What kind of chainsaw are you using . . Right Now!

[ichi]

I prefer the Stihl MS460, but my crew swears by the Husqvarna.

ichi

ps for those of you who don't get it, don't worry, Beirut will understand

[TosaInu]

German and Swedish, aren't they?

[Sjakihata]

Husqvarna, they make machine pistols and sewing machines as well - a reliable company

[Beirut]

I prefer the Stihl MS460, but my crew swears by the Husqvarna.

ichi

ps for those of you who don't get it, don't worry, Beirut will understand

A 460 is plenty big enough for anything around here. More than enough in 90% of the cases. Only the guys who slab logs or cut buck serious firewood use a saw that big.

I use an 038 as a ground saw. We prefer the older series where the 0 came before the model number, though two of the guys have the newer 250s. I just don't trust that tourist gas cap setup on the new saws. Most of the climbers use 025s and Echo 34cc climber's saws for work in the trees. We have an 038 rigged for climbing as well but that gets mighty heavy after a short time hanging off your belt. One guy has a 95cc Jonsered with a four foot bar for the really big stuff, but it's very rare that's needed.

When we build houses, we use Husky 385s for slabbing and 025s and 038s for finishing and notch work. The bossman is getting a 395 soon. he wants the extra bit o'power for slabbing the pine. The big Huskys kick serious butt with the high RPMs but I still prefer the torky small Stihl saws for tree work.

[Beirut]

A shot of our junk from last winter.

[ichi]

and a fine working truck bed that is.

I'll try to get a pic of our saw truck.

Your right that 460 can get pretty heavy, and the old 046 had some things that were better. Its pretty much the standard for crews around here.

We cut about 30% 10" and under, 50% 10-20", and 20% over 20 inches, mostly ponderosa but also oak, pinyon, and juniper.

I see you don't use full wrap grips. What kind of chain, skip or no?

ichi

[Beirut]

Full wrip grip? That's a new one on me.

Not sure about the skip chain either. We use the plain vanilla chains. We tried rip chains for slabbing but went back to standard. Though we do use thinner bars on the 385 for slabbing logs, 4.5mm instead of the usuall 7/32. Seems to give a nicer cut.

[Beirut]

This is probably 75% of what we do.


As he goes up, the branches come down.


You can just make out an Echo climbing saw on his belt. He can do about the next ten feet with the Echo but would probably switch to the 025. We'd leave as much of the trunk as possible, but not long enough to hit the house, and drop it from the ground with the 038.


Once it hits the ground, I buck it up with the 038, and it's all mine. All the way to the truck. Lucky me.


If it's clear shooting, we split the drops 50/50. If it's a climber, he takes the lead.

[ichi]

Here's a big pile of wood that we made one day to protect a giant telescope site (they like to build telescopes on tops of mountains).

This is the type of saw work we do

[IMG][/IMG]

[ichi]

and this is a thinning project that we are burning; we cut all of the small diameter trees, buck and limb, burn.

thats me on the right

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[Roark]

I've got a big Sachs Dolmar which was a gift from my old man. No idea what model it is though...

[edyzmedieval]

Tree killers!!!!!!

(I hope you are replanting the trees back!)

[Moros]

killing innocent trees, why don't you pick some of your own size!?

[Beirut]

Tree killers!!!!!!

(I hope you are replanting the trees back!)

Well, ya! Look above my avatar. It says it right there. Yeesh.

After the Great Ice Storm of '98 that left millions in the dark and cold for weeks, we were in Montreal repairing and taking down damaged trees. I finish a tree in the bucket and come down. This nerdly guy is watching, walks over and asks me in this snivelly whiny voice, "Do you plant a tree every time you cut one down?" I answered "No, but I don't go bang a broad and make a baby every time I kill someone either."

My Lord, the guy went white, spun around 180 degrees and disappeared like a fart in the mist. One of my best moments.

Ichi,

Very nice! I've never done fire work like that but the guy I work with has. You must stink like hell from the smoke after a day of that. Ever burn any saws?

I have cut a few trees on fire though. The tree - not me. We were clearing a lot for a house and dropping trees right onto the fire, which is a riot (target practice), and a 40' spruce that was to close caught fire right up at the top. I had to cut it down while the top ten feet were roaring. That'll get your pulse going. I'm sure you've done that many times.

Oh, and tell me about the wrap around grip on your Stihl. I'm still curious about that.

[Papewaio]

Sweet!

Chief Ichi and Babe Banging Tree Killer Beirut chopping down a forest near you.

[Ja'chyra]

Tree killers!!!!!!

(I hope you are replanting the trees back!)

If you replanted the trees wouldn't thay just die as they've got no roots?

[GoreBag]

Sadly, I don't know much about chainsaws other than that they make good party props.

[Zalmoxis]

A butter knife, because it gets the job done.

[Lehesu]

"He's a lumberjack and he's okay..."

[drone]

Nothing manly like the resident lumberjacks here. I just got a Stihl 290, probably more than I need. I've been putting off getting one, but when they made the hurricane predictions for this year I decided it was time. I live in the suburbs, but I've got a friend with a big farm, so I figure I can put it to use there as well. He's got a Stihl 660 that I've used some. Talk about a back-breaker, especially with the 3 ft bar.

