Cool pics there Matt.
Today's Job...
- Thread starter MCW
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MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
In theory that is true Will but there are just as many sickening photos from kickback where guys are using rear handled saws - every saw has the capacity to injure you and I bet the guy you're talking about was in a position he shouldn't have been in. The saw wouldn't have been at fault but I bet the finger was pointed at the fact it was top handled. Arm or leg injuries are understandable, but there are absolutely no excuses for wearing a modern saw in the face as far as I'm concerned. Sure it can and will continue to happen, but the saw style can't be blamed. For example any time I have cuts by my head it is two hands only and this practice would be enforced the world over by any training groups - I know it's easy to say that sh*t happens and people will use one hand but they simply shouldn't be when cutting in a position like that.
It's a simliar scenario with some groups trying to ban assault rifles. It's not the rifles fault that it can do the damage, it's the operator or the "nut behind the butt".
Not meaning to start an argument Will but many people on AS have said the kickback risk is higher on top handled saws but in practice and in my experience that's simply not the case. The "Theoretical" risk is higher if you look at saw geometry etc but in practice it doesn't quite work that way - it's important to remember that the owner's manual also states that it is a two handed saw (heh heh).
The 200T in my case is a gutsy little saw but it pays to remember they are still only a 35cc saw - I've had some good kickback with it and although I'm no weakling, it's not that scary and easily controlled, unlike bigger saws like the 3120. When somebody has kickback on a 200T that hits them in the face while they're cutting at waste height is when I'll consider the potential may be higher
All I have to now remember is never to injure myself with my 200T and if it hits me in the face I had better keep quiet
Yeah I bought some spray on woodchips and some pre made dust. I didn't even leave the couch to get them dirty.
Nice pics there Matt,and i see you have a new mate,there the best mates to have they dont drink all ya beer and look at ya missis.
Well he probably would have looked at my missus had she been there but I wouldn't have felt too threatened seeing the poor little guy was a paraplegic. An able bodied lizard would have been a different story...
Thanks Brad. All taken on my phone
It's about the only good feature on it (Nokia N97)
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CentaurG2
Addicted to ArboristSite
Never like to use the 200t on the ground and do so only rarely. The handles are too close together and I find them awkward especially when compared to a good limbing saw like a 346xp. While powerful, the little 200t are only 35cc. They get really hot with long sustained cuts. You can see smoke and smell them cooking which I think leads to an early grave for them. Very expensive saw to burn up on the ground but to each his own.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
It does depend what you're using them for. Long sustained cuts isn't ideal but just trimming up like I did is fine. There are hundreds of 200T's used on the ground in my area, mainly for orchard pruning, and the only time I've heard of one getting toasted is when some brain dead hobo straight gasses them.
You're right though, the handles are close and after using a rear handled saw it's easy to "over reach" if you're not thinking straight and grab the chain
parrisw
Tree Freak
Yep totally true Matt. I was just saying is all. I've been known to let go of my 200 as well, but never up in a tree when its in front of me. And I think that's what happened to him, and he didn't have his face shield down
Thing is, not sure if you've ever climbed or not, but when you do, sometimes you make cuts when the saw is right in front of you, when I do this, I make sure its below my face, that's where you have the best control of it is when its right in front and where you have the most strength and control in your arms.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Yep totally true Matt. I was just saying is all. I've been known to let go of my 200 as well, but never up in a tree when its in front of me. And I think that's what happened to him, and he didn't have his face shield down
Thing is, not sure if you've ever climbed or not, but when you do, sometimes you make cuts when the saw is right in front of you, when I do this, I make sure its below my face, that's where you have the best control of it is when its right in front and where you have the most strength and control in your arms.
Yeah sorry about getting on my high horse Will
Climbing? Maybe a few stairs here and there but that's about it at this stage
Got the spurs, harness etc but need some better gear. I've been onto Shaun (Imagineero) who said he'll help me out when I finally get my climbing butt into gear. He's been working for a tree crew in Sydney and been doing heaps of climbing lately. He's even offered me a "training course" if I can get over his way at some stage. Maybe I'll frighten myself or maybe I'll love it. I think spur climbing would be more my cup of tea, not swinging around on ropes.I know where you're coming from regarding saw placement. That is a very important thing with any saw. It can't get you if you're not in it's way. Very similar to keeping a loaded gun pointed in a safe direction - minimise any risk.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
As mentioned I've spent the last 4 days just cutting and spraying stumps. A few more photos from the last few days...
