My Least Favorite Part of the Process
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North of 60
Minister of Fire
OK Quads, no slamming intended, just a northern boy trying to compare. What type of wood and how many cc saw? Cutting is one of my favorite parts. But not if my saw was dying in wood at that diameter and having to seesaw it. Is that what hardwoods do? Ill stick with pine. :coolsmile:
It's an 026, whatever cc that is? I bought two of them years ago from a neighbor for $50. Who knows how many million hours are on it, lots just since I've owned it. This one still runs after I pull on it awhile, the other runs too lean. I think the other might have a hole in the rubber manifold, but haven't felt the urge to take it apart and look at it yet. Most of the time this one runs too rich, but has no high speed mixture adjustment.
That's dead white oak. It cuts softwood pretty good on the rare occasion that I cut any, but I'm not worth a hoot at sharpening a chain. I actually wasn't seesawing, but had to keep holding the saw back because it was biting a lot and engine was still cold (maybe that is what you mean by seesawing?). I think I tend to file the rakers down too far?
I've also got an old Sachs that needs a carb kit and engine mounts.
I never have liked running a saw. It's a necessary evil.
That's dead white oak. It cuts softwood pretty good on the rare occasion that I cut any, but I'm not worth a hoot at sharpening a chain. I actually wasn't seesawing, but had to keep holding the saw back because it was biting a lot and engine was still cold (maybe that is what you mean by seesawing?). I think I tend to file the rakers down too far?
I've also got an old Sachs that needs a carb kit and engine mounts.
I never have liked running a saw. It's a necessary evil.
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
Other than burning it, cutting is my favorite. Splitting on the other hand...
N60, your 272 with a chisel chain would be sheer pleasure in hardwoods.
N60, your 272 with a chisel chain would be sheer pleasure in hardwoods.
Hey, Quads - you're getting quite camera-happy! You've clearly got the hang of this. 
I won't speak ill of your saw - it cuts! I will speak well of a bigger, sharper saw, though - it would cut better, and you'd probably start smiling while cutting.
Thanks for the post, and happy burning.
I won't speak ill of your saw - it cuts! I will speak well of a bigger, sharper saw, though - it would cut better, and you'd probably start smiling while cutting.
Thanks for the post, and happy burning.
CTburning
New Member
Get those saws running right and you will enjoy cutting more. I have a crappy saw but it runs well and cuts ok. It is no fun working with equipment that is always breaking down or not running properly. For all the time you spend cutting, isn't it worth an hour or two tinkering with the saw to get it running correctly?
I like to take pictures, at least as much as I like to split wood. Last year alone I snapped over 10,000 pictures with my Canon SX100 IS.
I must admit, as long as I can get one saw to run long enough to cut some wood for splitting, I'm happy! In between milking the cows and everything else, and as little as I actually like running a saw, I don't spend any time working on them unless absolutely necessary to get one running again.
The saw in the video above always runs too rich. The one that now runs too lean was my favorite saw because it ran so much better, until it developed the problem. Then I started using the rich one. When I first bought it from the neighbor, it didn't even have power enough to pull the chain through the wood.
I ripped the screen out of the muffler:
Then I put my worst worn out air filter on it, because it still ran too rich with a filter that had all the "fuzz" yet:
Now it runs at least as good as you see in the video above. Before that it would kill all the mosquitoes in the woods and cut nothing.
Like I mentioned before, I am no good at sharpening chain. Never could do it with a file. Sometimes I would screw it up so bad that the chain would cut so crooked it would wedge itself in a log! Imagine that! Ha ha! No kidding. I'm so bad that I never even carry a file in the woods with me. When the chain gets dull, I go home. Here's the tools that I use now for sharpening my chain, and I can do a better job with them, at least good enough to make firewood from trees:
And here's a picture of my current chain:
I have thought about buying a new saw, but money is always a big issue. The one I had my eye on was a Stihl 250 because it's small and light like my 026 saws. That's important to me, since my main woods vehicle is my ATV. The smaller and lighter the better. But, when I was looking at the 250 I noticed the 290 is only $20 more. So, even though the 290 is bigger and heavier, for only 20 bucks more it's a lot more saw. Not that it matters because I won't be able to buy a new one anyway unless it's an emergency, like when the old "rich runner" conks out!
I must admit, as long as I can get one saw to run long enough to cut some wood for splitting, I'm happy! In between milking the cows and everything else, and as little as I actually like running a saw, I don't spend any time working on them unless absolutely necessary to get one running again.
The saw in the video above always runs too rich. The one that now runs too lean was my favorite saw because it ran so much better, until it developed the problem. Then I started using the rich one. When I first bought it from the neighbor, it didn't even have power enough to pull the chain through the wood.
I ripped the screen out of the muffler:
Then I put my worst worn out air filter on it, because it still ran too rich with a filter that had all the "fuzz" yet:
Now it runs at least as good as you see in the video above. Before that it would kill all the mosquitoes in the woods and cut nothing.