[Reverend Joe]

A big one.

Nah, I don't have a chainsaw; I swear by the trusty axe (and its cousin, the hatchet).

[Kääpäkorven Konsuli]

Big yellow Husgvarna and small Tanaka.

[Beirut]

Nothing manly like the resident lumberjacks here. I just got a Stihl 290, probably more than I need. I've been putting off getting one, but when they made the hurricane predictions for this year I decided it was time. I live in the suburbs, but I've got a friend with a big farm, so I figure I can put it to use there as well. He's got a Stihl 660 that I've used some. Talk about a back-breaker, especially with the 3 ft bar.

A lot of people think you're only cool if you have a big saw. It ain't the case. The very best tree cutter I know, a full blood Mohawk who works with us, spends 90% of his time using a 34cc climber's saw and a Stihl 025.

Hell, me and a buddy spent five months clearing a rich guy's land, about 25 acres, after a tornado tore through it knocking down hundreds and hundreds of trees, and I used a Husky 45 and he used a Stihl 025. Both are 45cc saws. Nothing big. You just need to keep them sharp. A 45cc saw in good shape will handle most jobs. And you don't go home with your knuckles dragging on the ground from the weight. I've gotten used to flying around with an 038, but I do it all day every day.

[Mongoose]

Tree killers!!!!!!

(I hope you are replanting the trees back!)

Well edyz, unless you live in a stone house, i don't think that you can really complain about it

[ichi]

One of teh funniest things I ever heard on the line was when this guy showed up with a huge saw (66? maybe) and like a 36" bar.

"Nice saw, sorry about your p#n!$"

About 40 guys fell over laughing.

ichi

[Beirut]

Hee-hee. There's one guy in town here who has a Husky 3120. It's more of a show piece than anything else. He just uses it to buck firewood sometimes.

Here's the one tree joke I know.

Son tree: :Daddy, what kind of tree am I?"

Father tree: "Well son, you may be a son of a birch or a son of a beech, all I can tell you for sure is your mother was a great piece of ash."

Arf!

By the by, I would still like to know about the "wrap around grip" thing. You've got me and my buddy very curious.

[Papewaio]

Full wrap grip is designed for both left and right handers and is supposed to be more safe...

[Beirut]

Ahh, you're talking about the front handle then. That would make it hard to cut stumps low to the ground and work in tight brush and limbing downed trees though if the front grip extended around the saw body on both sides. I can't see why it would be safer other than being more ergonomic if you switched hands to make a cut.

I might have seen a saw with a full wrap grip years ago, but I've never worked with anyone who used one.

[dessa14]

don't know the models, but i have a big 4-5 foot blade saw, that we only use on rails for creating slabs of timber (the trees we are falling are usually too big in girth to just use a normal chainsaw and we aren't pulling these things up in one piece and you want decent planks), a pair of typical sized (australian made) industrial saws with some minor modifications....(hehe trade secrets, my father is an engine reconditioner, so these chainsaws were modified to be easier to start cold and run cheaper and are more powerful :p but they still weigh near nothing), axes, a giant set of wedges which usually only use two of, a block splitter (we use it with the wedges), a sledge. this is my and my mates equipment, we usually join about 3-4 other blokes.
Australian brush is so different to what you northerners are probably used to and most of what we do is just dropping whole trees for timber. (can't be arsed getting up the tree unless i absolutely have to) and normally the trees we drop are huge straight up and down with the only significant branches at the top, so you just fall them away from your stuff cut it up where it falls.
thanks,
dizzy
Addition: don't get much work nowadays, too busy and don't need timber so its second place to my studies, girl chasing and other activity like carpentary/cabinet making.

BTW do you guys work forestry or is it just private sector...?
normally im working with state forestry blokes so it might be different for you blokes.

[drone]

A lot of people think you're only cool if you have a big saw. It ain't the case. The very best tree cutter I know, a full blood Mohawk who works with us, spends 90% of his time using a 34cc climber's saw and a Stihl 025.

Hell, me and a buddy spent five months clearing a rich guy's land, about 25 acres, after a tornado tore through it knocking down hundreds and hundreds of trees, and I used a Husky 45 and he used a Stihl 025. Both are 45cc saws. Nothing big. You just need to keep them sharp. A 45cc saw in good shape will handle most jobs. And you don't go home with your knuckles dragging on the ground from the weight. I've gotten used to flying around with an 038, but I do it all day every day.

I'm pretty sure the main reason my friend got the 660 was for the coolness factor. But he's a pretty big guy (~300lbs), so the weight doesn't affect him as much, and that saw does do the job. Usually he uses an 20" bar with it, but he has had a few 4-5' diameter trees go down and the 3' bar comes in handy. He also has a lot of locust wood trees on his farm (real dense hardwood), and the extra power is nice when cutting through those. Of course, we only saw for a couple of hours before retiring to our beer, I can't imagine climbing trees or lugging that thing around for an 8-hour shift.

My new 290 has the toolless easy-open "tourist gas cap", anything specific that you don't like/trust about it? Anything I need to look out for?