Necessary/recommended tools and equipment

[96r50]

Hi folks,

I picked up a used Stihl 026 this weekend as my first personal saw. I've been cutting "casually" for a few years now, and I have accumulated my own PPE (boots/pants/helmet/muffs/faceshield and gloves). What I'm looking for is a list of specific tools (wrenches, screwdrivers, Torx drives etc) that I should have for working on the saw, as well as other good equipment to carry. Also, any recommendations about your preferred fuel/bar oil storage containers would be good too, as I need to buy those before I empty what's in the tank!

 

[StihlyinEly]

Hi folks,

I picked up a used Stihl 026 this weekend as my first personal saw. I've been cutting "casually" for a few years now, and I have accumulated my own PPE (boots/pants/helmet/muffs/faceshield and gloves). What I'm looking for is a list of specific tools (wrenches, screwdrivers, Torx drives etc) that I should have for working on the saw, as well as other good equipment to carry. Also, any recommendations about your preferred fuel/bar oil storage containers would be good too, as I need to buy those before I empty what's in the tank!

Welcome to AS, 96r50!

You can go a long way (in the field) with with two schrenches, one with the flat screwdriver on the non-wrench end and the other with the Torx head on the non-wrench end. Then a small thin somewhat long screwdriver to tune carb screw. I also have a series of different brushes in my kit so I can brush off wood chip/dust buildup around the fuel and bar oil filler caps before I remove them and refill, as well as a softer brush for brushing off air filters. Also you'll need a fine flat file to dress the bar as needed and round files of the right size to keep the chain sharp. Spare spark plug is a good idea, too. That's pretty much what you need for day-to-day tools to keep the saw in shape in the field.

You'll need some more and more specialized tools if you want to get serious about servicing/repairing your own saw if you don't want to send it to the shop.

I carry a 6-gallon bucket with one of those tool skirts around it, and that holds pretty much all the field kit I need. Inside the bucket goes a gallon of bar lube and a smaller squirt lube bottle. For bar lube, I pour out of the gallon jug into the smaller, quart-size squirt bottle. It's the plastic bottle you get for refilling your rear differential gear lube in the car/truck. Got the long tapered tip, and it's a very handy bar oil filler.

Personal safety gear includes Kevlar chaps, hardhat/earmuff/face shield in a single combined unit, steel-toe safety boots.

I posted a pic of the bucket below. Room for pretty much everything I need with all the inside and outside pouches and bucket space.

 

[Mad Professor]

Scrench, t-27 long handle torx, nylon/poly rope for a piston stop, stihl flywheel puller. 19mm deep socket to pull clutch, 8mm wrench/socket to pull carb, phillips and flat screw drivers, large hemostats for fuel lines, needle nose, slip pliers, channel locks. Piston support for sliding the jug on. various grades of wet/dry sandpaper, raker gauge, file guide/holder, spare round files, spare flat files, spare spark plugs, stiff parts cleaning brush, scotch brite, old tooth brush, kerosene/diesel for solvents, simple green, 100-mL graduated cylinder, vac/pressure tester, hook to clean out bar grooves, never seize, silicon gasket sealer, safety glasses,......

1-gal metal Coleman fuel cans are great for small amounts of mix

 

[Nosmo]

While In The Woods

Let's assume you already know how to file your chain. So you'll need a file and guide and some folks like to use a stump vise for holding the saw. I prefer a pair of 3" Clamps and then I can use my tailgate as a workbench.

I like to take a hatchet with me just in case I've missed some smaller sprouts on the underside or behind that I missed with the chainsaw.

Don't forget to take your mixed gas and chain oil. Also some drinking water and a coffee thermos if you drink coffee. Be sure to tell someone where you intend to be cutting (in case of an accident) and if possible take a friend with you.

Nosmo

 

[jmethodrose]

I have a small, lockable, metal toolbox that comes everywhere my chainsaw does. Metal, rather than plastic, means it doesn't break if a log falls on it, and lockable as I feel a bit happier that someone will think twice about swiping my toolbox at the sight of a padlock, as this box stays in the truck while I may be a little way away with the saw.

