Cutting ice for spearing

[Doorfx]

Ice sculptors here in the great white north use chainsaws all the time.

1.) Change Chains
To reduce the resistance the chain experiences as it passes through the ice, Finch uses a miniature Rotozip grinding wheel to modify standard Oregon chainsaw chains to round off the square back end of the cutting chisels. He also files down the width of cutting teeth so the overall chain is thinner, and he removes the raking teeth between the cutters so that the blade bites off a smaller chunk of ice per cut.

4.) Switch Oil
Rather than standard chainsaw bar oil, which can discolor ice sculptures, Finch uses food-grade vegetable oil to lubricate the saw's chain. "The nice thing is that the material itself acts as a coolant for the blade," Finch says. But corrosion is the tools' biggest enemy. To resist rust, Finch attempts to prevent the ice from ever becoming water—he stores and uses his tools in a walk-in freezer.

 

[emf123]

The guys who spear fish in Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago use grease guns attached the the clutch cover and handlebar. The rakers are taken all the way down and they narrow the profile of the tooth. This is a Double Eagle 80 that I don't believe was used to ever cut any wood, just holes in the ice once a year. I also have some Mcculloch 660 gear drives that were ice saws. They liked the gear reduction, not sure why. I wish they would've used food grade vegetable oil!! The mess left by the grease guns is horrible.

 

[sleevefullofaces]

The guys who spear fish in Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago use grease guns attached the the clutch cover and handlebar. The rakers are taken all the way down and they narrow the profile of the tooth. This is a Double Eagle 80 that I don't believe was used to ever cut any wood, just holes in the ice once a year. I also have some Mcculloch 660 gear drives that were ice saws. They liked the gear reduction, not sure why. I wish they would've used food grade vegetable oil!! The mess left by the grease guns is horrible.

That's pretty cool.

I'm definitely not going to be putting any grease in the lakes though.

 

[Joel D'Angelo]

I tried this one year and used a 90's mcculloch just in case. After about three cuts it quit and wouldn't re-start.

 

[Canyon Angler]

Not really. Water still minimum 32F.
Air temp That’s a different story, and wet clothing and cold air I have a lot if respect for what pioneer’s went through

The thing is, when you put pressure on ice, you lower the freezing temperature, which can melt the ice. There's an old trick where a piece of wire with a weight on it cuts through a block of ice, and the ice freezes back around the wire as it passes through. The same thing happens on the edges of ice skates. So it's like putting salt on ice ... the freezing point goes down, and the ice "wants" to melt, but it's got to get the "heat of fusion" from somewhere, so it drags the heat out of the wire/ice skate blade/chainsaw chain/whatever, in the process making that object much colder than 32*F...you can do the same thing when you put rock salt on ice and then make ice cream...and of course, just because water freezes at 32F doesn't mean all ice is 32F...the ice in my house freezer is something like -20F

 

[sawfun]

The guys who spear fish in Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago use grease guns attached the the clutch cover and handlebar. The rakers are taken all the way down and they narrow the profile of the tooth. This is a Double Eagle 80 that I don't believe was used to ever cut any wood, just holes in the ice once a year. I also have some Mcculloch 660 gear drives that were ice saws. They liked the gear reduction, not sure why. I wish they would've used food grade vegetable oil!! The mess left by the grease guns is horrible.

I'm a big fan of 660 Mac's thanks to RandyMac's stories of them. Very pleasant saws to run.

 

[kevin j]

The thing is, when you put pressure on ice, you lower the freezing temperature, which can melt the ice. There's an old trick where a piece of wire with a weight on it cuts through a block of ice, and the ice freezes back around the wire as it passes through. The same thing happens on the edges of ice skates. So it's like putting salt on ice ... the freezing point goes down, and the ice "wants" to melt, but it's got to get the "heat of fusion" from somewhere, so it drags the heat out of the wire/ice skate blade/chainsaw chain/whatever, in the process making that object much colder than 32*F...you can do the same thing when you put rock salt on ice and then make ice cream...and of course, just because water freezes at 32F doesn't mean all ice is 32F...the ice in my house freezer is something like -20F

Agreed. I meant the bar running through the water below it will not see the _25 air temp.

 

[champion221elite]

I have a buddy who scuba dives through the ice. He uses Dawn dish soap in his saw as bar lube.