where do you draw the line with saw perfection, and maintenance?

[NORMZILLA44]

Good stuff, I like all the replie's, and opinions. I have shined em up a time or two, but alway's figured the maintenace was worth more than the cosmetic's. Dont get me wrong I try, and take care of them, but usually dont have enough energy or time to polish em. I clean air filter each cut day, and if it is hard cutting with alot of dust if I take a break I will shake the filter out. After every few good uses or cut day's I will clean air filter, blow evrything out with air, clean bar grooves, and reverse bar. But threw the chain twice on my 660 yesterday, and saw a couple drive link's chipped at the bottom, and some burs. A newer chain. Got it re-seated once but after the second time no go. Figured it wasnt worth the time or injury to other part's.

 

[WSJchester]

I've been running saws a long time but no doubt countless fewer hours than those of you who do it for a living. However, I hate to put a tool (or gun, or anything) away dirty.

I want a saw to be ready to cut when I need it to and always at least check the air filter andd use an air gun to blow away sawdust and crud after from everywhere I can reach wiht it I finish with it. In the years before I had an air compressor I used carb cleaner extensively to clean stuff (before that it was gasoline and a hog bristle brush).

I usually touch up the chain, or if it's been a long session or seems dull, sharpen lightly and then swap it out and flip the bar. If I've no indication it's not cutting good, I just blow out the channel on the bar when the chain's off and grease the clutch hub and sproket, otherwise the bar gets dressed slightly.

Probably overkill but then again I've been caught waxing the underside of my trucks when new. Sigh. -WSJ

 

[jbighump]

i am very particular about my saws,,, i never run them out of gas, i always touch up the chain every 3 or 4 tanks, and i clean them up after every use then i put them in a case.... but they still look and run like new

 

[NORMZILLA44]

Around here my friend's make fun of me, they think I am to attached or treat my saw's to good. Seem's normal to me.

 

[jbighump]

me too!!! they say hter just a tool but there tools are always comin to me to get fixin

 

[ratso]

Good thread Norm. Well I had to pause and think do I have more time invested in the cleaning or cutting ? I'll get back on that later.

 

[madhatte]

Remember those funky "maintenance schedules" that used to come with new saws? They're actually a pretty good guideline for how to make a saw last a long time under even the heaviest of use. I find it MUCH easier to maintain my own saws than the fleet at work, but even so, I try to adhere to those basic rules.

Which reminds me... I'd best be winterizing the lot of them in the next week or two.

 

[Terry Syd]

When it comes to 'function' - I'm obsessive. When it comes to 'cosmetic' - I don't give a hoot.

 

[ausneil 1]

When it comes to 'function' - I'm obsessive. When it comes to 'cosmetic' - I don't give a hoot.

i couldn't agree more

 

[TimberMcPherson]

If its running fine, it looks good enough for me.

One of my guys liked to clean up the saws really good, but when we have an early finish on a friday to go through the gear, me and the other 3 guys would have sorted out 5 saws each and got started on a chipper or stumper while he was still finding pockets of sawdust in the recesses of an MS200.

Fuel, oil, tension, sharpen, filter on the go

Dress bars every month (or at least check em) and give them a general side cover off blow down.

Clean up other areas if Im fixing them....if I have time.

I have 4 chippers, 3 trucks, 2 stumpers, LOTS of saws, climb 5 days, quote 1 day, and have two kids under 3.

Running is saw perfection!

 

[Stihlman441]

I have been accused of having to clean a saw on this forum afew times,comments like you must not use them very offten and so on.I look after my saws yes but for about 5 to 6 months of the year there is three of them that get used allmost ever day,they get the quick blow,filters cleaned,chains and bars flip and sharpen and maybe two clutch clean outs in that 5 to 6 months.When the season is finished they get stipped and a good clean and sort out.
You look after them and they will look after you.

 

[Chris-PA]

It's a tool. Like other tools, it needs to be taken care of if you want it to work, but machines do not care if you take care of them - they're just machines, bits of metal and plastic. Like most guys I tend to get somewhat attached to tools that work well and that I spend a lot of time using. But a bit of perspective is in order - I simply have no time for polishing tools or tractors or whatnot. I'm happy if I have time to get the job done, more-or-less clean up the mess, eat some food and collapse into bed - knowing there were 5 other things I ran out of time for.

While there was once a time that I did not pay any attention to saws, and frankly lacked the knowledge on some of the fundamentals, now I take care of the functional parts to be sure it will work for me and be ready when I need it.

I usually have a compressor nearby with the airhose on it, and I try to give them a quick blast to get the worst of the oily junk off them before I put them away (and cool them off if they've just been shut off), and I check the chains to see if I need to dress them.

 

[miking]

A typical scenario for all my saws: they ride in the truck bed home because I do not like to pack them in the tool box hot, then if I think a chain needs sharpened I do so while flipping the bar and cleaning out the groove on any that got some time that day. After a tap of the filter they go into the tool box and are chained and padlocked together. Done.

 

[Snyper438]

I use them fairly regularly so don't give them a "detailed" cleaning very often. Usually a good blowing off with the air hose, chain maintenance and a wipe down. Flip the bar every few months and usually give everything a good going over then.

After reading this thread, I think i'll be cleaning them again tonight though. Just because i'm now thinking about it, lol.

Ed

 

[16:1mix]

Waxing your saws, applying ArmorAll, using Qtips and tweezers to remove every speck of dirt, and letting them ride in the front seat is obsessive behavior...anything else is just good maintenance.

Okay, fair enough.
But if you let on that they get tucked in with you when you go to bed at night that is wayyyyy over the top!:msp_ohmy::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Somesawguy]

I might be more picky if I had more time, but I usually just sharpen the chain, and fill the tanks before putting them away for the next time. I try to wipe things down a bit with a rag, just to get the worst of the sawdust off.

I try to take care of my tools, but I don't spend time polishing them.

 

[mitch95100]

Ok guys im lookin for some "likes" here lol

What i have had beaten into me since i was real little was this saying-
"If you take care of what you have, It will take care of you"
Yes i clean everything i have after im done using it.
Oh and ya ive used q-tips to clean a saw before. But that was for a rebuild haha

 

[Warped5]

I like clean tools too, but I'm not insane about it.

Just bring 'em home, wipe 'em down and hit 'em with the air gun good.

Adjust/sharpen as necessary and address any issues found that day.

Next time, we're ready to go!

 

[NORMZILLA44]

all good comment's, I do like to see and hear the different opionions. I have seen some just abused over, by a couple of my timber faller logger friends. They really took some abuse, and kept going. Definately not how I hanlde my stuff. I gotta admit some saws Ive seen polished up look awesome, like an old hot rod car, but usually I am going through 4-5 saw's at a time so by the time I do the general stuff I got some time in. Besides most of my saw's are used, and some may be a little faded or whatever, but mechanicly all very sound. Sometimes I guess I was feeling guilty,a like I should put more time in, and clean em up better, but as long as I get the maintenance side I can live with that.

 

[TK]

Usually an air compressor is plenty sufficient for all the cleaning a saw needs unless you're getting way into it. I wish more people had air compressors. A lot of saws that come into the shop need a good blasting just to find the air filter, then they're good to go again.

A lot of people have the words "maintenance" and "repairs" confused. Tuneup is not something you do to a piece of equipment that doesn't run.