Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[bigfellascott]

Any of you fellas swapped out your 3/8 setup for a .325? I did and love the results, cuts quicker and doesn't run out of puff in the big stuff like it used too. I only run cheap Hurricane brand chain and bars and so far have been very happy with the whole change over.

 

[KiwiBro]

Am going the other way. Mainly to keep it down to one chain type across all saws. Hoping 3/8 might just hold up a little more between sharpenings too, but that would be a bonus. But if the 3/8 cuts like crap on the 261, I'll go back to .325. If 3/8 cuts OK, you are welcome to my lightly used stihl .325 bar for cheep cheep.

 

[KiwiBro]

I believe square files holds an edge just as well as round file, and neither square or full chisel round will cut w/o a good corner. Semi chisel is more durable in dirt, but so slow I would rather re sharpen.

I rarely take a chain off of a saw, and sharpen by hand, so I prefer square. If you use a machine and like round, than be happy. Machines that will do square are generally very expensive.

Round and square can both cut well. The advantage of square is it matches the angles of the tooth. The angle for round perpetually changes. The corner is always most important, after that the side cutter, as it cuts the grains of wood (the top plate is just a chisel to remove chips). With round, the angle of the side plate is an arch, not a straight line.

Thanks.
I might ask one of the Simington owners that I have yet to piss off (if there are any left) if I can buy a chain off 'em to compare.

 

[Circle B MN]

Am going the other way. Mainly to keep it down to one chain type across all saws. Hoping 3/8 might just hold up a little more between sharpenings too, but that would be a bonus. But if the 3/8 cuts like crap on the 261, I'll go back to .325. If 3/8 cuts OK, you are welcome to my lightly used stihl .325 bar for cheep cheep.

I'm running 3/8 with a 16" bar on my 261 and have no complaints. One file does it all.

 

[Jeffkrib]

My wife was over at a friends house having a play date with the kids, sends me this pic and says it's about a boot / trunk load of some sort of pine (she thinks).
It's out of the nature strip ready for council clean up. I figure seeing as I have the trailer I may as well take it and avoid sap getting everywhere.
You got to love wives, she was only out by a factor of 5 - 6, ends up being a full trailer load of cypress pine up to Ø 6", perfect for start up to supplement the big old Iron bark. all foliage trimmed off.

 

[Philbert]

.325 takes more, smaller bites than 3/8. Some people prefer this for cutting smaller wood, limbing, etc.

Philbert

 

[KiwiBro]

I'm running 3/8 with a 16" bar on my 261 and have no complaints. One file does it all.

Yeap, one roll of chain to order and hold. One type of ties/straps when making up/repairing chains, one file or grinder disc thickness and disc profile. I tried to find a reduced weight Tsumura but the only guy that had one for sale was Dave in Canada and Canada Post wanted horrendous amounts for shipping, so I have here a regular 18" Tsumura instead and I was thinking I might take it to someone to have the holes cut in it and I'll resin them closed if they become a problem holding chips. It may seem crazy to even bother with reduced weight on a 18" bar, but it's a better hobby than drinking and still cheaper ;-)

 

[KiwiBro]

.325 takes more, smaller bites than 3/8. Some people prefer this for cutting smaller wood, limbing, etc.

Philbert

If it becomes a problem, I'll have a limbing chain with a limbing grind

 

[KiwiBro]

My wife was over at a friends house having a play date with the kids, sends me this pic and says it's about a boot / trunk load of some sort of pine (she thinks).
It's out of the nature strip ready for council clean up. I figure seeing as I have the trailer I may as well take it and avoid sap getting everywhere.
You got to love wives, she was only out by a factor of 5 - 6, ends up being a full trailer load of cypress pine up to Ø 6", perfect for start up to supplement the big old Iron bark. all foliage trimmed off.

View attachment 652066

May I ask what the person who made those stacks does for a living?

 

[JustJeff]

I run 3/8 on my poulan 5020. It pulls it ok if you don’t lean on it too hard. Can’t imagine why a 261 wouldn’t pull it just fine.

