Chain Break Mania

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I find such discussions amusing.
It is no secret that I am an old school man, in almost all ways.
I would share my views, but that high pitched squealing from the younger Gens is annoying.
Sorry..I Can't bridge the gap as you ran 125's and I only knew them as a go-kart engine...but was too young to have the means to get one in the 70's. I still will only ever know them as a go-kart engine. I feel lucky that I missed most all of that era. One could not hand me one of those saws. They are not my thing but much..Much respect. 'We' were the 'gifted generation'. You guys had to take it in the +++, and across the guts and through the legs and through the arms and commonly got WFS.
I know they sure did in the BC. My neighbour, old Mel Fredrickson showed me 6 of the baddest scars in the early 80's whilst in his mid 70's
I mean leg hanging off, arm hanging off, 16" scare across the guts.

C'mon Mr. Bogangles? Lets hear you out please?
 
Sometimes it pays to be Canadian. On one of my many trips out to beautiful California I was asked to drive a group up to Lake Tahoe, the best vehicle owned by that group was a 2 wheel drive/rear wheel drive Ford Explorer with half worn all season tires on it. Having never been to Lake Tahoe during winter months I wasn`t concerned too much, it was raining steady in San Francisco and water was running off the highway in streams as I made my way up to Sacramento. The rain let up to a heavy mist around Placerville and we kept up a steady pace steadily climbing in elevation. When we reached Kyburz it was snowing hard and a mile or so up the road there was a checkpoint set up manned by the fire dept and State Troopers. They were stopping every vehicle and mandating each vehicle to have chains on or be a 4 wheel drive, if not they sent you back. We had neither but during the conservation I was having with a State Trooper he asked about the chains, no sir, how about 4 wheel drive, no sir, a few more pleasantries and then he asked, where you from sir. I told him Canada, he repeated, Canada, yes sir I said, he stepped back straightened up and said go ahead with the wave of his hand. I didn`t bother to ask why..
 
There is a string of safety rules put in order for a reason. One backs up the other. You start skipping 2 or 3 of them on a regular basis then you will get it before long. Example: Don't work from the top down, stepping down ridges with high sapling stumps with a chain still travalling. So you could work for the downside up creating lower stumps. You could wait for the chain to stop and then proceed downwards or you could use the chain brake instantly as you step down saving 3-4 seconds and take the rest out of the equation.

If you rest a moving chain (without trigger) on a high sapling stump that will wiggle then it's coming back at you every time. I have stepped down hill onto them one handed and two handed. You will get the same results every time. I smashed my screen out with my chain brake handle on my Simonized 372 There is one examples of a violent kickback. Right from the bottom of the chain which the brake will never ever kick on
 
Then you have the kickbacks from the very longest point of the tip which also will not trigger an 'inertia chain brake kickback but a full kickback. Now that is what I have seen tested off a solid object.
They are all created by 'movement' as the test has a hinge pivot on the back handle.
Hence: no automatic braking once again.
No need for a solid mount test as no arms will ever hold it without movement.
Every kickback without automatic braking will be due to 'movement'. There it be from the operater grip or the wood moving.. It can be from the centre top of the bar or centre bottom of the bar. Just depends on the situation.
 
Come to think of it the worst kicks I ever got were from a still moving chain or chain at half rev hitting a sapling and either jumping forward bringing me with it or coming right back at me.
 
An extremely small percentage of saw users will ever make a career in the bush and even a smaller percentage of those will find themselves in the “Click Camp”. So I would suggest that the casual user click away if it turns your crank.
 


A very quirky safety video from before my time. However I love to use this video to show new people to never become complacent. No safety device in the world will save you if you dont have respect for your tools. As far as hand power tools are concerned I preach the big three angle grinder, circular saw, and most dangerous chainsaw. I am a huge fan of the modern safety devices on equipment such as a chain break on a saw, or the new quick stop features and anti kickback features on grinders. However I have a huge problem in my field with new folks who trust those safety features without question, last week we had a kid throw a 9" grinder and about knock his brains out. His response when he came too was he wasn't worried about pinching the disk because it would stop itself. Explaining to him the rotational force involved with a 15 amp motor and 9" disk was a eye opener because he had never thought of it that way. Moral of the story safety features are amazing but it seems like you have to have lived without them to appreciate them.
 
The BEST drivers are not Formula-1 but rally car drivers.


The ONLY reason WRC cars don't have driver aids is because they're banned. All the cars had ABS and TC in 2004 before that stuff was banned. Why? Because they were faster and safer with it.

For competitions sake, they want drivers to be forced to drive the car, so they nerfed the vehicles. It has nothing to do with what is better for the driver.

Given the choice, those drivers would have those driver aids if allowed.
 
Sometimes when cutting in sub zero temperatures your fingers can get cold in spite of heated handles, so a quick fix is to engage chain break and put finger in modded muffler port with saw idling. Just as a word of precaution, don’t stick your finger in there too far or your finger can become stuck between the piston and exhaust port.
If your fingers are actually frozen you can also do this WOT sans CB, but to be on the safe side make sure your holding the saw firmly on the ground.
 
On the subject of chain brake wear and tear, I store saws with the chain brake engaged, on the theory that the brake spring is less stretched than with the brake off. I don't know if it makes any difference but it seems logical . . . like taking the torque off a click type torque wrench after use. Anybody else do this?
 
Shouldn't we unwind the rope on the starter too?

I know you're probably joking, but my answer would be that the starter spring is a coil spring which, stretched or unstretched is farther from its elastic modulus than the brake spring. I don't have the answers, just asking a question.
 
A starter spring would be the one more likely to break.

More from repeated flexing than from being stored in a mildly stretched state. Not saying the brake spring is going to break, just wondering if it would lose more of its "set" when stored in a more stretched state. Again, examples: releasing spring compression in click type torque wrench, not leaving a spring piston air rifle cocked in storage.
 
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