Chainsaws

grapehead said:
Do y'all not believe in files? I just touch mine up every couple runs, they do great. Lets me examine condition and gauge chain health.
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I do file mine until the leading corner gets chewed away too much, then it's time for the grinder.

FWIW, 20+ of my 30ish chains needing sharpening are from Helene work, and when you're cutting trees literally in mud and rocks, you can go from fresh chain to trashed chain in about a half a second.
 
More pictures because who doesn't love pictures!
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jeepinmatt said:
I do file mine until the leading corner gets chewed away too much, then it's time for the grinder.

FWIW, 20+ of my 30ish chains needing sharpening are from Helene work, and when you're cutting trees literally in mud and rocks, you can go from fresh chain to trashed chain in about a half a second.
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What he said. Most nonprofessional folk bring em in way past file touch ups. When she cut a banana so hard a 16-24 inch bars binds a file isn't gonna fix it efficiently.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
What he said. Most nonprofessional folk bring em in way past file touch ups. When she cut a banana so hard a 16-24 inch bars binds a file isn't gonna fix it efficiently.
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Yep, and its almost always just one side, which would pain me even more to file away a sixteenth on the good side just so it cut straight and even.
 
Just watch some buckin’ Billy ray on YouTube. He’ll teach you how to hand file. Get the gullet!


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I too just touch up every couple jobs. I clean dirt off logs and never let anyone borrow a good saw. I have a loaner I will lend out if necessary.
Oh and on the longer bars I run full skip too. It cuts down on file time some.
 
jeepinmatt said:
FWIW, 20+ of my 30ish chains needing sharpening are from Helene work, and when you're cutting trees literally in mud and rocks, you can go from fresh chain to trashed chain in about a half a second.
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Similarly, I have a pile from doing dumb stuff like hacking on stumps or cutting dirty wood. They're fixable, but it would be a lot of time to figure out what's wrong with each one and spend enough time getting them cutting again. Or just throw a new chain on and get to it "one day"
 
shawn said:
Similarly, I have a pile from doing dumb stuff like hacking on stumps or cutting dirty wood. They're fixable, but it would be a lot of time to figure out what's wrong with each one and spend enough time getting them cutting again. Or just throw a new chain on and get to it "one day"
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Right person and chain grinder is when they shine. I treat it like a machining job. Precision, equal angles, equal tooth lengths. When they get really bad hand files are darn tedious to accomplish what a machine with machined guides and limits set points. Grinder get the bad rap because of poor operators and cheap grinders of Chinese quality control. I have one chain I've probably ground numerous times and it's not close to half worn out. Take me longer then the hardware kid who sells verbal fertilizer, so it really why I asked about going rates.

Edit: short answer...doesn't take time to figure out what wrong. Just sharpen it right.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Grinder get the bad rap because of poor operators and cheap grinders of Chinese quality control.
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This. Mine works great until I change angle, then I have to dial everything back in because it doesn't pivot on center. Which means i have to set up every chain twice. I got a "free" Oregon one with some broken parts a few weeks ago, so I plan to scavenge some parts off the China grinder and enjoy the benefits of the quality clamping and alignment system of the Oregon grinder. But all of this takes time. If I could find a guy who would think and work like me for $25 an hour, I'd go broke paying him to get things done for me.
 
jeepinmatt said:
This. Mine works great until I change angle, then I have to dial everything back in because it doesn't pivot on center. Which means i have to set up every chain twice. I got a "free" Oregon one with some broken parts a few weeks ago, so I plan to scavenge some parts off the China grinder and enjoy the benefits of the quality clamping and alignment system of the Oregon grinder. But all of this takes time. If I could find a guy who would think and work like me for $25 an hour, I'd go broke paying him to get things done for me.
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I have an oregon grinder that doesn't hold the chain well. I got it second hand, and it most likely needs some new parts.
 
jeepinmatt said:
This. Mine works great until I change angle, then I have to dial everything back in because it doesn't pivot on center. Which means i have to set up every chain twice. I got a "free" Oregon one with some broken parts a few weeks ago, so I plan to scavenge some parts off the China grinder and enjoy the benefits of the quality clamping and alignment system of the Oregon grinder. But all of this takes time. If I could find a guy who would think and work like me for $25 an hour, I'd go broke paying him to get things done for me.
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Specs on mine
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Really decent sharpening supply house. I want some of the grinding stuff they offer for knives and wood working chisels. I like sharp objects almost as much as sparky metal things.
 
This popped up in my FBMP feed. does that look like a tank repair?