Managed to snap a chain again today mid cut and once again busted straight through the tie strap as per previous breakages. This time it was on the 390XP with oiler flat out so certainly not due to heat or a lack of oil. In fact the chain was hardly warm.
I replaced the chain and as always it's important to avoid your previous cut if part of the busted chain is missing. Last thing you want to do is wreck a new chain by hitting an embedded piece of the old chain in your last cut...
Also noticed a lot more lizards around today. I think that word may have gotten out from my crippled lizard friend and they've come for a look at the 390XP - I'm sure that's the case, I mean lizards must love saws too?
Funnily enough they all seem to be giving me the evil eye. They have that look about them which says "If I was 100kg bigger you'd be my lunch"...
Also had the manager come and grab me yesterday for about 1/2 hour as the company want a couple of larger trees dropped on the property where their main offices are. One is a quite large dead gum with maybe a 48" trunk and the other is a very messy and shaggy Norfolk Island Pine with about a 36" trunk - there is also a chance that my Mk I eyeball trunk diameter measuring device is wrong. They may be smaller or maybe larger although I doubt they'd be larger than that - I already know that I'll be using the 3120 and 42" bar on the gum. It looks very hard stuff, just like the last gum I chopped up with the big Husky. I'll get some pics up soon but will drop them in a few weeks. Will also get vids up when I drop them, the fiancee has already been booked as camera woman!
The Norfolk Island Pine will be tight. It will show just how good I am at measuring (or how bad I am!) as I've measured it to pull up about 6 feet short of some orange trees. The manager said it doesn't matter if I flatten a couple of orange trees or even take out the compound fence! That is certainly not on the agenda and to be honest they are both relatively easy fells in my book. If the pine's wood looks OK I may even get it put aside for milling.
Once again the gum has died from Longicorn Beetle attack. The little bastards strike again...
Managed to snap a chain again today mid cut and once again busted straight through the tie strap as per previous breakages. This time it was on the 390XP with oiler flat out so certainly not due to heat or a lack of oil. In fact the chain was hardly warm.
I replaced the chain and as always it's important to avoid your previous cut if part of the busted chain is missing. Last thing you want to do is wreck a new chain by hitting an embedded piece of the old chain in your last cut...
Also noticed a lot more lizards around today. I think that word may have gotten out from my crippled lizard friend and they've come for a look at the 390XP - I'm sure that's the case, I mean lizards must love saws too?
Funnily enough they all seem to be giving me the evil eye. They have that look about them which says "If I was 100kg bigger you'd be my lunch"...
Also had the manager come and grab me yesterday for about 1/2 hour as the company want a couple of larger trees dropped on the property where their main offices are. One is a quite large dead gum with maybe a 48" trunk and the other is a very messy and shaggy Norfolk Island Pine with about a 36" trunk - there is also a chance that my Mk I eyeball trunk diameter measuring device is wrong. They may be smaller or maybe larger although I doubt they'd be larger than that - I already know that I'll be using the 3120 and 42" bar on the gum. It looks very hard stuff, just like the last gum I chopped up with the big Husky. I'll get some pics up soon but will drop them in a few weeks. Will also get vids up when I drop them, the fiancee has already been booked as camera woman!
The Norfolk Island Pine will be tight. It will show just how good I am at measuring (or how bad I am!) as I've measured it to pull up about 6 feet short of some orange trees. The manager said it doesn't matter if I flatten a couple of orange trees or even take out the compound fence! That is certainly not on the agenda and to be honest they are both relatively easy fells in my book. If the pine's wood looks OK I may even get it put aside for milling.
Once again the gum has died from Longicorn Beetle attack. The little bastards strike again...
Stihlman441
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nice pics of your seadlings growing there mate,do ya have to water them much haha.
Those rows are endless are ya getting on top of it.
I dont think there is anything wrong with ya chains mate,you can see how much sh_t gets under them and something has to give.
