My Neighbor Story (long)...

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barton174

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Location
Indianapolis, IN
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
 
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

Great story, Mike. I had some fun reading it. Your neighbor, of course, is in the majority when it comes to homeowners running chainsaws. I wonder what he paid for the Poulan, Husky and heavy equipment rental combined, and whether he could have gotten the tree taken down by a pro for the same money.

My guess is . . . . yes. :) :)
 
Great story, Mike. I had some fun reading it. Your neighbor, of course, is in the majority when it comes to homeowners running chainsaws. I wonder what he paid for the Poulan, Husky and heavy equipment rental combined, and whether he could have gotten the tree taken down by a pro for the same money.

My guess is . . . . yes. :) :)

Not quite... The Poulan was returned, and put toward the Husky, so he had $400 in that. I think he said he rented the lift trailer for like $300 for the weekend... He said he'd had a tree guy come out, and he wanted like $1500 to take it down.

Even if it was the same amount of money, he bought the saw because he's got a bunch more trees to work on back in his woods for the dirt bike trails...

Mike
 
Not quite... The Poulan was returned, and put toward the Husky, so he had $400 in that. I think he said he rented the lift trailer for like $300 for the weekend... He said he'd had a tree guy come out, and he wanted like $1500 to take it down.

Even if it was the same amount of money, he bought the saw because he's got a bunch more trees to work on back in his woods for the dirt bike trails...

Mike

Good points! Forgot about those as I was reading and chuckling. :)
 
You're a great neighbor. Good on ya:clap:

LOL... If I was a great neighbor, I'd have been over helping him... You're right over east from me, so you know how hot it's been! There's a reason my saws have been put away since I got done with this year's firewood in the beginning of April!

I made the mistake of going out of my way and above and beyond to help out neighbors that I didn't really know (friends and close neighbors are different), when I was living at my sister's house in college... I had fixed cars for just parts cost, for a couple of neighbors (single moms) that couldn't afford to go to a shop (easy stuff; brakes, water pump, cap/rotor, etc); and of course we were always out in the driveway working on the SCCA rally car, so everybody knew we were the "car guys" in the neighborhood... I started getting people that were friends of friends of said people I didn't even really know showing up with LIM or head gasket sets, saying "I heard you work on cars for free, if the person buys the parts?" We did a couple of those jobs like that for people we knew were single moms who waited tables and stuff, but it got a bit old... We made them promise they wouldn't tell anybody, though...

Having said that, if somebody's obviously going to hurt themself, I'll help out, or do it for them... My other neighbor's son (early 20's. He and his wife and their 4 kids under 6 live with his mom, my neighbor) knocked at the door on evening last summer... Smelled like he was 1/2 drunk... He said "You're an engineer, right? You know wiring?"... Oh boy... He had been trying to replace the pump on his mom's pool. He was under the pool deck, sitting in the water that was leaking out of the pump, trying to figure out which way to hook this pump up to the 220 in the open box that he had his hands in... So yes, I wired the pump, and fixed the leaky connection so said... guy... wouldn't get himself dead.

It's to the point that I visibly cringe when somebody in the neighborhood comes up to me and says either "You're an engineer, right?" or "You know cars, right?"

Mike
 
LMAO... good story.

I'll add to the pile...

I just moved in to my new place back in Sept. of last year. It's kinda in the boonies but there is a fair amount of houses around. All seperated by tracts of trees (greenbelts). Every time the wind picks up here on the Island... you'll hear saws for about a week afterwards.

Since I'm still kind of a newbie in the 'hood... not many cats know how many saws I have. :laugh: 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.

So I come home from work a couple of days later, and when I gets out of the truck I hear a chainsaw laboring hard down the road from me (I didn't know about the tree yet). About 2 hours later there is a knock on my door.

The cat down the road that was runnin' the saw said he had been walking his dog by my place a few weeks ago, and saw all the BIG saws on the shelves in the back of the garage. He asked me if any of them ran. I said sure they do... He didn'task to borrow any, but asked if I could help him buck up the big tree that fell in his yard.

So I grabbed the McCulloch 795 and my Stihl 044. The look on his face when those saws made short work of that tree was pretty funny. He had been hacking away at it with an MS290 with a severly dull chain. When I was cuttin' with the 044 long enough I could tell the chain needed to be touched up a bit... he was shocked at how easily it was to sharpen a chain.

