Chainsaws

[matty]

Thanks matty. I’m hoping that our next house will be wooded enough that I’d actually save money by learning to sharpen my chains myself. 👍🏻

If you got no woods, the tidal river flats are your friend. OK its wet but usualy dead and dries out quick enough, esspecialy when chopped into fire fit sized chunks. ATV or UTV or even a bike can drag them withing range of your truck. The little cordless saws are good for reducing size of any bigger bows you might find, beats handsaws.

 

[Madmx]

Hot saws

 

[Madmx]

If you got no woods, the tidal river flats are your friend. OK its wet but usualy dead and dries out quick enough, esspecialy when chopped into fire fit sized chunks. ATV or UTV or even a bike can drag them withing range of your truck. The little cordless saws are good for reducing size of any bigger bows you might find, beats handsaws.

I use the 2 longest, smoothest and curved pieces for skidding and clearing debris. I can almost hand drag 3000lbs with the right sled runners. A 8hp mud mower makes this work fun. Done it both ways...chopped up or skidded out. Chopped up works nice for trailers.

 

[matty]

Had a fallen Ash tre from the winds last weekend to sort out today, had a bit much wind for my liking cutting fallen trees to bits, but weather is set to worsen and i decided i had to go for it this morning after breakfast.
Last night I had sharpened my Basically Hobby orientated RYOBI pcn 45/45, and went for it this AM. Well it was heavier than i thought and undeer a bit of tension on a couple of sections of tree. , i managed to get it safe enough but had to do a good few cuts on the main trunk to get small enough bits off so i had no chest high huge weight on limbs trying to kill me. (call me a coward but i eire on the cautios side these days i am old at 66 and concious i can not get out the way too swift these days. Anyway the pet saw was doing a big boys job dispite its hobby bloodline and it was not getting too hot or showing any weaknesses after the full two hours hard graft. I was wilting a little the youngest lad came home with his girlfriend and he ran in got changed and came back, i kind of advised him a bit but his fittnes soon showed up and he gave the saw hell, again it was fine but the girlfriend came up to me and mentioned her father had a Sthil with a 24 inch bar he wanted to sell for £100. I leapt at the chance and will be getting it when he gets back from holiday.
Its not like the Ryobi failed as such but i know if i had had a better PRO saw it would have handled this job quicker . The Hobby saws just dont have the grunt of the Sthils Huskys or ECHOs but in fairnes the Ryobi is just 45cc the sthils i have used have been 70ccs so its swings and roundabouts. I thought a good saw off a chap i know and trust for £100 and a known OK brand i better upgraide my wood gathering fleet wile the option to was there.

 

[matty]

We had another storm and that took down another tree a rotten elm, and only two nights ago the neighbor who had a tree go down the other week lost a OAK .
It was a strange Christmas the festivities interspersed with amateur lumberjack parties and a phenominal Pheasant shoot on thursday.
With all this wood about and more bucking to be done than i want to contemplate, i knew i nhad to get my finger out my rear and find a decent pro saw to at least give the Ryobi a bit of a rest and perhaps get the job done a little swifter.
I made a call to a Mate down in northumberland and he told me of an old 80 year old gamekeeper he knew in durham had a few saws to sell and he Knew one was a Husqvarna.
I was interested and he gave me the guys number.
Nice bloke he had exactly what i wanted, He was selling a Husqvarna 254SG and an ECHO 650EVL and a Maculoch CS400T, he was Keeping a Little 120 Huqvarna all he wanted to use down to arteritis.
I agreed £250 for the three sCHO 650EVL was one saw i remember a mate in NZ buying in the early 80s new it was awesome.
Well i am over the moon with them both long over due around the place a better saw or two. The Maculoch CS400T is newish 40cc 16 inch bar and some sort of Poulan crossed with a Husqvarna base model in a black suit marketed and owned by Husqvarna these days a Maculoch 1010 it aint but its ok works and a welcome part of our now four strong saw fleet. the ECHO by the way is a smoth tame feeling but torques saw effortless and i personaly love it for bucking. Very pleased and as we speak sat in front of a stove running on the fruits of our labour.