Inside said box - files, several screnchs and a torx key, various spanners, WD40, brushes for cleaning air filter, a spare chain, bar scraping tool, spare pull cord. Anything that goes wrong with my saw that I can't fix with this means my days cutting is probably over anyway!

cheers,
Joe

 

[gwiley]

My woods kit includes:

- medical kit (benadril, epi-pen, maxi-pads)
- water, lots of it
- lunch with extra granola bars
- cell phone
- note left with SO with location and return time

- good suspenders (buttons from baileys)
- stump vise
- felling wedges (also used for bucking) in wedge pouch
- hatchet on a hammer loop on belt (driving wedges, removing bark)
- plumb line (to detect lean)
- extra bar and chain (actually on the spare saw)
- saw files (round for cutters, flat for rakers)
- come along with chains for unsticking stuck truck
- cant hook for rolling logs
- 2 throw lines with throw weights
- 200' bull rope with snatch block and nylon loops
- fuel (mixed - dont ask) & bar oil (duh)

- skid steer for pushing hazard trees, loading logs onto trailer
- 16' equipment trailer (move skid steer, haul cut logs)
- extra jack for dealing with stupid trailer mistakes

NUMBER ONE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT: cutting buddy (my Dad, brother or my kids)

 

[AKDriveSprocket]

The best out there is the AS Forum. With this tool you-we can just about fix any thing. This should be the first and last tool from the box.

 

[landyboy]

I normally carry the following in a Stanley tool bag:

2x screnches, one with a flathead the other torx.
stump vise
files/guides
small carb drivers
pliers, needle nose and general purpose
crowbar
folding handsaw
small hatchet
billhook
wedges
one of those log picker uppers with a handle and jaws which name eludes me at the mo.
spare bars
spare chains
Larger items:

Felling lever/peavey
irish slasher
felling axe


Phone
Drinks
fire making kit
Kelly kettle sometimes.

 

[Stihl051master]

Welcome to AS, 96r50!

You can go a long way (in the field) with with two schrenches, one with the flat screwdriver on the non-wrench end and the other with the Torx head on the non-wrench end. Then a small thin somewhat long screwdriver to tune carb screw. I also have a series of different brushes in my kit so I can brush off wood chip/dust buildup around the fuel and bar oil filler caps before I remove them and refill, as well as a softer brush for brushing off air filters. Also you'll need a fine flat file to dress the bar as needed and round files of the right size to keep the chain sharp. Spare spark plug is a good idea, too. That's pretty much what you need for day-to-day tools to keep the saw in shape in the field.

You'll need some more and more specialized tools if you want to get serious about servicing/repairing your own saw if you don't want to send it to the shop.

I carry a 6-gallon bucket with one of those tool skirts around it, and that holds pretty much all the field kit I need. Inside the bucket goes a gallon of bar lube and a smaller squirt lube bottle. For bar lube, I pour out of the gallon jug into the smaller, quart-size squirt bottle. It's the plastic bottle you get for refilling your rear differential gear lube in the car/truck. Got the long tapered tip, and it's a very handy bar oil filler.

Personal safety gear includes Kevlar chaps, hardhat/earmuff/face shield in a single combined unit, steel-toe safety boots.

I posted a pic of the bucket below. Room for pretty much everything I need with all the inside and outside pouches and bucket space.

Where did you get that bucket tool skirt? Looks I may need to invest in one of those!

 

[jmethodrose]

I normally carry the following in a Stanley tool bag:

billhook

another person who appreciates the humble billhook! possibly the greatest hand tool ever invented, don't know if other countries have them but you don't know what you're missing!

I'm a Suffolk pattern man myself, don't care too much for the Devon style

cheers,
Joe

 

[StihlyinEly]

Where did you get that bucket tool skirt? Looks I may need to invest in one of those!

Widely sold at Home Depot, Lowes, Mendards, etc. Usually around $10 to $15, but I just stole the one my wife was using for her painting supplies. She screamed bloody murder about it until I spilled some bar lube on it. Then she didn't want it back anymore.

I haven't used a billhook in years. Gotta find me one of those. They are a nice piece of kit!

