A few things about Chainsaws.

Hey, it's the LumberJack here.  I am passionate about chainsaws and tree work.  I wanted to share a little bit about them with all of you.

A single tool that has multiple uses is the smartest thing a person can buy and nothing could be truer when it comes to chainsaws.  Chainsaws are definitely not just limited to tree work and cross cutting applications.  Carving, lumber milling, log cabin building and timber faming are just a few more examples of what could be done with a chainsaw.  They even make kits that convert your chainsaw into a wench!

This is not a “how to guide” for chainsaws, nor it is a product review or about how to use a saw safely.  Safe chainsaw operation and how to choose a chainsaw that fits your particular needs are things that you are responsible for researching yourself.  I am simply writing about things that I have learned that may benefit you.  I am not claiming to be an expert on chainsaws and I often have to ask my good friend, who owns his own tree service company, for advice or input.

Like I said this is not about safe chainsaw operation but I would like to mention a couple of items that could save your life.  Working with a chainsaw can be dangerous, especially if you are not paying attention to what you are doing or if you loose focus even for a moment.  I never operate my saws without wearing steel-toe boots— trust me on this one.  Get yourself a descent pair of steel-toe boots.  They don’t have to be top dollar but I wouldn’t cheap out on them either.  Remember that you will be working in them, for many hours probably, day in and day out.  Not only will they protect you from the saw chain but they can also protect your feet from falling logs and tree equipment.  Another good purchase is a pair of chainsaw chaps.  The fabric strands inside of the materiel are designed to get caught up in the chain and jam the sprocket should the bar come in contact with your leg.  If you think you will just take your chances and not invest in a set then just do an internet search for injuries involving chainsaws and you will change your mind.  Last but not least is a helmet with a screen visor; most tree work helmets that come with the screen visors also have hearing protection attached to the helmet and it is another great investment.  I don’t always wear mine but I do always wear it when I’m felling a tree or when I’m milling logs into lumber (more about this later).  Another item that I keep with me is a military grade tourniquet (CAT tourniquet) that can be applied with one person for when I am by myself.  God forbid I have to use it but it is there in case the worst happens.  These accidents will happen fast and often when you least expect them to so protect yourself!

So my first “real” chainsaw was a Husqvarna 455 Rancher with an 18” bar and I still have the saw.  I bought a house with a lot of trees and I decided that I needed a good saw so I purchased the 455.  For those of you that don’t know, the top two chainsaw companies (Stihl and Husqvarna) both produce three grades of chainsaws: homeowner use, farm/ranch use, and professional use.  If you are only going to be using the saw about once or twice a year then you can probably squeak by with a homeowner saw.  However, I would recommend that you by farm grade saw if you are going to be using it more than that.  You will pay a little more but you will receive a much better product for the money and some of the well built farm grade saws have similar features that can be found on the professional ones.  The big difference between the farm grade saws and the professional ones is the crankcase.  The crankcase on the professional models will be made out of magnesium/metal where as the crankcase on the farm saws are plastic.  There are a few other differences when it comes to performance but I won’t get into that.  Obviously if you are going to be doing real serious, everyday work with your saw then you need a professional saw.

Going back to the Husqvarna 455, I decided that when I purchased it that I needed a farm grade saw because of the amount of trees that I had on my property and I new that I would be using the saw often.  There is no particular reason why I went with Husqvarna instead of Stihl; I just happened to like the features on the 455.  The first year/year and a half I was really surprised with how much I was using the saw.  I had a lot of firewood to buck (cross-cut) from a tree job that my friend and I did on my property; we took out two large trees and a third smaller one.  That year was also particularly stormy and a lot of trees came down as a result, adding to my workload.  A couple of people that I know requested for me to clear some of the downed trees on their property and I decided that it was time to upgrade to a professional saw.  The professional saw that I decided to go with was the Stihl MS 362 with a 20” bar.  Again, no particular reason why I chose one company over the other— the Stihl just happened to fit my needs better.

