cutting 50" trunk with a 27" bar question

[oldboy]

i noticed my new 27" with full 3/8 chain kicks like hell if i bury the tip, im used to an 18" with low profile chain. anyway im lookin at a removal job on 50" trunk\ next to a house, will be climbing it and chunking it down. should i just grin and bear kickbacks or is there a better way? (maybe low profile chain?)

thanks

 

[mdavlee]

Learn to keep the tip from causing kickback. The top half of the tip is where the kickback comes from. If you keep the tip a little above the power head the bottom of the tip will be cutting ad pulling it into the wood.

 

[B Harrison]

Experiance, read a saw instruction manual or a book on tree felling/ climbing. You mean your climbing a tree with a saw and asking this question?
That's a little concerning, but OK.....What saw are you running a 27" bar on?

 

[oldboy]

thanks, i should have mentioned that i am very experienced with shorter bar chainsaws, kickback, plunge cutting, ripping planks etc, its just that the 27''er seems to kick much harder than any of the other 15 or so saws ive used when plungeing, but i havent used full 3/8 chain in a while, maybe i should get a low profile chain for it, they kick less right?

 

[pro94lt]

Looking at it as in your going to bid it and wondering how your going to get it down? Again what saw is it? Your describing normal things a chainsaw will do when using it in my opinion.

 

[mdavlee]

The longer the bar the slower the kick back is since it acts as a lever. I don't like using short bars in a wood pile for that reason.

 

[HuskStihl]

If you start your gunning and angled cuts at the far side of the tree and kinda dawg in and "pull" the cut back towards you, you'll be less likely to get the top side of the tip and kick. If ur asking about boring technique (and if you've already chunked the top out, there'd be no real reason to borecut this tree) you should start the cut with the undersurface of the tip, then rotate the bar perpendicular to the stem once you have a pocket. I find it hard rev it up and just start boring in with the tip using a longer bar. But then, I'm small and weak

 

[woodchuck357]

Faster chain speed lessens the chance of kick back, keeping the saw reeved up and cutting instead of letting it dog down in the cut will cut down on the kick back.
I like to use a newly sharpened full comp chain for boring cuts.

 

[ArtB]

No one has said it yet, but I find that on my 28" a skip tooth chain works much better, have the 28" on a homelite 360.

Out of curiosity, how big is this tree that you need to CLIMB with a 27" saw ???
Have never, even when young and 'relatively' foolish, ever used a 27" or larger saw anywhere but from a solid platform (ground, bucket truck, etc.)

Have some 160 ft tall D Fir near own house, but if it ever died would trust my skill just dropping it between buildings vs. climbing with long bar.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Kickback is an entirely predictable reaction when a chainsaw is used improperly. If you are experiencing kickback, you are using the saw improperly, its as simple as that. The thought of you climbing with that saw when you cant control it on the ground is spookie. Low pro and "safety" chains are desi gned to reduce the severitykickback, but the fact that it is happening in the first place has nothing to do with the saw or chain.

 

[B Harrison]

I guess the concern we have is that you aren't sure whats going on. I say this, because low pro chains on a large saw makes no sense, nor does letting kick back be an issue. It happens, you realize what you did wrong, correct the action and keep going. Its the saws way of staying "check".

Cutting up firewood 3 times a year, for 10 years with your dad's 42cc saw does not make a lot of experience. I'm not saying this is you, just clarifying. Tree felling experience comes from felling lots of trees. Hopefully with a veteran near by to tell you how to improve.

 

[yarightdawg]

i noticed my new 27" with full 3/8 chain kicks like hell if i bury the tip, im used to an 18" with low profile chain. anyway im lookin at a removal job on 50" trunk\ next to a house, will be climbing it and chunking it down. should i just grin and bear kickbacks or is there a better way? (maybe low profile chain?)

thanks

Rakers being too low can cause this

 

[ggoodman]

Time I get the tip in if it's kicking I wouldn't notice cause the tip is bored into the tree so this post has me a little confused.

 

[oldboy]

Thanks for all of your replies.

"Looking at it as in your going to bid it and wondering how your going to get it down? Again what saw is it? Your describing normal things a chainsaw will do when using it in my opinion."

