1970's Stihl shop guy

[bobt]

Hey Scott, I am in the thumb around Bad Axe, but I do all my cutting in the U.P.

 

[crane]

Bob,

Yes they can be removed and then replaced. As long as your careful(they are easy to crack), no one will be the wiser. hehe. I had to do this just the other day. The H was set just a bit too lean. I have the tool on order, as it was a pain to do it without. No hard, just a pain. Haven't the experience to be good without it....YET.

 

[bobt]

Well, maybe my rant brought a little light on in my old graying head!

Here's what I was tinkin while drinkin,,,,,,, haha!

I buy the saw of my choice,,,right? I start up the saw at the shop and ask to put it to the wood,,,,, right? I either approve of the adjustment or not,,,,right? If not, the tech at the shop can richen it out and replace the limiter cap if it needs more gas,,,or even less gas,,,right?

I run the saw in the woods and the firewood pile for a while, and adjust within the prescribed limits, and if needed, go back to the dealer for further adjustments.,,,,,,,,,right?

No cost to me ,,,,,,right?

And the warranty is preserved intact,,, Am I RIGHT????

I can adjust the carb through the dealer,,,,,and he will think I am a PAIN,,,,HaHa! AM I RIGHT?????

Actually that would be kind of fun!

I adjusted hundreds of carbs for free and never thought a thing about it other than trying to keep the customer happy because his saw was running properly.

I know I am RIGHT about the last statement.

 

[crane]

while we're on the subject of carbs....I've been told by a reputable friend, that the new carbs(for blowers/trimmers) have tiny nylon reed valves in them. They are factory installed and non replaceable. Any contact with carb cleaner will "melt" these fragile little pieces and render the carb useless The solution I'm told is clean with an ultrasonic cleaner, or order new carb. Can anyone shed a little lite on this?

 

[crane]

Well, maybe my rant brought a little light on in my old graying head!

Here's what I was tinkin while drinkin,,,,,,, haha!

I buy the saw of my choice,,,right? I start up the saw at the shop and ask to put it to the wood,,,,, right? I either approve of the adjustment or not,,,,right? If not, the tech at the shop can richen it out and replace the limiter cap if it needs more gas,,,or even less gas,,,right?

I run the saw in the woods and the firewood pile for a while, and adjust within the prescribed limits, and if needed, go back to the dealer for further adjustments.,,,,,,,,,right?

No cost to me ,,,,,,right?

And the warranty is preserved intact,,, Am I RIGHT????

I can adjust the carb through the dealer,,,,,and he will think I am a PAIN,,,,HaHa! AM I RIGHT?????

Actually that would be kind of fun!

I adjusted hundreds of carbs for free and never thought a thing about it other than trying to keep the customer happy because his saw was running properly.

I know I am RIGHT about the last statement.

Kind of a "shoes on the other foot" eh? Sounds like a plan. Only problem is finding a dealer that will let you put it to the wood right there. Your going to hear....Liability/safety/bylaws/etc. A lot has changed in the way things are done at the shops nowadays. If your shop can and will....well you got yourself a keeper. Go cut wood.

 

[bobt]

Yep,,,,I like the way you put it,,,,"shoe on the other foot". Listen to it, and make a decision, try it, and take it back if necessary, all to preserve the warranty, and keep the saw running in a healthy state for an extended life.

I don't need to put the saw to the wood to hear if it is limited to a too lean condition. I will just listen to hear if it so called "four cycles' at wide open throttle out of the cut.

I think it is a good plan. Maybe my "Thinkin drinkin" might just pay off.

Hey a little quiz for you all,,,,,,,What movie did the phrase "THINKIN DRINKIN" come from, and what actor said it??????? Tell me,,,Tell me!!!! HAHa!!!!

 

[bobt]

I have promised some humerous stories, so here goes!

One summer day when there was a lull in excitement and some of the regulars were sitting in the open garage door of the shop there was a heck of a commotion coming down the street. This brown Chevy beat up pickup came screaming around the corner, gravel flying and finally it came to rest in front of the shop!

Everyone there knew who it was, and looked around at each other with a twinkle in their eyes! Well, before the truck even came to a stop, out jumped "Leslie" and he was hot as a branding iron! He was jumping about two feet off the ground and swearing up a STORM about "These NO GOOD STINKIN JUNK STIHL SAWS". Of course you had to listen carefully between the multiple strung together profanities to hear those words. This old customer of ours had a vocabulary that was uncomparable! He strung the cuss words together and interjected his message within all the profanity!

He was a WWII vet who served in France, and had a HUGE steel plate in his scull where he was wounded. He shouldn't have even survived, but he was a tough codger!

