Cleaning pitch & Sap From Saw Chains?

[SteveSr]

The dirtiness is due to heat from either low oil output or a dull chain

This was on a late production 034 with the 1/4 turn more stingy oiler. Also the chain suffered some by cutting wood that was not as clean as I liked... And the chain is full chisel, not my favorite for this application but was available.

 

[JPCalifornia]

some old fashioned very hot water and Ajax dish soap does the job! Obviously be sure to fully dry the chains after, and then oil em up...

 

[barebunns]

Hello,

Yesterday, I went to our local charity firewood cutting group and found some nice green pecan to cut up. Boy, is that stuff hard! While I managed to get out without hitting any rocks and a still fairly sharp chain the tie straps and sides of the cutters are pretty well coated with baked on tree sap.

Do any of you have any good remedies (and or elixirs) for removing this stuff?

In the past I have degreased the chain with old pre-mix or straight gas. and then soaked in a caustic based cleaner like simple green. But in order for it to be effective I had to heat the simple green on the kitchen stove and didn't appreciate the fumes.

While this worked good it is a lot of extra work. Anyone have any simpler but effective approaches?

Thanks,
Steve

i was told soak in gasoline

 

[oldbuzzard]

I use denatured alcohol to get sap off. Works pretty good if you use enough.

 

[cookies]

cut some oak and it will clean most of it off, I like using 2 cups of lacquer thinner mixed into 4 cups of diesel. In my opinion oilers are the second most overlooked part that needs replacement or repair/cleaning because "it still oils". Often they are leaking all over the case, clutch and its drum reducing output to the bar/chain.

 

[cheato]

I soak my chains in sudsy ammonia for a few minutes and then lightly scrub them before rinsing, drying and sharpening. (I do a quick spray of oil prior to either putting them on the saw or storing for future use.) Works for me.

 

[telecasterfool]

WD-40 the bar and chain both sides. Wipe the bar. Plastic bristle brush or toothbrush, in the direction of chain travel. Sharpen if necessary. This what I do. Everything has a thin coat of oil.

 

[fields_mj]

I did some testing one day using every solvent in my shop... I used Simple Green, mineral spirits, rubbing alcohol, lacquer thinner, acetone, carb cleaner, brake cleaner, gasoline, WD-40, Marvel Mystery Oil, Goo Gone, K2R, Coleman Fuel, and denatured alcohol. By far the denatured alcohol did the best job on tree sap.

I buy denatured alcohol at home improvement/hardware stores by the gallon for use with shellac and for cleaning surfaces in my shop. You can also get it as stove fuel in boating and outdoors stores--read the labels as white gas/Coleman Fuel are sold as stove fuel also!

It doesn't damage paint on automobiles. I get to do that chore Friday now that the weather has turned. This as there is a large white pine next to my lady friend's driveway that leaves big globs on the cars. I found that the sap remover from the auto parts stores is a lot more expensive and doesn't work nearly as well...

I use it to get sap off myself and clothing too... It does dry your skin out but before I retired that was better than having black spots all over my hands for a week!

For those that reload, denatured alcohol/white gas also does a GREAT job of cleaning dirty walnut media. Its like rinsing dust and pollen off of a newly waxed car. If you've tumbled brass that had too much polishing compound, add a 1/2 a cup of white gas to the mix and your vibratory tumbler will have it looking new in about 30 minutes. Just make sure you run it outside or in a well ventilated area until the media drys out. I let mine run for a full day out in my shop with the lid off and that seemed to do the trick. A match would no longer light it on fire after that

 

[barebunns]

gasoline helps clean chains

 

[SteveSr]

gasoline helps clean chains

Not so much. It is a good pre-wash to remove the excess oil before using an organic cleaner/solvent for the tree sap. Gasoline dioesn't work too well for the organic tree sap.

 

[KostasVolos]

Resin : Organic Solvents ( Acetone,Isopropyl alcohol ,paint thinner ),lye solution,WD40.

Acidic sap : Lye solution ,ammonia.

Fat/oil : Citrus based cleaner ,organic solvents ,WD40 or similar,lye solution,ammonia.

 

[GrizG]

Denatured alcohol and Simple Green together will easily and reliably remove plant matter, dirt, and petroleum products from outdoor power equipment... spray on, brush a bit, spray some more to rinse it off, wipe dry. Best to relube the chain with bar oil before running the chain on the saw to avoid dry running. An upside to those products compared to most others is they relatively gentle on the user and environment.