I thank every one who has posted!
I had no idea there was so much to know about chain saws. We bought an olive farm a year and a hlf ago and painfully sawed everything by hund up until 3 months ago at which time I bought my husband a Stihl. We have never sharpened a chain. We got an extra one when we bought the cahin saw and when the first one got dull we jsut put on the secons one. I will go over to my dealer and get a chain saw sharpening tool and lso for the, oh i forget the name the smooth links between the cutting bits.
Good project for tomorrow. My husband is not mechanically inclined so this is a job I will be happy to do. I like tools and am comfortable around them.
I would like to get a chain with more bite on it as has been discussed on this thread, but since my husband declines to wear a helmet, I am not even going to tell him that there are other chains available that bite more. He needs all the safety features available. If he would wear the proper safety equipment then I would bump us up in a chain, but he won't, so he will never know what he is missing. Loving wife writing.
He ran the chain saw cutting down probably 40 6" to 10" trees without ever adding bar oil. Now that I showed him the directions he is at least adding bar oil every time he fills up with gasonline. The Stihl is awsome though. We got the model that dealer said all the olive farmers use. Nice lightweight and tons of power. Cost 550 Euros but gotta have the right equipment to do the job. We have the wierdest marriage. Usually the husband would research and buy the chain saw. With us just the opposite, he just let's me research and buy what I figure out will meet our needs,he doesn't even go with to the store. My dad treated his daughters jsut like his son and we all worked, duaghters and son, and learned the proper names of all the tools and how to use them, and he gave us plenty, plenty of projects. Which is why I cruise so much on TBN with all you fellers, I feel comfy here.
~rox
p.s. my dad never had a chain saw which is why my knowledge base is lacking in chain saws. When he had to cut down a tree he called my uncle and the two of them used a two man saw. Side note- he cut down oak trees with the two man saw, took them to a saw mill, dried the lumber in the top of our garage and then built all of the kitchen cabinets. Yeah I did a LOT of sanding when I was a kid, sanding down a lot of oak. Like I said above we all had to work when I was growing up.