Jonny
Treehouser
I’ve been thinking about a Kombi kit, pole saw, articulating hedger, and probably string trimmer for home. And as many extensions as it’ll handle!
Thinking battery powered
Thinking battery powered
Chain tensioning?
- Thread starter Brock Mayo
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pantheraba
More biners!!!
I know folks do it but I have not. I did see a chain break once and disappear through the woods, whispering and buzzing like death personified all the way. I'm reluctant to do anything that might contribute to that scenario.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Ours is gas...but it is very useful....we have the hedger, chainsaw, trimmer, edger....thinking about the blower but not convinced it is strong enough yet.I’ve been thinking about a Kombi kit, pole saw, articulating hedger, and probably string trimmer for home. And as many extensions as it’ll handle!
Thinking battery powered
SeanKroll
Treehouser
All chain is riveted into a loop.
To won't be doing anything new.
Maybe get your dealer to do it.
Burnham
Woods walker
A proper chain making set of tools isn't all that costly. For pros, it's just about a necessity. The day you free yourself from the tyranny of the saw shop premade chain and it's costs, and buy spools, is a day you will look back on and shake your head at how dumb you were to not do so sooner.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
My dealer spun my reel into loops for free.
We used to make our loops at Parks.
Ezpz, not to loose, not too tight. If too loose, spin down more. Too tight, pop it out, and start again.
We used to make our loops at Parks.
Ezpz, not to loose, not too tight. If too loose, spin down more. Too tight, pop it out, and start again.
Magnus
TreeHouser
Compensating sharpness with low riders don't work.Guys that file rakers excessively (.045-.055+) also are putting strain on crank and bearings not to mention hands ! Even on my hotwoods ported saws seldom do I go more than the soft setting on raker file gage which is about .030 in hardwood ... peeps think more depth of cut , faster cutting but I disagree (at least for hardwood) and have done testing to bear this out ... also too much depth of cut (raker st .050) makes saw grabby and potentially more dangerous to the saw operator ... The factory engineers designed raker for .026 and this is across all manufactured chain - this is for a reason , some think they are smarter than engineer who designed chain
If you use roller guide and "Hard" setting I think its less than "soft".
I don't touch rider until after tooth is filed down 50%, sometines more. Its too low to begin with.
There is much you can do to adapt/alter the way the chain cut when filing. If you adapt to work/saw/wood well there is quite a bit money to make on it.
If you have a saw like 346 and crank snap from overload its usually right behind threads for clutch.
I see that on saw running 16"+ bars.
When it snaps from over tightening it snaps inside clutch bearing. When you look it over you often see eccessive wear on rim, bar sprocket, rails and chains different parts. Often bar tensioner had a good beating too as this is usually not a one time thing.
Frankie
I Build and Run Ported Saws !
I use progressive gage for rakers for hand filing ... if you have a digital level box you can measure the angle from the top of the cutting edge to the raker ... optimum is around 6degrees ... As you file cutter back the angle gets smaller thus necessitating need to file raker to maintain the angle ... the .026 distance is for NEW chain ... If you have a chain near end of service life (close to witness marks) the raker depth will be closer to .04 or more ... this is why progressive gage is important ... If you use .026 with cutter nearly spent you may not be pleased with how the chain cuts ... Carlton makes nice progressive gage that handles this issue nicely ! Of course if you have robot grinder like me you can sharpen cutter to “Razer-Sharp” edge and then change the wheel on machine to do rakers ... I can get them all to .0005 tolerance ... The most important point is the height of tooth to raker , this determines the depth of cut ... what most do not understand is that the chain is “porpoising” thru the wood as it cuts ... After many hours of experimenting you can get a fast cutting chain even with sqr/rnd .... if I take STIHL RS sqr/rnd off roll the tooth is ground at 30degrees and raker is .026 .... Now if I am cutting ash I will change tooth to 32-35 degrees with robot grinder and set raker to .030 ... with ported saw it will “pull” this thru resulting in considerably faster cutting experience - stock saw maybe not enough balls 🏀... The 35degree will not hold edge as well but a few swipes of file at 35 degree and viola ! Back to work ... not as fast as sqr/sqr but I feel that chain (sqr/sqr) is for falling clean timber and racing not for production cutting where dirt/mud may be encountered... It DOES cut faster no doubt but is more pita (need $1000 silvey/simington) and if you lose edge in the field is more pita to get back to work - your mileage may vary
Jonny
Treehouser
I eyeball them 
Yes, yes and yes!!!
Mick!
TreeHouser
Nah, bollocks to that, supplier loops them free, I have better things to do.
Burnham
Woods walker
Not my experience here either, Mick. That's a good deal.
Frankie
I Build and Run Ported Saws !
