Bad chainsaw habits

  • Thread starter Thread starter Szajer
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stig said:
So you don't have any vital organs at waist level?



Jim, just set the chain brake when drop starting and it is perfectly safe.
Click to expand...

Yes, good copy Stig.:thumbup: I think the idea when they were teaching us new guys is that we may forget to have the chain brake on or not have a firm grip. Haven't got the good habits to become second nature yet, so crotch or ground starting is the rule with the new students (at least in Montana).
 
A pet peeve of mine is people running a saw right out of fuel. I mean come on, you're running a saw and can't hear/feel when it leans out at the end of a tank? Shut it off!
 
I should probably clean up a little better around the gas and oil openings before filling up, but mostly can't be bothered beyond a minimal wipe. Speaking of, could be better myself in having the chain brake engaged when drop starting, but getting better after around thirty years.
 
I think it's important to differentiate between a rear handled drop start and a front handled drop start. Front handled drop start is A OK in my book. Chain brake on, of course.
 
Funny that you mention that. Our tough instructors from the State beat us over the head about DS. Unless you happen to be in a tree like our Fire/Forester Nick, who is a climber.

Kinda funny, "you must NEVER drop start, UNLESS you NEED to drop start!" :|::lol:
 
SouthSoundTree said:
I know you don't, Stig.

Just another part of treating your machine right, and using it right, so you don't have problems, to me, oh, and I am the one who end up fixing it. Its frustrating for me to have a saw sit (and I don't have but 7 saws) until I can get a cord and for me to have time to fix it.

What is the best way/ trick to thread the cord through Stihl starters, aside from the right diameter cord? I have had good luck, and also a few foul words trying to get it through. I try to not make a burnt mess out of the end after cutting. Should I wait to melt it at all until I have it threaded in the starter wheel mechanism? Maybe I have had the wrong diameter on the last one or two, but still got them to work.
Click to expand...

Best and easiest way:
-Make a point after you heat up the end of the chord
-Wind the starter all the way, then back it off 1 full turn
-Insert the chord and tie it off, then re-melt the pointy end so it wont pull out
-Allow the starter to wind the chord for you
-Pull out 1 full wind and tie the starter pull handle right there
-Done
 
I've only a handful of times seen anyone start a saw any other way than a drop start. Either way handle or trigger with the chainbrake on how can it be dangerous? I won't advocate it to others but I rarely set the brake for a routine start. Just me and the crazy risks I take I guess.

I know a guy who cut his knee drop starting a saw. He hit the compression stroke and the saw jerked from his grip. He was in shorts and sandals and the non running saw and chain gave him a couple stitch gash.

We were tuning/repairing saws in the parking lot. Logging, hotel job(I much preferred camp).
 
I think it looks scary when people who are new to chainsaws hold them all cockly with the elbows way out, no way you can have much control that way. It just looks really dangerous. I wish I could draw a picture for what I mean... hard to imagine without seeing it.
 
I slipped off a log and sliced open my wrist on the chain, saw was off. Crazy how stuff can happen.
 
With stationary power tools, it is deemed necessary to have on guards and such as mandated in certain locations, like schools and a lot of factories. Most pros working in smaller and more controlled environments will elect to remove the guard on a tablesaw to facilitate convenience and allow certain tasks that couldn't be done otherwise. With the degree of free swinging around saws and limited guarding, you have to come to the conclusion that potentially they are indeed extremely dangerous things to use. It's really pretty amazing that we become so familiar with using them that we often don't much think of the danger. I have two tablesaws and a crosscut panel type saw, and I get right down and dirty with them sometimes, but there isn't a time that I flip the switch without first thinking to myself that I have myself together enough to do what i want to do. Sometimes it even takes working up to a certain task in my mind. I think that chainsaws are inherently more dangerous, but using them is generally a much more casual affair, for some reason. Maybe because the blade isn't staring us in the eye?
 
I hate a few things..

If the answer to my question "is that saw/chain sharp?" is "sharp enough"....... I doubt it is...
Starting a saw like a 5 dollar whore. No warm up.. just start and full throttle right up expecting her to be all hot and wet and running hard.
Throwing or abusing gear.
Running a saw dry on gas to where you might get it to run with the choke and still trying to make a cut blipping the trigger over and over again.
 
When people start a saw with the chain brake on then stand around looking at it while it high revs against the chainbrake, seeming to wait forever to blip the throttle, then look around like 'hey, it's cool'.
 
I am still trying to remember to set the chain brake to start. Old habits are hard. I catch my thumb not being wrapped. Trying to change that too.

I try to keep dust out of gas and oil cap recesses. My newer Stihl and Husky saw cap design suck for that. Old Husky and Echo much better design. Engineers!!!!

Jay, The noise a table saw blade makes makes me think DANGER. Circular saws can be nasty too.
 
Moparmyway said:
Best and easiest way:
-Make a point after you heat up the end of the chord
-Wind the starter all the way, then back it off 1 full turn
-Insert the chord and tie it off, then re-melt the pointy end so it wont pull out
-Allow the starter to wind the chord for you
-Pull out 1 full wind and tie the starter pull handle right there
-Done
Click to expand...


Thanks. I wasn't clear enough...should the properly sized starter rope go through the little tunnel easily? I had a couple extra starter cords in the spare parts box, long ago purchased. Its possibly that I put in a too-tight one on the 361 that was really for the 460. Now, I was probably trying to put a 064/660 sized cord into the 460.

It seems like its been a touch tricky in the past to thread the rope through the tunnel, as in the rope not just simply sliding right through, unimpeded. Its been a year, maybe, since a rope's gone out, so my reference point is fuzzy.
 
My pet peeve is catching guys looking down the cut with their face directly behind the bar/chain.
 
SouthSoundTree said:
Thanks. I wasn't clear enough...should the properly sized starter rope go through the little tunnel easily? I had a couple extra starter cords in the spare parts box, long ago purchased. Its possibly that I put in a too-tight one on the 361 that was really for the 460. Now, I was probably trying to put a 064/660 sized cord into the 460.

It seems like its been a touch tricky in the past to thread the rope through the tunnel, as in the rope not just simply sliding right through, unimpeded. Its been a year, maybe, since a rope's gone out, so my reference point is fuzzy.
Click to expand...

I use a rope that just fits ....... a dental pick helps move it along, but IMHO, it should go in there pretty easily without dragging the whole way. Should have some drag as you pull it out of the hole to tie it off.
 
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