Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[JustJeff]

I know, boots and ear plugs... I just put a loop of Stihl picco semi chisel on my muffler modded and retuned craftsman and had to try it. Saw cuts better than it should for 42cc for $40. Lol. Cut this 12" elm in about 10 seconds. This is intended to be a limbing saw and should do well in that roll. The 18" bar is optimistic but gives good reach. Now if only I had a tree to cut....

 

[rarefish383]

I hope you never see me milling in short pants, no shirt, crocks, no socks, I can't see so I do wear my safety glasses and I can't hear cause I used to gut the mufflers on all of our old Homelite Super 1050's and XL 900 series saws. Actually we gutted the mufflers on all our old saws, but that mostly meant taking the spark arrester out, there was nothing else in there. I think I left my ear muffs at the cabin in WV. I have the little foam screw in ones, but every time I get hit in the head it knocks them out. I do have a safety helmet, it's one of the big round ones they used to use on oil rigs, it's pretty cool hanging on the wall of my gun room, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

I did quit cutting dead standing firewood by myself last year, trying to get up to OSHA standards, Joe.

 

[JustJeff]

Not overly impressive. Just trying out uploading my first video.

 

[JustJeff]

I hope you never see me milling in short pants, no shirt, crocks, no socks, I can't see so I do wear my safety glasses and I can't hear cause I used to gut the mufflers on all of our old Homelite Super 1050's and XL 900 series saws. Actually we gutted the mufflers on all our old saws, but that mostly meant taking the spark arrester out, there was nothing else in there. I think I left my ear muffs at the cabin in WV. I have the little foam screw in ones, but every time I get hit in the head it knocks them out. I do have a safety helmet, it's one of the big round ones they used to use on oil rigs, it's pretty cool hanging on the wall of my gun room, Joe.

I've been known to weld in shorts and crocs. Lol.

 

[JustJeff]

I'm normally a low tech man in a high tech world, but my 11 year old videographer is teaching me! This is Wednesday's dead elm.

 

[Logger nate]

Went out to high country scrounge area today, little bit of snow still.. so went down a couple thousand feet on another road and found some nice dead standing red firone for another day the "new" wood hauler works great was sitting on the bank eating a granola bar and 3 elk walked by 25 yds behind me then saw some more on the way outand some deer thank God for a great day.

 

[Logger nate]

I like most of my saws but I love my 550.

A few I'd prefer to use as anchors but I'm saving to give away when people need something.

Used my 550 to noodle some blocks today, don't think it's much slower than my 562.

 

[svk]

Used my 550 to noodle some blocks today, don't think it's much slower than my 562.

Unless you get into larger hardwood or take out the stopwatch there isn't much difference. I timed several cuts last spring and the difference between the slowest 562 cut and the fastest 550 cut was 4/10 of a second in a 12" log.

 

[MustangMike]

You guys and your "Softwood Saws" ... Nice pics Nate!!!

The more I cut Hickory the more convinced I am that no other "live tree" slows my saw like it does.

Made the Sugar Maple and Black Birch I cut next seem soft!

I've been busy this week, cutting, splitting ...

 

[JustJeff]

I found this interesting.

 

[svk]

You guys and your "Softwood Saws" ... Nice pics Nate!!!

The more I cut Hickory the more convinced I am that no other "live tree" slow my saw like it does.

Made the Sugar Maple and Black Birch I cut next seem soft!

I've been busy this week, cutting, splitting ...

Are you talking shagbark or hickory in general? I cut a bunch of white and a red subspecies of oak at my uncle's place. That white really works the saw. Both of them were really sappy and my chains were coated in that crap.

Pretty soon you'll be used to that 660 and be hankering for an 880 for all that milling and big hardwood!

 

[MustangMike]

My 026, 360 & 362 C are all ported. The 026 is Lightning fast in small wood with the .325 chain, but in larger wood the 360 and 362 are noticeably stronger.

In that 20" Smooth Bark (Pig Nut) Hickory, I prefer the 70 + cc saws. Not sure if the Shag Bark Hickory is tougher, but they are both tougher than about anything else, and slow my saws much more than Black Locust. Even the bark on both Hickory's is tough as anything.

My 044 will cut just about as fast as my ported 460s, the big difference is when you have to lean on it, the 460s will just keep going when the 044 will stop. So in less than ideal conditions, I prefer the larger saws. They are just better at going through knots and avoiding pinches.