I think Madsens saw shop in Centrailia Washington has a buy one loop get one free deal so .... they also sell a 100ft roll of STIHL RS for $255 ; the SAME EXACT 100ft reel is $451 here in wonderful NY state from local dealer ... Madsens can’t / won’t ship here , something about “West/East” coast STIHL lol ... that being said I can make 22 20” loops out of a 100ft roll or about $21/loop ... contrast that with the local dealers price of $32+ time/mileage on vehicle for same loop plus advantage of having product on hand / make at will the 100’ rolls are a godsend ! Heck I’ve even included a few chains for customers of me hotwoods port saws on the house !
Mick!
TreeHouser
In fairness, they could be charging me the earth for the chains in the first place. I don’t really keep an eye on that stuff, I should I know, but I think domestic tree sorts like me don’t get through consumables as much as 8 hours a day on the saw sorts.
Burnham
Woods walker
True, and back in my working days I went through even less chain annually than you would, doubtless. But there was something enjoyable about the process, like Stig describes.
I'd haul my spool over to the Zigzag Hotshot warehouse, where I had cart blanche to use their facilities and tools after many a year as a USFS chainsaw trainer/certifier (after a phone in check with the super there, of course...courtesy is part of how to make such arrangements work, after all) and spend a pleasant few hours with the kids, making chains, giving and getting advice about saws and chains, telling stories, and discussing other things of interest to making a decent career in the US Forest Service.
A side benefit was, when I absolutely needed another hand or two on a roads/fisheries/off the wall odd job that drifted my way from time to time , if the 'Shots were on base, all I had to do was ask, and Diago would give me some folks. Went the other way as well; if they needed an experienced sawyer on a local project job, he'd give me a heads up and I would make it there if at all possible. Off the USFS budget accounting books, which can become tedious to navigate, and take a huge amount of time, even though in the end it would come out the same as to which management code paid for what. We built what was just a great mutual support system.
I'd haul my spool over to the Zigzag Hotshot warehouse, where I had cart blanche to use their facilities and tools after many a year as a USFS chainsaw trainer/certifier (after a phone in check with the super there, of course...courtesy is part of how to make such arrangements work, after all) and spend a pleasant few hours with the kids, making chains, giving and getting advice about saws and chains, telling stories, and discussing other things of interest to making a decent career in the US Forest Service.
A side benefit was, when I absolutely needed another hand or two on a roads/fisheries/off the wall odd job that drifted my way from time to time , if the 'Shots were on base, all I had to do was ask, and Diago would give me some folks. Went the other way as well; if they needed an experienced sawyer on a local project job, he'd give me a heads up and I would make it there if at all possible. Off the USFS budget accounting books, which can become tedious to navigate, and take a huge amount of time, even though in the end it would come out the same as to which management code paid for what. We built what was just a great mutual support system.
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Frankie
I Build and Run Ported Saws !
I noticed that JonnyI eyeball them
Ya, I enjoy making chains. I only do it as-needed, but it's something to do that's treework oriented since I don't do as much real treework as I'd like. The saved money is icing on the cake. I wouldn't go broke buying premade loops from the local overpriced dealer, but it's nice being self sufficient, and making what I need at home instead of driving somewhere to get what I need. Also, since I use manual tools, it all fits in my chainsaw toolbag, and I can repair a chain in the field if necessary.
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
Cutting plenty of small stuff is what wears the links quickly, like clearing shrubs or worse, chipping the limb's stack in the truck with the chainsaw. Same problem with the bamboo I bet. Each time a cutter enters and exits a bit of wood, it gets a rocking motion, nose up-nose down. That's two for a log, four for a bamboo and maybe twenty or more for a compacted limb's stack. The more the chain is loose, the more the rivets rotate in the link's holes and wear themselves and the matching surfaces in the links. I saw a brand new chain on a 200T becoming unusable in less than a day by this way (the guy doesn't care of a loose chain and he kept cutting many yards of limbs in his dump truck ).
A "stretched" chain isn't actually stretched at all but lengthened by the wear of each of its links and rivets. Poping out a link and splicing the loop again to keep the tensioner working isn't a good advice because the chain's pitch is no longer in the specs (and the risk of breaking increases seriously). The pitch between the drive links doesn't match any more with the pitch of both nose and engine sprockets. The running becomes jerky and the wear increases badly. The chain is already toast, but you loose the other components too.
A "stretched" chain isn't actually stretched at all but lengthened by the wear of each of its links and rivets. Poping out a link and splicing the loop again to keep the tensioner working isn't a good advice because the chain's pitch is no longer in the specs (and the risk of breaking increases seriously). The pitch between the drive links doesn't match any more with the pitch of both nose and engine sprockets. The running becomes jerky and the wear increases badly. The chain is already toast, but you loose the other components too.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Great detailed explanation of what happens with each cut that a link makes. Thanks for that detail. Those sound like very important points to be considered.
