficient but easier on my patience if I don't file too long on each tooth. I am using a granberg but chasing a 107 or thinking about having some ends machined for one of these granbergs I have to square file like you can with the 107. I have a couple loops of full chisel but they are round ground. RSLK, RSLHK, RSLFK, chain can't be had here anymore, may be some distributers that still have it though.

Are you square filing Stihl or another brand? Unsure what chain I want with all of the RSLK chains gone. The RSL is still available.

Hu

Hu,
I use all WoodlandPro 43RCS skip-tooth chisel now on everything. It comes round filed though and so it changes to square file the first time I sharpen it with the G-107. I should be getting paid on Monday, so I'll wander over to the machine shop and see what he's done with the G-107 toward the end of the week and report back in that thread.

Kevin

 

[Real1shepherd]

I bought a dozen Littco wedges for about 4.00 ea. two years ago. not very wide, but they drive and hold much better than plastic, and resist spitting, even in frozen wood:
https://www.wilderness.net/toolboxes/documents/tools/Crosscut Saws/Aluminum Wedges for Crosscut Saws.pdf

Thanks a lot for the link!!

Kevin

 

[shootingarts]

Kevin,

Sounds good on the update, might want to wait till Tuesday to check with the machine shop, everybody hates Mondays. Well unless it is "payday" then you might make an exception! I used to own a business up in the piney woods of central Louisiana, was worth coming to work Mondays just to hear what everyone got into over the weekend. Lucky I was just working four to six people, would have lost too much time down at the courthouse bailing them out of minor scrapes if I had worked any bigger crew.

I bought a dozen Littco wedges for about 4.00 ea. two years ago. not very wide, but they drive and hold much better than plastic, and resist spitting, even in frozen wood:
https://www.wilderness.net/toolboxes/documents/tools/Crosscut Saws/Aluminum Wedges for Crosscut Saws.pdf

Thanks a bunch for the info! The only aluminum wedges I had seen didn't look like they would last long enough to talk about just driving them. Might have to give some of those a try. Definitely want to save the information in my suppliers list.

Hu

 

[Shagbark]

I use an ammo can for chain, scrench, spare plug, sprocket grease, etc. A fabric softener bottle with a pour spout and drain back feature for bar oil. All this gear, and chaps, maul, and fuel cans fit nicely in a recycle bin container. Seems some cities abandoned their recycling program and I ended up with a couple of handy bins.
Another handy item is a paint pen to mark the cutter you start with when you
sharpen your chain.

 

[Real1shepherd]

Good ideas there....I always use a lumber crayon to mark chain, because I always have one on a key return clipped to my pocket for marking logs......

We all had those recycle containers here, however the city presented everyone one day with large recycle cans.....so we all were in possession still of the small containers. At least nobody asked for mine back....anyway, they are great totes.

Kevin

 

[WHSH]

 

[Real1shepherd]

Awwwww....look at the puppies! Cool old lathe....

Kevin

 

[WHSH]

Awwwww....look at the puppies! Cool old lathe....

Kevin

Yes, those are my boys, and its 1941 south bend 9 with the 48" bed. I traded saw work for it.

 

[Real1shepherd]

Yes, those are my boys, and its 1941 south bend 9 with the 48" bed. I traded saw work for it.

Great trade!!
There's a guy on my car forum that has a Lab named 'Proton'....I think that's about the coolest name I ever heard for a dawg....

Kevin

 

[Wood Doctor]

Now I know you guys will think I'm nuts, but sometimes I talk to my saws and my truck when I'm working at a job site. The equipment seems to perform and co-operate better. Sure, it's all psychological, but anything that works and makes my job easier is money in the bank for me. I root for the saws as they cut and apologize to them when I hit the ground with the bar and chain by accident. When I overload my truck, I give her encouragement as she works her butt off, straining to deliver the load.

I guess equipment sometimes becomes an extension of your personality. You get attached to it. Treat it with respect, and it will usually return the favor. In my book, sometimes that means talking to it.

 

[Real1shepherd]

Kevin,

Sounds good on the update, might want to wait till Tuesday to check with the machine shop, everybody hates Mondays. Well unless it is "payday" then you might make an exception! I used to own a business up in the piney woods of central Louisiana, was worth coming to work Mondays just to hear what everyone got into over the weekend. Lucky I was just working four to six people, would have lost too much time down at the courthouse bailing them out of minor scrapes if I had worked any bigger crew.



Thanks a bunch for the info! The only aluminum wedges I had seen didn't look like they would last long enough to talk about just driving them. Might have to give some of those a try. Definitely want to save the information in my suppliers list.

Hu

Hu,
Talked to the machine shop guy.....back at square 1. Even when I told him that he just has to make the jig ends, he says he doesn't know how he can do it for just $100. So I said I'm alright with a $140 or so...but not to go crazy. He' still seemed disinterested. I'm not going two hundred on this...not for two small machined ends. I made it really easy for him....I don't understand.

Kevin

 

[cobey]

keep two hands on a saw at all times when yer running it, and dont walk into a spinning chain with your left leg

 

[Axfarmer]

Good ideas there....I always use a lumber crayon to mark chain, because I always have one on a key return clipped to my pocket for marking logs......

We all had those recycle containers here, however the city presented everyone one day with large recycle cans.....so we all were in possession still of the small containers. At least nobody asked for mine back....anyway, they are great totes.

Kevin

I use about 6 recycle bins for kindling wood, I strap one to the front of my atv when I'm in the woods to keep a stock of dry fire starter.

 

[Philbert]

Now I know you guys will think I'm nuts, but sometimes I talk to my saws and my truck when I'm working at a job site.

Wood Doctor-Dolittle!

Actually talking to your equipment might make people think that you are not a guy to steal saws from, so there might be an advantage there.

Philbert

 

[shootingarts]

Hu,
Talked to the machine shop guy.....back at square 1. Even when I told him that he just has to make the jig ends, he says he doesn't know how he can do it for just $100. So I said I'm alright with a $140 or so...but not to go crazy. He' still seemed disinterested. I'm not going two hundred on this...not for two small machined ends. I made it really easy for him....I don't understand.

Kevin

Kevin,

Actually I think we are home free other than having to use the triangle file. I'll try to get some pictures in the next few days but all we have to make is one knob and an adapter or just the knob and use a quarter inch drive 3/16 socket on the other end.

A comment to everyone about talking to the equipment, my brother had a computer business maintaining business networks and such. He always gave the servers and such men's names. When asked why he told the customers, "Because I don't talk to ladies the way I talk to these things!" I might have blessed a stubborn piece of equipment or software a time or two myself.

Hu

 

[WHSH]