The new saw, some red oak, and a workforce addition - splitbeast

The new saw, propped in a kerf of some red oak, and a workforce addition, the newly trained "Splitbeast." (scroll down to humanoid)

So, this week I let the new-and-only saw hang out in the basement, on the work table — I guess I will have to send it back the to freezing-ar$e garage soon, but for now it is enjoying a new saw tlc.


I'm hoping it's up to the task of dealing all the 12" - 17" logs I seem to collect.

The bar is a Rollomatic E 18" .325 (3005 008 4717), and printed on it it says 18", which matches with the model#, but only 16" of it actually protrudes from the saw. I guess the mfr measures from a different point than I'd have expected. Not a big deal. 16" out the front is as much as I need. Over 17", the logs get too darn heavy to handle for my old bones.

Above it is with some nice but very smelly red oak (at least I think it's red oak).
The deep watermelon interior color of the wood is beautiful. I love how some of the thinly sliced parts feel like already dry chips. However once you get inside, longitudinally, you can tell it's got a long ways to go to dry.

I taught my eldest to wield the also relatively new X27 today ... at 6'3" he is quite the splitbeast.
I hardly got to take a whack myself today, as once he got the hang of it, he had an insatiable appetite for axe-to-log demolition.

I loaded up the rounds. He whacked 'em. Very effective.
The wood-dog-in-training watched from behind the kitchen glass screen door. Fair trade.

Workforce 1 with his first split, a thick knotty piece of maple-like wood that put up a good fight.



Back to the white stuff again. The X27 with a round that I sawed off the side branch close, as it was in the way of a good cut.



This bit of red oak seemed to have a dry spot inside it from and "interior knot" that was closed over and invisible from the outside.


When I picked it up, initially I thought it was some kind of maple (although the smell in the log limo told me otherwise) since the ends were white.
However, when I sliced off the badly angled cut at the end, it revealed a rich red interior. Here's a view from above of the section with one "white" end and the fresh cut part red. Almost looks like an optical illusion.

That deep red in the oak is what we call "Red Heart". Basically the tree wasn't healthy and the wood stove is the best place for it. Great Pics

Thanks. It'll take a great deal of patience to wait for it to season.

P.S. I'm curious do any of your saws (all folks here) spend any quality basement time, or is the frigid garage still the place of storage preference in winter?

Mine stays in the shed, all year long.

These ones are all cutting slack time in the warm basement while a few others are on-duty freezing their chains off in the cold garage :

I think I would be strung up if i started bringing saws into my wife's house. Therefore they stay at mine ( aka "the shop" )

Very nice saw and ax. Think I am going to get me a Fiskars X27 and X7.

The basement in our house is mine, but I between my hunting, fishing, shooting, and cycling gear, I ran out of room on the shelves for the saws, so they are out in the garage on the shelving that we put in there. One I get my new garage/woodshed, they will stay in there.

You know it ... cycling has the same N+1 problem as saws. Can't have enough bikes, and those suckers really take up space and their pedals get caught in everything else from every other sport. Then there's the wife's bikes, the kids bikes ... they breed wherever they are put. The best bikes stay in the basement though.

Maybe the same with axes, but for now I choke up on the X27 for the minimal "hatchet" work that I do (it took an embarassingly long time for me to figure out I could choke up on it, yes, very embarassing. I think I need to eat more "brain food" that doesn't make me pass wind like these here rancid fish oil capsules.).

^ those guys are livin' the life! You reckon they talk to each other when people are not around? I would not be surprised. The tales they could tell.

LOL ... I will probably hear all about the "dirty saw" down there tomorrow. OK, honey I'll finish cleaning it soon

I live alone so my saw lives in the living room

Mine stay in the heated shop unless they're going to work, then I run the crap out of em.


Uhhhh Boog, you need to stop spending so much time with Dex, those saws are way too clean & shiny. Have you ever used 1 one of them ? A C

Sounds very reasonable to me.

(Though we also think a dawg is a good addition to that arrangement.)

