When do you noodle?

[spike60]

I have to lift them into the truck before I take them home to the splitter, so noodling makes both operations easier for me. Depending on the wood, I will either noodle them or bust 'em in half with a maul.

I do like to noodle with a bigger saw so that gives me more opportunities to run them. 2186, 288 or one of my Jonsered 900's are my favorites, but any good 70cc saw can handle it also.

 

[olyman]

I noodle,,not so much with size,,as with the amount of limbs grown into the tree......if you try and split them,,,,you will have way goofy splits,,in every size and shape imagineable........had a 40 inch dia burr oak that way,,it all got noodled...nice 8x8 pieces 20 inch long when done....stacked beautiful!!!!

 

[Wood Doctor]

i've got some 40 inch rounds outside I'll be splitting tomorrow for next winter. I just cut it a fourth of the way across the round, split ti pirpindicular to the cut to get two quarters, then it's pretty easy to work with. I dont have some badass saw that will noodle fast enough

My suggestion would be to find a Stihl 046 or an 064. These are readily available on the used saw market and have all the power you would ever need. When well taken care of, these saws last and last, and parts are readily available for them as well.

 

[stihl sawing]

We noodle larger rounds in the woods as we buck them up......I wanna save my back all the heavy lifting I can.

Same reason I do it. When the back is out, so is the rest of the body.

 

[cat-face timber]

Pretty much the reason I noodle is when the wood is too heavy to load in the pickup.
I also noodle at home sometimes (I bet my neighbors love me)... to get the noodles so I can make my
firestarters, as seen in another thread.

I am not a big fan of splitting veritical so If I cannot lift the wood to the splitter beam I will either split it with my maul, or saw.

 

[turnkey4099]

My suggestion would be to find a Stihl 046 or an 064. These are readily available on the used saw market and have all the power you would ever need. When well taken care of, these saws last and last, and parts are readily available for them as well.

IMO those are a bunch over powering for 16-18" rounds. Even my 310 will pull noodles faster than I can clear them. The 361 is outstanding for it. Both pull chain just as fast as a 046 and 064. It ain't how big a saw is, it is how many inches of chain are going through the wood/minute. I used to use a Johnnyred 625 and Husky 51 for that purpose but those were a bit light for it.

Size counts where the full length of the bar is beginning to be buried.

Harry K

 

[Deleted member 116684]

My suggestion would be to find a Stihl 046 or an 064. These are readily available on the used saw market and have all the power you would ever need. When well taken care of, these saws last and last, and parts are readily available for them as well.

that aint a bad idea..

 

[Wood Doctor]

IMO those are a bunch over powering for 16-18" rounds. Even my 310 will pull noodles faster than I can clear them. The 361 is outstanding for it. Both pull chain just as fast as a 046 and 064. It ain't how big a saw is, it is how many inches of chain are going through the wood/minute. I used to use a Johnnyred 625 and Husky 51 for that purpose but those were a bit light for it. Size counts where the full length of the bar is beginning to be buried.

Harry K

I would like to agree with you, Harry, but the noodle cut never gives the saw a rest, all the way from top to bottom, whereas the buck cut does. I have noodled quite often with my MS361 and only to wish that it had more CCs under its belt. However, most of my big rounds are over 16" in length.

Harry, congratulations on running sharp chains. I often push my chains too far. You obviously do not, and that is likely why your MS361 is cutting noodles better than mine is. I need to carry more sharp chains to the job site.

 

[Jakers]

I noodle down cottonwood cookies just so my skidsteer can lift em... Just had another lovely 68 inched today. Cut off a cookie 24 inches thick, then slice it in half

 

[turnkey4099]

I would like to agree with you, Harry, but the noodle cut never gives the saw a rest, all the way from top to bottom, whereas the buck cut does. I have noodled quite often with my MS361 and only to wish that it had more CCs under its belt. However, most of my big rounds are over 16" in length.

Harry, congratulations on running sharp chains. I often push my chains too far. You obviously do not, and that is likely why your MS361 is cutting noodles better than mine is. I need to carry more sharp chains to the job site.

Yep, if he rounds get over about 16" a bigger saw is better. I have often thought about the extended cutting while eating my way down through a 40" round . The 064 would still be way overkill though.

Harry K

 

[ReggieT]

My suggestion would be to find a Stihl 046 or an 064. These are readily available on the used saw market and have all the power you would ever need. When well taken care of, these saws last and last, and parts are readily available for them as well.

