John Henry
ArboristSite Lurker
Or..."how it took me three weeks to get from one end of the log to the other."
I was using my Alaskan MKIII for the first time on a "real" log (had practiced a couple of cuts on a dried out section that was good for nothing), and doing pretty well. I was most of the way through the log, and 2/3 of the way through my last cut, when I noticed the cutting dropped to nothing (no progress). I backed off, checked what I thought I needed to, and went in again. Same thing. This time, I noticed some sparks coming off the chain. Uh oh, right? Must be something in the log, like a nail. Nope, no obstructions of any kind.
Well, this wasn't working, so I stopped the operation and put the saw into the barn. I noticed that the chain was dull, so figured there must have been something that dulled the chain.
Now, here's where the time lag came in. I suck at sharpening, but gave it a shot anyway. I used by little rotary tool that Granberg sent me, seemed to work all right, and got the thing done. It seemed sharp enough, so back I went. Same result, no cutting. Now I discovered that the mill had slid on the bar, and the part that presses on the bar had moved up and was pushing on the bottom of the chain. Aha!
Back into the barn, chain isn't sharp. Well, the little rototool maybe wasn't good in this newbie's hands, so I ordered the Northern Tool grinder/sharpener. A business trip intervened... The tool came in, got it set up ok, removed the chain and sharpened it. I like it!
Here's where the root cause was really found. When I went to put the chain back on the bar, and the mill, I found that when those sparks were coming out (there weren't many, but it was noticeable), I wasn't milling a nail, and it wasn't the metal pushing on the bottom of the chain...
....I was milling one of my bolts.....it was almost halfway through!
Nothing like milling metal to take the edge off a chain.
Well, now I know to check those connections, know how to sharpen a chain (and drop the depth gauges) and have gone through probably half the life of my chain in the process.
Just a newbie story for you. I"m a little smarter now, and maybe this may help someone else.
I was using my Alaskan MKIII for the first time on a "real" log (had practiced a couple of cuts on a dried out section that was good for nothing), and doing pretty well. I was most of the way through the log, and 2/3 of the way through my last cut, when I noticed the cutting dropped to nothing (no progress). I backed off, checked what I thought I needed to, and went in again. Same thing. This time, I noticed some sparks coming off the chain. Uh oh, right? Must be something in the log, like a nail. Nope, no obstructions of any kind.
Well, this wasn't working, so I stopped the operation and put the saw into the barn. I noticed that the chain was dull, so figured there must have been something that dulled the chain.
Now, here's where the time lag came in. I suck at sharpening, but gave it a shot anyway. I used by little rotary tool that Granberg sent me, seemed to work all right, and got the thing done. It seemed sharp enough, so back I went. Same result, no cutting. Now I discovered that the mill had slid on the bar, and the part that presses on the bar had moved up and was pushing on the bottom of the chain. Aha!
Back into the barn, chain isn't sharp. Well, the little rototool maybe wasn't good in this newbie's hands, so I ordered the Northern Tool grinder/sharpener. A business trip intervened... The tool came in, got it set up ok, removed the chain and sharpened it. I like it!
Here's where the root cause was really found. When I went to put the chain back on the bar, and the mill, I found that when those sparks were coming out (there weren't many, but it was noticeable), I wasn't milling a nail, and it wasn't the metal pushing on the bottom of the chain...
....I was milling one of my bolts.....it was almost halfway through!
Nothing like milling metal to take the edge off a chain.
Well, now I know to check those connections, know how to sharpen a chain (and drop the depth gauges) and have gone through probably half the life of my chain in the process.
Just a newbie story for you. I"m a little smarter now, and maybe this may help someone else.