Help me learn how to cut wood properly

[1stmale]

Ok I have all my chainsaws tuned up and sharp. Thanks for all the help with that. Great search engine!!

I still need to learn how to actually cut the wood properly. I have a 20" bar on my 359 and an 18" on the 345. When the saw is in the wood how much pressure are you supposed to put on the chain? How do I find that power band that you talk about? Are you supposed to just set the saw on the wood and let it pull itself through? I tend to want to use the spikes and put down pressure on the chain when bucking.

I have been cutting firewood for three years now. The 359 I purchased recently is my first powerful saw. I purchased this saw out of frustration with my 345 lacking power. The best thing I have learned so far is the importance of a properly sharp chain. This has helped a lot even with the 345 but I still have trouble with the chain stalling in the cut. I am wondering if I am expecting too much and pushing to hard.

Can anyone give me any links to recourses that teach people how to properly use a chainsaw. I have read the manufactures safety manual.

 

[GASoline71]

Your owners manual for your saws should have tips on cuttin' and buckin' wood. I know my Stihl manuals do. Even the worn out manual I have for my old McCulloch has some literature in it about cuttin' and buckin'.

Gary

 

[blis]

when talking bout huskies, let it eat trought wood by itself and i cant stress this enough FULL THROTTLE ALWAYS... no point trying to cut with half throttle, just nail it and let it chew wood...

 

[mini kahuna]

the 246 is an rpm saw,it needs to be in it's upper rpm range to work best.
don't lug it down by "leaning on it".with a good chain it should draw itself through the wood.
an 18" bar in hardwood is asking alot for a 45cc saw,it will do it but at it's own pace.
359 not as peaky as 246 but again don't lug down it will do the cutting for you if the chain is good.
a husky scream is a beautiful thing.

 

[JUDGE1162]

Light pressure, sharp chains, let the saw do the work. You are doing something wrong if the saw stalls in the cut. Sounds like too much pressure

 

[Dr. Hackemoff]

Ok I have all my chainsaws tuned up and sharp. Thanks for all the help with that. Great search engine!!

I still need to learn how to actually cut the wood properly. I have a 20" bar on my 359 and an 18" on the 345. When the saw is in the wood how much pressure are you supposed to put on the chain? How do I find that power band that you talk about? Are you supposed to just set the saw on the wood and let it pull itself through? I tend to want to use the spikes and put down pressure on the chain when bucking.

I have been cutting firewood for three years now. The 359 I purchased recently is my first powerful saw. I purchased this saw out of frustration with my 345 lacking power. The best thing I have learned so far is the importance of a properly sharp chain. This has helped a lot even with the 345 but I still have trouble with the chain stalling in the cut. I am wondering if I am expecting too much and pushing to hard.

Can anyone give me any links to recourses that teach people how to properly use a chainsaw. I have read the manufactures safety manual.

Here are some tips from a weekender...

1. Don't start the saw unless your steel-toed boots w/kevlar lining are on, and your kevlar chaps. Also I suggest a chainsaw helmet with fine mesh screen and preferably shop glasses too. And gloves - I use rough leather, not smooth stuff, for a better grip. I'm not in shape and find that using my powerbelt for the lower lumbar is a must. Strapping up tight really helps. Yeah, you could easily have a couple hundred bucks in this stuff. Wearing it won't eliminate injury, but hopefully you'll save a limb if something goes wrong.

2. Stay in balance always when cutting. Keep a solid stance, don't over reach. Don't cut when it's raining or when the grass is slippery (if you can help it).

3. Take frequent breaks at first. Shut off the saw when your wrists or hands are tired. Never take either hand off the saw when the saw is in wood (like itching your nose or something). Never reach out and cut a limb one-handed. Take a couple advil prior to work when you have a big job (more than an hour of cutting). It will get a head start on the soreness. Hydrate frequently. I use a camelback with a mouthpiece quite often.

4. Cutting pressure: Briefly rev your saw to full (when it's warm). Listen to the pitch. Then go go cut, revving it to full throttle just as the chain bites into wood. Don't cut so lightly that the saw overrevs, and don't lug it by pushing too hard. Search for a happy point that the saw likes, that minimizes your effort too. Every saw will feel different. LIke others have said - maintain full throttle in the cut unless you're trimming bushes or something.

5. Bucking spikes: I tend to overuse these when I get tired. Use them when your leverage is weak. Also, remember that as you near the bottom of the cut that the area you're cutting decreases quickly...the most common error is to run the chain out of the cut and right into the ground (not letting up soon enough). Funny how that still tries to happen even when you're older. Huh.

6. A sharp chain will reduce your fatigue by 50% at least, and will improve your attitude by 300% or more (I've measured this). If you hit a major nail or metal object, change out the chain immediately.

7. Say a prayer asking for safety before work begins...and fully celebrate your work every evening, hopefully in front of a roaring fire.

Happy cutting!

Da Hack

 

[1stmale]

Great advice

Thank you

I will practice looking for that happy zone of the saw.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Good advice thus far. Don't forget your depth gauges. Alot of guys overlook those, or don't give them the attention they need. If you don't keep them down where they need to be, you'll find your saw not cutting worth a darn, and you pushing harder to make it cut.

You want enough presure on the saw to keep it solidly in the cut and in new wood, but not so much as to bog it or give it a hard time.

