How little some know about chainsaws.

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I still do that with a plasma cutter a lot. You know, fire her up, she won't cut, take the torch apart to check it, check all the settings, step back from the cutter and hear a crunch, and look down to find out your standing on the ground clamp...

I've repeatedly asked ESAB on facebook for a welder and plasma cutter that doesn't need a ground clamp... Or a cordless wirefeed welder...

I've cut many a ton of steel with an ESAB! Mine worked the same way.....wouldn't cut worth a fizzle with the ground clamp laying on the floor! Now the idea of these units not needing a clamp would be awesome! :crazy:

Here's a good one....send the new apprentice down to the welding supply to pick up a bottle of plasma gas for the cutter! :D
 
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.
All kinds out there, my Uncle worked in the New York Public Library his entire career. He started their genealogy dept and asked me to check the anti freeze level in his car for him. He had no clue. I used to laugh at the fact, but have come to realize it’s just not there. With that said, I know nothing about genealogy either. Everyone is good at something, well most everyone. I know people that own machinery that if they needed to choke it, they would never get it running
 
Many owners don`t know squat about what makes em tick, buy from big box stores that show them nothing, even some dealers don`t even show them any how to`s. One chap was on his 3rd chain adjuster, couldn`t tighten up the chain, claimed Stihl made a lousy chain adjuster and the saws were junk. He would install the bar and chain, then tighten the bar nuts tight and then proceed to crank on the chain adjuster screw to tighten the chain, pure junk it was.
 
New guy in our office several years came to me with a question. He had just moved to Bloomington Indiana from NYC. He said, "You're from around here right?" I said, "Yes!" He says, "Do you now much about fencing and how to build fence?" I say, "Well a little....I have built fence off and on over the years for cattle and horses....but I don't consider myself an expert. Why do you ask?" He says, "I just bought a piece of property.....10 acres just west of town. It's all grown up with weeds, small trees, bushes, etc. I was wanting to mow it down somehow and everybody tells me I need a Bush-hog!....so....what kind of fence would I need to build in order to keep a bush-hog from getting off the property?...are they a mean vicious animal?.....and will they actually eat the little trees and bushes along with the weeds?
 
New guy in our office several years came to me with a question. He had just moved to Bloomington Indiana from NYC. He said, "You're from around here right?" I said, "Yes!" He says, "Do you now much about fencing and how to build fence?" I say, "Well a little....I have built fence off and on over the years for cattle and horses....but I don't consider myself an expert. Why do you ask?" He says, "I just bought a piece of property.....10 acres just west of town. It's all grown up with weeds, small trees, bushes, etc. I was wanting to mow it down somehow and everybody tells me I need a Bush-hog!....so....what kind of fence would I need to build in order to keep a bush-hog from getting off the property?...are they a mean vicious animal?.....and will they actually eat the little trees and bushes along with the weeds?

I used to think a Dixie Chopper was a type of motorcycle.
 
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:

Get plenty of folks that come in and ask for a chain for an "20" Husqvarna" and expect that is enough info to get a chain.
Likely it's .050" gauge, but depending on the saw could be .325 or .375... and yes, have had a few put the wrong chain and run it till the chain ate through the sprocket and even into the crankshaft.
Usually brought in with a "saw won't cut" or something along those lines.



I know a few loggers that don't sharpen chains, even processor chains. Just run them till they are dull and on to a new chain. Claim that it costs them more to sharpen than a new chain.

Maybe for them. Myself, I run them till they are dead. I've put about 2200 hrs on my processor and have used up 6 chains.
 
I started washing car parts for my oldman at 6yo, I moved up to fixing my two stroke Clinton 2 1/2 hp engine on my rupp go kart around 7yo. At that time I was repairing lawn mowers too. The list of life’s experiences goes on. I come from a family of gear heads.
 
I still do that with a plasma cutter a lot. You know, fire her up, she won't cut, take the torch apart to check it, check all the settings, step back from the cutter and hear a crunch, and look down to find out your standing on the ground clamp...

I've repeatedly asked ESAB on facebook for a welder and plasma cutter that doesn't need a ground clamp... Or a cordless wirefeed welder...

Yeah I need a cordless garden hose so the dang thing won't keep getting tangled up.
 
My rant is all those battery powered tools when the charger wires get tangled up.
Don’t mention the battery powered shavers with the wires knotted up.
 
I don’t like it when people use used engine oil for the bar and chain. Burns up bars and chains are always stretched to the max. Not to mention how dirty the saws usually are

Used engine oil is absolutely the worst thing you can do to your bar and chain assembly! It contains microscopic metal particles (think abrasion and wear), hydrocarbon combustion byproducts which cause corrosion, and is considered potentially cancer-forming (not only in the state of California!).

Good bar oil is comparatively cheap, and has proper anti-sling properties to boot! This means it stays where it is needed for much longer that other (especially used) oils.

My 2c

Mike
 
Used engine oil is absolutely the worst thing you can do to your bar and chain assembly! It contains microscopic metal particles (think abrasion and wear), hydrocarbon combustion byproducts which cause corrosion, and is considered potentially cancer-forming (not only in the state of California!).

Good bar oil is comparatively cheap, and has proper anti-sling properties to boot! This means it stays where it is needed for much longer that other (especially used) oils.

My 2c

Mike

There's a fine line between doing what's necessary to get the job done and just being a cheapass!
 

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