Noodling Saw

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
groundup

groundup

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
929
Location
Maryland
Any of the Stihl R version pro saws. i.e 362R, 441r, 461r, 660r, have big clutch covers to spit chips.

Personally I use either 441r, 461r or 660r for noodling, beats a vertical split everyday of the week
 
mdavlee

mdavlee

Tree Freak
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
18,144
Location
tn
The ripping chain doesn't make as wide of a kerf. I've had better luck with the small clutch cover for the stihls. The large one is the same size except the bottom part. A cut down cover works best.
 
SDB777

SDB777

I find unique timber and cut it up
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
918
Location
Cabot, AR USA
Have you ever considered a splitting wedge?

I prefer to have more wood to burn, then shavings to find a 'home for'......just throwing out another idea(not meant as a bash).




Scott (builds them thar muscles too) B
 
Chris-PA

Chris-PA

Where the Wild Things Are
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
10,090
Location
PA
Have you ever considered a splitting wedge?

I prefer to have more wood to burn, then shavings to find a 'home for'......just throwing out another idea(not meant as a bash).




Scott (builds them thar muscles too) B
I agree, but I noodle crotches and knots to get stackable pieces.

Lo Pro makes a narrower kerf and noodles just fine.
 
fearofpavement

fearofpavement

Trying them all
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
7,346
Location
middle Georgia
Noodling doesn't take much saw power, what does matter as indicated is the ability of the saw to expel the shreddings. Some saws are horrible at this and some excel. Usually a person noodles with whatever saw they're bucking with. It's not an efficient way to split wood but is a solution for two situations, one is dividing crotches and other difficult to split pieces and the other frequent app is to divide or quarter very large rounds so they can be loaded for transport to the splitting site. Most of the time I bring a maul to work large rounds into liftable pieces but do noodle them on occasion.
Some of the old timer saws had very little coverage over the sprockets and those work great for noodling. I don't use a saw just for that purpose because I don't do that much of it. The majority of the wood I have noodled is for testing saws when I don't have any pieces long enough to cut cookies off of. The noodles make good fire starter, animal bedding and a surface to work your woodpile on if it's muddy.
 
Chris-PA

Chris-PA

Where the Wild Things Are
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
10,090
Location
PA
The majority of the wood I have noodled is for testing saws when I don't have any pieces long enough to cut cookies off of. The noodles make good fire starter, animal bedding and a surface to work your woodpile on if it's muddy.
LOL - I've done plenty of that too, and used the noodles to deal with the mud!
 
KG441c

KG441c

Keith
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
Messages
4,952
Location
Provencal, La.
The reason i started the post is a shoulder has been giving me lots of pain and splitting really makes it hurt so ive resorted to noodling and was looking for advice from all the experience here onAS. Thanks for all the advice
 
7sleeper

7sleeper

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
5,350
Location
Austria
No videos yet?! Well the only thing I can add is that if your saw clogs often it is usually easier just to hold it 2-3 inches from the trunk.

In this video you can see that sometimes the woodtype(surface or core wood) and growth direction influence the noodle length. Don't be fooled that your chain is dull. It's just the above factors creating the difference. You can tell by seeing the difference of noodle length in the beginning, middle and end of the video.


Here you can see that it is beneficial if the noodling wood is shorter than the bar length. Even if it should clog the noodles are thrown out the othe side.


Here you can see that even with holding a distance it sometimes just clogs... :mad: and because the wood is longer than the bar the situation aggravates.


I use just normal Stihl semi chisel chain, with which I also cut my wood. If you have a lot of clogging just tilt the saw body so that the bar is cutting at an angle. This will automatically make shorter noodles.

7
 
7sleeper

7sleeper

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
5,350
Location
Austria
What I forgot. I noodle a lot because I don't have a splitter. Often I don't noodle all the way through but just into the branch areas. This relieves the inside tension of the wood enough that it can often be easily split.

7
 
Chris-PA

Chris-PA

Where the Wild Things Are
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
10,090
Location
PA
The reason i started the post is a shoulder has been giving me lots of pain and splitting really makes it hurt so ive resorted to noodling and was looking for advice from all the experience here onAS. Thanks for all the advice
I partially dislocated my shoulder falling on the ice this winter and it is taking a long time to heal. I swung an axe for the first time last weekend, and that went better than I thought - I didn't have that much trouble in the actual swing of the axe, but when it got stuck and I went to pound down on the handle with the palm of my hand it was very painful. I started stretching out the tendons and that is helping a lot. Still, I am worried about getting my splitting done this spring. I may have to noodle more than usual.
 
Russ Melampy

Russ Melampy

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2013
Messages
94
Location
ohio
ported 441 RCM, 25 inch chisel...noodling is fun and there is no such thing as wood too big or gnarly. I have a splitter but don't want to lift heavy logs so I noodle... and I never want to use my splitter in vertical, so I keep noodling until the wood is easily able to be lifted up to the splitter. Can't imagine a better saw for noodling...
 
longbowch

longbowch

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Aug 27, 2012
Messages
624
Location
Blue Grass Ia
ported 441 RCM, 25 inch chisel...noodling is fun and there is no such thing as wood too big or gnarly. I have a splitter but don't want to lift heavy logs so I noodle... and I never want to use my splitter in vertical, so I keep noodling until the wood is easily able to be lifted up to the splitter. Can't imagine a better saw for noodling...
I agree with ya Russ, I noodle with a 440, and I like running the saw noodling better than running the splitter. Oh, I think rmf chain works good for noodling.


Sent via mental telepathy
 
SierraWoodsman

SierraWoodsman

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
608
Location
Dayton NV
I Noodle quite a bit with the 372/390 to get the big rounds down to manageable size, usually quartering them.
Makes for a tighter packed more stable load, and well as gives me fire-starter for the whole year.
Still she gets clogged up quite often. Any of you guys tried the wide clutch cover for the 372 for noodling?
 

Latest posts

Top