Nice score &
nice equipment.

Saw should always get some TLC, if it stay in the warm or cold

Yep... Its official. I will be going to Boogs soon.. Very Soon!!

Yep. You got a Big Boy there. My 11 yr old Son, gets down too. But it's just running the handle on the splitter! Gotta love a good saw and good help!

Yes, siree, wait until that 11 year old starts out working you in a few years.

I gotta say I enjoyed every round he exploded #boom with that axe, and he did too.

Bogy dave, there's still more wood out there, and the county is mulching some real good stuff day and night, because it's got too much debris and trees and doesn't know what to do with it. If you could see the piles, oy!
There are roads they chopped down every freaking tree, to avoid future power line troubles in storms. Every last tree. It's enough to make you weep.

We as a nation need to suck it up and bury all these power lines. No sense spending millions of dollars over and over again to 1) continue to cut back the trees around the power lines and 2) have massive power outages when a 30"+ tree falls across the lines. Last year we had just that happen, and the true was something that I would not have even tried to tackle in my wildest dreams without some heavy equipment. Knew we were going to be without power for days when I saw that thing across the lines.

Too much lack of long term planning and lack of willingness to pay the piper a little now versus a lot later. Always easier to kick the can down the road to the next generation.

Well, about the only ones on that table that have seen serious use by me are the little rebuilt 191T in the middle, and the 440 in the rear center. My 250 C-BE to the right of the 440 has only had about 6 tanks of gas through it. All the others, with the exception of "Grampa's 026" from Cleveland that I paid $200 for, were "old ammo traded" saws off CL. They didn't all look that way when I traded for them, I tore all of them down and cleaned them all up, bought a sprocket cover here, and air filter/top cover there, had to make them look half way as nice as Dex's stuff! There are 4 031AVs (one of them my main 30 year workhorse), an 024AV, and an 036 in the garage all tore down being cleaned/repaired/upgraded too. Cheap OEM internet parts of course.

From my experience with all this the thing I would like to pass to all of you is you really need to tear your saws down once in a while and clean them up. Its incredible how much gunk works its way inside of them. You need to basicly take the left side off, starter/gas tank ect, to clean around the flywheel and coil contacts. Some of these saws were just packed solid with sawdust/oil in there. Under the sprocket and behind the clutch is the other serious point on the right side. We all clean under the sprocket cover and around the sprocket, but how many folks ever looked under that sprocket. Most of these saws were just packed with oil/grease/wood under there too. You'll need to buy the clutch removal tool that screws into your spark plug hole to hold the piston in position so you can unscrew the clutch (reverse thread, clockwise to get it off) but you will not regret it. There was so much built up grease under some of these I can't believe that the sprocket ever turned and didn't just slip. Could be why your chain is stopping when deep in a cut, your greasy clutch/sprocket is just slipping, Also, from a safety standpoint, your safety stop band is going to slip on the outside of the sprocket.

Oh, I cut wood alright, I'm sitting here in my underwear with the place a little too toasty at about 76 degrees. Posted some photos of my 3 Fuel System under "Its a Gas" Forum tonight.

Think I saw your pic of the Charmaster with the Wayne oil burner and the backup propane furnace in the thread about how one lights wood. Only have the house at 75 degrees tonight with this pathetic setup of mine. Actually looked at the Charmaster before deciding on the Yukon with natural gas backup. It was actually a tough decision between the two. And I don't cut and split much wood whatsoever. lol

Going to have to learn to take these saws apart one day. How often would you recommend that they be dismantled and cleaned? Anybody know where I can get a schematic of the saws?

That Yukon looks slick! Pathetic setup, I think you needed a smilie after that! That Charmaster was bought in "83", pretty low tech by todays standards, but it has held up well. I actually never use the wayne oil burner for starting wood, just had to show it for that post versus folks using BBQ lighters. You obviously could if you wanted too but why waste the fuel oil! I've actually had a perpetual fire going since mid october once shoulder season ended. Other than two times so far when I burned it out so I could take the flue pipes apart to clean them out (was not much of anything there) there is always good coals left after a nights long burn. I just throw some real small stuff on and then build it up from there.