I've been too busy with other jobs to go take a look, the job is for a friend, so it's mine if i want it. Just thought I'd throw this out there cause I experienced some hard kicks from er when I was plungeing and ripping some planks from a felled tree a couple months ago, hard enough that I switched from ripping to pulling. The saw is a echo cs600p.

"Out of curiosity, how big is this tree that you need to CLIMB with a 27" saw ???
Have never, even when young and 'relatively' foolish, ever used a 27" or larger saw anywhere but from a solid platform (ground, bucket truck, etc.)"

The Tree sounds like it's 4 feet for a good distance. I attached an image of me taking down a cedar the other week when the big saw came in handy.

"Kickback is an entirely predictable reaction when a chainsaw is used improperly. If you are experiencing kickback, you are using the saw improperly, its as simple as that. The thought of you climbing with that saw when you cant control it on the ground is spookie. Low pro and "safety" chains are desi gned to reduce the severitykickback, but the fact that it is happening in the first place has nothing to do with the saw or chain."

I'm a carver too, I use a saw in lots of ways your not "supposed to". I learned how to use a saw back in 2000 from a peeler/log home builder in eastern Idaho- mostly peeling logs-bumpin off stubs, an also some logging, and tending the log yard. I learned how to use a saw lefty and righty off the bat. His wife liked planters, so I learned how to plunge out planters with the 046. Sure it kicked, but nothing like plunging with the longbar I'm useing now. Maybe it's just me though, my saw of choice has been a much weaker cs-400 the last few years, I also have a few other small saws I use regularly.

Thanks again for your guys's input, I've been carving with a 20" toonie on the cs600 with no kickback issues. I swap out the longbar for big trees and also to rip boards for benches and stuff, I'll giver another go (rip some boards or make a planter) with some of your tips. Maybe I didn't have it reved high enough and got the entry angle all wrong.

Dan

 

[juttree]

I could never climb with chaps on.

 

[Trailtrimmer]

Either you are not plunge cutting properly by starting with the bottom of the tip and rolling the bar in, or your rakers are way too low and aggressive.

As others have noted, no need to plunge cut a trunk you are blocking down. Just a standard notch and backcut will be fine. It's also much easier with a shorter bar as you can work both sides accurately. Just start a short wedge as soon as you can if you are worried about a pinch.

 

[woodchuck357]

When I'm blocking down a big stem I use tubes long enough to reach more than half way thru and sized to slide into the kerf as rollers to slide the blocks off. Small line ran thru with a knot on the end keeps them from falling as the block rolls off. I usually have three or four attached to my equipment loops. As my cut progresses I slide them into the kerf. When the cut is almost complete I pull the saw out, put the last one in, then finish the cut from the other side. A one hand push awill move a pretty big block. No notch needed but if the trunk is really big and I need to cut from both sides because the bar won't reach thru, making the cut slope toward the side I want it to fall toward does the trick.
I learned this from the posts here a few years ago. Wish I had learned it a half century or more ago. Would have saved a lot of gas and oil that was used to cut blocks into pieces while standing on spurs!

 

[woodchuck357]

Either you are not plunge cutting properly by starting with the bottom of the tip and rolling the bar in, or your rakers are way too low and aggressive.

As others have noted, no need to plunge cut a trunk you are blocking down. Just a standard notch and backcut will be fine. It's also much easier with a shorter bar as you can work both sides accurately. Just start a short wedge as soon as you can if you are worried about a pinch.

I don't think he is concerned about kick back when plunge cutting as much as making a cut thru a stem that has a larger diameter than the length of the bar so that the tip of the bar is buried in the sense that it isn't in the air on the other side of the tree.

 

[Trailtrimmer]

I don't think he is concerned about kick back when plunge cutting as much as making a cut thru a stem that has a larger diameter than the length of the bar so that the tip of the bar is buried in the sense that it isn't in the air on the other side of the tree.

If your depth gauges aren't too aggressive there should be no problem working both sides of the bar and tip while buried in the cut. If it's jumpy and grabby something is not right.

 

[oldboy]

Thanks for your replies, Woodchuck voiced my concerns better than I could, yup, concerned 'bout burying tip in big stem with my routy setup... as it turns out, I went and checked out the job, and the stem ain't no 50", more like 35" or less. I'll drop it later this week... Anyhow, thanks for the wisdom, sounds like rakers may need to be adjusted.