My rookie season

[clemsonfor]

Thanks, most cut with my 455 Rancher as well. Love this saw. You can buy one for your kid , they are making more all the time LOL.

He meant the ATV I don't let him near the saw he is 7...i'm sure he could handle it though...lol...like the saw just need to learn to sharpen the chain and get another one to alternate

Learn to hand file its not that complicated once you learn the theory. Then buy the $29.99 harbor freight chain grinder. I cant beleive i went all these years without it. Its amazing, really shows your inconsistancies with the file out.

 

[RORY12553]

Thanks, most cut with my 455 Rancher as well. Love this saw. You can buy one for your kid , they are making more all the time LOL.

He meant the ATV I don't let him near the saw he is 7...i'm sure he could handle it though...lol...like the saw just need to learn to sharpen the chain and get another one to alternate

Learn to hand file its not that complicated once you learn the theory. Then buy the $29.99 harbor freight chain grinder. I cant beleive i went all these years without it. Its amazing, really shows your inconsistancies with the file out.

Why not skip right to the grinder?

 

[RORY12553]

I meant the ATV too. I just saw your sig with the Rancher .

He has a small ATV but wants me to get a setup like yours with the trailer etc. He saw the splitter you had on the tailgate and said we have that too now you need a truck! Kid costs me a fortune egging me on to buy all the toys! Nice truck too by the way.

 

[smoker62]

I have two girls, one still in college. Thats a big expense but I like toys.

 

[sappy]

Smoker, I had a Harmin p61 for almost 12 yrs. I now have a Woodstock Soapstone Fireview new this past fall. It works good in my 1700sf ranch hs. It is 80 feet long as the garage is half finished where the wood stove is. I use fans to move heat along and get some help from a vermont castings propane stove about 50 feet down hall in a living romm. Today 30 out and windy, but very sunny and woodstove during the better part of day was only heat on in the house.
Jotul are a great stove was seriuosly considering one.
Like you I at times drag logs out with my 4wheeler out of land we lease for our sugaring business. I joke that I should have kept the pellet one more year to stock pile more wood. Very similar story. Looks like you have a well thought out plan.
Keep us posted.
Sappy

 

[RORY12553]

I have two girls, one still in college. Thats a big expense but I like toys.

What is your main heat source now? I think I want to get a smaller saw for use all the time..any suggestions?

 

[smoker62]

I use the pellet stove and gas furnace. My cousin has the 445 . He likes it but I dont know much about them to give advice.

 

[clemsonfor]

Thanks, most cut with my 455 Rancher as well. Love this saw. You can buy one for your kid , they are making more all the time LOL.

He meant the ATV I don't let him near the saw he is 7...i'm sure he could handle it though...lol...like the saw just need to learn to sharpen the chain and get another one to alternate

Learn to hand file its not that complicated once you learn the theory. Then buy the $29.99 harbor freight chain grinder. I cant beleive i went all these years without it. Its amazing, really shows your inconsistancies with the file out.

Why not skip right to the grinder?

Its always nice to know how to hand file for times when your away from the grinder. Wel if you buy the grinder first you can see the right angles and try and replicate with a file, then have the grinder to "fix" any mistakes in angle etc. If your out for a while you will need to sharpen your saw or if you get in the dirt with the bar cutting a big trunk, it only takes a second at full speed to really dull your chain.

The other thing you can do is just totally forget handfileing (still need to hand file rakers no matter what) and buy the grinder and say 3 chains, and just have the extra chains with you incase you dull one bad or it is just getting dull on you, you can swap the chains out in a few mins and keep going. Swapping chains is faster than filing anyway in the field.

Actually since i got the grinder i have not handfilled , but i only got it a month or so ago. But you do need to touch up in the woods from titme to time. Grinders also take more metal than hand filing. But not as much as when you have it "professionally" sharpened. They dont payattention to the adjustment and just whack at the teeth and take what they take off. Professional sharpening will cost you around $7 give or take a dollar. Do that 4x and you could of bought your own to have.

 

[smoker62]

I bought the Husvarna file kit with two round files of the correct size , a flat file for the rakers and a small jig to hold the correct angle and height. It also flips out and guages your flat file to take down the rakers as you file back the cutter. Probably a rookie setup but thats me. And it works great in the field . I do have a spare blade but I find the time it takes to touch up is a needed break anyways.

I never knew you had to file the rakers as you used up the cutters. Makes sense now that I look at it. Probably why years ago we had so much trouble cutting with the old McCullough. I dont think my dad ever knew about the rakers either but he filed the cutters a lot. The rakers were probably hitting before the cutting tooth so you had to bear down on the cut.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Thanks, most cut with my 455 Rancher as well. Love this saw. You can buy one for your kid , they are making more all the time LOL.

He meant the ATV I don't let him near the saw he is 7...i'm sure he could handle it though...lol...like the saw just need to learn to sharpen the chain and get another one to alternate

Learn to hand file its not that complicated once you learn the theory. Then buy the $29.99 harbor freight chain grinder. I cant beleive i went all these years without it. Its amazing, really shows your inconsistancies with the file out.

Why not skip right to the grinder?

Because hauling the grinder through the woods is a huge PITA. Learning to file a chain and buying a chain grinder are not connected in any way. Learning to file your chains is a must, having a grinder is handy but optional.

 

[clemsonfor]

Thanks, most cut with my 455 Rancher as well. Love this saw. You can buy one for your kid , they are making more all the time LOL.

He meant the ATV I don't let him near the saw he is 7...i'm sure he could handle it though...lol...like the saw just need to learn to sharpen the chain and get another one to alternate

Learn to hand file its not that complicated once you learn the theory. Then buy the $29.99 harbor freight chain grinder. I cant beleive i went all these years without it. Its amazing, really shows your inconsistancies with the file out.

Why not skip right to the grinder?

Because hauling the grinder through the woods is a huge PITA. Learning to file a chain and buying a chain grinder are not connected in any way. Learning to file your chains is a must, having a grinder is handy but optional.

I have filed for years by hand and was amazed at how off some of my cutters were. Chains cut like new when i touched them up as well. I also had a chain that i let a professional logger helper file to see if he could do better than i did. That chain cut circles untill i touched it up and brought it back square with the grinder. That chain had half its life still but was almost junk from handfilling that was a bit out of square.

I do agree that handfiling and a grinder dont have anything to do with each other, except once you grind one you can see the "correct" way a cutter should look and feel when sharp.

 

[fyrwoodguy]

good job so far for a rookie!......i'm afraid the wood bug has bitten you too!.....watch out.

 

[smoker62]

good job so far for a rookie!......i'm afraid the wood bug has bitten you too!.....watch out.

Ha, it sure did. And those Black Locust splinters hurt too !