How little some know about chainsaws.

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Shawn.54

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I joined this forum when I started searching the web for answers to why my MS 390 seemed to be running hot and a lot of search results were linked here. Have not been a really active member but always looking for information.
Anyway back to the subject of this post I was talking to a friend who has had a outdoor furnace for at least 4 most likely 5 years and the subject came up of saws he’s asking me what I run and why I tell him Stihl because that’s what I’ve always run (grandfather was a logger mill owner and he always had stihl so I just followed his lead).
Brand doesn’t matter in this case.
He tells me that his newest saw is about to die on him and he thinks he is going to get a different brand the first lasted a little over 2 years and this one a little longer but that it’s in its last leg.
I questioned him on what would kill a saw in 2 years fuel, oil mix, maybe storing it outside every thing I could think of with my limited knowledge. He had the right answers for my questions of fuel and mix so we talked more I asked him what the saw was doing and he said runs strong until he puts it to wood then it dies takes forever to cut a block. I start thinking it’s running lean or having fuel delivery problem. This conversation went on for a while trying to figure it out and I told him to stop over later with the saw at my house and I would try to figure it out for him. I told him I was going home to sharpen a couple chains and that if he had any that needed sharpened to bring them I’d hit them while I was at it. At that point he lost all color in his face and looked like a deer in the headlights and he said you have to sharpen the chain!!! I felt really bad that he at that moment felt like a @$$ but at least he didn’t have to buy a new saw. He showed up later saw in hand it was to late for that chain and bar both scrap it’s a wonder it didn’t start a fire.
I told him to go to where he got the saw and get a new bar and chain or 3 and ask for the proper file and come back I would give him a lesson on sharpening a chain. Then I asked him what he did with the first saw and got the deer look again and he said dumpster please don’t tell my wife.
Not doing this to make fun of my friend.
He is a really smart guy in most situations just not a good wood butcher . Makes me glad I had a great teacher in my grandfather and I found this forum to help me with the mechanical side of saws.
Thanks for past and future help.
Shawn
Going to get my buddy to at least lurk here for a while to gain knowledge.
 
People honestly have no clue. To many folks, mix oil is optional and bar oil is an afterthought.

I had a friend who lived in a city all of his life. He lives on land owned by his employer and (before I met him) bought a new Poulan. Ran it with the original chain until he literally burned it up. Brought it to a Stihl dealership and they threw the saw away, sold him a small Stihl, and gave him a crash course on saw use. He honestly had no clue.

I have caught him using it without bar oil a few times and have gently reminded him. He has only burned up one bar in 4 years so he isn't doing too badly. ;)
 
whata ya mean the rakers need to lead the cutters?:mad:

Uhmm............What are Rakers?:confused:


Honestly for a long time, I had no idea just how much Variety is available in chain, I knew it had to be SHARP, but for years, just cut firewood, with stock full comp chain like what was on the saw originally, when I started learning more about chain, I was just Amazed at the different chains available :eek::eek::eek:


Doug :cheers:
 
whata ya mean the rakers need to lead the cutters?:mad:

Uhmm............What are Rakers?:confused:


Honestly for a long time, I had no idea just how much Variety is available in chain, I knew it had to be SHARP, but for years, just cut firewood, with stock full comp chain like what was on the saw originally, when I started learning more about chain, I was just Amazed at the different chains available :eek::eek::eek:


Doug :cheers:
Before I knew any better I just brought the worn out chain to the shop or hardware store and bought whatever they gave to me.

One time when I did know better, had a hardware store employee tell me to by Oregon 73 chain because it was "better" than the 72....I tried to tell him and finally just said no thanks LOL.
 
Before I knew any better I just brought the worn out chain to the shop or hardware store and bought whatever they gave to me.

One time when I did know better, had a hardware store employee tell me to by Oregon 73 chain because it was "better" than the 72....I tried to tell him and finally just said no thanks LOL.

