Why do men like chainsaws?

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Is quilting dangerous ?
Does Randy port quilts ???? (Or is it quilt ports ?)

I know marriage is dangerous ....and loud...and did i mention dangerous...

Chainsaws aren't dangerous by themselves, but in the hands of many users they are! :msp_sneaky:
 
The gift of man to all men, to allow the subjugation of nature?

Nature cannot be subjugated. Saws are a tool to tweak and use nature. As in cut it back, burn it black, plant it back. One of many slogans heard in the PNW during the boom days. In fact, nature can be helped by thinning out overstocked stands of trees.
 
Time savers?

View attachment 315637 So I was wondering, why do we like chainsaws so much? is it to display our manly dominion over nature or are we just big kids? anyone else wonder about this or care to opine?

Probably because they're soooo much faster than cutting with an axe, bow saws, & two man draw saws.
If you've ever cut heating wood for stoves in a wilderness area with handsaws only, they're the chits!

I just wished they weren't so high maintenance, for it seems like every hour you're cutting wood, you have to spend 15 minutes refueling, oiling, cleaning, resharpening, & tightening/mending the things back up...but that's the nature of these high revving beasts in the dirty wood & oil slinging environment you're cutting in.
 
It's because they're efficient little bastards!!

The fact that chainsaws are loud and dangerous is not why some of us like them. I would prefer it if they were quieter and safer. (Maybe I'm getting old!!) The reason I like chainsaws so much is because they are incredibly efficient at what they do. It's the same reason I like trucks. In both cases they provide HUGE improvements over the technologies they replaced. Just about anyone who has felled a tree and bucked it up using axes and hand saws will absolutely LOVE a chainsaw! They save massive amounts of work.

It's really amazing how quickly you can cut through a large log with a chainsaw. It's a joy to behold. A chainsaw is closer to a light saber (the ultimate future technology) than it is to a hand saw (the technology it replaced). Until we have light sabers I will continue to be impressed by these little mechanical wonders.

Doug
 
Well, one guy in the seat of an excavator...

And one guy in the seat of an A-10 Warthog can make chaos out of order in a very short time...

id give just about anything to take controls of the venerable Warthog

I wish I could buy a broken excavator for a $100 put a few bucks in it (from my warm basement after the kids go to sleep) and go and chop **** up with it the next morning....I have the truck and trailer to move it if its a small excavator(...is there a ms 180 in excavator speak ?)

I wish I could go to my local yard sale, beat a guy named Guido Savage( he had to drive 600 miles and got a flat tire on the way...:) ) to the excavator and take it home in my trunk...
 
id give just about anything to take controls of the venerable Warthog

I wish I could buy a broken excavator for a $100 put a few bucks in it (from my warm basement after the kids go to sleep) and go and chop **** up with it the next morning....I have the truck and trailer to move it if its a small excavator(...is there a ms 180 in excavator speak ?)

I wish I could go to my local yard sale, beat a guy named Guido Savage( he had to drive 600 miles and got a flat tire on the way...:) ) to the excavator and take it home in my trunk...



As long as we're fantasizing, I'd love about 4 hrs. seat time in a D-9 or larger CAT. :msp_biggrin:
 
This is a simple question with manifold complex answers.

Some guys (Like me) are easily entertained and like loud, dangerous, destructive things... Some guys (Also like me) are fond of them for the ability it affords them to reasonably provide for themselves and others as they see fit, on their own terms. Some people (me again) love the time that it affords them in nature, away from the rest of the hamsters on wheels, in the peace and solitude of their own thoughts and struggles. Some (you guessed it) simply like the thought of actually accomplishing 1 thing that they started in a timely manner.

Chainsaws, much like firearms, are tools. They at once represent everything that is good and bad about mankind. They can be used for good or evil just as easily as they are inherently neither, simply a reflection of their operator. They represent the opportunity for those of us who are willing, to provide for ourselves, on our own terms without being beholden to another (sometimes anyway). They are devices of modest means which can provide great dividends and great enjoyment without requiring a second mortgage. As mentioned before they represent a multitude of challenges to operate safely, efficiently and skillfully. They, like many other things in life, require much upkeep and maintenance. This serves a a fairly obvious visual indicator to many as to those who do and those who do not and further separates the sloth from the determined.