If the playing field were level, and that 362 also had a muff mod, the results may have been a little different.

 

[Logger nate]

You guys and your "Softwood Saws" ... Nice pics Nate!!!

The more I cut Hickory the more convinced I am that no other "live tree" slows my saw like it does.

Made the Sugar Maple and Black Birch I cut next seem soft!

I've been busy this week, cutting, splitting ...

Lol, thanks, ya I have a hard wood saw but it's too heavy . Looks like you been busy! You hard wood guys are tougher than me, I have hard enough time loading these red fir rounds. Took trailer down to scale, 6100 # not counting tongue weight , not sure what it weighs empty, load was 6' long, 4' 6" wide, 6' high.

 

[rarefish383]

Pretty soon you'll be used to that 660 and be hankering for an 880 for all that milling and big hardwood!

When I bought my 660 I had the cash in hand for an 880, and at the last second decided to save $1000, and took the 660. All said and done, I'm happy with the 660, but with the weight savings and smooth quiet ride, compared to my old Homelite 1050, the 880 would have been OK to handle. One of the reasons I took the 660 was because some folks here complained that the 880 was so big it was hard to handle. I should never let people that grew up on Wild Things influence my decisions. Next too the old Homelite 7-29 gear drive with a 52 inch bar, the 880 would feel like a puppy, Joe.

 

[JustJeff]

My 026, 360 & 362 C are all ported. The 026 is Lightning fast in small wood with the .325 chain, but in larger wood the 360 and 362 are noticeably stronger.

In that 20" Smooth Bark (Pig Nut) Hickory, I prefer the 70 + cc saws. Not sure if the Shag Bark Hickory is tougher, but they are both tougher than about anything else, and slow my saws much more than Black Locust. Even the bark on both Hickory's is tough as anything.

My 044 will cut just about as fast as my ported 460s, the big difference is when you have to lean on it, the 460s will just keep going when the 044 will stop. So in less than ideal conditions, I prefer the larger saws. They are just better at going through knots and avoiding pinches.

If the playing field were level, and that 362 also had a muff mod, the results may have been a little different.

Since you have 026, 360 and 044 all ported, it would make an interesting video/experiment to do a timed cut comparison.

 

[MustangMike]

I did some testing, but the wood was too big for the 16" 026 bar. Also, the 362 has since found "new power" since I changed the air filter. Cleaning it was just not enough!

FYI, my 044 & 440 are NOT ported, but they both have base gasket delete and timing advance, and kinda run like they are ported.

Timed cuts are only part of the story. The biggest difference you will notice is that you can lean on the larger saws more, and it is harder for a small pinch (etc) to give them trouble. So if you are working on a "hung up" leaner, I will often choose the larger saw. Ditto for stumping.

 

[JustJeff]

I did some testing, but the wood was too big for the 16" 026 bar. Also, the 362 has since found "new power" since I changed the air filter. Cleaning it was just not enough!

FYI, my 044 & 440 are NOT ported, but they both have base gasket delete and timing advance, and kinda run like they are ported.

Timed cuts are only part of the story. The biggest difference you will notice is that you can lean on the larger saws more, and it is harder for a small pinch (etc) to give them trouble. So if you are working on a "hung up" leaner, I will often choose the larger saw. Ditto for stumping.

Yeah I noticed that when I got the 460. It will resist a pinch way more than the smaller saws. id like to muffler mod it but I'm afraid to because it runs so good and I don't want to muck it up. Lol.

 

[svk]

I did some testing, but the wood was too big for the 16" 026 bar. Also, the 362 has since found "new power" since I changed the air filter. Cleaning it was just not enough!

FYI, my 044 & 440 are NOT ported, but they both have base gasket delete and timing advance, and kinda run like they are ported.

Timed cuts are only part of the story. The biggest difference you will notice is that you can lean on the larger saws more, and it is harder for a small pinch (etc) to give them trouble. So if you are working on a "hung up" leaner, I will often choose the larger saw. Ditto for stumping.

Also certain saws just have more torque like the 044 and 7900 compared to other similar and even larger saws. 7900 felt way more torquey than my 2186 if you leaned into the dawgs.

 

[JustJeff]

"Old Ugly" my ancient home built log splitter operating off the loader valve of my little Kubota. It will go faster than this, just had the tractor idled down. I can split about a facecord an hour like this. More if I wind the tractor up some and have someone operate the lever.