Does sprocket size noticeably affect torque?

[Tucker943]

No I don't beat my saws at all. I work the hell out of them but I run them properly and treat them well.

 

[stig]

As befits a true professional

 

[woodworkingboy]

Right, amateurs are hell on saws.

 

[Tucker943]

I never understood beating on a saw. If it isn't cutting right, abusing it wont make it cut any better. I think one reason my saws don't really break mechanically is that they are ALWAYS, 100% of the time, run with a sharp chain and a true bar. I really feel that's all there is to it. Blow em out now and again and tap the filter out. That's all Ive ever done. Anymore, I sharpen chains sometimes that are already pretty sharp. Maybe a stroke per tooth. It just seems the sharper I keep them, the less they wear out.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Right, amateurs are hell on saws.

Can I have an AMEN?!

 

[Al Smith]

Trust me some of the pros are hard on them too .The most trashed out saws I have worked on have came from tree services .

 

[stig]

As in "arborist tree services" or in " logging tree services"?

Those of us who get paid by the amount of trees, we put on the ground take good care of our saws, or starve!

 

[Tucker943]

I think loggers tend to be more finicky about their saws then residential tree workers. That's my experience anyhow. Ive found loggers to keep their bars straighter, their chains sharper, and their saws better tuned. Ive also found that hardwood loggers typically use small bars too, even in big wood. It converted me. Its RARE that I use more then a 20" bar anymore, even in big wood. Ive come to love a strong, well tuned saw with a 20" bar and a full comp chisel chain. I feel that at the days end I get more wood sliced, or felled that way.

 

[Tucker943]

Stig I wish I could come work with you in the woods for a day. I really do. I like your style but what I would like to soak up is how you fell some of those broad crowned beech trees. I was talking about you recently with someone and what I was discussing is how you ace those wide crowned beasts. he and I agreed that getting those fellas to go over is nothing less then an art. In my logging experience, our hardwoods can be rather tall, but the crowns aren't all that wide. With some experience, finding the lay is no trouble, provided you don't shoot it into another tree of land it so it splits. But our topic of conversation was about the work that goes into using wedges to move a wide bastard and how that itself takes a particular set of skills.

 

[lumberjack]

Ive NEVER once have had drum or sprocket issues with my saws and some of them have thousands of hours on them. Really, I never really run into problems at all with saws Ive bought brand new, minus broken chain brake levers. I guess Ive been lucky. I have a flat top 066 that seems weak and the clutch hangs up when its up to temp. Has new rings, oversized dawgs, and carb rebuild. Clean saw too. Dealer tuned it to top out at 12,100. Im half tempted to put it up for sale for 300 bucks.

I don't have any saws that old, but I agree I don't have issues with them as a broad rule. The extent of the maintence I've done to my current 660 is refill the gas and oil, swap chains when they lose their edge, and a few weeks ago I happened to get a wild hair and pulled the air filter to tap out.

We think this saw is 3 years old, it's done around $300k in tree work, and it's still on the original sprocket, bearing, etc. Granted the chain brake broke a few weeks back, but I think that had more to do with the ex running it over. (Scott's fault! )

Oh, and like I said before, 8 pin sprocket, 20" bar with 18.5" past the dogs.

 

[Al Smith]

I was talking about the groundies and other help not the guy who forked out the money for the saws to begin with .Around here the only people other than the tree service owners who furnish their own saws are contract climbers .

I have no idea about the loggers because they are far and few between .Although this is fine hardwood country it's not high impact logging.

 

[MasterBlaster]

If you buy it, you'll take care of it. If it's someone else's saw, not so much...

 

[stig]

Stig I wish I could come work with you in the woods for a day. I really do. I like your style but what I would like to soak up is how you fell some of those broad crowned beech trees. I was talking about you recently with someone and what I was discussing is how you ace those wide crowned beasts. he and I agreed that getting those fellas to go over is nothing less then an art. In my logging experience, our hardwoods can be rather tall, but the crowns aren't all that wide. With some experience, finding the lay is no trouble, provided you don't shoot it into another tree of land it so it splits. But our topic of conversation was about the work that goes into using wedges to move a wide bastard and how that itself takes a particular set of skills.

Thanks Chris.
We all develop different skills according to the type of woods we work in.
The felling I do today is wastly different from what I started out doing 37 years ago.
Back then it was pulp cutting, mostly, in small spruce.
So the skill that put food on the table was being smooth and fast at limbing/buckiing.
20 years ago, harvesters took over, so today no-one has that skill of moving along the tree fluidly, while cutting limbs.

I show off for the apprentices now and then, but honestly I'm pretty rusty.