Well he stood outside the shop in front of the open garage door and continued his assault of the English language for a short time when my boss had enough! The boss came out from behind the counter and got in Leslie's face and gave him "What for" as fast a Leslie could respond! It was an even match of cuss words and insults between the two of them!

Les was saying things like "These stinking saws don't run and they won't cut, and they are so bad that he would be going back to Hummylites!

That got the boss so mad that he was almost gonna punch Leslie. (These two guys had been friends since childhood) Of course the regulars who were sittin on the stools in the doorway to the shop were lapping this up like a good steak!

Then Leslie said that he wanted the boss to take back this "No good stinkin Stihl" saw, because he wasn't gonna use it no more. He had just bought it about a week before! (He owned about 5 other Stihls as well).

The boss finally had enough, and said "Fine, I will take it back, but you haven't even paid for it yet"!!!!

Just then Leslie reached into the back of the pickup and fished out a tattered old cardboard box,,,,,,held it above his head and threw it to the ground right in front of the boss......Broken parts splashed on the blacktop from there to eternity. Broken parts of handles, cylinders, castings and everything crashed onto the ground!!!! The boss was flabergasted,,,,couldn't say a word, and just stared at the mess befor him.

Then Leslie calmed down a bit, winked toward the croud there, and broke out laughing like a mad man!!!!

Then he said in a loud voice,,,,,,,,"These junk no good for nothin stinking STIHL saws,,,,,YOU CAN"T EVEN RUN A BULLDOZER OVER 'EM!!!!!!!
'
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Then he hopped into his old truck and disappeared!

The next week, after going on a little toot, he was back to buy two more Stihl saws, and he payed for the smashed saw as well as the new ones in cash!

Leslie is gone now, but he was one of the real characters in our town. He really was a good guy,,,,and a good customer, but he was a wildman with equipment!

 

[bobt]

I'm going to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan tomorrow morning to visit my Dad for a few days before Christmas to haul in the remainder of this year's wood for his furnace. It's about a 9 hour drive to his house. He has burned up enough wood in his furnace so that I can pile in all he needs to make it through the rest of the winter. He has a really nice setup. I can load it into his pickup from behind the property and back it right into the basement garage. Easy a pie. He is 85 and can't make wood anymore, but still is good to go down stairs to the basement and feed the fire. He loves wood heat, and it gives me a wonderful excuse to go back home to help him. Next summer I plan on cutting up enough for about two more years, as I will have the time now that I am sort of retired!

 

[Rookie1]

Nice story Bob. I was expecting a different ending. Good for you that your going to help your Dad too. Its too bad that we have to get old.

 

[sefh3]

You say your dad is 85 and still burning wood. My wife's grandmother is 93 and still burns wood also. Man I wish I could have that much energy. You gotta love it. Great story and keep em coming.

 

[bobt]

Well I am back from the Upper peninsula of Michigan now. Dad is fine, and he has a nice pile of about two full cords of maple in front of his wood furnace. He should be good for the rest of the winter.

I told a silly story about "Leslie" in one of my last posts about when he ran over a new saw with his bulldozer. Well he was a wildman with equipment for sure!

Here is another one about him.

Leslie had landed a good contract from one of the paper companies and bought himself a brand new cable skidder made by Pettibone. It was small compared to today's standards, but was really nice for the time.

We heard from him that he was going to be building a bridge of sorts over a relatively large river that flowed past our town, but several miles up river, so we went out to see what he was doing.

Well, he had been bulldozing gravel down from the hillside down into the river to make a road out into the river by about half way.

Then he was making a bridge of huge stringers to "make the gap".

When we got there he was skidding the stringers across the gap to make his bridge with his new Pettibone. He had that brand spanking new skidder up to way past the axles in the water, and skiddeed about four of his beams across when the water held back by the bridge had built up a bit. He failed to take that into account!

The next trip with another stringer didn't go a well as the others before. The current had gotten more intense, and when he was crossing the fast water, it took the skidder downstream, and slung the big beam that he was hauling downstream in front of the skidder. He gunned the motor and all you could see was roostertails of water flying all about the skidder. There was deep water just a few feet down from where he was. He was actually floating in the water on the action of the skidder tires. He went down, the skidder spittered and belched steam all around the motor,,,,,and we thought he was going to go swimming for sure.

Nope, that guy had the luck of the irish, as the skidder found traction even when almost submerged, and pulled itself out of the water hole. We couldn't believe that it didn't go down into the deep!

Well, old Leslie drove the skidder out to the safe side of the river where we were and climbed onto the ground all soaking wet, and said.......

SHE SWIMS GOOD!,,,,,,,,,,DON'T SHE!

