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Brokentap, Please get in the habit of getting away from a falling tree. They can do some wierd thing when falling and you don't want to be close to one that does.
When limbing, you do want a shallow cut on the under side, but to use the top of you bar that much just works against you. When you are cutting down from the top, the weight of the chainsaw does a lot of the work for you.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,421,922 times
Reputation: 4611
BT.
You may already know this, but another method for guiding the tree in the direction you want it to fall is, instead of cutting a wedge in the front of the trunk, cut on a downward angle in that direction from behind.
Let me ask........
The depth guage on the cutter links determine how well and how deep the saw will cut.
As you sharpen the cutters on the chain, do you keep the depth guage filed down? (AS EXPLAINED IN THE LINK)
BT.
You may already know this, but another method for guiding the tree in the direction you want it to fall is, instead of cutting a wedge in the front of the trunk, cut on a downward angle in that direction from behind.
Let me ask........
The depth guage on the cutter links determine how well and how deep the saw will cut.
As you sharpen the cutters on the chain, do you keep the depth guage filed down? (AS EXPLAINED IN THE LINK)
Oh yes...what you call depth gauges I call rakers. I don't do so with every sharpening I do, but I keep a pretty good eye on my chip. When I see it getting smallish, I file the rakers down to get that chip size back up.
When I took the Certified Logging course a few years ago, they spent one entire day showing us how to file saws. At first I thought a whole day on how to file a saw was crazy, but an hour into it I was really paying attention. After that class I noticed brand new chains felt dull to me, so now I sharpen my saw chains right out of the cardboard box.
I don't use any tools or anything though. I do everything by eye, from adjusting the rakers to filing my teeth. No guides or anything...
Brokentap, Please get in the habit of getting away from a falling tree. They can do some wierd thing when falling and you don't want to be close to one that does.
When limbing, you do want a shallow cut on the under side, but to use the top of you bar that much just works against you. When you are cutting down from the top, the weight of the chainsaw does a lot of the work for you.
Yeah it is a bad habit. Surprisingly though, with all the wood I cut, my injuries have been few and far between.
When I was 15 I was felling a tree and a small vine was growing up the side of this tree. As I made my felling back cut, the saw hit the vine, jumped and kicked back at my legs cutting my chin a bit. It was a pretty mild cut and did not require any stitches or anything.
Last year I was finishing topping out a hardwood tree and was working in deep snow. As I went to step up over a limb I brought my thigh in contact with the bottom of my saw. Because of the cold and the snow, my jeans and longjohns stopped the chain before it cut too deep into my thigh. That one probably should have had stitches but I wanted to finish out the day and get my load of wood out. Some sugar in my lunchbox clotted up the cut and so I kept going. I got a picture of my cut jeans somewhere on my computer.
Then a few weeks later I was cutting some trees that was between a field of mine and the powerlines. The wind was blowing and I landed a tree across the powerlines. It was a small tree so it didn't rip them down, just lodged on them. The neighbors told me the power was off, so it was simply a matter of pulling the tree off the line with the tractor. It really wasn't a physical injury but that could have been bad.
Then the only other injury happened a few weeks ago when I was clearing land right next to the house. I was cutting hack that was hammered by bark bettles. They attack the tree and make these weak spots in it. Again it was a small tree but when it started to fall, it broke in half and the top landed right on my head then rolled off my shoulder. I do wear a hard hat, but it still hit hard enough to compress my spine though. I see a chiropractor/massage therapist every other week for the damage to my shoulder/back and I am a ½ inch shorter in height now.
But in 20 years of commercial logging those are the only things that really happened to me. I have had my share of close calls though.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,421,922 times
Reputation: 4611
With out actually realizing it, Self learners record the mistakes they've made in their head. When a person uses a chain saw(and other equipment) long enough, there comes a time when that person will stop, back up and start correcting their mistakes.The biggest mistake this person wants to correct is, to stop taking short cuts and maintain their equipment the right way.
The reason for this is, the more something is used, the more it's valued. The more it's valued, the more you want to take care of it.
I think BT has been going through this stage for sometime now.
This stage doesn't stop until you stop use this equipment.
I learned this back in the 80's when I started learning how to repair outdoor power equipment.
When I was a kid my step father was way to cheap to but a chain saw. I felled some pretty big white pine with an ax and a big crosscut saw. That is how I learned that a really sharp tool is a lot safer. You could shave the hair off your arm with the ax I had shapened.
Saw chains sold today all have "anti kickback" links.
Not all of them I can get good Chains at a Shop I go to.I told him I didn't want no anti kickback BS and he fixed me up.
I can cut about 20 Cord of Oak wood to a Chain.I keep them sharp.
hillman
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