In a way, not to be parochial, overly biblical (for those not inclined) or over-dramatic, they like many other things in life, represent the struggle of man; Good - vs -Evil, Work Ethic - vs- Laziness and Apathy, Determination vs Discouragement and Doubt, Good vs Evil and Success vs failure.

Making the decision (and then actually following through with it) to learn and use a chainsaw, well, with all that goes along with it, represents the individual choice to accept the hazards and proceed anyway. It is hard work and is for the resolute among individuals. It is that pioneering and indomitable spirit that is a part of all of us, which only some of us are willing to embrace.

Ultimately, it is the resolved declaration of self-determination.
 
Ive been telling to those who ask, that my love towards the chainsaws, derivers most likely from the fact that chainsaws, especially building and modding em, resembles a lot, the times when i was a kid and i was always hopping up my 50cc moped engines and afterwards, motocross engines.

Its an allowed way for a grown up guy to play with 2 stoke motors and stink like the mopeds did.
 
I dinno. I enjoy some axe time.

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Sorry, but I call shenanigans on "enjoying time in nature" - too loud and requires way too much focus. Of course, OPE is how I spend my work week so my idea of time spent enjoying nature may vary. I will allow that I would loath chainsaw work if it was indoors, though.
Another aspect to the the saw/gun analogy is that they are also purpose built to do one thing very well - cut wood/launch a projectile - and both become ever more dangerous and less reliable when used for just about anything else.
 
I'm thinking of starting a "Manly men" school where I teach metrosexuals how to run earth moving machines, chainsaws, shoot guns, build fires, walk through the brush, kill animals for food, basically all the stuff they need to know to be a well rounded man. Heck I might throw in some tips on pleasing women and being a half-way decent father as a bonus. You think any of them will sign up?

For my finishing school I'll teach them Manners for a Polite Society, and the Art of Surviving In a Tough Business Environment Where a Rude Comment Will Get You Punched In the Mouth. I'm sure the lawyers will be waiting in line to sign up for that one. :D



Mr. HE:cool:
 
Sorry, but I call shenanigans on "enjoying time in nature" - too loud and requires way too much focus. Of course, OPE is how I spend my work week so my idea of time spent enjoying nature may vary. I will allow that I would loath chainsaw work if it was indoors, though.
Another aspect to the the saw/gun analogy is that they are also purpose built to do one thing very well - cut wood/launch a projectile - and both become ever more dangerous and less reliable when used for just about anything else.



You are not living on the edge until you use the gun to cut wood and the chainsaw to launch projectiles.:rock:

BTW, a 13hp, 4000psi, 4gpm pressure washer will fire a smooth round rock about 3/4" in diameter about 100yds.:D



Mr. HE:cool:
 
Interesting thread and after having just purchased my 3rd chainsaw, worth reflecting on. Honestly I had but one saw for about 12 years and was pretty content with it, until finding this place :msp_scared:

I've always loved mechanical things. If my mom was at the supermarket and there was a construction project going on she could shop to her hearts content while I'd stand like a sentinel watching a backhoe or bulldozer. Then there was the lore of Paul Bunyon, lets face it, he was a badazz and who wouldn't want to immitate him? And then there are two stroke engines, my first was a Cox 049 at the age of 12 or so, 30 odd years back. From that beginning I had a plethora of sub 1cu in two strokes powering boats and cars, then on to karts and dirtbikes. As I got a bit older I ended up doing the majority of the yardwork around my folks house, and my two favorite tools were the chainsaw and the weed wacker.

I can romance about being out in nature and harvesting trees killed by bark beetles to heat my house. But honestly it's the high revving smoky two stroke engine in the saw that I like. I suppose there is also somewhat of a backlash against the doo gooder liberals that want to tell you how to live your life, what you can and can't do, what you can and can't have. There is something to be said for loud and dangerous devices and the knowledge and skill to use them safely.
 
Maybe Dr. Phil can tell us the real reason behind our CAD affliction.

There are quite a few of us that need to be "Put on the couch"
concerning this issue.
 
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