 

[matty]

A side note to all this chainsaw activity in the Armstrong household o late is the house itself. Having primarily run oil fired central heating installed in the 80s most of the time, with just some wood burning on colder nights and when the fit took us to light it. The house being none cavity wall just solid 9 inch brick, it is near impossible to insulate that well and where a cold wall existed the condensation always caused some degree of damp.
Now With the price of oil being quite high these days , i started to gather wood much more seriously than i have for probably 15 years or more.
This last year had us running much more wood and its supprising how dry and warm the old dungeon is and in the cooler parts its stopped all the traces of slight damp we had. Just open the doors to every room let the heat get around and its toasty. Strange h ow financial restraints lead to gains even if it causes more work than just switching on the oil burner and pumping it round the radiayors. Having got recently geared up for wood harvesting a bit better i firmly feel its worth the work, its a better heat if that makes sence, and yet one more aside, never have we had such storm damage with treesgoing over in number, God really does cprovide us all with what we need and when we need it.

 

[matty]

This chainsaw thing is starting to get out of hand
After years of Just a old Ryobi 4545 , in under a month we have now gotten 6 yes 6 Chainsaws Pluss the electric 240volt and two cordless hand saws. .
I Was given by a work coligue two Old saws today a Complete Homelite 410 68Cc and a similar age 1980s Husqvarna 266SE 67Cc. the homelite i put some self deethanolised petrol / two stroke mix in and it banged away perfectly after a bit squirted down the carb and it pulled it through. The Husqvarna 266Se Turns over is complete but for bar and chain and spark plug . oil down the bore it turned over fine and took the silencer off piston looks good and flicked the switch and got a big fat blue spark, fuel pipe looks good not hard or split i put some fuel in and robed a plug out of an old parts komatsu zenoha brush cutter and it fired but refused to start. off with the air cleaner eliment and some fuel poured in and it ran until it ran out of fuel, but not running from the tank guess it had problems hense the plug missing.
Took carb off looked ok could not see a problem, but the carb gasket was damaged looked like it was removed before sometime, getting new gaskets tomorrow the spacer looks fine.
The homelite 410 is crude certainly not refined like the japs or sweedish saws but its a runner and got some grunt behind it but its a little heavy too. 6 saws turning into a collector if this keeps up.

 

[MVI]

^^^ when are you adding and annex to the shed for all your saws?

 

[Shinyribs]

This chainsaw thing is starting to get out of hand
After years of Just a old Ryobi 4545 , in under a month we have now gotten 6 yes 6 Chainsaws

I know this feeling. I don't allow myself to look at marketplace and all the guitars for sale there. 😁

In fact, any time I feel myself wanting to shop around because " I need this better one" that's my trigger to go to the room and practice.

 

[matty]

I know this feeling. I don't allow myself to look at marketplace and all the guitars for sale there. 😁

In fact, any time I feel myself wanting to shop around because " I need this better one" that's my trigger to go to the room and practice.

My youngest is mad keen on guitars he must have 10 in varrious states of repair probably 50% of them none playing projects, he is air brushing bulseys on them for mates and pictures on bike tanks a propper tidy artist is our Josh.

 

[matty]

^^^ when are you adding and annex to the shed for all your saws?

No but i got real fast at whiping chain and bars off hanging them together on nails over the bench, i stack all the saws in nothing more than a tea chest under the bench with a 4 of them in the bottom and then a 2 inch block of polystyrene then two on tip then the lid, i am good for at least two more and man i even got another tea chest or ten. I can feel a old Mculoch coming on or a early sthil.