Just and idear to have a go at,when i cut stringy as you brake throw the blocks when your bucking the bark fibres clag up your chain and sprocket and stop things rotating,i have found full chisel chains do help in this regard,dont know what you are using champ.
Those rows are endless are ya getting on top of it.
I dont think there is anything wrong with ya chains mate,you can see how much sh_t gets under them and something has to give.
Just and idear to have a go at,when i cut stringy as you brake throw the blocks when your bucking the bark fibres clag up your chain and sprocket and stop things rotating,i have found full chisel chains do help in this regard,dont know what you are using champ.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Hi mate. Slowly making a dent in my seedlings
Put in about 24 hours over the last 4 days. Rain made me pull the pin Saturday and Sunday and I had to drop in at work this morning for an hour or so to do a few things. I was hoping to do 10 hours a day but realised there is not enough light in the day when you also have other stuff to do - oh and the fact that a couple of mornings I slept a bit later than planned!Hey these chains have copped a hiding mate and they have been getting worked pretty well non stop. For a while I though to myself "Why is it always GB/Carlton A1-EP semi chisel breaking" then it dawned on me that it's basically all I've used on this job. The fact that I also run pretty aggressive raker heights and powerful saws also adds to the chain stretch. I checked this particular broken chain though and all rivets were still pretty tight so I just whacked a new DL in it tonight and she'll be good to go next time.
I have run some full chisel doing this stumping but it really struggles. There is a lot of sand and dirt that has been pushed up into the bark by the loader when they were shunting the logs around. Also I've found that the sides of the full chisel cutters bite more into the sides of the cut when the weight of the stump drops down. This stalls the saw then I have to manually lift the stump to get the bar out probably 50% of the time - unlike the semi chisel where I can keep pivoting the saw the whole way out of the cut then simply slide the top of the stump off.
And yeah Stringybark is some ugly stuff on chains and sprockets. Like you I've found full chisel works better on this stuff and in Tassie most loggers are running .404" to help clear the fibres out of the cut.
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Stihlman441
Addicted to ArboristSite
Just looking back at that broken chain when you say you run agressive rakers how agressive are we talking about ?.
I hope you are not starting to talk to them lizards to much.
I hope you are not starting to talk to them lizards to much.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Well I don't measure them in thou so can't really give you a number. Now this is where it gets sad but I pretty well just eyeball them! I know that as far as setting them with a File-O-Plate I prefer to go under File-O-Plate settings by about double the plate thickness. I wouldn't recommend this on smaller or gutless saws though. They get a bit grabby. I get it wrong occasionally though and it's instantly obvious the second you start cutting
Thats when I file in or grind in even less hook to compensate for my stupidity...Oh and I'm not talking to those pesky lizards but they keep talking to me...
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parrisw
Tree Freak
Yeah sorry about getting on my high horse Will
Climbing? Maybe a few stairs here and there but that's about it at this stage
I know where you're coming from regarding saw placement. That is a very important thing with any saw. It can't get you if you're not in it's way. Very similar to keeping a loaded gun pointed in a safe direction - minimise any risk.
Naa, didn't think you were on a high horse Matt, after all, every accident is usually avoidable, just have to be thinking right.
So far I do spur climbing, its definitely a workout, and I've only peed my pants a few times.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Well I'm in for a treat then as I pee my pants at ground level most days...
RandyMac
Stiff Member
parrisw
Tree Freak
porky616
ArboristSite Operative
not sure bout his rakers being nasty but the chain he sent me drew blood on contact! dam that thing got some point on it!
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Lucky I AM my crew so get to give myself a golden shower most days.
Stings the eyes but quite refreshing...
You wouldn't see it as you'd have your eyes shut
I do honest. The videos you refer to was because I was young and needed the money...
Wait till you cut with that chain mate. It's got that much hook it will stall the saw on contact
There is a reason you got it for thrown in for free By they way, although it's Husky labelled chain it's actually made by Oregon and is basically LGX. Just remove a bit of the hook and it will cut fine, except it will only do it for a few seconds in your dirty hard crap!
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MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
Maybe you can manicure your nails Aaron?
