Tree too thick for my saw

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echomeister said:
I'll get picks of the one i am working on View attachment 567343 View attachment 567349 View attachment 567343 View attachment 567350 tomorrow. Believe it or not my wife asked if I need a bigger saw.
But since I am unemployed at this time I am gonna pass on the CS-600P i have been peeking at.

I have some real widowmakers to deal with.
Click to expand...
Hopefully with your present employment status you can find some great guys on here to give a hand. These are not pretty ones for the inexperienced after seeing the pictures.
One thing you can do if you are into wheeling and dealing and you have the skills to inspect a saw, is to buy what you need and do what you have to do, then sell it. If done right you shouldn't have a problem breaking even and you may make a few dollars on the deal.
Warning, when working with storm damage you are dealing with some of the most dangerous trees you can work with.
ATH and ropensaddle speak the truth about the dangers involved in cutting these up. Its not easy to read these and then with the splits in the wood from breaking rather than being felled you are almost sure to jam up your bar in many of the cuts so having another saw to free up the one would be a great thing to have.
PPE is also very important as cutting on storm damage you will have shards of wood coming out at some odd angles. Also a pair of chaps would be a great idea.
echomeister said:
about kickback with the bar tip buried in the wood.

I have observed that when holding horizontal the tip touches the back of the wood and kicks back pretty hard. One time it triggered the chain brake.

What I think is the solution is to angle the engine end down and bar up so that the tip only contacts the back on the lower side of the nose.

Does this sound correct?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Yes, that helps greatly :).
 
Those widow makers are not on my to do list. They are in a remote area and I may deal with them in time. I have a small tractor and
lots of chain and lots of fairly smart friends to help. But now I mostly want to get this oak cut up and stored before it rots.
My main wood use is cooking, an I like the oak.
Thanks for the many good tips here, too many to acknowledge individualDSC07484.jpg .
Here is a pic of the one I have trouble cutting through.

I know my chain cuts crooked so I will put a new one on and this may help
 
Face one side, back cut the other. Remove as much of the hinge as you can reach. Then drive in a wedge, with a sledge. Not a felling wedge, one of those big, old splitting wedges. You have a nice saw, but it is not designed for big wood. Be a shame to burn it up. If cut curves, you should have sharpened it a while back.
 
Crooked bucking can happen especially when the face of the trunk is angled like in your pic.

Maybe you could match a longer bar and skip chain to your echo, that might make technique not so critical. But others who know echo saws will have to chime in on the feasibility of that idea.
 
All I can say is you guys are awesome. Lots of good advice.

Yeah the saw cuts curves which makes it hard to line up both sides. i have a brand new chain ( oregon 20lpx ) waiting in the box.
I was hesitant to use it because all these cuts have to go down to the dirt to finish.
But I may put it on there because the mismatch from each edge is getting harder to deal with.
 
echomeister said:
All I can say is you guys are awesome. Lots of good advice.

Yeah the saw cuts curves which makes it hard to line up both sides. i have a brand new chain ( oregon 20lpx ) waiting in the box.
I was hesitant to use it because all these cuts have to go down to the dirt to finish.
But I may put it on there because the mismatch from each edge is getting harder to deal with.
Click to expand...
If the saw is cutting to one side or the other, flip the bar on the saw, if it still curves the same way the chain is the problem ;).
Putting a new chain on will also tell you when that is an option.
Are you filing your chain on a normal basis, every time you see the chip size changing, or hitting the chain after every couple tanks with a couple strokes?

A nice trick to cutting through to the ground is watching the chips as they will typically change colors as you get to the bottom of the cut.
You can also make your cuts until your almost though and then go to the next round you will be cutting and cut that one all the way through, now you will be able to roll the 2 rounds and finish the first cut without the chance of hitting the ground.
Watch how the chips change right at the end of the cut. Obviously you will be letting off the trigger as you get to that point and it will give you a little more time to see the chip color change at the end of the cut.
 
echomeister said:
All I can say is you guys are awesome. Lots of good advice.

Yeah the saw cuts curves which makes it hard to line up both sides. i have a brand new chain ( oregon 20lpx ) waiting in the box.
I was hesitant to use it because all these cuts have to go down to the dirt to finish.
But I may put it on there because the mismatch from each edge is getting harder to deal with.
Click to expand...

Curved cuts will ruin your bar as well as being hard on your saw. Pound a plastic wedge into the top of your kerf and it will pick your log enough to keep you out of the dirt. I've made too many of those curved cuts myself when I got lazy but it's not worth it in the long run. Find a friend or a YouTube vid to help out with filing that chain to make it cut straight again
 
Philbert said:
An uneven chain (cutters or depth gauges) will pull to one side, but can be evened out. Sometimes a really worn bar (rails or groove) will also cause a chain to pull to one side.

Philbert
Click to expand...
As does wrong gauge chain but yes it is usually the rakers that cause crooked cutting. Rakers are the only thing I use a filing gauge for even if teeth are a bit off if the rakers are true it should cut fairly straight. I use a grinder so mine are always pretty near the same but I hand file my rakers if im not in a huge hurry. To the op another thing that would help you very much it to borrow a can't hook to roll that log!!
 
My thinking is to rent a larger saw for a day and get your logs hacked up then back to your normal uses. Or just buy a larger saw and put a smaller bar on it latter. You will enjoy going through the smaller logs with authority. As far as raising your logs off the ground that is easy. Use a hydro jack. Use a bumper jack with a little section of angle iron welded to the bumper bracket. Or find two hardwood limbs about 6" diam and cut them into wedges. Put one wedge on one side of the log then put another on the other side and tap it with your sledge hammer until it is off the ground a couple of inches. I like to dig out from under the log to give me a little extra room so as not to go into the dirt. Thanks
 
I have sliced about a dozen rounds out of it so far. I try to take it really easy on the saw. Frequent lifting off the wood to let it build up speed.

One thing I have on my side is time. Would you guys think a echo 600p would be the right thing to tackle that job.
 
A lot of fine sawyering to be had there on the project. A good bunch of wood to practice bucking technique, sharpening, bar maintenance, etc. as long as there's no time limit one could almost call it "fun."
 
I would clearly look at the Echo 590 instead of the 600 if money was tight. Some members here mentioned "Echo days" and getting a further discount. The 590 is only a slightly detuned version that can easiyl improve with a muffler mod. If you want a new saw.
Another option might be a mayurama mcv51 = dolmar 5105 = makita EA5001. They are supposed to cost ~350 on the US amazon site. It would be seriously more powerful than your saw and I would not worry about it burning up as soon as the cat is removed.

Further crooked cutting can also happen by applying force to the outside of the front handle, thereby causing leverage on the side of the saw and letting it cut crooked.

I have a 6701, the model prior to the 680 and it will easily tackle the job you show above.

About cutting crooked, I find that considering your equipment, your presented cut is VERY good! Don't find it very crooked at all!

Renting a larger saw is definately the most economical thing to do, but I would also ask around if maybe one of your friends has some larger saws.

Last, I would not worry a second about premature rotting on oak! It will take years in it's present form to even slightly beginn rotting! I season small oak splits typically at least two years, with complete trunks like you have it will take serious time for it to dry out! So I find no imanent stress to quickly get the job done. And don't forget, wedges will save you from serious headaches.

7
 
Agree with @7sleeper on the 590. After running my 590 a bunch if your not going strait to the 620p the extra money isn't worth it. IMG_20170313_163334.jpgThis is a monster ash farmer Steve and I worked on noodling from the end then cutting that chunk off time consuming but doable.
 

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