 

[NYH1]

You might want to go with a 16 inch bar on your 345. With the shorter bar it might not bog down as much. Worked for me on my Stihl 021. Went from a 16 inch bar to a 14 inch bar. Just the shorter bar/chain made a noticeable difference! It cuts faster and bogs less then before. Just some thing to think about.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

....

Take a couple advil prior to work when you have a big job (more than an hour of cutting). It will get a head start on the soreness. Hydrate frequently. I use a camelback with a mouthpiece quite often.

Better yet, a few grams of vitamin C, before and after. Makes a HUGE difference in soreness, and your body needs it to build collagen, which is the foundation stuff of connective tissue.

Too much will give you the runs, but work up to it. Most folks can handle a couple of grams in the morning, and another couple in the evening without spending excess time on The Great Porcelain Throne.

5 grams before and after will do you a world of good! That goes for any hard physical work that's above what you normally do.

 

[blis]

Better yet, a few grams of vitamin C, before and after. Makes a HUGE difference in soreness, and your body needs it to build collagen, which is the foundation stuff of connective tissue.

Too much will give you the runs, but work up to it. Most folks can handle a couple of grams in the morning, and another couple in the evening without spending excess time on The Great Porcelain Throne.

5 grams before and after will do you a world of good! That goes for any hard physical work that's above what you normally do.

meh... has lumberjacking became a equipment sport? surely you could aswell take some kreatine and few shots of testosterone too before going to woods

 

[Urbicide]

OHSA Logging Site

OHSA has a logging site that has a lot of information. I found it to be very educational. Check it out.

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/userguide/userguide.html

 

[Ianab]

These are 2 booklets put out by OSH in New Zealand. Also a lot of good info, more advanced stuff than you will find in the chainsaw's manual. Heavy into the safety of course, but with plenty of info on hazards and safe ways to handle dangerous trees etc. Has info on leaners, big trees, winching, wedging. Even if you dont do this stuff it's good to know what CAN go wrong so you dont make a mistake cutting.

http://www.osh.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/chainsaws-2006.pdf

http://www.osh.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/treefell.pdf

They are PDF files so you can save them or print them for later reading.

Ian

 

[litefoot]

Would any of you agree that a saw too under-powered for the job encourages bad technique; as in becoming impatient and bearing down too much?

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

meh... has lumberjacking became a equipment sport? surely you could aswell take some kreatine and few shots of testosterone too before going to woods

Hey, if you like being sore, go for it!

 

[computeruser]

Would any of you agree that a saw too under-powered for the job encourages bad technique; as in becoming impatient and bearing down too much?

I'll buy that. It also encourages complacency, which leads to mistakes.

I've seen people standing there with one hand on their small saw, waiting for it to finish cutting through one side of a huge log, having a conversation with someone else at the same time. Geez, talk about an accident waiting to happen! By contrast, with a saw that is sufficiently powerful for the job, or even more powerful than the job requires, they will generally have both hands on the saw and have their body and mind actively involved in using the saw to get the job done.

 

[ciscoguy01]

Dogs

Yea dude, something I noticed since I purchased my husky is the amount of pressure I put on the dogs has drastically gone down. One thing I will tell you from experience for faster cutting is, on the bigger logs, I always start with the body of the saw up at the top of the log (vertical) cutting the far side of it first, then when it's about half way through, I settle back to a horizontal position. This allows you to put a little more pressure on your dogs as you are never cutting as much surface area with your chain. Husky's don't like it when you really use those dogs. I think the dogs are an excellent safety device actually. If you think about it, when your buried in the wood and the dogs are in place on the log, you really don't have to worry about it sliding out of the wood or jumping up (kicking back). Use them, just don't crank on them.

 

[Ianab]

Would any of you agree that a saw too under-powered for the job encourages bad technique; as in becoming impatient and bearing down too much?

Dont know about that so much. It's more that your technique has to be much better if you are using a small saw to it's max. Your chain HAS to be perfectly sharp and you need to keep your feed pressure right. Too light and it's not cutting, too heavy and it bogs down.

With a big grunty saw it's more just a matter of hang on tight, give it full throttle, set the spikes, lean on the handle and let the sawdust fly. Faster and easier than carefully feathering the small saw to keep cutting speed up.

Cheers

Ian

 

[1wildthing]

Be safe. Don't try to cut anything that you are not comfortable with. But if you want to learn, just cut a few thousand cord, and you will start to get the hang of it. No matter what anybody tells you, you won't learn unless you just put the saw in the wood, and try out different techniques. Just don't let the tree land on you.

 

[1stmale]

Would any of you agree that a saw too under-powered for the job encourages bad technique; as in becoming impatient and bearing down too much?

Here in Nebraska the trees don't get very big (unless it is a cottonwood which I dont think burns well anyway).

My average tree trunk is 18" - 20" I have never had anything that my 20" bar could not cut so nothing over 40". We have alot of elms and oaks. The elms are bigger running about 30-36"

Is the 359 big enough to be a safe saw? Or should I be saving up for a 372 or 575? I burn on average 6 cords of wood a year. I dont mind having to cut from both sides every once in a while. The smaller saws listed in my signature I only use for limbing and bucking branches. I like the lighter weight. I know the 18" bar is long on the 345 but that is what it came with. I do not burry it in the wood amymore now that I have the 359. I also run semi chisel chain on the 345. The 359 has full chisel.

Thank you for all your advice. This has been really helpful.