Whats the best type of chain for cutting down palm trees?

[Grizzly]

It's not so much the type of chain you use, but rather the technique of making your cuts that matter.

Most pro's don't have a problem if they realise that palm doesn't cut like most any other wood or fiber. Palm likes to suck your bar in and resist any attempts to walk through your cut as you would normally do. Raw horse power and muscle will usually suffice to overcome this problem, but it's the palm heart at the top and the base cut at the bottom that require a special technique that most novice's are unaware of. Even with an 088 and a brand new chisel chain a base cut on an old date palm is challenging until you realise that by stabbing the bar in and walking it a little bit, and then pulling out and stabbing again a little further down the cut, is considerably easier than wrenching your saw around in the cut and tearing your anti-vibe mounts to shreads.

Date palm and other palms like filifera and robusta are very alike in that the base cuts are very difficult and particularly hard on both saw and arborist. The above mentioned stab and waggle technique has worked very well for me over the years, and I highly recommend you try it using all proper precautions that apply to any plunge cut.

Palm is highly acidic and loves to eat magnesium, clean your saws or pay the price!

jomoco

No wories on cleaning my saw. I do that at the end of every work day.

 

[Grizzly]

I use foams, much more slick ... check out some videos.

Foams?
How would you use that while knocking down a palm?

 

[Grizzly]

I don't think I've ever cut one palm.

Maybe one scrawny when we we were in Savannah, GA, for a short while, but nothing I remember.

So they actually dull chains?

What's in them?

Hard wood? Fibrous?

Once you do cut one down, you'll wish you had one every day.
At least the 30' footers. I haven't had the opertunity to touch a 100' footer.

 

[Grizzly]

THE BEST CHAIN IS A REALY SHARP ONE:hmm3grin2orange:

do you use a file to sharpen you chains or a chain grinder.

 

[Ekka]

What's in them?

Hey guys, come on, this is the best opportunity yet...


Around here you'll get, birds, bats, rats, cockroaches by 100's, the occasional snake (whip and tree snake), I had a goanna lizard once, possums, heaps of lolly wrappers and silver foil paper that the birds build nest out of, ants (bloody thousands of them), millipedes, worms, cockchafers, bees, and dog bones (the crows nick them out of dudes yards and go up there to eat them and drop the bone in the palm head) .... hmmm, that's about all that comes to mind immediately.

How about you other guys, what did ya find in your palm?

 

[trevmcrev]

Hey guys, come on, this is the best opportunity yet...


Around here you'll get, birds, bats, rats, cockroaches by 100's, the occasional snake (whip and tree snake), I had a goanna lizard once, possums, heaps of lolly wrappers and silver foil paper that the birds build nest out of, ants (bloody thousands of them), millipedes, worms, cockchafers, bees, and dog bones (the crows nick them out of dudes yards and go up there to eat them and drop the bone in the palm head) .... hmmm, that's about all that comes to mind immediately.

How about you other guys, what did ya find in your palm?

A dead bird totally impaled on a Canary Island Date Palm spike!

 

[Ekka]

A dead bird totally impaled on a Canary Island Date Palm spike!

Haha, maybe it was like flying along and had a heart attack and ended up shishkabob'd.

 

[climbingwomdat]

hay ekka, i was cutting down 6 cocos at Hamilton today and come across a couple that were as hard as Cuban royals but the centers were brown as iron bark and didn't even want to close up on them selves. I was guessing that they were at least 30-40 years old and have been getting a few of them lately. What is your opinion on them.

P.S. 200t and 460 the only weigh to cut palms:greenchainsaw:

 

[Ekka]

I think the drought has made them really hard on the crust, some have been like concrete on the outside and I have been filing the spikes sharp more often than usual.

If they were more brown than white on the inside it's less moisture, same with it not compressing and clamping, dry?

What was the spray like, more so dry than the usual sludge wet?

Sometimes they even get reddish in the centre, they get really hard when they're like that, I noticed it tends to happen around the base but also on the bend of a trunk that's curved.

The ones you cut in Hamilton, were they in a dry spot like elavated retaining wall, mulched with stones/rock etc? Also it is likely in Hamilton that they were irrigated until recently.

Usually in Hamilton they are big buggers, well established, some friggin monster ones in there I clean occasionally, and some in really bad spots.

I cut 2 down at the Gap today, one was a big bugger and it was hard too, planted or grew in a gravel driveway but was hard up against the carport, that was a dry one. The one around the back in the garden was normal.

 

[Grizzly]

Hey guys, come on, this is the best opportunity yet...


Around here you'll get, birds, bats, rats, cockroaches by 100's, the occasional snake (whip and tree snake), I had a goanna lizard once, possums, heaps of lolly wrappers and silver foil paper that the birds build nest out of, ants (bloody thousands of them), millipedes, worms, cockchafers, bees, and dog bones (the crows nick them out of dudes yards and go up there to eat them and drop the bone in the palm head) .... hmmm, that's about all that comes to mind immediately.

How about you other guys, what did ya find in your palm?

The worst thing I encountered was a palm rat, a yellow jacket nest, and the biggest rats nest that anyone could have encountered. There was more rat crap than saw dust.:jawdrop:

 

[Grizzly]

how goods the carlton chain

I just picked up some carton chains and they worked out prety good for cutting the skirt off a palm last weekend. Any coments or problems with them?

 

[Ekka]

My experience... OK but not as good as Stihl.

Seems to stretch more, chrome seems to come off top of tooth easier and tooth seems shorter or wears faster or something coz they dont do the same mileage.

See how you go, profiles make a difference too.

 

[Grizzly]

My experience... OK but not as good as Stihl.

Seems to stretch more, chrome seems to come off top of tooth easier and tooth seems shorter or wears faster or something coz they dont do the same mileage.

See how you go, profiles make a difference too.

I haven't cut down a palm yet, but I've trimmed many. I was able to still trim the green frawns with a semi dull chain. It was toward the end of the job and the check was waiting

 

[ChipChomper]

For palms I like the Stihl 880 we have with a 41" bar, chisel full comp chain. It has serious grunt since the 41" bar is child's play for the 880.

 

[grizz55chev]

For palms I like the Stihl 880 we have with a 41" bar, chisel full comp chain. It has serious grunt since the 41" bar is child's play for the 880.

Better get in yer time machine if you’re waiting for an answer from this post, Dec 06 was a few yrs ago.

 

[ChipChomper]

Better get in yer time machine if you’re waiting for an answer from this post, Dec 06 was a few yrs ago.

I just got a reply from you in a matter of seconds-- looks like my time machine works and now I need a patent lawyer--know any good ones by chance?

 

[grizz55chev]

Shoulda known, Frank.

 

[Richard Magargal]

I hope you are sharpening your chains until the teeth are toast right? Sharpen them before you replace them........

[email protected]

 

[Richard Magargal]

I hope you are sharpening your chains until the teeth are toast right? Sharpen them before you replace them........

[email protected]

 

[Richard Magargal]

I hope you are sharpening your chains until the teeth are toast right? Sharpen them before you replace them........

[email protected]