 

[Nitroman]

I have a Polaris snowmachine tool roll-up in which I have just about every little item MadProfessor listed, and in the slots, the larger tools I may need. On this point, if you are cutting remotely, you would be best to have a spare saw so if your primary dies, and it looks like it will take time to fix, just go to the spare and fix the saw at home. You can take files with you, but a couple spare chains are quicker.

I do most of my cutting remotely off the sled towed behind a snowmachine, so cellies are out (one day I'll have the money for a sat phone), but I do carry a flare gun and flares.

Lastly, I don't know what part of Quebec you are in, but where I am it can be quite wild, so I carry my Glock 23 or my AMT .45 in the pocket of my snowsuit. Never leave the house without the pistol.

 

[edisto]

The best out there is the AS Forum. With this tool you-we can just about fix any thing. This should be the first and last tool from the box.

Did you just call us tools?

Widely sold at Home Depot, Lowes, Mendards, etc. Usually around $10 to $15, but I just stole the one my wife was using for her painting supplies. She screamed bloody murder about it until I spilled some bar lube on it. Then she didn't want it back anymore.

Great...I resolve to be a kinder and gentler person, and you post about stealing your wife's skirt?

This just isn't my day.

 

[REJ2]

Cant take this to the woods very easily but at home its surely handy, an air compressor. REJ2

 

[HARRY BARKER]

I normally carry the following in a Stanley tool bag:

2x screnches, one with a flathead the other torx.
stump vise
files/guides
small carb drivers
pliers, needle nose and general purpose
crowbar
folding handsaw
small hatchet
billhook
wedges
one of those log picker uppers with a handle and jaws which name eludes me at the mo.
spare bars
spare chains
Larger items:

Felling lever/peavey
irish slasher
felling axe


Phone
Drinks
fire making kit
Kelly kettle sometimes.

whats the billhook for?

 

[96r50]

Wow, thanks for all the quick replies!

Most of the time I will be working out of or near to my truck, which has a large metric tool kit in it as well as pliers/screwdrivers, and a built in engine-powered air compressor (so clean-ups for refuelling should be an easy task!) I also have a pretty decent first aid kit in there.

I'm guessing that this "scrench" is what I have always referred to as a "chainsaw tool", the basic metal T-shaped tool with two different sockets sizes and a screwdriver on the end?

From the suggestions thus far, I think I'll start with a scrench with the sparkplug-sized socket and flathead chain-tensioning screwdriver end, a separate T-27 tool, a round file and flat file with the appropriate guides. Certainly a second chain and possibly a second bar. A small screwdriver for the carb is already in with the truck tools, as are the pliers and such. I have a small axe that I'll throw in as well. I have a tool roll somewhere that I can use for all the smaller stuff. As I find a need for tools I'll add them to my collection.

I have a bunch of 1L gear oil bottles that I can use for the bar oil (great idea BTW!). Any recommendations on a fuel tank? Vapour/leak proof would be nice since it'll be inside the truck with me.

I'm still looking for the IPL and service manual too, if anyone knows where to find those :help:

Thanks for your help!

 

[Erick]

First thing you want is one of ->THESE<-.... Put your little carb screwdriver in there with it.

I prefer to use the regular ole Stihl 1 gallon bottle of bar oil with one of ->THESE<- screwed on top of it and a regular ole 2 gallon fuel can.

But if you are so inclined ->THESE<- are pretty handy if you need to hike in.

You're gonna want a couple of ->WEDGES<- and a good ->AXE<- to drive them with.

You'll also want to keep a few odds and ends parts on hand... a spare spark plug, a spare rim sprocket with e-clip and washer, clutch drum bearing, 3ft of pull rope, spare fuel and oil caps, couple of spare bar nuts, and a spare chain.

A couple of simple tools like your scrench and a T-27 torx.

A good ->BOX<- to put it all in.... and yes it will hold a lot more than just the saw.

 

[StihlyinEly]

I'm still looking for the IPL and service manual too, if anyone knows where to find those

If you go to "The Beg for Manuals Thread" stickied to the top of the page and ask your ask in there, someone will help you out.

 

[96r50]

If you go to "The Beg for Manuals Thread" stickied to the top of the page and ask your ask in there, someone will help you out.

That was my first post on the forums, but I figured an additional mention in here wouldn't hurt