As far as saw maintenance goes, really tearing them down, it obviously depends on how much you cut. I'm ashamed to say I never tore down that old 031AV of mine till it eventually wore out. Same with the 191T, it finaly broke a connecting rod. My solution then was to do what most folks do, I went out and bought new saws, a 440 mag and 250C-BE, and tossed the broken two in a box where they sat for about 2 years. It was only after I decided to "tinker" with those broken two that I discovered how easy it actually was to work on them. Mind you I'm fairly handy with tools, but I had no schematics for any of those saws, just started carefully taking them appart, keeping track of the pieces and such, even took a couple disassembly photos along the way on the first one or two. Its was only then that I discovered all the gunk inside of them. After that, I was hooked, CAD kicked in, discovered that my old ammo hoard was a hot commodity with many "saw" folks, so the rest is history. I later acquired an IPL schematic diagram from a poster here for the 026 saws who saw some of my earlier postings. I would think if you posted up some specific requests for the saws you have someone here might be able to send you them. Judging from the fact that you don't cut much wood , I would think every 2-3 years would be a good tear down cleaning schedule.

Look at all those toys! I wanna come play in your sandbox!

Both my saws live all winter in my warm basement which becomes my air-conditioned basement and saw home in the summer.

My Mom says you can come over and play with my toys in my sandbox anytime Ralphie! If you have a cute sister bring her along too!

The 25 works better if you use a splitting block as it is 7-8 inches shorter.. I don't use a splitting block so I like the 27 better..

really worried about blurring your face out? lol I have a X25 I'll make someone a deal on because I don't use it. only used in once or twice. I really like the X15 for setting wedges and splitting stuff like a bigger hatchet.. you don't have to choke down on it so far.

If you want to send a few of those saws my way I will gladly keep em warm for ya

Pete

Is Pallet Pete proposing to preferentially pamper my personal possessions providing proper protracted professional protection without procrastination or profanity? You gotta talk sweet to them too.

Nice looking saw OldLumberKid. I recently bought a new Stihl MS250 with the EZ start and 18" bar. You're right. Bar measures 16" outside sprocket area. I never paid attention to that fact before. But the 16" is enough for me. I sure like the oil and gas caps they have on these. It takes a few times to get them to seat properly before turning but after awhile they just kind of fall right in place. I like the chain tightening feature too. Dealer said some guys don't care for these new features but I do (once you get used to them). I also have an 029 Farm Boss so am familar with older features.

I keep my saws in my warm wood working shop far away from wood stove and high off the floor, because of gas in the saws. Don't want to keep them on the floor. Used to keep the 029 in basement but had it hanging from ceiling rafters because of gas water heater. Might be a concern about gas leaks though and gas getting to floor. Might be wise to keep a pan or something under saw to catch any potential leaks. Or maybe just turn saw upside down and dump gas out.

Thanks. I did have concerns about the thing being in the same room as the furnace, but that stand-alone garage can be a frigid and damp environment. I've discovered it's propensity to encourage rust and other nasty things to bikes and other thangs. But, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Right now the saw's in the shop. Looked like there was a loose wire connector, that prevented it turning off. It looked like a simple fix, but while it's still in warranty newb mode, I figured let the shop get the thing fixed properly.

Not exactly a comfortable moment there for a newb, as I pondered a saw that had developed a mind of its own.

Here I am with the saw idling, I flick the selector to "stop" and it keeps on running, showing no sign of stopping. I made sure the chain brake was absolutely on, and double checked to see that cutting buddy was locked inside, and pondered a solution.

Fortunately I found that switching the selector to choke turned it off, but holy cow, I wonder what other solutions there are to that quandary?

Also, bear in mind that while you choke it down, you have to squeeze the throttle, so you are going to get a momentary burst (and that's all with the chain brake on for safety) of engine acceleration.