Like I mentioned before, I am no good at sharpening chain. Never could do it with a file. Sometimes I would screw it up so bad that the chain would cut so crooked it would wedge itself in a log! Imagine that! Ha ha! No kidding. I'm so bad that I never even carry a file in the woods with me. When the chain gets dull, I go home. Here's the tools that I use now for sharpening my chain, and I can do a better job with them, at least good enough to make firewood from trees:
And here's a picture of my current chain:
I have thought about buying a new saw, but money is always a big issue. The one I had my eye on was a Stihl 250 because it's small and light like my 026 saws. That's important to me, since my main woods vehicle is my ATV. The smaller and lighter the better. But, when I was looking at the 250 I noticed the 290 is only $20 more. So, even though the 290 is bigger and heavier, for only 20 bucks more it's a lot more saw. Not that it matters because I won't be able to buy a new one anyway unless it's an emergency, like when the old "rich runner" conks out!
From the vid, it just looks like the chain is dull. If it's making dust and not chips, you've got an issue. No offense intended here at all, but my Poulan went through wood that size faster when it still had the safety chain that the previous owner abused the hell out of. I have a semi chisel oregon chain(13 bucks) on it now and it would eath through that wood in less than half the time of your vid. I do think you would enjoy cutting a lot more(and be safer) if you got a new chain. I used mine all season and haven't taken a file to it, and it still eats. I will need to learn to file sometime soon, though.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
karri0n said:
I was thinking the same thing . . . looked like a lot of fine sawdust vs. coarse wood chips . . . but then again we could be wrong since sometimes it's hard to tell with the clarity.
If sharpening the saw is an issue perhaps investing in a Granberg sharpener might be worth the effort.
in the chain pic your cutter towards the top of the page has its leading edge(point ) rolled over if the others are similar , that will cause you a lot of extra effort leaning on the saw extra wear on the bar, ect. While that little grinder you picture will help it tends to do more damage than good. Stones wear quick and burn the cutter easily also. Invest in a clamp on the bar style guide and some files and life will improve. Yes I have one of those and I do use it on occasion in the field as a very quick touch up when I screw up or find a surprise. I also have good bench grinders for reconditioning my chains.
Yup, you're right. All of them on that side of the chain are the same. I hit a rock, hmmm, sometime last Spring I think. Should have seen it right after I hit the rock! I always keep a new chain, sprocket, and bar on hand. Won't use it though until this one is done, maybe another year in it.blades said:
It actually throws chips. They're smaller chips than what I get from softwood, it's hardwood, but they're not dust. It's hard to tell from the video because it's not close up, I had to trim it, and then compress it just to get my upload time down on dialup. I don't have much to compare to though, nobody else's saws around here work any better. Any of you guys have video of your saws running? I'd love to see them, if they're small enough for my download speeds.
Too bad none of you guys live closer to me so you could show me how to sharpen my chain. I definitely won't be trying a file ever again, at least not on my own. The attachment for my Dremel was $7 and that was about the right price for me, so I got it. I've seen more expensive grinders for sale, but can't ever see one setting on my bench. The seed store in town has a fancy grinder that they use to sharpen chains, but the chains they sharpen don't cut as good as mine and they're half gone when you get them back! Ha ha! Somehow I don't think they do it right.
I have an 026PRO and it revs a LOT higher than what sounds like in that video.
I didn't think I was doing too bad sharpening chains until I started rocking, got frustrated ,went to have mine professionally sharpened and the guy offered to cut my wood for me rather than sharpen my chain. Guy sold me two for 22 bucks, but i had to promise not to bring any of them back.
Dremel stones you have to be careful not to dwell too long or the steel blues and won't hold an edge.
I didn't think I was doing too bad sharpening chains until I started rocking, got frustrated ,went to have mine professionally sharpened and the guy offered to cut my wood for me rather than sharpen my chain. Guy sold me two for 22 bucks, but i had to promise not to bring any of them back.
Dremel stones you have to be careful not to dwell too long or the steel blues and won't hold an edge.
I saw the thread. I was going to try to make it, even though I already had plans to attend an astronomy class at Wildcat Sate Park that night. But, now it doesn't look like I will be able to make either one. My replacement for milking the cows that day fell through on me.blades said:
The one in the video always did run bad compared to the other one I have. The other one always revved higher and ran better, until the running lean problem developed. It was my favorite saw. It has the high speed mixture adjustment, which the one in the video does not.billb3 said:
It's my last running saw. Someday it will die and then I will be forced to "credit card" a new one. Until then, I'll just keep posting funny videos of my entertaining saw adventures! Ha ha!
geardoc
Member
Try hand filing your chain instead of the dremel or electric sharpeners. It will cut and last way better...
savageactor7
Minister of Fire
So I've heard, but I'm the exception to that rule! Ha ha! I have never been able to do it right with a file, for some reason I really screw it up. I gave the file up 5 or 10 years ago and I'll never try a file again, unless someone comes along that can give me some proper instruction and show me what I do wrong.geardoc said:
After the tornado I really had to watch for limbs and whole trees under a load. Some of the cutting was tricky, but when the loggers went through it with their harvesters they took care of most of the dangerous stuff.savageactor7 said:
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