Chainsaw use underwater?

[Deadwood Kid]

well to start off, i live in a small valley with a creek behind my house.

there was 3 alder trunks growing out of this one rootwad, all about 20 inches each, that had washed up on my part of the creekbank. lots of free and easy firewood came to mind. went down there with the 361 and began to buck each trunk off the rootwad into the 12-18 inches of water. the two sticking out of the water went as planned, except for the sudden jolt that made me fall in the water...:bang:

the saw stayed dry as i held it above my head. but now for the 3rd trunk which was completely underwater. i was unsure if there was consequences to cutting underwater, but being frustrated and soaking wet, did it anyways.

long of the short everything was normal except for the bit of bar oil floating on the surface. so i figured i would post something to see if anyone has had any problems cutting underwater.

just to clarify i would never stick the powerhead into the water. only the bar.

~brandon

 

[Philbert]

3 Thoughts:

- you did it;

- the movie "Sometimes a Great Notion" (aka "Never Give and Inch")

- they cut ice blocks from lakes with chainsaws.

Other than that, dry it off really good.

Philbert

 

[Brian VT]

We had to cut our ice fishing shanty out of the ice. They cut @ 20' x 20' hole through 15" of ice. Water spraying everywhere. LOL. The air temp. was about 5F. The 2 Huskys quit. A Stihl 260 did the pretty much the whole job. Might've had something to do with the intake system ?

 

[Deadwood Kid]

not much of a movie person. i like the woods =)

just curious if anyone noticed any parts rusting or anything afterwords...

or anything that may need to be greased?

idk maybe im just paranoid.

 

[GASoline71]

You're paranoid... just blow the thing off with compressed air when you're done to get rid of any water on the saw.

I know when I was doing a job along a small river bank we had to use biodegradeable bar oil... bar went in to the water quite a bit on that job.

Gary

 

[Deadwood Kid]

biodegradable bar oil? ive never heard of it...

is it like a thicker vegatable oil or something?

lol

 

[Brad101]

not much of a movie person. i like the woods =)

just curious if anyone noticed any parts rusting or anything afterwords...

or anything that may need to be greased?

idk maybe im just paranoid.

This would be one instance where I would pull the sprocket off and clean everything up then greese the sprocket bearing. You might also greese the sprocket tip if have access to a greese hole. If not just do what was stated before then put the bar and chain back on and rev her up for a few seconds and let the bar oil get to the tip and chain good.

 

[JohnL]

What options are there? Do what you gotta do. The water probably interferes with the oil's ability to lubricate, if you do it alot expect increase in bar groove and chain driver wear. It's a tool, used in extreme conditions accelerated wear is normal. It's one of those things where you probably shouldn't do it, but if you need to you do it, so be it. The trade-off is more wear and tare than normal.


Edit: I would check the clutch bearing, clean out with solvent and re-grease if the water has gotten in there. The bar and chain that gets oil from the auto oiler, that bearing only gets lubed by you.

 

[Tzed250]

I've had to cut trees out of a creek to prevent flooding. No ill effects.

 

[ShoerFast]

Cutting ice to spear fish in the winter chainsaws are fantastic.

Staring down a hole in the ice, the last thing you want is a film of oil, none is needed.

Not running bar oil is fine as the ice makes plenty of water, and what water lacks as lube, it makes up for that in quantity.

It would be my guess that what ever oil your bar need dry, you could get by with less wet?

 

[barneyrb]

I've run an 036 cutting a beaver dam and the only thing that happened was everything under the clutch cover turned out real clean.

 

[tomtrees58]

not much of a movie person. :jawdrop:wt:censored: ??? call s&s Jimmy can help you tom trees

 

[2dogs]

Yeah, your saw will be very clean! Pull the bar off and clean the groove, it sorta seems to clog up a bit.

 

[GASoline71]

biodegradable bar oil? ive never heard of it...

is it like a thicker vegatable oil or something?

lol

Check on this page mang... It's the stuff in the green jugs...

http://www.stihlusa.com/lubricants/barchainoil.html#bioplus

Gary

 

[Bill G]

I've run an 036 cutting a beaver dam and the only thing that happened was everything under the clutch cover turned out real clean.

I cannot even imagine how that cut. The mud would be a terrible mess. I assume you used a old chain.

Bill

 

[Roy M]

The local pile driving companies cut in tidal water all the time in tough conditions, they use Cannon hard tip bars as sprockets don't last long.

 

[2000ssm6]

The local pile driving companies cut in tidal water all the time in tough conditions, they use Cannon hard tip bars as sprockets don't last long.

I imagine the salt water doesn't help.

 

[lawnmowertech37]

I imagine the salt water doesn't help.

do they have salt water inland ?

 

[GASoline71]

Said he was cuttin' in tidal area... that's saltwater around here...

Gary

 

[ronT2]

Shouldn’t be a problem, I do it all the time. I do some whitewater kayaking and one of our favorite local creeks is notorious for trees across it or in it(AKA strainers). When the water gets low I go through and cut the problem stuff out. I have dropped the power head in the drink once…pulled the plug, turned it over a few times, put the plug back in and fired it up. I took quite a few pulls but it bounced back pretty good. But like everyone else has said, clean it up good when you’re done and you’re good to go.