 

[matty]

One of the saws i picked up a non running long abandoned husqvarna with no model bdge or tag left on it, but i think is a 161 se early 80s, needed a new bar and chain.
I Ordered a 18 inch Archer timber max Bar from australia well it says australia on packaging but gues china or some such place in reallity, I got an oregon chain, but re the archer bar. its early days yet so no real idea how it will survive, but its stiffer than i expected and seems good value for £13 posted the chain was £16 by comparison. If you are Looking for a cheap bar for an old beater saw i am nt disaponted in my purchase so far.

 

[matty]

Looking for Info thoughts and ideas on Chainsaw Exhaust Modifications/ Builds.
Look on youtube facbook etc you see modified saws and most have some exhaust mod be that stock remake or built from scratch performance pipes.
I suspect the biggest % of us on here never touched a saw with power mods in mind, or ever saw a reason to.
But i have watched a few videos from various saw knowledgeable folk, and i kind of like the idea of a muffler mod if nothing else than some claim the saws can run cooler which sort of makes sense given the restrictive nature of factory mufflers and indeed some have CATs which as environmentaly unfriendly as i am are a must smash out here where we have no laws on such reckless irresponsible selfish behavior.
So here are my thoughts with zero chainsaw mod experience, but been around two strokes a life time and tuned a few.
So without going all gordon jennings on the job( Link here if you dont know what i am talking about..https://www.2strokeengine.net/gordonjennings/twostroketunershandbook.php )
And sticking to just a pipe job or swap . And in no way critisising the work done by many youtubers in any way, My first thought is pipe size all seem small no 18 inch long expansion boxes just open up let them breathe a bit better and if a fabricated pipe again small and some seem to add a wall a baffle i guess to encourage scavenging of the gasses. Twin outlets seem commonish but not sure it its practical or aesthetical . So what are your thoughts on this pipe mod / swap idea? I can see the more power thing working ok just for logging not pro arbourist work only. The running cooler part i do like and all saws are noisey so wear defence anyway. I am kind of thinking Husqvarna etc etc spent millions developing blah blah blah. but is it noise emmissions or power? or a compromise of all of that, which i suspect it probably is. My other concern is holing pistons etc i wonder if a wide open pipe or baffled pipe might not run properly and even with adjustment cause a lean condition potentially harmful.
If you are still awake your thoughts if any or pray experience on such matters good bad or indifferent much appreciated.
PS i do appologise for what i am sure by now you have noticed is a recent nubie obssesion of mine, but this year i find myself back in a game i have not serriously been involved in for 20 years or more. And in my old age its filled a gap and keeps us in hot water and a warm home in these financialy challenging times. When i was younger it was the same poverty makes you graft and it beat more hours in a workplace to pay bills rather than harvest our own firewood back then and its like that now, but being older i dont do good on that bending over thing and rather than the typical 16/ 18 inch bars i used to run a bigger saw with a longer bar so i am less cramped up seems like an idea. Hence my recent saw obsession.

 

[Madmx]

The most dependable piece of equipment on our logging yard is a husky saw. Everything breaks or needs repair but the 2 husky rancher saws. We use the saws from bucking to trimming finished lumber units. The John deer equipment, the multi tek splitter and the mill can not compare to a husky saw. Maybe the simple design or maybe just a great saw. If I chainsaw milled, I would use a husky. Probably a 1000 hrs on the saws without a carb rebuild or any engine work.

 

[matty]

The most dependable piece of equipment on our logging yard is a husky saw. Everything breaks or needs repair but the 2 husky rancher saws. We use the saws from bucking to trimming finished lumber units. The John deer equipment, the multi tek splitter and the mill can not compare to a husky saw. Maybe the simple design or maybe just a great saw. If I chainsaw milled, I would use a husky. Probably a 1000 hrs on the saws without a carb rebuild or any engine work.

I have just picked 2 Husqvarnas up this past few weeks. A 254SG and a wreck of i think a 161 Se or a 181SE it looks rather like a 266 but aloy cast tank. Both a powerful. I got a Mculloch cs400T which is a black panneled Husqvarna 240 (40Cc) says made by husqvarna and has husky logos inside the plastics Again runs good for a small saw. .

