Well, got up early to see my brother off. He's driving to his new job out in LA. Then unloaded 15 sheets of plywood and about 900lbs of pavers. Then collected my gear, packed a cooler and headed for my sister's place.
About 5 miles outside of town I realized that I forgot B&C oil. Stopped at the next town's small hardware store, and bought a quart of generic winter weight crap that cost me over 4 bucks.
Finished my drive and started as quick as I could. It was only about 83 degrees but felt like 150 aft a few minutes of work.
I hate pine trees like these. Awesome wind break, but they are bushy and scratchy and you have to work really hard for fairly little firewood.
So I'm scratched all up and my sweat is stinging my forearms. I took lots of breaks in my sis's house, and when I was refreshed I'd saw for a few minutes, then spend the rest of my energy on dragging limbs to the pile. Then repeat.
028 runs like a champ in the cut, but chain brake broke AGAIN on it, and the idle is wayyyy f'd up. Bad bad combo. Started great every time, next time I need to remember to keep a smaller screwdriver in my truck, because I couldn't mess with it.
Eventually got to the point where I would work for 20 minutes and be drenched and exhausted, so I gave up. Worked from about 8:30 to 1:30, but prob only spent about half that time outside working. Finally gave up and drove home. Got 7 large rounds in the truck and didn't even finish one tree. More than half of the work was done on that tree and there are two kore to go.
Side note: Used brother-in law's 290 with a 16 inch bar on it. Cuts very well, but balance is wayy off like that. I think I'd feel more comfortable with a 20 inch bar unless you just have a skinny log that you are just walking down and cutting up.
Side note 2: used only one chain that I sharpened last nite on my small cheap bench grinder. I have to pat myself on the back because it's the best sharpening job I've ever had. Better than any of my hand sharpenings, and definitely better than when my farm store does it. I was throwing chips all day long with it. We'll see how it handles tougher wood later. Maybe when it cools off.
About 5 miles outside of town I realized that I forgot B&C oil. Stopped at the next town's small hardware store, and bought a quart of generic winter weight crap that cost me over 4 bucks.
Finished my drive and started as quick as I could. It was only about 83 degrees but felt like 150 aft a few minutes of work.
I hate pine trees like these. Awesome wind break, but they are bushy and scratchy and you have to work really hard for fairly little firewood.
So I'm scratched all up and my sweat is stinging my forearms. I took lots of breaks in my sis's house, and when I was refreshed I'd saw for a few minutes, then spend the rest of my energy on dragging limbs to the pile. Then repeat.
028 runs like a champ in the cut, but chain brake broke AGAIN on it, and the idle is wayyyy f'd up. Bad bad combo. Started great every time, next time I need to remember to keep a smaller screwdriver in my truck, because I couldn't mess with it.
Eventually got to the point where I would work for 20 minutes and be drenched and exhausted, so I gave up. Worked from about 8:30 to 1:30, but prob only spent about half that time outside working. Finally gave up and drove home. Got 7 large rounds in the truck and didn't even finish one tree. More than half of the work was done on that tree and there are two kore to go.
Side note: Used brother-in law's 290 with a 16 inch bar on it. Cuts very well, but balance is wayy off like that. I think I'd feel more comfortable with a 20 inch bar unless you just have a skinny log that you are just walking down and cutting up.
Side note 2: used only one chain that I sharpened last nite on my small cheap bench grinder. I have to pat myself on the back because it's the best sharpening job I've ever had. Better than any of my hand sharpenings, and definitely better than when my farm store does it. I was throwing chips all day long with it. We'll see how it handles tougher wood later. Maybe when it cools off.
