topping off a stump....

[Vman]

first let me say i appreciate all the info u all have given me....hope i am not a PIA!!
when bucking, the bar on my ms 440 stays nice and cool. yesterday i was topping off some stumps to get them ready to grind out.....when the saw was cutting in that position (with powerhead at 90 degs) it seems the oil flow may be impeded? the chain and bar gets really hot real fast. i did crank up the oil flow and it was filled up with oil. some of the stumps were up to 24" and they were oak. my nice white bar now has a brown tinge to it
what am i doing wrong?
thanks

 

[Dadatwins]

Dull chain will make the bar and chain heat up. I have also found if I am making a large cut with the bar flat I will keep a bottle of oil close by and add a bit to the bar while cutting, helps keep the chain moving.

 

[turnkey4099]

first let me say i appreciate all the info u all have given me....hope i am not a PIA!!
when bucking, the bar on my ms 440 stays nice and cool. yesterday i was topping off some stumps to get them ready to grind out.....when the saw was cutting in that position (with powerhead at 90 degs) it seems the oil flow may be impeded? the chain and bar gets really hot real fast. i did crank up the oil flow and it was filled up with oil. some of the stumps were up to 24" and they were oak. my nice white bar now has a brown tinge to it
what am i doing wrong?
thanks

Stumps are bad. Just finished doing a batch myself up to 30-36" at cut level (just above ground). It is inevitable if you cut them low that you will hit dirt and perhaps imbedded dirt within the stump. The instant my saw isn't throwing a nice roostertail, needs force to keep cutting or is getting hot, I shut down and either resharp or change out the chain. Hot bar/chain is almost always caused by dull chain. If not that, then bar oil is not getting out there.

Harry K

 

[R Schra]

when doing stumps ill shovel/axe of some bark and tip in the blade. Then ill pull the saw around and keeping the chain chizels pulling from inside out. So the sharp wont see any dirt as the chain isnt pulling from outside in the stump passing dirt in the bark. Most times this does the trick. sometimes the exhaust blast up so much dirt it get trown in the sawcut.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Vman, don't worry about being a PITA. You ask good questions, and you'll get good answers. That's what this site is for amigo.

Now, stumps are a pain. Always are. You've probably got your bar burried, it's a long, sustained cut, you're near the ground, so the heat may not be able to escape the engine or bar as easily. I like Dadatwins' idea about the extra oil, and the advice to keep your chain sharp. I'd say that's the most important. The other thing with stumps is that unlike trees that start to lean, and fall as you cut, the stump will just sit there, and lay on your bar as you cut through, and that adds a load to the bar and saw, and creates heat. I use wedges to keep the cut open a little bit, and keep the weight of the stump off my bar as I go through. But yeah, stumps suck.

Jeff

 

[Al Smith]

Ditto on stumping being a pain in the backsides.Get the biggest saw you have,in my case ,several.If it has an oil button ,use it often .Stumping is almost as bad as milling in my opinion,not my favorite use of a chainsaw,but necessary,none the less.Pictures are of a large red oak I procrastinated several months before I got with the program and was nearly 9 feet across the root spread,ugh.I might add,this is the largest stump I have ever cut.

 

[Vman]

fishhuntcutwood .....thanks for not making me feel sooo bad!! i have read the replies today and i actually seem to be doing what everyone is telling me to do...i keep the chain sharp, give an extra squirt of oil on the bar inbetween (which actually smoked one time from the heat, and i even turned up the oil flow on the ms440 (carefully watching the oil tank). i am coming to the conclusion that stumps have no really good way to do them, and the heat does not dicipate....definitley gonna try the wedge next time!!
Al Smith...that one helluva atump!! the one that heated up my bar/chain was oblong...about 24"X34"...i think i will have to get me one of those bigger bars
i bought an RS chain but have not used it yet, still have the RM2 on there cause i didn't want to try out the RS for the first time on a stump...wanna buck with it first.
thanks again to all!!...and glad my questions are not stupid ones!!

uggggh...now i got to fire up the stump grinder

 

[Lawn Masters]

Well, you're asking good questions, and getting good answers. the only stupid question, is the one you dont ask.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Well, you're asking good questions, and getting good answers. the only stupid question, is the one you dont ask.

