so, what's it like when you hit a nail with your chain

[timberturner]

i thought i was going to find out when i started in on a log that i had pulled a dozen nails out of

but none were in my path,

just made me wonder, what's the worst thing that could happen ?

i'm guessing the chain could break and go flying and at the least it would break or ding a cutter

thoughts & experiences ?

tom

 

[treeclimber165]

Usually it just quits cutting. Then when you pull the saw out of the cut, your chain looks like you tried to carve a hole in the driveway. Then you cuss. Then you either grab a file or another chain. You spend 10 minutes making the saw useable again. Then you go back and start a cut an inch or two away from the nail. Then you hit another nail. Then you cuss more. Then you grab another saw because your filing hand is sore from filing. Then you start at the other end of the log. If you hit a third nail, you scream obsenities and start throwing things and quit for the day.


In all seriousness, you tend to get a feel for when you hit metal after a dozen years or so. Most times you can pull the saw out of the cut before inflicting too much damage on the chain if you are concentrating what you are doing. I'm usually most leery when cutting trunks between 2' and 10' off the ground. Lower limbs can have wire or other junk wrapped around them for hanging plants and windchimes, too.

 

[Tim Gardner]

It’s a lot like the disease that makes you swear uncontrollably.

 

[spreaderman]

chain duller

you have heard of chain sharpeners, well nails are chain dullers ... you will hear a grinding noise followed by smaller wood chips coming out ... chains will not normally brake just get dull yes cutters get dinged, very dinged..............all my chains are attracted to nails

 

[timberturner]

that would be turet's

so what you're saying is, you've never had it result in a "dangerous" consequence ... ie. broke chain

 

[treeclimber165]

Not yet, but milling might be different. I've never milled before.

I've heard of chains breaking, but it is rare. If you are lucky, and positioned so the chain doesn't come back on you, it usually just messes up the side cover on the saw. Make sure your chain catcher is properly mounted below the bar mounting studs.

 

[don]

Hit a nail

Usually grabs quickly and some sparks. Notice the chain to immediately cut differently. When you look at the cut you notice the nail and afterwards notice the wood "cuttings" to be different from a dulled chain.

Never had a chain come off this way. Usually have them come off from a loose chain or get binded in a log and being in a hurry (dangerous combination). Instead of doing the correct method and turn off the saw during a bind/pinch pull it out , check the chain then proceed. Pull it out and rev the saw a couple of times at low RPM to see if the bind flipped it off track and if it is it comes flyin off.

 

[spreaderman]

what I'm saying

I have not broke a chain when I hit a nail.... I have broke a chain when I hit a metal wedge (it was all I had at the time) in my experiece nails have dulled my chains not broke them

 

[JimL]

Usually dull the cutter good, i have bent a few cutters too.

 

[John in MA]

Usually they just do what the other fellows are saying. However, I've heard that sometimes a nail close to the surface can get its tip caught in a cutter and get shot out at you.

 

[tundraotto]

makes you want to go for a "zippo raid", always works....

 

[gatkeper1]

They have a bar and chain hanging over the chain grinder at our small engine maintenence shop(railroad). One of the workers was cutting bridge timbers with a 272xp (20" powermatch 33RS chain)and hit a railroad spike burried 3/4 of the way through the timber, did he stop? no way, not one of our guys, he kept on going until he cut through the spike.
Brought the saw back at the end of the day not a single cutter was on the chain and the bar was burnt from the heat, but the chain never broke

 

[HUSKYMAN]

I wonder how many tanks of gas he went through cutting through that spike

 

[kf_tree]

i used to cut tree's in brooklyn. the tree's there were so full of hardware you could open a home depot. pipes ,nails, clothes line pulleys, hoes reels etc. i don't think i ever broke a chain hitting metal. even when a chain brakes it usually wraps up in the wood, not flying off. after a while you'll learn what to listen for and pull the saw out before wacking the whole chain up. unless your running a 3120, then you blow right threw nails with out even knowing it.

 

[timberwolf]

Hey, Timber

I put the 066 into barbwire the second day I had it,

While out in the wood lot I saw what looked to be a nice 12" oak stump someone had left cut high, high enough to take two pieces of wood off of, (I should have known better!! but,) I set at it full boar, pushing a bit and using the dogs KACHING - CRUNCH - GRIND. I shut the saw off and had to remove the bar from the saw and work the chain out by hand.

Put on a new RS33 chain and later made a ripping chain out of the old one. The chain showed surprisingly little damage and could have been brought back with 15 min of filing. Maybe I should toss the chain just to be safe but I don't see why, it looks and feels fine.

I was surprised, the Stihl chain did not break! Even though the chain was burried by in a mess of barbwire at full throtle by 066 with an 8T sprocket.

Put a couple of orange spray paint X's on the stump in case I forget or someone else gets the same idea.


Timberwolf

 

[SawS]

Something else to think about

A couple weeks ago, people a few blocks from where I live, had an old maple taken down... about 30-36" trunk. The tree guy doing the job, left the stump about 3 feet tall, and had about 10-12 feet of the trunk laying in the street, along the curb. The homeowner said the guy they hired left it like that, saying he ruined 4 chains, and it was so heavy, he was going to need a crane to take it away... adding, the guy was furious.. mumbling something about losing all his profit. Turns out, the tree trunk was full of concrete. Wire reinforced concrete. I never saw anything like it. The tree did not have a hole in it, like where you could have poured in the cement, (but how did the wire get in there if it did?), It looked like an old street sign pole. It was dead center in the trunk, and went down into the ground below the stump. The guy they hired never came back, so I took it away by having to split the trunk with a sledge and wedges, removing the concrete"pole" from the middle, then sawing it up. I sawed the stump down to size after breaking up the concrete in the center with a long post hole bar, and pulling it out. The craziest thing to me (and I guess to the guy who ruined his chains) was how it got in there. Some people figured the tree grew around an old sign pole, but, this thing was dead center... I don't know...I can't figure it. Not only nails, and metal junk, do you have to watch out for, now you have to consider there may be concrete in there.

 

[kf_tree]

i guess he bid too low if he lost all his profit on 4 trashed chains. we dumped a big silver stick once then started laying into it with the big saws only to become masons. had to do the same thing wedge and pry bars to split it open. the only hole was about 20 feet up.

 

[che]

The hedge (osage orange) trees we have here will wrap right around the old wire fences....if I have to cut one out, I make sure i cut well above the height of the old fence....best when I can back a truck tailgate up to them, or I can't really reach.

 

[che]

and then there's the larger metal pieces in some trees down by the creek......

 

[John in MA]

Originally posted by che
and then there's the larger metal pieces in some trees down by the creek......

How many chains did you dull with that one?