Locust and oak cutting

[jatoxico]

Did some more cutting today. Finished up on a downed oak and got into some locust. The new Husky did good. Still trying to take it easy as I'm in the break in period (manual says 10hrs). Went through about two tanks. Time to touch up the chain and keep it happy.

 

[Woody Stover]

Good job! That's a pretty big BL, right there. Which Husky is that?

 

[jatoxico]

Yeah pretty big Locust. The saw is a 435 (16" bar). You can see in some of the pics that nose is starting to get buried as I'm moving down the trunk. As I said I'm taking it easy making a cut or two then shutting it down for a few minutes. With the chain sharp it's doing fine but it's more tree than the saw was made for.

The base was a double tree. The smaller has been removed but what's left must be close to or over 30". Bit of a mess on the root ball side since it split when it went down but when it was intact had to be at least 28" if not more.

Excuse to get a bigger saw?, CAD setting in.

 

[Paulywalnut]

That locust does a number on the chain. I've seen sparks fly when cutting when it starts getting dark. Hope you have a nice splitter. Besides yourself that is.

 

[jatoxico]

That locust does a number on the chain. I've seen sparks fly when cutting when it starts getting dark. Hope you have a nice splitter. Besides yourself that is.

The plan is to split that one like the rest, by hand w/ the Fiskars. You know I saw a spark today, figured it had to be sand but mebbe you right. You're definitely right about one thing, that stuff is hard.

 

[Paulywalnut]

The plan is to split that one like the rest, by hand w/ the Fiskars. You know I saw a spark today, figured it had to be sand but mebbe you right. You're definitely right about one thing, that stuff is hard.

Yep. Mulberry and Osage spark it up too.

 

[red oak]

I've definitely seen the sparks cutting locust! Love burning it though!

 

[Soundchasm]

Yeah pretty big Locust. The saw is a 435 (16" bar). You can see in some of the pics that nose is starting to get buried as I'm moving down the trunk. As I said I'm taking it easy making a cut or two then shutting it down for a few minutes. With the chain sharp it's doing fine but it's more tree than the saw was made for.

The base was a double tree. The smaller has been removed but what's left must be close to or over 30". Bit of a mess on the root ball side since it split when it went down but when it was intact had to be at least 28" if not more.

Excuse to get a bigger saw?, CAD setting in.

I love my little 435. Went through h e double hockey stick trying to get it started and it won't idle w/o dying, but here's what I do to get it started (read this is a common problem). I follow the normal pump and a few pulls till the engine almost gurgles to life. Take the choke off and wedge my big boot under the throttle. Carefully look around, give a pull and it's going. It's apparently illegal to sell the carb adjust tool.

I done three serious seasons with mine, and I'm sure I've cut through more than one 32.5" round! Sometimes I wish it was a longer bar, but it's a 90% solution, and a 100% solution with a little planning. I think it'll end up in the "worth more than I paid for it".

Great score.

 

[jatoxico]

I love my little 435. Went through h e double hockey stick trying to get it started and it won't idle w/o dying, but here's what I do to get it started (read this is a common problem). I follow the normal pump and a few pulls till the engine almost gurgles to life. Take the choke off and wedge my big boot under the throttle. Carefully look around, give a pull and it's going. It's apparently illegal to sell the carb adjust tool.

I done three serious seasons with mine, and I'm sure I've cut through more than one 32.5" round! Sometimes I wish it was a longer bar, but it's a 90% solution, and a 100% solution with a little planning. I think it'll end up in the "worth more than I paid for it".

Great score.

I'm liking the little 435 too, it's really performing well. My saw needs are not tremendous since I'm a scrounger not a cutter and I can afford to be picky about what I get. It's easy to get infected w/ CAD hanging around here and if I ever pick up a trailer maybe I would start going for bigger stuff and need a bigger saw. Or maybe I'll just get a bigger saw someday for now I'm good.

This locust fell on an unbuildable lot behind my house. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/bucking-a-leaner-locust-rate-my-plan.122488/ . In the pics from that thread I had already bucked the smaller locust in the clump and the oak that went down in the pile. I will prob get 1.5-2 cords when all said and done.

The carb tool (splined) can be had off Ebay for the time being. I bought my saw reconditioned and it was grossly out of adjustment. For reference the starting point for the H&L screws (which is apparently a state secret) is, depending on where you read, about 1 1/2 turns out on each then adjust from there. I don't remember exactly but the low was like 2 turns which is not too bad, it started but the H was close to 6 IIRC and the idle was pretty much maxed out. It was so rich that wet oil/gas was running out of the exhaust and it smoked.

If you're having trouble starting and throttling helps it sounds to me like you are out of adjustment at least on the low side. Now that you have a couple seasons under your belt an adjustment might be in order. Worth the $15 or so dollars to get the tool IMO. Especially since I'm pushing the saw on this tree I want to keep it on the rich side since it seems a lean saw is a dead saw so having the tool is a godsend. Hopefully I can keep the temps down and the 435 will be healthy and happy.

One last thing. My saw is a 2013 and uses the splined tool. Don't know when they went to that but they also used a D shaped tool. If you do try and get a tool shine a flash light into the L/H housing and see which type you have.

 

[Soundchasm]

The 435 was a real step up from what I had before because of less weight and so much vibration is handled and not transferred to the user. When the chain is sharp it'll cut as fast as anything (seems to me). I've filed the chain at least a dozen or more times, but only found one or two depth thingies that could be touched by a flat file. I bought the Husky guide kit that has the guide and came with two round files.

It's the spline adjust model. The parent company (Poulen?) will fine dealers several thousand dollars for every instance of a sale of the tool to the public. Wedging the boot in for full-throttle will always start it, and it throttles up and runs full tilt, but if I set it down I have to restart it. I checked every online source for the tool and struck out for a month. I'll start looking again since you found one.

There are some DIY plans for one using brake line and wirenuts. Totally agree about the initial settings. I had to hack into the NSA database to find the settings on the previous saw. Appreciate the reminder about running rich.

I remember your leaner plan and figured this must be the same tree. Excellent job. Feels good to make progress.