Yep, take a loop of chain in that I should have been Embarrassed by, and ask someone who didn't know that I Should be Embarrassed of that chain, and ask for a couple just like "This" :rolleyes:, and off I would go:eek::innocent::laughing:


Doug :cheers:
 
I have met several people like that. I gave them a quick lesson on the do's and don't s of running and maintaining a saw properly. Granted I'm no expert but I don't have many issues I can't handle myself. Some think they know how to sharpen a saw then they have no clue as to what a raker is and what it does and how to keep it at the rite height. Many people are smart, just not at everything like I am. :surprised3::surprised3::surprised3::surprised3:
 
I have met several people like that. I gave them a quick lesson on the do's and don't s of running and maintaining a saw properly. Granted I'm no expert but I don't have many issues I can't handle myself. Some think they know how to sharpen a saw then they have no clue as to what a raker is and what it does and how to keep it at the rite height. Many people are smart, just not at everything like I am. :surprised3::surprised3::surprised3::surprised3:
You would be surprised how even experienced saw users do not know about raker maintenance.

There was a fellow around these parts who was a big fan of the granberg file and joint. He sharpened his chains to the point they were razor sharp but they all threw fine dust. I asked him about his rakers and his answer "aw those things just wear down with use, no need to mess with them".
 
My buddy and I have a lot to talk about I my invite him to go with me on my next wood hauling trip to get some pointers and help throw some wood. Just make me wonder how hard he worked to keep his house warm grinding his way through that wood with that chain.
Shawn
 
Guy was in my saw shop last time I was there, his brand new totally burnt-up 562XP had all of ten hours recorded on the chip. He used an “additive,” he said. Also had never heard of depth gauges, nor had his two “sawyers.” “Joe Bob’s Lawn Maintenance” strikes again.

I met the lead sawyer for the “Tree” department of a large city - the capital of my home state. He proudly told me he “didn’t need those cowboy chaps.”
 
Guy that lives down the road has a lawn care service and occasionally cuts down trees for clients. He brought me his Echo 530, told me it won’t rev up and chain is really tight in the “blade.” Well, a .325” rim drive, 72lgx chain and a .375” sprocket nose bar won’t work together. Drive links are all peened over and bar is junk. Not sure how long the rim drive will last. Gave him correct bar and chain numbers to buy. Another neighbor told me you can only sharpen a chain twice before the chain is junk because the teeth won’t cut. Asked him about filing the rakers, told me he’s never done that. Wonder why the chain won’t cut?
 
A guy married to a friend of my daughter, knowing that I use saws professionally, mentioned what hard work it is. Recently, he said, he had worked and worked and got tired making a chainsaw try to cut its way through some aspen. Wore him out. I don't even respond to a comment like that. Where would you begin?
 
A guy married to a friend of my daughter, knowing that I use saws professionally, mentioned what hard work it is. Recently, he said, he had worked and worked and got tired making a chainsaw try to cut its way through some aspen. Wore him out. I don't even respond to a comment like that. Where would you begin?
Did you ask him if he started it?
 
I was asked by a fellow wood cutter one day why my saw had big spiky orange things sticking out I pointed out that his muffler was crushed badly and his exhaust ports almost block off.
I grew up on a farm with a grandfather who was a working fool dairy farm school bus contractor logger and saw mill owner I was off bearing slabs at 10 years old and skidding logs by 12 he wouldn’t let me run the saw until he was to crippled up to do it any more then I still had him there telling me how to do it. And I’m so glad I had him to show me the ropes.
I guess I’ll just share what I assumed was common knowledge and be glad I learned it as a kid.
Shawn
 
Gotten plenty of nice chains from people who dont diferenciate between wood and dirt. As soon as it dulled and they shoved on it for awhile, they would just go buy a new chain. A little sharpening and get the "drag teeth"(depth gauges) right, and they give good service. We sharpen until the short edge of the cutter touches the back edge, or the drags wont go low enough any more. They will cut just as good as new, as long as there is a full width of cutter to clear the kerf.
 
Lol not much different from life! Or my job!!!
I have journeymen plumbers I work with that don’t have any idea how brakes work, or an engine?!?!
It’s mind blowing ! They are in charge of fitting 100k heat exchangers with a welder and they don’t know how an engine works lol.
 

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