Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Philbert]

Doesn't sound like much fun mate, the fuel must be fairly ordinary where you are by the sounds of it.

BTW - I never have to drain fuel from my battery or corded electric saws before storage!

Philbert

EDIT: I do drain the bar oil if it is a 'leaker'

 

[woodchip rookie]

Ive never drained gas out of saws. I use the ethenol premix. Ran saws yesterday on gas that was in the saws for a year. Ran fine. Carb saws and AT both.

 

[Cowboy254]

Are we related somehow?

Do you have the same stuff handed down through generations? Or is it the seafood (or the post-lunch snooze)?

My family was never into seafood when I was young and Christmas was the typical North American fare - served when it's 40°C outside. My first Christmas with Cowgirl's family - from Queensland which is up north - had all the seafood laid on. Prawns, bugs, crabs, might have been a lobster and lots of it. There's a big bowl in the middle of the table and they are ripping these tasty things to pieces and chucking the heads, guts, legs etc into this bowl in the middle and there's bits of crustacean flying everywhere. They had put on a big show for me and were hoping I would be impressed. But I had never seen anything like it and didn't know what to do so I'm sitting there dumfounded. How do you eat a Moreton Bay bug? I never knew they existed let alone how to get at the soft sweet flesh that sits beneath the somewhat spiky exoskeleton. Cowgirl took pity on me and undressed my seafood for me - and she stihl does when I sit there with a bug in my hand and a quizzical look on my face that says "how do I do this again" ?

 

[bigfellascott]

BTW - I never have to drain fuel from my battery or corded electric saws before storage!

Philbert

EDIT: I do drain the bar oil if it is a 'leaker'

Yeah not a fan of the Battery Saws at the moment, in time they may improve the battery life but for now I will happily stick to the 2 stroke engines. I've never drained bar oil out of any saw ever! I have some that leak but that depends on how thick the oil is I've found.

 

[bigfellascott]

Do you have the same stuff handed down through generations? Or is it the seafood (or the post-lunch snooze)?

My family was never into seafood when I was young and Christmas was the typical North American fare - served when it's 40°C outside. My first Christmas with Cowgirl's family - from Queensland which is up north - had all the seafood laid on. Prawns, bugs, crabs, might have been a lobster and lots of it. There's a big bowl in the middle of the table and they are ripping these tasty things to pieces and chucking the heads, guts, legs etc into this bowl in the middle and there's bits of crustacean flying everywhere. They had put on a big show for me and were hoping I would be impressed. But I had never seen anything like it and didn't know what to do so I'm sitting there dumfounded. How do you eat a Moreton Bay bug? I never knew they existed let alone how to get at the soft sweet flesh that sits beneath the somewhat spiky exoskeleton. Cowgirl took pity on me and undressed my seafood for me - and she stihl does when I sit there with a bug in my hand and a quizzical look on my face that says "how do I do this again" ?

LOL that's a crack up, I love prawns, bugs and crabs, nothing better to eat for me in the way of cold seafood YUM! We had some yummy Tiger Prawns, ham and a variety of diff salads and of course some Pavlova for Dessert!

 

[Jeffkrib]

Doesn't sound like much fun mate, the fuel must be fairly ordinary where you are by the sounds of it. I won't use any ethanol blends either and you are right about fuels these days they certainly aren't what they used to be that's for sure, the old days you could leave fuel in anything and go back a year or 2 later and start them up no problems at all, with all these additives in fuel now it seems to cause no end of trouble if left in carbies for too long, we see it all the time at my mates workshop, stuff that hasn't been run in quite a while always seem to need the carby stripped and cleaned (it leaves a real fine yellow/green powder residue in the bowl which then comes off with fresh fuel and blocks the jets and the other thing is it seems like the newer fuel will eat up fuel lines, not sure if it's the fuel or the fuel lines these days but they don't last like they used to that's for sure.

Hey Scott my local Stihl dealer reckons they’ve been having more issues since Shell and Caltex stopped refining in Sydney. You do realise all our fuel is now refined in Singapore, the Australian made stuff was apparently much higher quality.
He recommended not keeping your mixed fuel more than 6 weeks, which is what I do.

 

[svk]

I drain my saws if it’s going to be more than a month till I use them again.

With that being said I’ve had saws that have sat for years without use and the gas is fine. Others have gone bad within weeks. Moisture and temp changes (which causes condensation) are the culprits.

Gas in a mag case saw with mag fuel tank set on dirt or cement floor will go bad very quickly.

Gas in a saw with a plastic fuel tank will last longer than a mag tank.

Gas in a saw stored higher on a shelf will last longer that that of a saw stored lower in a non temp controlled building.

A full tank of fuel will last longer.

 

[bigfellascott]

Hey Scott my local Stihl dealer reckons they’ve been having more issues since Shell and Caltex stopped refining in Sydney. You do realise all our fuel is now refined in Singapore, the Australian made stuff was apparently much higher quality.
He recommended not keeping your mixed fuel more than 6 weeks, which is what I do.