Before I purchased the 362, I didn’t know a whole lot about sharpening a saw chain.  I had bought some gimmicky file guides for my 455 but they never seemed to really work all that great and I often brought my chains into the saw shop to have them sharpened.  But most of the time when I got my chains back from the saw shop I noticed that the saw would not cut straight and that it would saw through the log at an angle.  A lot of people think that when a saw cuts at an angle it is because the bar is warped or bent.  This can be true but a lot of the times it is not the case.  A saw can cut crooked for a couple of reasons— if you look at a saw chain you will notice that the cutters alternate from left to right.  If the cutters on one side are sharpened or filed more than the cutters on the other side it can result in a slanted cut.  Also, if the rakers are not occasionally filed down PROPERLY it can result in the saw cutting at an angle.  The raker is the tooth that is directly in front of the cutter and it determines how fast the saw will cut.  If the rakers are not filed down enough the saw will not cut efficiently and it will only pull fine wood dust out of the cut.  Additionally, if the rakers are not filed down correctly the saw will cut at an angle.  If the rakers are filed down too far the saw will cut too aggressively and it can bind up the saw.  You don’t need to file the rakers down every time you sharpen the cutters but you do need to do it probably about every three times or so, using a raker file guide.  The raker file guide sits atop two cutters and allows you to file down the raker to the correct height.  It is important that you use a raker file guide for this and don’t do it free handed… you may file down too far or not enough.  So if your saw is cutting at an angle it might not be a problem with your bar— check the chain fist.

Like I said I didn’t know a whole lot about chain sharpening when I bought my 362 but I was determined to learn.  I was tired of the saw shop messing up my chains so I started doing some research.  I’m not going to go into the specifics of how to sharpen a chain but I have learned that I am better at doing it free handed than I am using a guide or gauge.  I am definitely not an expert at it though, and I am still getting better with it each time I sharpen.  On thing that I would like to point out is that you there are different chain pitches and you have to use the appropriate file size for each pitch.

I could definitely notice the difference in power and performance between my MS 362 and my 455.  Don’t get me wrong, the 455 is a great farm use saw but you really can’t compare the two as the MS 362 is a pro saw.  One note that I would like to touch on is the importance of having at least two saws.  If one saw goes down or gets pinched in a tree you will still have your other saw.  Thus, I still have my 455.

One day I was on YouTube looking at some chainsaw/tree work videos when I came across something that blew my mind— milling lumber with a chainsaw!  The guy in the video was milling out a log with a chainsaw mill.  Now I don’t know about you but being able to mill your own lumber is a huge deal to me.  If you are a homesteader or if you are in the rustic furniture business or cabin building business then a chainsaw mill is pretty much a must have item.  One could make the argument that you could just go to your local hardware store and buy some lumber.  That’s great and all for your “run of the mill” lumber like 2x4’s and such.  But with a chainsaw mill your imagination is the limit.  If you need a piece of lumber with odd dimensions or if you need a custom piece of lumber then you are not likely to find it at your box store.  I enjoy designing and building (and selling) rustic furniture so I decided to purchase a chainsaw mill after seeing this video.

After a lot of research I decided to purchase the Granberg 30” Alaskan Chainsaw Mill with their 9’ EZ guiderail system.  Now, chainsaw milling is the most demanding thing you can put a saw through— it is extremely hard on the saw.  If you are going to get into chainsaw milling you need AT LEAST a 70cc saw but I would personally recommend at least an 80cc saw.  My MS 362 is a 59cc saw so that wasn’t going to work in the mill and I had to buy a bigger saw.  I chose the Stihl MS 660 Magnum but I almost went with a large Husqvarna saw.  The MS 660 has a 91.6cc engine and can hold up to a 36” bar but I bought mine with a 28” bar.  One thing that is important to note here when you put your saw in the mill is that you loose a few inches.  You can’t put the mill bracket right on the sprocket nose because you will bind up the sprocket so you have to bring it in a couple of inches towards the power head.  Another thing to consider is the felling spikes— if you keep them on and you have large felling spikes on the saw, like the 660 has, then you will loose a couple of inches there as well.  In my case I decided to leave the felling spikes on the saw because I might use the saw for cross cutting as well and I don’t want to re-install the spikes in the field.  You might choose to do it different though.  So to give you an example, I have a 28” bar on my saw but I only mill a log that is 19” wide with the way I currently have it set up.  If I removed the felling spikes then I would be able to mill a log about 24” wide or so.