 

[matty]

Got everything in to logs now, much of it in the field with petrol saws but some in the yard at home, i used petrol saws but the electric corded chainsaw too.
Its all about splitting the logs now cut them around ten inch lengths and splitting them with the axes i have is hard work, i borrowed an hydraylic splitter off a mate its ok takes the hard work out but its slow teedious.
I am back in the firwood game these days about 4 cords so far these logs should take me to 5 cords at a guess.
Cutting up logs ok but need to look at this splitting lark its hard on my 66 year old stroke compromised body and bad knees.
Saw this on youtube there is the other i think russian one near identical. I could not swing a 30lb axe all day this even with this old codger useing it could work all day.
What are your thoughts good or bad. Thinking i might make one over the summer for next winter.





Thor splitter.

 

[gpounce]

I got the saw going, one of the mulberry trees right on the border of our yard and the neighbor's went down over-winter. She's older and there was some bad blood with her late husband, so I found a big payoff in volunteering to clear it. Holy crap the saw is a beast... its heavy going reaching up for the high branches but it just chomps thru the trunk. I went out and bought a plastic 14" generic clone saw for the small stuff- flinging around that 24" bar is a bit of work. Good exercise though.

 

[matty]

Nice big old saws the Homelite XLs , Mate has two homelites a XL 850 and a 360. Both run great and are perfect log saws IMO. The 850 is biggish about 80/ 90cc and lazy but torquey drags a 36 inch bar at a good pace. the 360 is probably 60cc ish and runs a 20 inch bar .
He haas a couple of Husquvarnas too a small 137 and a old 61 the 850 and 61 being his main loging saws.
I would love to find a 100or more CC saw but biggest i found so far a Homelite 410 70cc which again is torquey i run a 24 on that which it came with.

 

[matty]

Was given a 10 ft tractor trailer full of Larch and Aspen and a week later a wqeeping willow from a fishing pond bank that blew down and had been cut up into 8ft logs and draged out the way with an ATV.
The aspen as expected was hard to split it was not dry and yet needed it into Firewood and out the yard.
Spliting it by hand was hard work for this Old decrepit man and even the lads were getting fed up with the graft involved.
I decided to look on market place like you do. and the Electric hydraulic or petrol spliters especialy seemed pricey in my area, but i found a Harbour freight style 10 ton hydraulic manual splitter i decided for £30 to go over and collect from Hadington.
Was In more or less as new condition was Slow compared to mates electric spliter, but it was getting the tough stuff split and thicker logs than the 8 inch sugested too. the ram is short with not much throw but with a block of scrap steel as a spacer with a handle welded on it and houghtfull use of the hydrailic valve tap, i could do ok on time wih the big pump handle getting the ram out then the small one splitting the log, it works, it was cheap and simple and localish.
I can split in the shed in the rain sat in a chair hardest part is loading the logs , the daughter sat with me the other day loading logs i split them she threw then in the barrow , we did all the aspen and Larch in one sitting. It might not be as fast as the ukraine Spring arm idea, but its here now doing it indoors on rainy days and for those logs that wont yeald to me and my girl sized old fellas 5lb mall its having them done no noise and no electric, and its not super fast ok but its not super tyring either.
I will make a splitting spring arm at some point but i feel i have a place for the manual hydraulic too, not forced to suit you are wqhat you are doing, and i still use the maul, but the non yealding spen logs its a blessing. IMO.

 

[matty]

An asides to the above if you can find any IBC cages with smashed or damaged tanks, streightewn the cages up and have a roof you can stack them under they make great Log Stilages you can lift down with tractor telehandler or even an engine crane if its a decent floor in the shed. Its ideal and better tham making them or roping pallets together. the IBC cages are visible and you can shoot any rats you see that decide to get in the wood pile if need be. Getting scrap cages is the hard bit but i picked up 8 from a Chemical plant in Morton at just one phone call, just an idea if you can get a hold of them practicaly.