Recoil broke

[LLigetfa]

The wife asked me this morning how old my saw is. Told her it's going on 30 years and that you probably can't buy parts for it any more. Figured maybe it's time to ease into the conversation that I'm going to need a new saw soon. Soon, not today!

So, I go out to work on bucking up my log pile and the rope doesn't recoil. I should not have spoke of the Devil. It was just the hook on the end of the spring that broke so I bent a new hook on it and back in business. No new saw today.

 

[fossil]

There's gotta be something in there you can hose up beyond repair without making it obvious to her that you did it. Keep trying. Rick

 

[burntime]

Strait gas that sucker...

 

[LLigetfa]

I will come by a new saw honestly. Certainly won't be sabotaging it but may be tagging it DNR soon. She certainly paid for herself a thousand times over so I can't complain. I made a disgusting amount of money with it when I was working pipeline. I was also getting a per diem rental on the saw that in and of itself more than paid for the R420 and the R17T I had before it. I sold the R17T to my father and kept the R420. She is like an old friend.

 

[Gooserider]

Depending on how you get along with the wife, this can either get you a new saw or a bigger life insurance policy :coolsmirk: but if you have a 30 year old saw, it might be worth talking about how much SAFER new saws are than old ones, what with chain brakes, throttle interlocks, reduced kickback designs (even on pro-saws with pro-chains) and so forth... I know that I don't abuse it, but the GF is very unlikely to give me a hard time on any purchase that is safety gear related, or otherwise makes for a safer operation...

Gooserider

 

[LLigetfa]

...what with chain brakes, throttle interlocks, reduced kickback designs (even on pro-saws with pro-chains) and so forth...

My saw has both a chain brake and throttle interlock. Not sure what design improvements would reduce kickback that isn't chain related.

As for the throttle interlock, I was trudging through waist deep snow and fell backward. I had both hands on the saw and engaged the throttle interlock. The spinning chain cut through three layers of Kevlar on my left thigh.

 

[Gooserider]

According to the stuff that I've read, even the pro-chains are designed to have lower kickback than old fashioned chains - stuff like the raker profiles being more gentle slopes, and fine details on the tooth designs. It is just a case of priority setting in design choices, the pro-chain is designed to be as cut well, and be as safe as possible; while the "Safety chain" is designed to be as safe as possible, while (hopefully) still being able to cut...

Another change is in the bars - The older saws had very wide bars, with large radius tips, while new saws have bars that are very narrow, with small radius tips - in theory this is safer because it reduces the size of that "kickback danger zone" of the upper 1/2 of the tip - the smaller the zone the less likely you are to catch it with something, and the less time and distance the chain has to accelerate the bar back at you if you DO catch something...

Also the claim is that the new brakes are better because they work faster and have the ability to do "inertial tripping" - sort of a chainsaw equivalent to the change in auto brakes from drums to disks, both stop you, but the disks do it better...

Gooserider