Chainsaws and those who use them

[Safari Dave]

Battery powered chainsaws are, IMO, more dangerous than gasoline powered chainsaws, and can be VERY dangerous, especially, to uneducated chainsaw users.

My brother, stupidly, bought one for his wife, because he didn't have any idea about how to properly operate a chainsaw.

1. Because they are quite, uneducated people think they are "safe"
2. Battery powdered chainsaws won't quit running when they hit Kevlar chaps, because they don't choke-out the way gasoline chainsaws will.

With chainsaws, knowing the proper way to operate them will, usually, keep you safe.

I would NEVER cut near a person with a battery powdered chainsaw, who had no:

1. Chaps
2. Head and eye protection
3. Wedges
4. Hatchet or hammer

Because, I would assume, they simply didn't know what they were doing.


Being able to "judge" storm debris is a completely different matter. This is NO PLACE for a novice sawyer.

Beyond, cutting minor limbs, things can get very complicated. An experienced sawyer has to estimate wind torque and several other variables into normal cutting operations.

I would recommend to anyone who uses a chainsaw to take a class,

I have taken classes from:

1. Boy Scouts of America
2, U.S. Forest Service
3. Georgia Department of Natural Recourses
4. The Southern Baptist Mission Board

All were good, and I learned something from every class.

Perhaps, the most important lesson I learned form each class, was that it takes MUCH more than the chainsaw itself to be proficient at operating a chainsaw.

 

[Newboomer]

That’s an amazing story sir thank you for sharing. I started similarly only with newer gear. Father would leave for the woodlot in the morning and as soon as I could give my mother the slip I’d walk from the house to the woodlot ( my mother for lack of another socially acceptable term lacks one redeeming quality as a human being). I was 10 or so by then and a big kid father quickly got tired of taking me back home and scared of me crossing a 100 series highway on foot he put me on the c4. Father would hook a twitch and get the machine headed out the road I’d drive it to the brow and the hired man would unhook turn the machine and send me back in. I drove the machine all that first summer and saved him a man’s wage.

I did that on horseback. I was 7 and too small to mount a horse so I'd climb up on the pulp pile and mount that way. Ride the horse into the woods where Dad was felling, he'd hook up a twitch, I'd ride out to the yard, slide off the horse and unhook. Then I'd climb up onto the pulp pile and do it again. We had quite a system going.
When Dad got a second saw it was my job to swing yard. I started that at 8 years old and did it weekends and vacations through high school. We logged with horses until I left home to join the Navy in 1960. Worked like a man alongside men. Lots of good memories of those days. Sure instilled a work ethic.

 

[GuttormG]

We are waiting for delivery of this one. Main use is heating in the basement/my office/cave/the roomIhavetomuchin. But good to have a back-up, electricity is becoming less stabel over here.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I did that on horseback. I was 7 and too small to mount a horse so I'd climb up on the pulp pile and mount that way. Ride the horse into the woods where Dad was felling, he'd hook up a twitch, I'd ride out to the yard, slide off the horse and unhook. Then I'd climb up onto the pulp pile and do it again. We had quite a system going.
When Dad got a second saw it was my job to swing yard. I started that at 8 years old and did it weekends and vacations through high school. We logged with horses until I left home to join the Navy in 1960. Worked like a man alongside men. Lots of good memories of those days. Sure instilled a work ethic.

I’ve been involved in twitching with horses and oxen but never commercially. Used to compete to the exhibitions (ag fairs) in single horse and ox pulls. Had several large logs and then later a big rock sitting in a flotation tire we’d tow around to keep stock muscled up. Oxen were far more popular locally than horses for logging.

Both these videos show oxen working, Ricky worked for my father in the woods for awhile driving porter Alan built yokes and shoed cattle for teamster for hundreds of miles around.

 

[Rifleman97]

Stihl 462cm for my main saw, and an O28 as a backup, as well as an echo 300 tophandle saw for limbing and such.

If you maintain your saws properly you don't have to worry about them not starting. Store them in winter with stihl pre mix gas for the additives, and start your saw once or twice a winter. Only takes 5 minutes.

As for chains, Stihl IMO is the best, but you have to know which chain to buy to not get the worst. Anything that says micro or pica or whatever is junk, get the super chain, and set up your saw for .063 semi skip or skip for softer woods, full comp or semi skip for hardwoods.

Learn to square file, it's not that hard, makes a huge difference in speed of cut.

If you want to save a lot of money and only give up a small little bit of performance, order oregon square chisel chain from Westcoast saw for less than half the price of stihl chain, and 90% of the quality. The downside is they don't last quite as long and seem to stretch more, but they're still good quality.

The lowest price you can get is ordering chain from Madsens, but you have to call to order and hope they are around to pick up. They usually are but I find calling inconvenient a lot of times. But their customer service is the best around. Know what you need before calling and it will be pretty quick, with the lowest price you can legally get on chains.

 

[Rifleman97]

Picture I took when the saw was new, it has not been that clean ever since lol. I keep the air filter meticulous, and clean inside the bar cover often, but the exterior plastics? They’re lucky if I dust them off lol.

The 20” bar gets more use these days but it’s nice to have the long bar for the occasional large tree felling and bucking

 

[Rifleman97]

Battery powered chainsaws are, IMO, more dangerous than gasoline powered chainsaws, and can be VERY dangerous, especially, to uneducated chainsaw users.

My brother, stupidly, bought one for his wife, because he didn't have any idea about how to properly operate a chainsaw.

1. Because they are quite, uneducated people think they are "safe"
2. Battery powdered chainsaws won't quit running when they hit Kevlar chaps, because they don't choke-out the way gasoline chainsaws will.

With chainsaws, knowing the proper way to operate them will, usually, keep you safe.

I would NEVER cut near a person with a battery powdered chainsaw, who had no:

1. Chaps
2. Head and eye protection
3. Wedges
4. Hatchet or hammer

Because, I would assume, they simply didn't know what they were doing.


Being able to "judge" storm debris is a completely different matter. This is NO PLACE for a novice sawyer.

Beyond, cutting minor limbs, things can get very complicated. An experienced sawyer has to estimate wind torque and several other variables into normal cutting operations.

I would recommend to anyone who uses a chainsaw to take a class,

I have taken classes from:

1. Boy Scouts of America
2, U.S. Forest Service
3. Georgia Department of Natural Recourses
4. The Southern Baptist Mission Board

All were good, and I learned something from every class.

Perhaps, the most important lesson I learned form each class, was that it takes MUCH more than the chainsaw itself to be proficient at operating a chainsaw.

There has been dozens of videos that have proven that chainsaw chaps are perfectly adequate at stopping the most powerful electric saw currently available, with the worst example I have seen leaving a very slight nick on the fake leg below the chaps.

I do however completely agree with the rest.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

We are waiting for delivery of this one. Main use is heating in the basement/my office/cave/the roomIhavetomuchin. But good to have a back-up, electricity is becoming less stabel over here.


View attachment 676637

That looks good! Since this is going in your basement, I carbon monoxide detector might be a good idea.

 

[Safari Dave]

I have no firsthand experience. That was just what we were taught in one of the classes.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I’ve always had better luck with the clogger jeans vs the chaps, snaps never would stay hooked for me on the chaps and I tire quickly of chasing them.

 

[GuttormG]

That looks good! Since this is going in your basement, I carbon monoxide detector might be a good idea.

Wrong wording from me, ground floor, not basement.