The chainsaw thread...

[rbtree]

a chain sawmill eats a lot of wood in the process

up here people will buy a bandsaw mill if they actualy have a need and maybe they got standing timber, they mill the lumber they need and sell the bandsaw mill so someone else can repeat the process, a buddy of mine got all the beams for her post n beam addition like that, some of those stems may have been on crown land

Sure, but for folks that slab valuable woods, a bandsaw mill large enough to handle good sized wood costs way into 5 figures.

That said, I have images and video of Urban Hardwoods' ancient 7' bandsaw mill!! They were the first around here to get into hi-end live edge wood products production in a big way....Their tables can run over $25,000! I traded them 2 birch slabs which I'd done (aong with a bunch more) with my bud's 42" Alaskan mill. I had them slab a maple butt I'd painstakingly rigged hi lead logging style 100 feet down a gradual slope. My friend wants to buy a decent sized bandsaw mill. I can't recall if he said he'd located one. But I told him about another friend that wants to sell his Lucas... an 8" circular saw mill with 6' slabbing attachment. Again, lots of wood lost in the kerf cuts.

[XXX-er]

The stems are smaller up here so the mills are smaller/cheaper and every cut with a chainsaw mill destroys 3/8th of inch of your already small stem,

I'm just talking about cutting beams for a post & beam house

[donutlynx]

a couple of fallers who were smaller guys ( like 5'8" ) have told me they run smaller saws that are ported so they get more power while lifting less weight

For sure. 3-4 pounds lighter than a stock 90cc and will cut faster with the right mods to increase torque and hp. Dreaming of a ported and tuned 461 if I can ever find one.

[XXX-er]

yeah this last guy i talked to wasnt a big guy but he looked powerful, said he owned 3 of the 461's, best saw he's ever owned, got em reworked on Vancover island where the tuner has a 1.5yr backlog

[Rideski]

I shit you not, this guy is stump grinding with a chainsaw in flip flops.

[bizarrefaith]

I shit you not, this guy is stump grinding with a chainsaw in flip flops.

Lol not to mention you could just rent a stump grinder instead of probably destroying your chainsaw and not getting the stump out

[Meadow Skipper]

I really, really hate using a manual pole saw to limb the deciduous trees at my place, so given the enthusiasm on TRG for battery powered saws I decided to kick down for a battery-powered pole chainsaw. I’ve been a gas-powered saw guy for some time and I was skeptical. Bottom line, I’m impressed. It’s only got a 10 inch bar but it cuts great. Got a Milwaukee because I’m already invested in their M18 power hand tools. It’d be great if the pole was a little longer but it’s hard enough to balance on long reaches with the extension it came with. But the main thing is now I’m open to battery saws, at least for a home owner rig.

[bizarrefaith]

What do you all like for electrics? My smallest gas saw is 50cc and I’m looking for something light to run a 12” or so bar on.


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[rbtree]

I shit you not, this guy is stump grinding with a chainsaw in flip flops.

Acckkkk.!! The moron got lotsa criticism in the comments, including a few from me...long after the fact... He's good natured..about his only good trait...

[kootenayskier]

What do you all like for electrics? My smallest gas saw is 50cc and I’m looking for something light to run a 12” or so bar on.


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I’ve been using the Stihl msa 200 C-BQ hard, and it’s far exceeded my expectations. With a hip mounted battery it’s feels like a lightweight toy, yet performs like a pro saw.

[Rideski]

Hey what would you guys charge for this gig.
25 foot but very spindly Aspen maybe 10” at the trunk, dead for a couple years. It was a second trunk (not connected) to main bushier tree.
Needed to be dropped a little off the direction it naturally wanted to fall, which would have been into phone and power lines. That said, the branches that would have hit the lines probably would have broken before snapping the lines or even the attachments of the lines to the house/pole, but wouldn’t have made a good impression even if no damage done.
Broke/cut up wood and left it there.

[bodywhomper]

I had a mental lapse this evening and felled a small pine into a distribution line. The tree went right where I planned, except that I misjudged the height of the tree and the height of the line. Damn! Fuck! Not something I ever plan to repeat. It was my fourth tree of the evening. Lines were fine and a switch flipped as soon as it happened, but a bunch of us lost power for a little while. I cleaned it up myself. And a neighbor with great awareness came running out of the house (concerned for my safety when he lost power).

When my wife went under the house to flip our manual transfer switch for the generator, she observed that our main waterline had a large leak under the house. Damnit! Luckily, our local grocery store had some fiber fix repair wrap (plumbing stores and hardware stores were already closed. The wrap is holding.... all this after a 60 hrs 6-day work week. Fnka! Gonna do some more tree felling tomorrow and Sunday, but I will stay aware from the area that I want to thin near our lines until another day.

[Rideski]

So I’ve known about Oregon chains for a while, didn’t realize till last night they make their own saws. Seems affordable. What’s up with this self sharpening chain system? Seems like it’s going to be really good or really bad..

[rbtree]

So I’ve known about Oregon chains for a while, didn’t realize till last night they make their own saws. Seems affordable. What’s up with this self sharpening chain system? Seems like it’s going to be really good or really bad..

That self-sharpening system is a revival of a product that was around over 46 years ago. Before I became a full time climber, my landscaper boss had one. At that time, the chain was called Barracuda, and there was a stone built into the saw. Turn a knob and the stone contacted the cutters while you revved the saw. The new system is the same, but requires the nose-tip attachment. The chain design is sucky. Only good for occasional use.

I know nothing about the Oregon battery and corded saws....

[rbtree]

Hey what would you guys charge for this gig.
25 foot but very spindly Aspen maybe 10” at the trunk, dead for a couple years. It was a second trunk (not connected) to main bushier tree.
Needed to be dropped a little off the direction it naturally wanted to fall, which would have been into phone and power lines. That said, the branches that would have hit the lines probably would have broken before snapping the lines or even the attachments of the lines to the house/pole, but wouldn’t have made a good impression even if no damage done.
Broke/cut up wood and left it there.

My min. charge is $250, if I don't need to bring the truck/chipper....that task sounds like a 5 minute job. Plus travel....I hear plane flights are dirt cheap these weird days, lol....

[Rideski]

Thanks. I poked around some local rates and $135 seems like a minimum.
I spent my time scoping out the situation but was only cutting for 15 minutes. I used a pole saw to take off the majority of the upper limbs to take the weight off in case I missed. But that’s the hitch, I do painting and light carpentry at $40 per hour, but if you’re only cutting for 5 minutes...

These people were way old and we were helping each other out. They gave me some nice referrals. I was happy with those plus $100.

[Rideski]

I’ve been reading about plastic vs metal gear wheels in some of the cheap saws. Clearly plastic can’t be good. I think I’ll probajly end up with a small quiver of saws. Nice to have a cheap saw for nasty stuff like dirty pinion. Wouldn’t mind having a better saw in the rare time I cut something bigger.
I had an arborist help with a project out of my league a while back, he was super stoked on his mini gas powered pole saw.

[rbtree]

Excellent. Well played!!

You might like this

[Rideski]

Y’all forgot to tell me trimming dead limbs 20 feet up on a large mature crabapple is evelenty billion times harder that it needs to be.

[Meadow Skipper]

^ Limbing deciduous trees is a major PITA. Major.

Too late? Too soon?

[Rideski]

This was a different animal. I’ve trimmed maple, American Elm, Siberian elm, ash, Aspen, birch among others. Never seen a tree so snaggly and hard. I mean I’m sure there’s worse out there. Just not that I’ve seen.

[mattig]

I'm pretty sure my neighbor's Apple tree is right up there. It's never been pruned/limbed/etc in the 7 years I've lived here.

All I can do is trim what's on my side of the fence and casually mention once a year that 200+ water sprouts = not ideal.

[CascadeLuke]

I’ve wrestled with this for a few hours. Replaced the chain and bar. And now the cover won’t go on right. Since I’ve only pulled it off twice I’m not familiar enough to see what’s fouling me up. The adjuster screw is lined to a T. The problem appears to revolve around the flat circle metal and the male next to it.

It needed a chain. Replaced chain. Cut for 15 mins. Decided time to replace bar, low glide and friction on tip. Now with manufacturer replacement bar I’m having trouble. Do recall more of a pull-off of cover the 2nd time me thinks. Husky 435

[Bronco]

Could it be your chain brake was set before you removed the cover? The metal ring looks like the brake is set to me. See here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1yKJzvhnj8

[Meadow Skipper]

Is the chain brake - the circle of flat metal - engaged? The plastic hand guard in front of the metal front handle needs to be unengaged by pulling it back, otherwise if it’s forward it tightens that circle of flat metal around the clutch (the thing with the springs in it on the body of the saw. If the brake handle is forward, it’ll tighten that circle and make it hard/impossible to get the cover on/off. The flat metal circle/brake may be stuck in the tightened position. You may have to jigger (technical term) the mechanism that activates/moves that flat metal circle to get it to open up so you can put the cover on. It’s that thing with the three wings/fingers/petals/whatever (my vocabulary-low light is blinking).

That circle of flat metal tightens on the clutch when it’s engaged, to keep the chain from moving.

BTW, https://www.devicemanuals.eu/wp-cont...rna-435-EN.pdf

Edit, Bronco said it while I was typing and searching. And use compressed air and or a brush to clean the cover and body out.