That's me. I have some questions and am wearing my kevlar suit so don't spare my feelings
I recently bought a Stihl Kombi and added the pole saw. I've used it twice, for a total of maybe 15 minutes and am trying to carefully follow the instruction manual. Tightened up the chain (when cold) between uses. Manual said it would need it - and it did.
We're looking to build a new home on 5 acres we bought last fall - ~2.5 acres are wooded and haven't been touched in probably 30 years. Besides the pole saw I'm going to pick up a chainsaw once we move in. Given the quality of the Kombi, I'll be picking up a Stihl.
In preparation - and for maintaining the pole saw - I bought a Harbor Freight chain sharpener on sale for $29.99 - it MUST be worth that much... Someone posted some very good, easily understood instructions on how to tune it up. I tried to find the thread to thank the poster but couldn't find it. I followed them and still had trouble with the pressure plate grabbing the chain too high, causing it to lift and tilt. After adding the washers to the small screw below the pressure plate knob it still did it. I wound up taking a Dremel with a grinding wheel to the top of the pressure plate and now it clamps the chain sprocket teeth firmly and the chain doesn't move at all.
I also have an old chainsaw that was given to me 20+ years ago. The story behind it is that the guy who gave it to me had been given it by a coworker of his but my friend was too scared of it to use it. His story was that the guy who gave it to him got it from his dad. His dad had a contract with the US Coast Guard to clear brush on a base somewhere (New England, IIRC) and the USCG gave him a new saw every couple of years. I did a little searching on the net and it's an Italian made saw...it's in the shed, it's dark and not worth going out with a flashlight to look at it. I'm guessing the saw is ~25 years old. I used it to take down a wild cherry tree right after I got it and put it away. Obviously, it won't start now and I don't know if it's worth the work (if I can do it) or expense (if I have to pay someone) to get it running.
The saw came with a nice blow-molded case, a couple of hand tools, chainsaw file, a nice pencil-tip grease gun and 3 used chains. One of the chains was obviously never used after sharpening and the other two are in need of sharpening before use - if they were to be used again. Once I got the sharpener tuned up, I put one of the chains in to try the sharpener.
The chain was all gunked up but with not much, if any, pitch/sap on it. I sprayed it down really well with WD-40, wiped it down with a couple of those blue paper shop towels and blew it 'dry' with compressed air. On closer inspection I'm not sure the chain is in very good shape. Some of the rakers are bent sideways a bit and a couple appear to have been filed down. I figure it's a good candidate for fine tuning the sharpener and practicing.
Would the old chainsaw be worth time/money to get it running? Do you clean your chain before sharpening? If so, how clean?
TIA,
Charlie
I recently bought a Stihl Kombi and added the pole saw. I've used it twice, for a total of maybe 15 minutes and am trying to carefully follow the instruction manual. Tightened up the chain (when cold) between uses. Manual said it would need it - and it did.
We're looking to build a new home on 5 acres we bought last fall - ~2.5 acres are wooded and haven't been touched in probably 30 years. Besides the pole saw I'm going to pick up a chainsaw once we move in. Given the quality of the Kombi, I'll be picking up a Stihl.
In preparation - and for maintaining the pole saw - I bought a Harbor Freight chain sharpener on sale for $29.99 - it MUST be worth that much... Someone posted some very good, easily understood instructions on how to tune it up. I tried to find the thread to thank the poster but couldn't find it. I followed them and still had trouble with the pressure plate grabbing the chain too high, causing it to lift and tilt. After adding the washers to the small screw below the pressure plate knob it still did it. I wound up taking a Dremel with a grinding wheel to the top of the pressure plate and now it clamps the chain sprocket teeth firmly and the chain doesn't move at all.
I also have an old chainsaw that was given to me 20+ years ago. The story behind it is that the guy who gave it to me had been given it by a coworker of his but my friend was too scared of it to use it. His story was that the guy who gave it to him got it from his dad. His dad had a contract with the US Coast Guard to clear brush on a base somewhere (New England, IIRC) and the USCG gave him a new saw every couple of years. I did a little searching on the net and it's an Italian made saw...it's in the shed, it's dark and not worth going out with a flashlight to look at it. I'm guessing the saw is ~25 years old. I used it to take down a wild cherry tree right after I got it and put it away. Obviously, it won't start now and I don't know if it's worth the work (if I can do it) or expense (if I have to pay someone) to get it running.
The saw came with a nice blow-molded case, a couple of hand tools, chainsaw file, a nice pencil-tip grease gun and 3 used chains. One of the chains was obviously never used after sharpening and the other two are in need of sharpening before use - if they were to be used again. Once I got the sharpener tuned up, I put one of the chains in to try the sharpener.
The chain was all gunked up but with not much, if any, pitch/sap on it. I sprayed it down really well with WD-40, wiped it down with a couple of those blue paper shop towels and blew it 'dry' with compressed air. On closer inspection I'm not sure the chain is in very good shape. Some of the rakers are bent sideways a bit and a couple appear to have been filed down. I figure it's a good candidate for fine tuning the sharpener and practicing.
Would the old chainsaw be worth time/money to get it running? Do you clean your chain before sharpening? If so, how clean?
TIA,
Charlie