 

[95custmz]

Went back for more Cherry today at my Dads house. It’s a monster of a tree that branches out to 5 separate trunks about 7 feet up. Real fun to drop these off the tail gate of my truck. My Stihl MS211 let me down today. Flooded and never recovered. Also, was leaking bar oil but it could’ve been because I was using winter blend which is a little thinner. And wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t bring a back-up saw. Had to use my old mans Craftsman 42cc with 18” bar. Oh well, hauled another truck load home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cantoo]

Justjeff, our owl is still here. I sure hope it doesn't mean more snow is on the way. Pics taken at noon today. I spent part of Friday and half of Mother's Day at the log pile. This is about 250 ash logs 13'4" long and now cut into 16" rounds. Splitting next weekend maybe. It's auction sale season and been busy. Even had to do 2 sales on Saturday. Online on this Wednesday and one in Listowel on Friday.

 

[svk]

Had to hang some old signs on my garage wall so used era correct tools and even had a 40 year old box of pan head screws scrounged from my Grandpa’s workshop. I have a Yankee drill and a Yankee driver. Even have a little gear driven drill at the hunting cabin that has a little crank like a can opener.

 

[KiwiBro]

Had to hang some old signs on my garage wall so used era correct tools and even had a 40 year old box of pan head screws scrounged from my Grandpa’s workshop. I have a Yankee drill and a Yankee driver. Even have a little gear driven drill at the hunting cabin that has a little crank like a can opener.

View attachment 652094

Just got a flashback of helping my uncle in his shed when I was just knee-high to a grasshopper. He had tools like that and now I think about it, was my first exposure to tools and fixing things. He died when I was about 10 but I recall much time and attention from him explaining tools and his various projects as he babysat me. His place was one heck of a playground for a curious wee lad. He had projects in every corner of every room. Because every shed on the back yard was already full of the same.

Thanks for that pic and the spark for a trip down memory lane.

 

[Jeffkrib]

May I ask what the person who made those stacks does for a living?

Electrician, could you tell?

 

[KiwiBro]

I had them pinned as a detail person. But thought perhaps software/coder. I marvel at some electrical meter boards and how they manage to not just fit everything in but keep it ordered.

 

[Cowboy254]

My wife was over at a friends house having a play date with the kids, sends me this pic and says it's about a boot / trunk load of some sort of pine (she thinks).
It's out of the nature strip ready for council clean up. I figure seeing as I have the trailer I may as well take it and avoid sap getting everywhere.
You got to love wives, she was only out by a factor of 5 - 6, ends up being a full trailer load of cypress pine up to Ø 6", perfect for start up to supplement the big old Iron bark. all foliage trimmed off.

View attachment 652066

The only way that would work better is if it was spruce

 

[JustJeff]

Justjeff, our owl is still here. I sure hope it doesn't mean more snow is on the way. Pics taken at noon today. I spent part of Friday and half of Mother's Day at the log pile. This is about 250 ash logs 13'4" long and now cut into 16" rounds. Splitting next weekend maybe. It's auction sale season and been busy. Even had to do 2 sales on Saturday. Online on this Wednesday and one in Listowel on Friday.
View attachment 652080 View attachment 652082

My owl left last Sunday. I’m thinking you need to hit an auction where there are wood processors!

 

[woodchip rookie]

So should I put 325 chain on my 395 with the 20" to make it cut faster?

 

[svk]

Just got a flashback of helping my uncle in his shed when I was just knee-high to a grasshopper. He had tools like that and now I think about it, was my first exposure to tools and fixing things. He died when I was about 10 but I recall much time and attention from him explaining tools and his various projects as he babysat me. His place was one heck of a playground for a curious wee lad. He had projects in every corner of every room. Because every shed on the back yard was already full of the same.

Thanks for that pic and the spark for a trip down memory lane.

My great grandpa was a carpenter by trade. I had a ton of his tools but never used them. I sold most of them at a reasonable price to a young fellow who was building a barn using traditional tools. He came from 4 generations of shipbuilders so his ancestors had used some of the same tools. I feel bad every now and then for selling them but I was able to use his tool box for my own tools and honestly I would have never used those tools anyhow. Now that I’m in a major cleaning operation I’m starting to get a pretty good pile of stuff that I don’t use so may get rid of another batch. To me they are better off in the hands of someone who will use them than collecting dust in my garage. And I know my kids won’t have any interest in them.