Rough Night

[TonyM]

Well, today I finally received the slightly used Husqvarna 262XP I bought on ebay. Buy the time I got home from work, gave the saw a much needed cleaning and sharpened a very dull chain, it was nearing dark and I hadn't had a chance to cut with it. So I head out in my field along the roadside were I've been cutting up dead trees, and there's a tree I'd like to drop but If it goes the wrong way in could damage the neigbor's truck parked across the road. Happens the neigbor is out snowblowing his driveway, so I stop to talk to him about the tree I want to cut down and his truck in the way, and it seemed the truck wasn't easily moveable. Then he shows me a large cherry tree he like to cut down on his side of the road, except it has woven wire fence wrapped all the way around the trunk and growing into the tree. We talk about that and now it's getting dark outside. I decide I can take some branches of the tree I want to cut down, and safely fell it in my field, and I precede to do so. By the time I cut the notch and start the back it's getting very dark, and evidently there was some metal in that tree as well, as my newly sharpened chain soon looked worse than it did before I sharpened it. So here I am in the dark, with a dull saw that wouldn't cut butter, and a tree ready to fall right next to a road. I grabbed my felling wedge thinking maybe I could get the tree over with that, but it was so cold that the wedge just shattered when I hit it with the hammer. Now I'm considereing grabbing my other saw and finishing the back cut, but I really didn't want to sharpen two chains. Then it dawned on me. I cut a wedge out of some chunks of wood I had in the trailer, drove it in the back cut, and she dropped nicely in my field. By then it was so dark I couldn't see what the heck was in the tree that I hit. After all that I really didn't even get a good trial of the 262XP and I had a lot of filing to do again.

 

[WOLF_RIVER_MIKE]

its always something.

 

[JimL]

Its dangerous to cut in the dark, not that I have never done it


I hate hiting nails or wire. I usually just put another chain on and work the other one over later...

 

[treeclimber165]

I used to swap chains when I hit metal, but haven't had to in a long time. One of the benefits of running saws for 18 years is the ability to 'feel' what the chain is doing, even in the dark. Being able to feel a chain hit a foreign object will reduce the damage to the cutters, if you can pull the saw back quick enough. I've hammered a few chains and will either touch them up or grab another saw to finish the cut (in a different line, of course).

Back when I was in my 20's, I used to be able to eat a brand new chain past any hope of salvage on one aggressive cut into a hidden nail or bolt.

 

[crowe]

Its seems like I always hit a nail when I have a particulary good chain filed back to where it is just starting to cut. The skidder just left out with a skid, and my file and stump vise. Yes nails, fence and sandstone SUCK!!!! It sucks driving wedges in the cold to I use a Hardhead wedge it has a metal shank and drives real well. Another thing in cold weather I do when driving wedges is double bore the back where I am sticking my wedge so it will bite better when those trees are frozen they will spit that wedge back out at you and I have had a couple painfull moments as a result. Be safe Wade