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ghost said:
This popped up in my FBMP feed. does that look like a tank repair?

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"News a new gas cap, leaks a little" <-- From the ad, I would give this one a hard pass, by the time you are done fixing the neglect, you would have bought something not completely ragged out.
 
Figures. I'm not afraid of some work on one but I have never done a tank. Maybe I should call my tree guy he said he has a couple boxes of saws and no time to mess with them.
 
It's not the work....it's the cost of parts. We all know how the cheapest version of something often ends up costing significantly more than the most expensive one when you are all said and done. If I had to guess, that saw won't come with a chain or a bar, once you are done buying a chain, bar, replacing the clutch and the tank you will probably be $150 extra into it.....$400 will probably buy a saw ready to work.

Its probably the quality of the saws, but I had to use my 361 to free up a pinched bar on my 261 yesterday...If I had to have one saw (and WTF would have ONE saw) it would probably be a ported 261. That being said, I think I paid $150 for my 361, I put a new bar, chain, and twisted some screws on the carb and it does what it needs to.

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shelby27604 said:
It's not the work....it's the cost of parts. We all know how the cheapest version of something often ends up costing significantly more than the most expensive one when you are all said and done. If I had to guess, that saw won't come with a chain or a bar, once you are done buying a chain, bar, replacing the clutch and the tank you will probably be $150 extra into it.....$400 will probably buy a saw ready to work.

Its probably the quality of the saws, but I had to use my 361 to free up a pinched bar on my 261 yesterday...If I had to have one saw (and WTF would have ONE saw) it would probably be a ported 261. That being said, I think I paid $150 for my 361, I put a new bar, chain, and twisted some screws on the carb and it does what it needs to.

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Yes I have a 261. It's my go to for limb's and small stuff. I want something a little bigger but not quite as heavy as my 460. I thought about a 400 too. Looking for a deal like you got. LOL!
 
A carbide tipped chain is the shizz for cutting dirty wood and stumps. Pretty expensive though. And you need a diamond wheel to sharpen them.
 
Stihl parts are available at all ace hardware, husqvarna at lowes or tractor supply. I’d worry more about where I could get a replacement chain than which of those 2 brands. Both are good saws
 
Local Lowe’s has a mess of Oregon and husky bars and chains on the clearance wall. 20” Husky bar was $18. Got a spare now Oregon chains (20”) were $19 got 3 of em because why not. Also picked up a TriLink titanium 20” chain for $20. Hadn’t seen those before but at that price I figured I’d try it out. YMMV
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ghost said:
I actually had that one come up in my feed. You think it's as easy as a bad tuned carb?
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You can never tell with Chainsaws....I used to watch a youtube channel where it seemed like half of the repairs were related to bad gas. The 361 I bought was filled with ATF instead of bar oil. Some chainsaws live rough lives in the hands of stupid people, but the price seems worth the gamble (Pro grade saw for less than the price of the cheapest home owner saw).
Overall, it doesn't look ragged out, and it looks like the seller has already thrown some money and time at it, so at some point they believed it was worth it / repairable...it even comes with a new carb! If you don't mind the time/effort, it might be a LABOR ONLY repair....that would make it a heck of a deal.
 
shelby27604 said:
You can never tell with Chainsaws....I used to watch a youtube channel where it seemed like half of the repairs were related to bad gas. The 361 I bought was filled with ATF instead of bar oil. Some chainsaws live rough lives in the hands of stupid people, but the price seems worth the gamble (Pro grade saw for less than the price of the cheapest home owner saw).
Overall, it doesn't look ragged out, and it looks like the seller has already thrown some money and time at it, so at some point they believed it was worth it / repairable...it even comes with a new carb! If you don't mind the time/effort, it might be a LABOR ONLY repair....that would make it a heck of a deal.
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Very true.
 
The question is "what is your time worth?". Its gonna take 3-4hrs of fiddling and f'n around and ordering parts no matter what. If your time is worth $20/hr, $200 is a good deal. If your time is worth $50/hr, thats a decent deal, if your time is worth $100/hr you should buy a good running one, if your time is worth $200/hr you should buy a new one.
 
jeepinmatt said:
The question is "what is your time worth?". Its gonna take 3-4hrs of fiddling and f'n around and ordering parts no matter what. If your time is worth $20/hr, $200 is a good deal. If your time is worth $50/hr, thats a decent deal, if your time is worth $100/hr you should buy a good running one, if your time is worth $200/hr you should buy a new one.
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Yea well that never really computes for me. 3 - 4 hours working on something like that is generally just fun.
 
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