Son of a bee! New chain time

[dwasifar]

I picked up a CL scrounge load today, mostly some sort of fruitwood but also a chunk of black walnut and a section of something big and unidentified that someone had already noodled into quarters. I'd have taken more of it because it looked good, and there was a lot of it lying around the site, but the fruitwood was closer and looked easier to handle.

Took it home, cut up the fruitwood, zip zap zip, no problem there, and then started noodling down that giant quarter of unidentified wood. By the time I got through it the saw wasn't cutting very fast at all. I thought, what kind of wood is this that dulls a blade so fast? So I took a closer look at the cut:

Son of a beeyotch!

After going through that many nails I'm pretty sure the chain is toast. I'll try to sharpen it anyway but somehow I don't think it's gonna work out.

Expensive free firewood, huh? At least now I know why nobody wants the other pieces.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Must be ironwood.

 

[svk]

Depends on the chain and the type of metal in those nails. Do you have a pic of your chain teeth? Usually they just need to be ground back unless you hit a big chunk of metal.

 

[Little Al]

Depends on the life left in the chain if no big chunks absent from the cutters you should be able to sharpen OK

 

[Del_]

Looks like you got a steel of a deal.

 

[CentaurG2]

That looks is a “tree fort” tree.

 

[svk]

Definitely a kid’s work. Use a bunch of little nails rather than one big one. Although a single spike would definitely have toasted your chain.

 

[dwasifar]

Definitely a kid’s work. Use a bunch of little nails rather than one big one. Although a single spike would definitely have toasted your chain.

Not all that little, really. I know the photo lacks a size reference, but I'd guess they're 16d to 20d nails.

I'm going to try to keep track of the naily pieces after I split them, and watch the ashes for nail fragments to try to get an idea of the size. Well, if I can remember it that long. The wood's got about a year of seasoning before it's ready.

 

[svk]

Run a magnet through your ashes once it’s burned. Be interesting to see what you missed as well.

 

[milkman]

Maybe Beech, but the bark that I can see looks like Hickory.

 

[dwasifar]

Maybe Beech, but the bark that I can see looks like Hickory.

Thanks, but that bark's from a different log.

 

[dwasifar]

I have some better pictures now that the piece is split down.

Here's another shot of the bigger nails, with a #2 Phllips screwdriver for scale:

And a measurement:

Here are the points of the smaller nails coming out of the other side of a split piece:

And there was another surprise inside the piece when I split it up:

I burned that piece even though it was green, to see the rest of the object:

That's a gallon can. Big hook.

Here's what all this metal did to the chain:

So that chain is in the trash, a new chain is on the saw, and $19 is in Amazon's pocket.

 

[svk]

IMO that chain is still salvageable. You’ll lose 1/3 of the tooth though.

 

[LondonNeil]

Based on those 2 photos Steve, he's lost all the cutters from one side! The cutters that still have top plates have plenty of length, but if too many are missing from the one side, would it cut straight?

 

[svk]

Didn’t even notice that on my tiny phone screen. Good eye there!

OP, how many cutters are broken off?

 

[dwasifar]

Didn’t even notice that on my tiny phone screen. Good eye there!

OP, how many cutters are broken off?

I didn't count. More than just those two, though. That was just a representative sampling. And some of the ones that weren't broken off looked worse than the ones in those pics.

 

[LondonNeil]

out of interest, did you see sparks?

I'm no expert on chains, but I'd say toast.

 

[CR888]

Metal on metal has a distinct 'feel' when using a modern saw, you learn to pull up when you encounter metal. The expensive alternative...you just soldier through.

 

[svk]

I didn't count. More than just those two, though. That was just a representative sampling. And some of the ones that weren't broken off looked worse than the ones in those pics.

Well then it’s probably time to retire it. Or use the salvageable cutters for sharpening practice.

 

[dwasifar]

out of interest, did you see sparks?

I'm no expert on chains, but I'd say toast.

I did not.