When you mill a log down the length of it then you are doing what is called “ripping” and you need a ripping chain.  The ripping chain is filed differently and it removes less material as it cuts.  You will notice that the saw dust that comes out of the saw is fine and it is not like the chunks of wood that you see during cross-cutting with a regular chain.  The cutters on a ripping chain are filled between 0-10 degrees (usually about 5 degrees) where as the cutters on a regular chain are filed at about 30 degrees.  While we are on the subject of chains I would like to talk about oil during milling.  To make sure that I don’t burn up my bar during milling I have turned up my oil pump all the way on my 660 so that it pumps out the maximum amount of oil onto the chain.  I have also since turned up the oil pumps all the way on my other two saws— it is cheaper to buy oil than it is to buy a new bar.  If your saw is oiling correctly it should be going through one tank of oil for every two tanks of gas.  However, if you turn the oiler all the way up then I would check the oil lever more often than that.  The last thing that you want to do is let that saw run dry!  While I am on the subject of oil I would like to touch on the subject of fuel real quick.  When it comes to your two-cycle oil, don’t cheap out.  Buy some good quality two-cycle oil so you don’t destroy your engine.  Sometimes the manufacturer will extend the warranty on your saw if you purchase two-cycle oil that is made by the manufacturer of the saw.  Also be sure to use ethanol free gas in your saw; ethanol is one of the worst things for a carbureted engine.  To find a gas station in your area that sells ethanol free gas simply type “ethanol free gas stations” into a search engine and it should pull up some websites that you can enter your zip code in.  If you live near a large lake, a lot of marinas sell ethanol free fuel and that is where I get mine.

So far I have milled red oak, maple and pine… I should be milling cedar soon if all goes well.  What I have found out may surprise you.  While it is easier to cross-cut though pine, it is actually easier to mill red oak.  I guess because of the sap.  All of the trees were approximately the same diameter so that doesn’t have anything to do with it.  One thing that you need to watch out for when you are milling red oak, which I have learned the hard way, is that oak is pretty bad when it comes to bowing, checking (splitting on the ends), cracking and twisting.  You really have to take care of the lumber after it is milled and let it dry properly.  To help prevent the oak from checking you can pain the ends of the lumber to prevent the wood from drying out to fast which results in checking.  Believe it or not, lumber doesn’t loose much moisture out of the grain that runs across the top or bottom of the board.  Most of the moisture that is lost is evaporated from the ends.  If the moisture escapes the wood too fast it will check, or split.  As with the red oak lumber that I milled I didn’t pain the end edges after I milled it and it checked pretty bad.  Some of the pieces were almost unusable but I was still able salvage a lot of it.  Next time I will definitely take the extra time to paint the ends.

Currently I am building a table and some benches out of the red oak lumber but you can build pretty much anything with the lumber that you mill yourself.  I have really enjoyed the chainsaw mill so far and it was well worth the investment.  I haven’t paid the equipment off yet but I will once I sell some of these things that I am building.

In writing about some of my experience with chainsaws I hope that I have helped you or perhaps answered some of your questions.  There certainly is a lot more to it than just what I have wrote here and these are just a few of the things that I thought were important— please keep in mind that his was not meant to be a detailed guide to chainsaws and how to use them.  I plan to update this periodically but if you have any questions please contact me.  With that said I can’t stress the importance of safe chainsaw operation enough and the importance of safety equipment.  Thanks for reading!

The future LumberJack is fascinated by daddy's chainsaw!

LumberJack.