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OldKooT

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A long Saturday
« on: July 26, 2015, 02:31:57 PM »
Fri we had a T storm raise a little hell and bust up a few dozen trees pretty well on our property. We figured since we had nothing to do Saturday anyway, we would get them cleaned up off the front lawn at least and handle the rest latter this week.

5am Sat morning: I wandered out to the shop to fix the issue of not having any sharp chain saw chains for the 20" saw and the 16" saw. I began sharpening chains and my wife and one daughter show up with eggs bacon and homemade toast. So they took over sharpening chains while I consumed the meal. Since they were handling the chain end of things I figured I'd grab both of the "good saws" out of the cabinet and top them off with oil and fuel as needed. Now we live in Nebraska, the wind here drives dust and dirt into the trees as they grow, so bucking up a single large tree can consume two or three chains very easily. Hack-berries  being bout the worst at collecting abrasives during growth.

So to this end I have 5 go to saws. Two nearly new Stihl one 20" and the other a 16" limber. I also carry in my farm trucks tool box a large Echo 36" and a old Husky 350 18" These truck saws get abused horribly...I often use drain oil for bar oil, hell sometimes i don't have any mix so I will dump a little 15/40W oil in some gas and call it good.  Ok...on to the story here....

So neither Stihl saw will start. A small snort of either farmer style assured me we had ignition and such, but they were not getting fuel. Having been down this road once before with these saws I didn't even mess with them and I tossed them back on the bench for the required carb rebuild they'd both need since clearly they have to be all finicky. Both saws had been used just a month ago and have never had anything but the proper gas/mix and bar oil...

My wife asks if the truck saws will even run as when was the last time I used them? The answer is....almost a year ago. As it has worked out when ever we need to clean up trees, or do some fencing I have been bringing the new Stihl's as well hell, I paid a LOT for them, I should use them right?

So I wander over to my Dodge grab both the saws and check the bar oil. Both are nearly empty, so I grab a bottle of waste oil dump some in. Both saws are full of fuel...not good.

The Echo starts 2nd pull and starts it's normal lumpy idle warm up. The Husky requires about 10 pulls as it has since new and idles along just fine. We are ready to clean up the mess....

I attack the first limb with the Husky and have this fleeting memory of a battle with osage orange in a fence row the last time i used it. Anyone who has ever cut osage that grows in a dusty environment can relate, for those that don't know, it's like attacking concrete with a chain saw but more frustrating. So I have a beyond sharpening dull chain now smoking on the bar, this isn't going to work. I send my wife to the truck to hunt for a sharp chain and grab the big echo and start de-limbing with a 36" bar. My wife returns with the husky and she starts cutting limbs so I start working the big stuff. This goes on for hours, saw, refuel, oil, file the chains and back at it. Mean time the twins and grandkids (ages 1.5yr and 3) are hauling the brush to the burn pile. The older two girls are running the splitter and making quick work of the large pieces.

Then my wife yells at me in all her proper wood cutting safety gear (a bandana for her hair and some levis) that her saw stopped oiling. So I take a look and sure enough it is oiling, but the tree we were working was just so abrasive it was causing too much heat. We are near finished limbing... so I told her just burn it up, the bar is old as dirt anyway no loss. I have never before seen a saw get so hot that the muffler glowed a orange. In the end she got the limbs done and I finished the large stuff, and we then got busy with the rest of the clean up.

My wife and I cut, the kids moved, split, and stacked 5 pickup loads in 98 degree heat by 3pm off the front lawn.
The two heros of the day


The finished project.


Just goes to show...sometimes old and tired can outclass new and expensive easily. That big echo once cut 300+ large cotton woods in one week after a tornado. That Little Husky has been abused for well over a decade, and I have never even changed the plug. Neither saw gets proper maintenance or for that matter any care to speak of. Just sharp chains, what ever passes for bar oil and mix, and run them like you stole them. The $1500 worth of Stihls are going bye bye...

 






Offline Nate

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Re: A long Saturday
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2015, 05:37:01 PM »
are you sure that you don't need to take the 2 stihls out back and have the talk with them before you neglect them for good............?!
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Offline JR

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Re: A long Saturday
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2015, 06:20:36 PM »
Nice to have little ones around who like to help. Mine are at the age where it is now work.
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