OK to cut through a little ice?

[sksmass]

So, I am bucking up some logs this weekend and some of them were frozen to the ground with a little bridge of ice. I got them to rock and rolled them so now they are free of the ground but there is still that little frozen ridge of ice, which is (after rolling them) on the side of the logs. There are bits of twigs and grass and stuff frozen into the ice, but no dirt as far as I can see. My question is, is it OK to saw through a little ice and debris? I don't want to dull by blade or cause a lot of water to get into the saw. Anything to worry about?

Also, on a similar topic, has anyone seen that promo for swamp loggers where some guy emerges from the water with his saw running? What the heck?? That seems ill advised on many levels.

 

[Wood Duck]

I don't have much experience with this, but there are plenty of guys who cut frozen wood and don't ruin their saws. It must dull the blade more than normal because the wood is harder than normal. I would think pure ice would be a lot less hard on the balde than frozen wood would be. As for water in the saw, any fresh cut tree tends to have lots of moisture, and that doesn't ruin the saw, so I wouldn't worry too much about ice. Ice carvers generally use chainsaws for the majority of their cutting, but I don't know whay type of chain they use.

 

[quads]

It won't hurt anything. I do it everyday, and cut deep into the snow. Even if you do hit a little dirt, the chain can always be sharpened. Frozen ground is kind of hard on it, so avoid hitting that whenever possible, but it does happen. When they have the polar bear contests around here (where people jump into the lake on New Year's Day), they cut the hole in the ice with chainsaws.

I have never seen that. Is it a commercial on TV? I don't watch much television.

 

[sksmass]

Ah, good points! I should have thought of ice carvers!

"Swamp Loggers" is a show on the Discovery Channel about a crew of southern swamp loggers. The promo for the new season shows a guy emerging from underwater with a saw running. It is quite dramatic!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, lots and lots of ice carving done with chain saws. Did you know that they will not use oil on the chain when doing those carvings? The reason is that oil would stain the statues or whatever they are carving. I don't know how long a chain lasts them but they won't use oil for sure.

 

[sksmass]

It is interesting to speculate how much of the actual ice carving is being done by the cutting action of the teeth vs. the mere friction of the chain running over the ice. I'll bet you could at least cut through some ice with a loop of aircraft cable if it was going 9000rpm.

 

[smokinj]

It won't hurt anything. I do it everyday, and cut deep into the snow. Even if you do hit a little dirt, the chain can always be sharpened. Frozen ground is kind of hard on it, so avoid hitting that whenever possible, but it does happen. When they have the polar bear contests around here (where people jump into the lake on New Year's Day), they cut the hole in the ice with chainsaws.

I have never seen that. Is it a commercial on TV? I don't watch much television.

+1

 

[Mmaul]

I do ice sculptures, and you dont use oil in the saw but when you are done put the chain in a ziplock baggy and put some oil in it or it will rust out "fast", You should have no problems running through some ice. I use a stihl mse140 to do carvings its electric. I have seen people use gas I have never though.

 

[Wallyworld]

People use chains saws to cut holes for ice fishing