Then he went back and hauled the stringer over to the bridge as nothing had happened!!!!!!

Whew,,,,,what an animal he was!!!!!!

 

[Freehand]

Good stuff,bobt......rep sent.

 

[cpr]

Hi again everyone,,,,,,,I been spending some lots of time cruising all over this site, and having fun reading it all!

To those of you who have welcomed me, a huge THANK YOU!

Yes i have a comfy chair! HaHa! It's an old la-z-boy! I have my monitor on an end table just off the right arm of my chair, and type with the keyboard in my lap. The tv is straight ahead, and another end table with a coaster on it that usually holds an empty "liquid refreshment" container,,,,,,hm,,,gee they are always empty!

More recollections from my past life:

I have read on many posts about folks wishing that they could sharpen their chains to "like new" sharpness. Yep, I understand that it takes time and knowlege to sharpen a chain well. However I have to chuckle to myself about that phrase "like new". Well, we always thought that a chain right out of the box needed to be sharpened to really make it cut. We would offer to sharpen a new chain for free if the customer wished.

That was one of my jobs when I got to the shop after school. I would rush home from school, put on my shop clothes, grab a sandwich, and run over to my job which was just down the street from our house. Usually there were several if not maybe 20 chains all tagged with the owners name, and i started in on them. Some were all banged up, or the angles were way off and needed grinding. Those were done on the heavy duty wheel grinder, and finished with a file by hand, of course check the rakers by hand too. Others just needed a touch up with a file. When we were finished, they really cut!

Oh, the charge was $2.00.

We used an Oregon file holder all the time. It was all metal then, but they still wore out. I can't imagine how the new black plastic ones would have held up. Didn't need the file holder so much for angles, and depth, but it sure was a nice file holder. It beat just holding the bare file. Alwasy used two hands on the file, and hold it in line with your shoulder to make nice straight even strokes.

It was funny,,,,,Some of the guys would come in and wait while the chain was sharpened. There usually were several regulars hanging around the shop sittin on stools, shooting the breeze, telling stories, or teasing each other. Well, they would be watching me sharpen away at the vise, and I really wasn't looking closely at the teeth as I filed. They would holler at me about not paying attention to my work and all, but I would just tell them that "I can tell by feel when the tooth is sharp". Anyone who has filed lots of chains will tell you the same thing! HaHa!

Well, enough for now. I have a couple of good stories about some of our regular customers that are kind of humerous if anyone would l8ike to hear tham.

And No, I don't need any yellow saws,,,,,,oops! I take that back, I would take a nice older Partner in a heart beat. Those were nice saws. Were they made by Husky?

Bring on the stories, they're always hilarious...

 

[cpr]

Yep,,,,I like the way you put it,,,,"shoe on the other foot". Listen to it, and make a decision, try it, and take it back if necessary, all to preserve the warranty, and keep the saw running in a healthy state for an extended life.

I don't need to put the saw to the wood to hear if it is limited to a too lean condition. I will just listen to hear if it so called "four cycles' at wide open throttle out of the cut.

I think it is a good plan. Maybe my "Thinkin drinkin" might just pay off.

Hey a little quiz for you all,,,,,,,What movie did the phrase "THINKIN DRINKIN" come from, and what actor said it??????? Tell me,,,Tell me!!!! HAHa!!!!

"Thinkin' Drinkin'" is John Wayne as G. W. McClintock talking to Bunny about the arms in the boxcar. My favorite movie!

 

[bowtechmadman]

Welcome to AS...love hearing the stories.

 

[jockeydeuce]

I just found this post, but really enjoyed the stories! You have a natural story telling gift, Bob!.....Welcome to AS!!

Let's hear some more!!

 

[bobt]

Hey there all! Good to hear from you all,,,,,,,,,YAHOO! and a big hello to CPR who knew that the phrase "Thinkin Drinkin" came from a John Wayne movie! I thought I was the only one who knows about J.W. Movies,,,,,,haha! Nope not really! Yes, McClintock was a really good one!

 

[blel]

We have to make sure the guys aren't using 2 cycle boat oil or oil for their 2 stroke snowmobiles in their saws.

We still get a ton of guys using waste oil for bar oil, most of the time just getting a good whiff of the saw you can tell it's got waste oil in it.

It's funny to see how little the customers have changed in the last 35 years.
Welcome to the site.

Why can't 2 cycle outboard oil be used in chainsaw mix?

 

[Rookie1]

Good to hear from ya again Bob. Nice to hear you hooked your Dad up. Good story too.

 

[bobt]

blel,,,,,,,As I understand it, two cycle outboard motor oil is designed to run in water cooled engines. Air cooled two cycles run hotter so they need an oil with a higher flash point.