Hey, how about an 041 I found for $50...non runner?

 

[Icehouse]

Harry, congratulations on running sharp chains. I often push my chains too far. You obviously do not, and that is likely why your MS361 is cutting noodles better than mine is. I need to carry more sharp chains to the job site.

Really all you need is a good sharp file and don't be afraid to take a couple lite passes on each tooth when you feel the sharp going away. If you aren't comfortable with free filing rig up a vice on your tailgate or some secure surface. You will really see the difference. The only time I take the chain off my saw after initial installation is to throw it away. If I make it sound to easy, I can tell you it's only years of practice that makes me say it. Happy noodling.
I also use a 361, my favorite saw.

 

[Preston]

Really all you need is a good sharp file and don't be afraid to take a couple lite passes on each tooth when you feel the sharp going away. If you aren't comfortable with free filing rig up a vice on your tailgate or some secure surface. You will really see the difference. The only time I take the chain off my saw after initial installation is to throw it away. If I make it sound to easy, I can tell you it's only years of practice that makes me say it. Happy noodling.
I also use a 361, my favorite saw.

Do you never remove the chain to clean the oil hole. I just had mine off yesterday just for that.

 

[shutup-n-cut]

Do you never remove the chain to clean the oil hole. I just had mine off yesterday just for that.

Also to scrape out the groove in the bar while at it ?

 

[Preston]

Also to scrape out the groove in the bar while at it ?

Yes, and all the other boring maintenance stuff.

 

[shutup-n-cut]

Yes, and all the other boring maintenance stuff.

You got it.
My maintinance is probably a little overkill but I don't mind. Plus being able to grab a saw or other piece of equipment and go isn't a bad tradeoff.

 

[Icehouse]

Do you never remove the chain to clean the oil hole. I just had mine off yesterday just for that.

I clean the oil passage and the bar groove when I put on a new chain, in all my years I have never had a problem related to oiling or dirty bar groove. Probably just lucky but using saw almost every day must keep sawdust from pluging things up. I'm sure that daily cleaning doesn't hurt a thing, maybe I'm just a little lazy.

 

[Preston]

I clean the oil passage and the bar groove when I put on a new chain, in all my years I have never had a problem related to oiling or dirty bar groove. Probably just lucky but using saw almost every day must keep sawdust from pluging things up. I'm sure that daily cleaning doesn't hurt a thing, maybe I'm just a little lazy.

I say you are lucky. I've had my MS250 less than a year and it oiler hole was full. I'm not saying it was clogged, but it was full. So I figure I'm just warding off trouble.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I clean the oil passage and the bar groove when I put on a new chain, in all my years I have never had a problem related to oiling or dirty bar groove. Probably just lucky but using saw almost every day must keep sawdust from pluging things up. I'm sure that daily cleaning doesn't hurt a thing, maybe I'm just a little lazy.

I have had only one major problem when dealing with bar oiling on a relatively new saw. The early releases of the Stihl MS290 set the bar oiler groove on the housing about 0.1" too low. The bar oiler hole was too far above and could not accept enough oil to take care of the bar and chain:

Note above how the bar's paint provided a finger print.

I believe this problem was fixed several years later with subsequent saw releases, perhaps 2006 or later, but I have never found any documents or recall releases to prove the exact date. If that oil hole does not line up with the pump's groove on the housing, it's a severe problem, especially in cold weather. I fixed this saw by drilling out the oil holes to 3/16" dia. and by chisel-shaping the groove wider on the housing to improve the flow on both parts.

Not sure what all this has to do with noodle cutting. Looks like we got off on a tangent.

 

[Icehouse]

I have only 3 of my saws that I use all of the time. My signature shows more than 3 but I never use them, I own as many Huskys that are never used. Back to my 3 I use, a ms361, a ms440, and a Stihl 064, all of these saws have high volume oil pumps. The 361 has a ms460 oil pump installed by "the wizard" my old Stihl dealer, I was having oil problems running a 28" bar, so he did some research and put in the 460 pump. All of the bar oil holes have been tapered and elongated, which allows the pumps to deliver a large amount of oil, probably keeping the oil passages clear. I have virtually no bar wear or guide build up. Like the Wood Doctor said don't know what this has to do with noodling, just one of those tangents. I'll shut up now.