barton174
ArboristSite Guru
It's long, I know...
So my neighbor (who I know, but don't really hang out with or anything) and I were talking outside a month or 2 ago, after he was cutting some bushes out with an old "Eager Beaver" saw… He said he was pissed that he bought 2 chains for it, and they were both junk (dull) in 20 minutes each. He was not aware that they could be sharpened. He thought it was a "buy a chain, use it until it's dull, and throw it away" thing… I, of course, explained sharpening to him.
He said he was wanting to take out a couple trees by his house (Sugar Maple or pen oak, maybe? I didn't look closely), before they blew down into his house… Knowing he also had a bunch of trimming and trees to take out in his woods, to build his son dirt biket rails, he decided to buy a new saw to do it all himself… He was asking me what I recommended, knowing that I cut firewood and such. I told him to look at Craigslist for pro saws, and I'd go with him to look at them, or to try and get one of the (Efco) Cub Cadet Amazon saws, or one of the Poulan 330 saws, if the TSC still had them… I specifically told him to stay away from the new Poulan saws.
I hear him running a saw a couple weeks later, so went over to see what was up. Turned out that he listened to his coworker and purchased a new Poulan Pro… I didn't have the heart to tell him the saw he just bought was probably junk, so just kept my mouth shut...
The tree by the house was too big and too close to the house to take down at once, so he and his oldest son rented a lift-trailer and took it down branch by branch over 4th of July weekend. I noticed he had what looked like a shiny new orange saw, but didn't go over there because it was HOT, and I had my own weekend FULL of work to do around the house… He cut up all the branches into firewood length pieces (Yard tree - lots of big branches. Not split, but probably 3 chords stacked) and stacked them behind his shed, and burned the leaves and twigs.
At this point, he's got a 2' dia stump that's about 12' tall, and is finishing cutting up the last of the large branches on the ground… It's evening this week, and he lives to my west. I hear the saw running and in wood, but it doesn't sound like it's loaded up at all… I look over there into the sunset, and see him cutting in the middle of a cloud of dust and blue smoke… I sigh and head over… The chain is so dull and is so hot that it's burning the bar oil off of the chain. He's LEANING on the thing to get it to INCH through this 8" dia branch, and standing in a pile of fine dust.
Turned out that the Poulan had broken in 3 places in the first 15 minutes of use, so he brought it back to Lowes and picked up a Husky Rancher 460. I asked him if he'd like me to show him how to sharpen the chain, and he happily said yes. The chain was TRASHED! Turns out that not only had he run 12-15 tanks of fuel through the thing without sharpening the chain, but he got the chain into the side of the metal railing on the lift, so one side of the cutters was bent over pretty badly… To say something about how bad it was, I basically trashed a file working on it, but finally got it straight… ish… Took the rakers down, as well…
Took it back over, and it cut great! We then had the conversation about PPE, as he was out there in a T-shirt, safety glasses, shorts, and tennis shoes… I showed him my chaps and hard-hat system, and told him that he could at least get the Husky chaps from Lowes for $60 (I've got the Labonville Competition Chaps), and the hard hat system maybe from Lowes, but definitely from TSC… I told him when it stopped throwing big chips like it does now, to let me know, and I'd come over and instruct him on how to sharpen the chain, so he'd know how to do it.
Wow…
Mike
So my neighbor (who I know, but don't really hang out with or anything) and I were talking outside a month or 2 ago, after he was cutting some bushes out with an old "Eager Beaver" saw… He said he was pissed that he bought 2 chains for it, and they were both junk (dull) in 20 minutes each. He was not aware that they could be sharpened. He thought it was a "buy a chain, use it until it's dull, and throw it away" thing… I, of course, explained sharpening to him.
He said he was wanting to take out a couple trees by his house (Sugar Maple or pen oak, maybe? I didn't look closely), before they blew down into his house… Knowing he also had a bunch of trimming and trees to take out in his woods, to build his son dirt biket rails, he decided to buy a new saw to do it all himself… He was asking me what I recommended, knowing that I cut firewood and such. I told him to look at Craigslist for pro saws, and I'd go with him to look at them, or to try and get one of the (Efco) Cub Cadet Amazon saws, or one of the Poulan 330 saws, if the TSC still had them… I specifically told him to stay away from the new Poulan saws.
I hear him running a saw a couple weeks later, so went over to see what was up. Turned out that he listened to his coworker and purchased a new Poulan Pro… I didn't have the heart to tell him the saw he just bought was probably junk, so just kept my mouth shut...
The tree by the house was too big and too close to the house to take down at once, so he and his oldest son rented a lift-trailer and took it down branch by branch over 4th of July weekend. I noticed he had what looked like a shiny new orange saw, but didn't go over there because it was HOT, and I had my own weekend FULL of work to do around the house… He cut up all the branches into firewood length pieces (Yard tree - lots of big branches. Not split, but probably 3 chords stacked) and stacked them behind his shed, and burned the leaves and twigs.
At this point, he's got a 2' dia stump that's about 12' tall, and is finishing cutting up the last of the large branches on the ground… It's evening this week, and he lives to my west. I hear the saw running and in wood, but it doesn't sound like it's loaded up at all… I look over there into the sunset, and see him cutting in the middle of a cloud of dust and blue smoke… I sigh and head over… The chain is so dull and is so hot that it's burning the bar oil off of the chain. He's LEANING on the thing to get it to INCH through this 8" dia branch, and standing in a pile of fine dust.
Turned out that the Poulan had broken in 3 places in the first 15 minutes of use, so he brought it back to Lowes and picked up a Husky Rancher 460. I asked him if he'd like me to show him how to sharpen the chain, and he happily said yes. The chain was TRASHED! Turns out that not only had he run 12-15 tanks of fuel through the thing without sharpening the chain, but he got the chain into the side of the metal railing on the lift, so one side of the cutters was bent over pretty badly… To say something about how bad it was, I basically trashed a file working on it, but finally got it straight… ish… Took the rakers down, as well…
Took it back over, and it cut great! We then had the conversation about PPE, as he was out there in a T-shirt, safety glasses, shorts, and tennis shoes… I showed him my chaps and hard-hat system, and told him that he could at least get the Husky chaps from Lowes for $60 (I've got the Labonville Competition Chaps), and the hard hat system maybe from Lowes, but definitely from TSC… I told him when it stopped throwing big chips like it does now, to let me know, and I'd come over and instruct him on how to sharpen the chain, so he'd know how to do it.
Wow…
Mike
So last December, we had a good blow and this huge Cottonwood comes down in one of my neighbors yards. Very close to his home. Actually the branches did some damage to the roof and siding to the house... but that's not importanat right now.
