Keep your Alaskan connections tight!

[John Henry]

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.

 

[BobL]

Good story JH.

Other reasons I have experienced for keeping things tight are
- if they come off and hit the chain it can fling them back at you!
- if they land in a pile of sawdust you might never see them again

 

[slabmaster]

Great story! I'm glad you found out what the problem was before anything bad happened.It only takes one thing to go wrong to make a good day bad. That same problem tried to get me once before,i remember it well and to this very day i always check it over before i start milling. Mark

 

[deeker]

My dad says "keep yur nuts tight"

Sounds funny at first thought. But it is not.
Long story in that one. And it cost me a logging job.

Your lucky, no injury.

Pics required.

Great post.

Kevin

 

[John Henry]

Here are some pics to illustrate what I was talking about.

The connection that came loose is this one, in the powerhead end of the bar. There are two raised parts that hold the bar. If these get loose, the bar slides forward.

When this happened, the chain contacted the bolt.

And ended up cutting halfway through the bolt.

 

[dancan]

Good post and a reminder to keep in the back of the old noggin about loose nuts and bolts .
You should see what happens when the anvil nuts back off on a chipper going full tilt .