How do you clean your saws?

[bitzer]

Burvol and JacobJ.....Yeah...how do these guys keep their saws so CLEAN? Q-tips? Surgical tools? Portable steam cleaners that go to the woods with them?

Another thing...Look at the pictures of the guys cutting wood. They're clean, too. Their clothes are clean, their boots always look unscuffed, their hands are clean, even their chaps are clean....I can't figure it out.

I'll bet they change clothes every day.

How do they stay so clean?

At the end of the day I look like my saw. Chips and oil! Dust in the ears cleans out the wax. I give myself a comp. air shower sometimes when I do my saw so I'm not draggin dust and chips all over the house when I get home.

I had a guy watch me while I changed the oil in the hoe one time. He says, "your wife must hate doin your laundry!" I just laughed as I wiped the dipstick on my pants, I told him, "the oil is extra water proofing, they're just work clothes."

 

[Burvol]

How do they stay so clean?

At the end of the day I look like my saw. Chips and oil! Dust in the ears cleans out the wax. I give myself a comp. air shower sometimes when I do my saw so I'm not draggin dust and chips all over the house when I get home.

I had a guy watch me while I changed the oil in the hoe one time. He says, "your wife must hate doin your laundry!" I just laughed as I wiped the dipstick on my pants, I told him, "the oil is extra water proofing, they're just work clothes."

Home made tin pants!!!

 

[tmanmi]

I wish those stupid flippy caps were easier to clean around in the field when adding gas and oil.

I use the cheapest starting fluid I can find for cleaning things around the shop, usually the supertech brand from walmart. Usually a good blast around the flippy caps takes the gunk away. Starting fluid also evaporates quickly and doesn't seem to harm plastic. Carburetor cleaner will work also but I find it a little harsh.

 

[ms290]

compressed air, red rags and what ever else i may have laying around in the shop at the time. My saws just get dust because we dont have trees with horrid sap buildup around here.

 

[alderman]

compressed air, red rags and what ever else i may have laying around in the shop at the time. My saws just get dust because we dont have trees with horrid sap buildup around here.

Alder cleans up easy as it doesn't have a sticky pitch. Fir is about the stickiest stuff we have around here and it isn't as readily available, at least where I cut. The whole cleanup process doesn't take more than 5 minutes if I don't have to sharpen the chain.

 

[ms290]

Alder cleans up easy as it doesn't have a sticky pitch. Fir is about the stickiest stuff we have around here and it isn't as readily available, at least where I cut. The whole cleanup process doesn't take more than 5 minutes if I don't have to sharpen the chain.

same here. save we have different trees

 

[fredmc]

I'm curious as to how many people wash their saws with water and detergent. I have used Simple Green along with a plastic bristle brush and a garden hose. I've also taken them to a car wash and used high-pressure soap. I always crank and run the saws for a while to let the engine heat evaporate the water. Good way, or bad way? Thanks for any suggestions.

OMG WTF

 

[Muffler Bearing]

I don't know?
I'm at work right now, when I get home I'll ask the wife !

 

[JustinM]

Like others, just air from my compressor & the occasional wipe down with a rag if it needs it.

 

[stevephillips]

I use the cheapest starting fluid I can find for cleaning things around the shop, usually the supertech brand from walmart. Usually a good blast around the flippy caps takes the gunk away. Starting fluid also evaporates quickly and doesn't seem to harm plastic. Carburetor cleaner will work also but I find it a little harsh.

Starting fluid= about 50% di-ethyl ether. Works great as a solvent, but damn it's scary stuff, IMHO. It's highly, highly flammable. It makes gasoline seem safe. I set a very nice old Kiekhaefer Mercury 100 hp outboard on fire with it once.

Brake cleaner works as well and evaporates nearly as fast. Some is nonflammable, some is flammable, but not nearly so flammable as ether. About as cheap.

 

[gallegosmike]

I clean out the clutch cover with a stiff brush to get all the crud out. Then hit it with a tiny bit of carb cleaner to degrease it. I also brush off the rest of the saw get all built up gunk off. Blow off the saw with compressed air. I take a rag with some wd-40 on it and wipe down the whole saw with it. Clean out the bar rails and flip the bar to even out wear.

Every other firwood cutting trip.I pull the drum off and give it a good cleaning under it and grease the bearing. I can not believe how much junk gets under the drum!

 

[climber338]

I usually just get all of the crap out of the clutch cover and take all of the dust and chips out from around the oiler. Every time i change a chain over ill clean it out abit because i have it apart already. When i get back home i will always use a air compressor to clean out the air filter and around the carb abit. Did a big pine the other day and my saws were pretty clean but my buddies (groundie/landscraper) was covered in pitch. Hes not the best for keeping his chains very sharp so that might have been the reason.

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

I treat my saws like I treat my women, I run 'em hard, and put 'em away dirty.

 

[tr33thri11s]

Osage orange trees make a mess of a saw. For this I usually use a cleaner but normally just use the scrench to clean daily. On weekends or days of downtime due to weather I will blow them out real good. Keeping the cylinder fins cleaned out prolongs the life of the saw by helping cool it. Most of ya know this but just wanted to point it out.

 

[THALL10326]

I'm curious as to how many people wash their saws with water and detergent. I have used Simple Green along with a plastic bristle brush and a garden hose. I've also taken them to a car wash and used high-pressure soap. I always crank and run the saws for a while to let the engine heat evaporate the water. Good way, or bad way? Thanks for any suggestions.

What part of Virginia you in, I got something that will clean a saw better than most anything known to mankind, its called da Cuda. Tant cheap but boy when it comes out its el super fan tasco clean.....

 

[Lignum]

I haven't cleaned any saw yet...

My 6 year old daughter did wipe down the bar on my 575 the other day when I was bolting the muffler back on. Does that count?

 

[Monkeypetting]

I would think that a good saw cleaning is part of a PM program. I don't know how much money a real logger makes an hour but i think if 30 minutes on the shop bench would save 3 hours in the middle of nowhere it is worth it.

 

[django]

I hold it out the window and drive really fast.

I don't blame you for wanting to pretty them up for Ebay, saws bring more money there than anyplace else I know of. It's crazy these days. I bought a few some years back for a good price, but not for a long time.

 

[pjwoolw]

When I do run them I don't have much time for onsite cleaning. Usually a week or two of constant running. I hadn't touched any of them for over two years. So this year I brought them all home and really cleaned them up good and got the 036 to at least run halfway decent. Learned allot. Got the clutch tools. Took about two weeks of evenings between the saws, chains and bars. I guess I'll be a bit more anal about maintenance in the future. The 345 is a PITA to clean. But I'll be good to go this summer.

 

[usmcbrianw]

The way I clean my work saws is as follows: make sure the bar can get oil, clean the air filter accordingly. That's all there is to it!:greenchainsaw: