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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (9762)	12/6/2009 9:23:50 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24210

Chain saw comments on TOD from an old farmer new] airdale on December 6, 2009 - 1:53pm I went to many factory schools to keep certified for Stihl. In one the instructor picked up a new Stihl and filled it with 'stale' mix. Started it and held it wide open. It soon self-destructed. Locked up. I used to get many locked up chainsaws. I would give them $25 or so or tradein on a new one. I then pulled the cylinder to see the usual metal transfer and gullying from piston to cyl right at the exhaust port. Usually a poor mix or they had fussed a lot with the H/L jets mixtures. I would tear it down and sand out the transferred metal. New rings and back in service. Here is the normal scenario. They dull the chain. From then on it produces 'face powder' instead of slivers and chips of wood. This powder then clogs the air cleaner making the mixture rich. They then reach down and crank away on the H/L adjustments until it runs. Finally one day they clean the airfilter. Its now going to be quite lean since more air is supplied. They start it and start cutting. Soon the lack of lub seizes the engine. Lock up. The cheaper chainsaws usually have the very small airfilter sometimes right behind the bar so it gets plenty of clogging right off. Life is too short to buy and use a cheap chainsaw. Buy a good Stihl and maintain it properly. I am using some from the previous shop for many many years. I brag that I can listen to a chainsaw cutting timber a mile away. Tell how sharp it is. What brand it is. Who is running it. What he had for breakfast and if he had sex the night before. Well sometimes. But always I can tell how dull or sharp it is by how he cuts with it. Engine races up, hits cut, bogs down,lifts it up, engine races, over and over. Soon the bar is burned and the temper lost. The chain was dull already and heated the bar. Lots of slack now since the chain rivets have lost temper as well and the tie rivets wear and produces a lot of slack. The saw is now hot. Guy shuts it off and proceeds to tighten the chain. Cuts a bit more then quits. Chain cools, tightens up, pull a big clearance in the crankshaft seals and bearings on the sideplates. That crankshaft pressure is what runs the fuel pump on the carb. It now will not start due to lack of piston crankcase vacumn pulses to run the small fuel pump. What does the guy do then? Takes a 10 lb sledge hammer to it. Says it a piece of junk. Goes on to the next job as a master timber cutter. He is a jerk. I sold a lot of saws to jerks. Still got my Stihl Tech baseball caps. Cut wood yesterday in fact. Lots more to cut and split. Yuppies die young, us old geeks keep on trucking. My woodstove is keeping my lodgings warm as toast right now. Nothing better than well cured hickory or red oak. (I only take downed trees and cut righteously). A good Stihl 028 AV Wood Boss will usually suffice in these days of smaller timber. A smaller one for trimming. Like an 024 with a smaller bar or 015. New Stihl I tend to disparge. Lots of plastic and no ambiance to speak of.Lots harder to repair as you can't just jerk the cylinder out. It now appears to be one piece with half of the crankshaft. I did this a few months back and decided to never do another one. Farm employee had filled it with non-mix gas. I showed him but he lied and said it was not him. The saw seized while he was cutting and he had enough cuts on the ground to prove he had to refill. With the wrong container. Stupid farm employees tear up more than they are worth. I kid you not. Airdale-all the above is true. I finally quit the business when folks stopped cutting firewood back in the early 90s as the yuppies decided "not for me Jose". == ] airdale on December 6, 2009 - 4:16pm Ryeguy, Checking the bar. Well the wood is cut on the underside of the bar and right next to the forward portion of the saw body. So you always check that part of the bar for 'bluing' , which means overheating and the oxidation (heat) of the bar is blue and proof that you were usually running with a dull chain and bearing down to get thru the cut. A good sharp chain does not require you to put much pressure at all on the saw. Check you chips. Are they real small and tending towards powder or nice and big. Big means sharp chain. Powder means dull chain and will soon damage you bar. You can flip the bar over. But realize you have exceeded some parameter and will pay for it. The bar also has a groove. This is called the 'gauge'. Mostly 50. If it wears a lot then it will exceed its gauge. Usually by that time a razor edge has developed on the sides of the groove. You are putting a lot of wear on that bar and it might be past its life time. Clue. Never put a brand new chain on a worn out bar. And vice versa. Carry a spare sharp chain. If you keep developing a sag in your chain? You have likely a lot of wear in the tie rivets. Maybe not pumping enough bar oil? You can use a grinder and take the razor edge off the bar but be aware you are going to have to replace it sooner or later. Take good care of you bar and chain. The sprocket. Also do not put a new chain on with a worn sprocket. Most saws come with a 'spur' sprocket where the sprocket is integral with the clutch drum. A better way to go is with a 'rim' sprocket. You save money by only replacing one component of the clutch/sprocket assembly. If you chain is sharp. Your using a good quality bar oil(never used or new engine oil), if your mix is correct, you bar in good condition, your sprocket as well and its tuned up properly? Then you can cut plenty of wood with ease. Do not cut a tree down at the ground level. Cut it up where dirt and grit has not splashed up due to rain. When your chain is getting duller might be a good time to cut it down low but again,,, just one rock and your chain is dull. Handsharpening is possible, IF you have a chain that is produced as being able to be sharpened by hand filing. Some are not. There are chains that will stay sharp long and need machine filing and those that can be filed by hand but don't stay as sharp as long. Its all a tradeoff. Problem with hand filing is you likely will not all the teeth the same length and then your saw will cut in seimcircles on the log. Stihl makes a Green label chain and a Yellow label chain. Green as I recall is anti-kickback, for amateurs. Yellow is professional(or maybe vice versa?). Not anti-kickback portions are built into that chain. You must choose but choose wisely. Sometimes the amateur chain being anti-kickback can cut as well or even better than the other. Its a lot of technology in those good chains. If you don't use Stihl then Oregon is a good second choice. But now Oregon is making 'knockoff' stuff and so you need to be a judge of good vs not so good. Experience counts here. There is far more aspects to using a chain saw. I have covered some of the easy stuff. Knowing how to use a plastic wedge to keep the cut from binding your saw and as you wrench it free you put a bend in the bar...bad stuff,,,don't do that. I use a big Sach Dolmar for my serious work. A monster. Sachs is quite good quality. Echo would be my next choice. I once had a two cylinder Echo that they made for only one year. The guy I sole it to says I can buy it back , which I intend to do. I have about 4 good saws now and some junkers , like Partner and so forth. I never buy those two brands sold at Home Depot or other big stores. One is green and the other...well name starts with H and thats not Huskvarna. Husky is ok but they brought out an old old manufacturer in Europe and then went downhill IMO. Airdale One other item. Way back when pure alcohol was being added to gas at the pumps we had a huge number of saw problems. Dissolved the fuel lines and played havoc in other areas. The manufactures resolved that but I recall that alcohol tends to react somehow with water and when I now tear a saw carb apart I can see droplets of water on the fuel pump gaskets. Where the valve flaps are. The water will bead up where the fuel does not. So there is a lot of controversity about whether to store the saw with fuel in it or run it dry. Dry you take a chance on some types of diaphragm failing due to brittleness. Also the fuel can become stale and also the lighter components of the fuel evaporate and leave a sludge in the carb parts where those diaphragms are located which will prevent your saw from starting. You can only remove the carb, take the ends off and clean it out. There is a small screen in there that will accumulate trash. Must clean this with carb cleaner. Also the round chamber where the fuel pump needle valve is will collect trash on the side where the small hole is.