oldsaw
"Been There, Milled That"
It's a whole lot better to use it than it is not to....
Buy it, use it, get on with life.
Mark
Stihl Ultra oil in a new saw
- Thread starter Bowtie
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It's a whole lot better to use it than it is not to....
Buy it, use it, get on with life.
Mark
Bowtie
Gearhead
Thank all of you for your advice. My boss had a 36 inch cottonwood standing dead in his pasture that he has been worried about. I took my 3 toys over there and we had quite a time getting that thing to drop where we needed it to. I really need to get a bigger bar than the 20 incher on that 441. We made the notch where required, started the backcut, used wedges and still had a hell of a time leaning it over, but we got it. My boss was using his good ole' Husky 257, which is a good saw, but I couldnt help but ask him if he wanted to try the 441 when we were bucking it up. This man knows how to use a chainsaw, so I wasnt too worried about letting him operate it. He wouldnt put it down, so I grabbed my old 034 and played with some smaller limbs. Kinda felt like it was a waste of fuel on a cottonwood, but we sure had fun. Lesson I learned is Im gonna get that bigger bar and chain, I needed it today, and my saw didnt blow up runnin the ultra oil. 
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oldsaw
"Been There, Milled That"
Glad you had fun.
I hate cottonwood...just so you know.
Mark
I hate cottonwood...just so you know.
Mark
Bowtie
Gearhead
I hate that stuff as well, but it was a good excuse to use my saws, as i have been wanting to but not having the time. My boss wanted to use it for firewood because it was there. I believe harder woods cut faster, but wear a chain faster as well. I noticed this today. What you think? By the way my firewood consists on ash, mulberry, oak and hedge. NO COTTONWOOD or similar trash wood.
oldsaw
"Been There, Milled That"
I tried to rip one with the CSM about a year ago. Didn't mill for ****, and had "lint" everywhere. Don't mind crosscutting it, but the trees are almost always hollow or have nice sized branches waiting to fall from the top. Falling is always more of a guessing game than I like...and it sucks for firewood.
Funny thing is, the chain seemed even sharper than when I started trying to mill that log. It was razor sharp at the end of a 16' x 24-26" log. Not like "file sharp", like cut you and bleed like a stuck pig, sharp.
Mark
Bowtie
Gearhead
Does the high moisture content and porosity of this wood cause this as well as the way I believe it seems to bog a saw more than harder woods? I KNOW my chains were sharp, and sharpened right. Makes me wonder.
Bowtie
Gearhead
I tried 2 different chains, 1 was a new Stihl full chisel, the other a newer Stihl full chisel that I filed with my G-berg jig. Guess whick one cut better. :greenchainsaw:
Bowtie
Gearhead
Thats what sucks about cottonwood, they grow fast, and are plentiful. But they are worthless for anything but insurance claims.
We cut up a cottonwood last week and sparks were flying......Sand in the tree and bark......
.
Bowtie
Gearhead
Ok, thats more damage than a cottonwood is worth, junk chain time. Or let it rot. Or do like we did on a few bridge jobs and cut a few water slits, dump 10 gallons of diesel fuel on the pile and let her rip.:censored:
oldsaw
"Been There, Milled That"
Cottonwoods, fuel oil, and a match. My Dad would love you. That's his favorite combination.
Mark
Mark
Lakeside53
Stihl Wrenching
My choice would have been to use a drill and tap extender. Real cheap and saves a lot of messing around. If you can get a screwdriver in, you can drill it and tap it. As for chucking it in a drill press... (your later post) I don't. Intuitively, it would seem a better solution, but I don't believe it is. Expanding the existing hole by the tiny amount needed for a helicoil pretty much guarantees the new hole tracks correctly. A drill press does not, as it hard to get exactly on center. I have both co-axial locators ($$$) and optical bore scope ($$$) for that purpose, but would never drag them out for this use, but... whatever works for you.
I find guys have more problems trying to get the tap started true to the hole rather then the hole itself. Two ways - use a drill-press to start the tap (but... then you have to take the cylinder off!!) or make a simple but effective guide. Take a block of metal 1 to 1.5 inches thick, and drill two holes with a drill press - one the size of the bit to be used for threading and one the size of the MAJOR diameter of the tap. Simply place the block over the hole to be drilled/tapped, and drill or tap away... If you don't have any suitable metal, just use a piece of hardwood.
Personally I find miniature helicoils to be a pain. I get to fix a lot of busted threads that have had helicoils inserted. Maybe they were inserted by poor technique, but they just don't seem to last, particularly where the item is to be removed now and then. Time serts are really hard to beat and I've never had a failure.
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