He said every time the 2 chains he had would get dull...he would take them in to the mower and saw shop on the Island to sharpen them. I told him to bring me his 290 so I could sharpen the chain. I did so, and he was a happy camper. While he was sawing up some branches... I got the big ol' yellow saw out to saw up the 40" trunk of the tree... next thing I knew there were a few other neigjbors around lookin' at the big Mac rumbling through the stinky cottonwood.

I gave the cat 2 round files, and a flat raker file, and gave him a quick lesson on freehand chain filing.

Pretty cool, because right around Christmas his wife brought over 2 loaves of very yummy banana bread to say thank you for the help on the tree. Now the word has got out that the "saw guy" can make short work of the big stuff. I love havin' street cred' in the 'hood... :laugh:

Gary
 
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I am the de facto saw guy in my neighborhood, especially after Hurricane Isabel in '03. I had a 2 foot diameter oak uproot in the back yard during the storm (luckily didn't hurt anything coming down). I cut it all up for firewood and then brought in one of my Oliver OC-46 crawler loaders to grub up the root ball. It was around 8 feet in diameter and I ended up winching it up onto my rollback and hauling it away. I also took out a large pine tree that was leaning on my deck and sawed the lengths for lumber.

Got quite a bit of firewood from my neighbor across the street by helping him cut up several of his trees that came down during the storm. Nice to have a short haul to bring the wood home.
 
Pretty cool, because right around Christmas his wife brought over 2 loaves of very yummy banana bread to say thank you for the help on the tree. Now the word has got out that the "saw guy" can make short work of the big stuff. I love havin' street cred' in the 'hood... :laugh:

Gary

and now they know you work for food....:cheers:
 
Great stories guys! Mike, seems like you may have saved the guy from hurting himself based on how dull his chain was and his cutting attire.

It's amazing that people don't know that you can sharpen chains. I'm a newb myself...so I don't want to see preachy. However, the reason I bought my saw at a saw shop was for the service. The guy went over everything when I bought the saw. Had I hit the big box; I would have pulled it off the shelf and maybe even done the self check out. Sometimes paying a little more pays off.

Just my 2 cents. Again, great stories guys.
 
Great stories guys! Mike, seems like you may have saved the guy from hurting himself based on how dull his chain was and his cutting attire.

It's amazing that people don't know that you can sharpen chains. I'm a newb myself...so I don't want to see preachy. However, the reason I bought my saw at a saw shop was for the service. The guy went over everything when I bought the saw. Had I hit the big box; I would have pulled it off the shelf and maybe even done the self check out. Sometimes paying a little more pays off.

Just my 2 cents. Again, great stories guys.

Thanks!

Yeah, I mentioned to him when he was first looking to actually go into a saw shop... I also told him that if he was going to look at the Rancher for $400, to also look at the Dolkita 510 for $370 from Baileys, but such is life...... Leading a horse to water, and all that...

ETA: Although the Rancher is a bit heavy/power, I'm sure it'll last him a long time, and he'll be happy with it, as long as he keeps an un-dull chain on it.

Mike
 
It's amazing that people don't know that you can sharpen chains.
I was in one of the local TSC stores last winter and they had an used Husky (235/435?) on the shelf for cheap. I asked the clerk about it and she said that the owner brought it back because the chain was dull and wouldn't cut anymore...:confused:
 
Thanks!

Yeah, I mentioned to him when he was first looking to actually go into a saw shop... I also told him that if he was going to look at the Rancher for $400, to also look at the Dolkita 510 for $370 from Baileys, but such is life...... Leading a horse to water, and all that...

You did what you could. Maybe he'll upgrade down the road.
 
No, the chain adjuster broke, the fuel cap split, and the handle cracked.

Mike

Don't get me wrong friend, and I'm proud of you for what you did for your neighbor but something doesn't sound right here.

The chain adjuster........I can see that. I'm no fan of ANY tool-less adjuster and the one on the Poulans is high up the list.

The handle cracked?
I'd sure like to see that!
The front handle on those saws in dang near indestructible! Made of some rubberoplasticized polymer stuff that bends and twists all sorts of ways and snaps right back.
The rear handle is made into the fuel tank and is also seemingly indestructible unless you drop a tree on it or run over it with a tractor.

The fuel cap SPLIT!
I gotta call BS on that!
I think your neighbor was less than forthright with you ( and the Lowe's where he bought it)
I have twisted on those caps with screnches, pliers, screwdrivers, crescent wrenches and vise grips and never broken or even chipped one.

No my friend, you need to be careful with that neighbor.
He is either a GROSS exaggerator, or just a bald faced LIAR.


Mike
 

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