Yeah mate I know we don't refine anymore and that's where the problem comes from, it's definitely crap fuel alright, maybe some of that fuel stabliser might be worth a try? (don't really know much about it TBH I do remember the 2 stroke oil I was using had it in it apparently. I think the best thing you can do is as Philbert does is when you know you are finished for the season empty the tank and run the saw until it runs out that way you know you have no fuel in there that could potentially cause problems. I leave the fuel in my Honda Lawnmower over winter but run the carb dry and it's always been fine doing it that way, it starts up first or 2nd pull when it's time to start mowing again.

I've seen plenty of Hondas with Carby issues because they don't turn the fuel tap off and run the carby dry at the end of each season, not to mention all the other brands too because of the same issues. If you have a fuel tap on your mower turn it off and run the carb dry and you should be good to go next season, if you don't have a tap put one in or you run the risk of crap getting under the needle and seat and draining fuel into your engine (we get plenty of them like that too) then you have to service the carb and drain the oil etc (ride on mowers with fuel solenoids are notorious for it).

 

[MustangMike]

I never drain any of my saws, and non ethanol fuel is N/A around here. I just make sure I mix it when it is still fresh … the 2 cycle oil has stabilizers, and I try to run each saw no longer than 3 months from the last time.

 

[Philbert]

I've never drained bar oil out of any saw ever! I have some that leak but that depends on how thick the oil is I've found.

I spent a lot of time focusing on how best to clean up leaking bar oil, and realized the best way is to just pour it back in the jug for later use.

https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/chain-saw-diapers-keep-your-cases-cleaner.73699/

Philbert

 

[MechanicMatt]

Your Crazy Philbert!! I sit the leaker on a pigmat

 

[bigfellascott]

I spent a lot of time focusing on how best to clean up leaking bar oil, and realized the best way is to just pour it back in the jug for later use.

https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/chain-saw-diapers-keep-your-cases-cleaner.73699/

Philbert

I'm lucky as I usually pretty much empty the fuel and oil tanks at the same time on my saws so I generally don't fill them back up until I go to use them again, there's probably only 2-3mths of the year where they aren't being used on a regular almost daily basis in the busy times.

 

[bigfellascott]

I don't have chainsaw cases for any of my saws, they just sit on my shelf or on the garage floor, there is a slight amount of oil that comes off some of them but nothing too serious (not for me anyway) most of time I carry my chainsaws on the back seat when heading out in my ute (sometimes I throw em in the tray) but I mostly I put them on the back seat as they tend to want to roll around in the ute (can't be bothered strapping em down in the tray so toss em on the back seat on a tarp.

 

[MountainHigh]

Do you have the same stuff handed down through generations? Or is it the seafood (or the post-lunch snooze)?

My family was never into seafood when I was young and Christmas was the typical North American fare - served when it's 40°C outside. My first Christmas with Cowgirl's family - from Queensland which is up north - had all the seafood laid on. Prawns, bugs, crabs, might have been a lobster and lots of it. There's a big bowl in the middle of the table and they are ripping these tasty things to pieces and chucking the heads, guts, legs etc into this bowl in the middle and there's bits of crustacean flying everywhere. They had put on a big show for me and were hoping I would be impressed. But I had never seen anything like it and didn't know what to do so I'm sitting there dumfounded. How do you eat a Moreton Bay bug? I never knew they existed let alone how to get at the soft sweet flesh that sits beneath the somewhat spiky exoskeleton. Cowgirl took pity on me and undressed my seafood for me - and she stihl does when I sit there with a bug in my hand and a quizzical look on my face that says "how do I do this again" ?

Please tell me you got it all on camera sounds like it could be an Australian sequel to the Nutty Professor dinner scene.

 

[woodchip rookie]

I don't have chainsaw cases for any of my saws, they just sit on my shelf or on the garage floor, there is a slight amount of oil that comes off some of them but nothing too serious (not for me anyway) most of time I carry my chainsaws on the back seat when heading out in my ute (sometimes I throw em in the tray) but I mostly I put them on the back seat as they tend to want to roll around in the ute (can't be bothered strapping em down in the tray so toss em on the back seat on a tarp.

Mine live in the basement. No garage or shed for saws anymore

 

[Jeffkrib]

I don't have chainsaw cases for any of my saws, they just sit on my shelf or on the garage floor, there is a slight amount of oil that comes off some of them but nothing too serious (not for me anyway) most of time I carry my chainsaws on the back seat when heading out in my ute (sometimes I throw em in the tray) but I mostly I put them on the back seat as they tend to want to roll around in the ute (can't be bothered strapping em down in the tray so toss em on the back seat on a tarp.

When you say garage floor I assume they’re re not directly on concrete?
Concrete and magnesium don’t go well together.

 

[bigfellascott]

When you say garage floor I assume they’re re not directly on concrete?
Concrete and magnesium don’t go well together.

Yeah mate directly on the floor, mine are mostly plastic and the only magnesium cased saw I have is on a shelf.

 

[bigfellascott]

Mine live in the basement. No garage or shed for saws anymore

Why's that mate?

 

[James Miller]

Hickory is tuff stuff. The big oak up the road landed on these 3 and only one broke off. They will get mixed in with the oak as I get to them.

 

[MustangMike]

Yea, Oak is very tough, and Hickory is much tougher! But, Oak seems to resist rot better.