[AT] Fw: chainsaw ramblings part 2

[charlie hill]

Chuck, I'll respond for Gerald.  He has not been able to post to the list 
for months, maybe years.  He is obviously subscribed because he gets the 
messages but his posts won't get to the list for some reason.  Gerald is 
more on an engine guy anyway so he hasn't tried to hard to get the situation 
resolved.  He just reads what we write and doesn't have too much to say 
about tractors.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chuck Saunders" <gooberdog at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 8:46 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Fw: chainsaw ramblings part 2


> Gerald, it is good to hear from you. I am sorry that your response 
> requires
> assistance, though I am grateful that Charlie is able to offer that
> assistance.
> Thanks for the insight.
> Chuck Saunders
> Kansas City, MO
>
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 10:08 PM, charlie hill
> <charliehill at embarqmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Ok, it seems that part 2 didn't fly the first time around.  I'm sure it
>> will
>> show up as soon as I hit send again but here goes anyway.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>>
>> > As far as chain, we sold Stihl and Oregon.  Most of the chain we sold 
>> > was
>> > chipper chain or what we called "square tooth" chain.  I don't think we
>> > ever sold a replacement "safety chain".   The Stihl chain was the best
>> but
>> > we sold more Oregon than anything else....and it is fine chain.  We
>> bought
>> > many rolls at a time and cut our own....more profit that way.  The only
>> > complaint we ever had with square tooth was that when it struck a rock,
>> > you had to grind the tooth way back to get the corner square again. 
>> > Just
>> > getting the inside curve of the tooth sharp did not help...that square
>> tip
>> > did the cutting and it had to be sharp.  This meant that sometimes we 
>> > had
>> > to grind them way back and folks would complain that we ground off too
>> > much metal.  I hate to think how many hours I have spent using an
>> electric
>> > chain grinder! We had customers that brought 30 chains in at a time for
>> > sharpening.  When one dulled they simply removed it and threw it in a
>> > bucket full of kerosene then when the bucket was full they brought it 
>> > to
>> > us for sharpening.  This kept it lubricated and helped get the tree 
>> > rosin
>> > off.  As far as chain life, it all depended on how much it was used.  I
>> > guess if a homeowner just cut clean wood up off the ground then they
>> might
>> > get a couple years use....but we never saw that much.  We sold a lot of
>> > chain....due to rocks, nails, and dirt.   We did however sell one type 
>> > of
>> > chain that would easily last several years....carbide chain.  There 
>> > were
>> > two types...chains coated with carbide powder and chains that had 
>> > carbide
>> > teeth brazed onto a regular Stihl chain. The brazed tooth was the best.
>> > The powder type was fair until you sharpened it...which removed the
>> > carbide and turned it into a regular chain.  I have seen the brazed 
>> > tooth
>> > carbide chains stay sharp even when the bearing pins of the chain wore
>> out
>> > and the chain fell apart.  The only drawback to carbide was if one of 
>> > the
>> > brazed teeth popped off....causing two or three more teeth to  jerked 
>> > off
>> > at the same time.   We sold carbide to tree farmers that reported
>> > harvesting 15,000 trees before sharpening...as opposed to 500 trees 
>> > with
>> a
>> > regular chain.   We also sold carbide chain to fire departments for use
>> in
>> > cutting entry holes in burning buildings.  It was even used by some
>> > soapstone miners to saw the stone out of the ground...and scrap metal
>> > dealers to chop up aluminum!  We sold a regular 20" chisel tooth #72
>> chain
>> > for $21.00.   You could add a hundred bucks to that price for carbide.
>> >
>> > Looks like most of the guys posting on the tractor list have as good 
>> > luck
>> > with Stihl as we did.  I have heard that Jonsered is a good saw but we
>> > rarely saw any of them.  Some of the old Echos were good also.  We 
>> > worked
>> > on those occasionally.  Some of the tree farmers here had trouble with
>> > their migrant workers trying to run straight gas in their harvesting
>> saws.
>> > Some started buying the little $99 Homelite watermelon slicers for
>> harvest
>> > figuring if the migrant poured raw gas in it that it was no big loss.
>> > They soon went back to running the Stihl.  You just can use a toy to do
>> > real work.  We always tried to question a new buyer about what they
>> > intended to use the saw for and then sell them a saw maybe one size
>> larger
>> > than what they needed.  It was always better to use a bigger saw than 
>> > the
>> > job required than to use one that is underpowered and straining all the
>> > time to cut...at least in our opinion.  It seemed to save the owner 
>> > money
>> > on repair bills in the long run.
>> >
>> > Well...I've rambled enough.
>> >
>> > Gerald
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
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