Well, I don't know about that. LOL. You gotta admit there's been some marginally sensable questions on AS. But you're right, questions should be asked.

Vman-that 440's oiler should be all the way up man. Always. You shouldn't run out of oil before you do gas, so crank it all the way up, and keep it there. JMO.

Jeff

 

[ozflea]

Are you using a really good sticky bar lube on the stump cutting as you can imagine most oil gets chucked off at the turn and doesn't end up where it should on the lower rails and the thinner the oil the worse the problem.

Maybe R_Schra has the right idea, he's putting the load where there's the most oil for lube.

Mc Bob.

 

[Molecule]

stumps !! think in pieces -- divide and conquer. I use the biggest saw I can, with smallest bar that'll do the job. no need to get all the way across the stump in one cut - with a short bar (eve less than 1/2 diameter) you can sort of tilt the tip of the bar down a little, and work around a depressed center of the stump. it's unusual that stump is on a nice mound like Al Smith's heartbreaker, so 10 minutes with a shovel to clear away some breathing room for the saw will help. Taking that stump out must have been like ... long term warfare or something. Probably took longer, and cost more in chains, to get that stump down that it took to slice up the tree. I like the 4" layers, with wedges. even with short bars watch for kickback ... you.re on your knees in a helpless position, and there's no telling how many "T-bars" or whatever, are buried down in there.

For big ones, bring your scuba gear. sometimes it's like you're just finishing off a layer, got just a little more to go, but there's no air around, for you to breathe ... you are buried in cloud of exhaust fumes, everywhere. so you have to stretch your nose sideways, to try to grab a breath of air over your left shoulder ... all the while keeping one eye on the saw ... ahhh, air! and then push thru the cut, with the last of the dull blade. yup stumpin' is funnnn!

 

[Vman]

again, thanks for the great info and ideas!! this site is great!...and friendly too!

fishhuntcutwood...u are right..never too much bar oil! i will see next weekend how it makes out per tank of gas. i was just going by the manual....said to set it at the "E" mark (which is about 1/2 way). i do always check the oil flow every few cuts by running it at full throttle for a few secs to make sure i see some oil spraying.

 

[turnkey4099]

Well, I don't know about that. LOL. You gotta admit there's been some marginally sensable questions on AS. But you're right, questions should be asked.

Vman-that 440's oiler should be all the way up man. Always. You shouldn't run out of oil before you do gas, so crank it all the way up, and keep it there. JMO.

Jeff

Ditto on that. That is the first thing I have done on every saw I owned. Crank the oil to the max. Never had one that ran out of oil before gas.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

stumps !! think in pieces -- divide and conquer. I use the biggest saw I can, with smallest bar that'll do the job. no need to get all the way across the stump in one cut - with a short bar (eve less than 1/2 diameter) you can sort of tilt the tip of the bar down a little, and work around a depressed center of the stump. it's unusual that stump is on a nice mound like Al Smith's heartbreaker, so 10 minutes with a shovel to clear away some breathing room for the saw will help. Taking that stump out must have been like ... long term warfare or something. Probably took longer, and cost more in chains, to get that stump down that it took to slice up the tree. I like the 4" layers, with wedges. even with short bars watch for kickback ... you.re on your knees in a helpless position, and there's no telling how many "T-bars" or whatever, are buried down in there.

For big ones, bring your scuba gear. sometimes it's like you're just finishing off a layer, got just a little more to go, but there's no air around, for you to breathe ... you are buried in cloud of exhaust fumes, everywhere. so you have to stretch your nose sideways, to try to grab a breath of air over your left shoulder ... all the while keeping one eye on the saw ... ahhh, air! and then push thru the cut, with the last of the dull blade. yup stumpin' is funnnn!

Very good post describing the ?fun? of stumping. I just finished doing it in a patch that I am clear cutting after a fire. 4 years of cutting and this year the farmer said to take the stumps down. Ouch!. At least I am done until I burn the slash piles next winter. They have about 5 or 6 stumps buried under them.

Yep, watch that bar! Early on I was doing just like you said, finishing out a cut pushing like H** on the saw to get the last few inches when I noticed that when the bar did cut finally cut out it would get both knee caps.

Fun down there in the grass, no breeze, hot and exhaust fumes blowing right in the face.

Harry K