Chainsaw 101 for novices!

[varmint]

Being a rural homeowner, I had a little experience with chainsaws, but no real need. I got along with an Echo 270, but then we got a fireplace insert, and an opportunity to get a lot of firewood when a neighbor had 7 or 8 large trees bulldozed to clear land for a horse riding rink. I looked at Stihls, pricey, but I found a "new" Echo 490 for half price, and grabbed it. After performing the exhaust mods and carb retuning, I still wasn't happy with the cutting speed. A little research resulted in ordering a "professional" Oregon chain, to replace the low-kickback safety chain it came with. Wow! Now, instead of sawdust, I am cutting with chips at about 3 times the speed. Kickback is manageable, with attention. Today I discovered NAPA has premixed non-ethanol premium 2-cycle gas for under $18 a gallon. Not that you'd normally use it, but sure makes for easy starts after storage, and I will run a tank thru before putting the saw away for storage. Maybe some other novices will find this useful?

 

[dragoneggs]

Never bought premium 2 cycle gas but something to look into. Thanks varmint.

 

[davesl708]

I mix my own premium pure gas for $2.83 a gallon.

 

[Garandman]

I buy MOGAS at an airport for $4.95 a gallon. There aren't any other pure gas pumps in MA or NH except racing fuel.

 

[davesl708]

I buy MOGAS at an airport for $4.95 a gallon. There aren't any other pure gas pumps in MA or NH except racing fuel.

Wow. that too bad about the pure gas. Is MOGAS the 110 octane avgas?

 

[MossRoad]

No! MOGAS is not aviation fuel (AVGAS). It's car gas sold at airports for aircraft certified to use MOGAS. Why? Its cheaper than AVGAS.

 

[davesl708]

No! MOGAS is not aviation fuel (AVGAS). It's car gas sold at airports for aircraft certified to use MOGAS. Why? Its cheaper than AVGAS.

Ok. was not sure of the distinction. We get pure 93 octane for about $2.49 gal and 87 octane for $2.27 gal.

 

[Coyote machine]

Depending on where one lives, NON-Ethanol gas may be available as a premium pump product. If so, it mixed with Stihl's Ultra oil makes for the best mix one can run for a reasonable price. That's all I use in ALL my saws and other 2 cycle mix engines.

 

[Garandman]

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

 

[varmint]

Thanks for posting (again?) the ethanol free gas station list! Sadly, there's no place reasonably close for me to get straight gas. I once took a 5 gal. container to the Eastern Shore to get some, but I am not crazy about traveling with gas inside a car. I know it is fairly widely available in farming states- curiously those states that produce corn for ethanol- the farmer's don't want it! I was suggesting using it as needed, not as a steady diet of fuel when you are using your chainsaws a lot.

 

[motownbrowne]

Thanks for posting (again?) the ethanol free gas station list! Sadly, there's no place reasonably close for me to get straight gas. I once took a 5 gal. container to the Eastern Shore to get some, but I am not crazy about traveling with gas inside a car. I know it is fairly widely available in farming states- curiously those states that produce corn for ethanol- the farmer's don't want it! I was suggesting using it as needed, not as a steady diet of fuel when you are using your chainsaws a lot.

I think the premix makes perfect sense for that application. If you're running your saw all week, run mid-grade mixed with quality 2-stroke oil. At the end of the week run a couple of tanks of the ethanol free pre mix through and feel good knowing that's what's left in the saw while it sits around.

 

[Garandman]

Thanks for posting (again?) the ethanol free gas station list! Sadly, there's no place reasonably close for me to get straight gas. //

Do you have a small airport nearby? They usually have it but aren't usually listed at Pure-Gas. Newport NH and Braintree MA both have it and are not listed.

We use 5 gallon steel "Safety Cans" for storage.

 

[dfkrug]

Today I discovered NAPA has premixed non-ethanol premium 2-cycle gas for
under $18 a gallon.

Hey, that's actually a great price, $10/gal less than I have seen it for here.

As for racing gas, I have checked into that, and it seems that there is a vendor around the country called
"VR", who makes a lot of it, and it contains ethanol.

 

[varmint]

dfkrug, that's interesting, since the vendor listed on "ethanol-free" listings is indeed VR racing gas...? As for airports, many won't sell it to non-airplane types like me. The NAPA price was $17.82.

 

[dfkrug]

dfkrug, that's interesting, since the vendor listed on "ethanol-free" listings
is indeed VR racing gas...? As for airports, many won't sell it to non-airplane types like me. The NAPA
price was $17.82.

VR does make a lot of different formulae; some of them even have lead. The formula sold here was
at a Conoco76 station, and clearly said 10% ethanol. You can go online and check the datasheet.

As for the AVGas, or other eth-free fuels at the airport, you have to tag along with a general aviation
pilot to get a gallon or 2.

 

[dsgsr]

You folks sure do spend a lot of money for saw-gas. I buy regular gas at the local station (1.99.9 today) in 5-gal jug. I add 1-oz. of Marine Sta-bil and my choice of 2-cycle oil. Been doing this for yrs. with My husky saws with no problems.

David

 

[s219]

Being a rural homeowner, I had a little experience with chainsaws, but no real need. I got along with an Echo 270, but then we got a fireplace insert, and an opportunity to get a lot of firewood when a neighbor had 7 or 8 large trees bulldozed to clear land for a horse riding rink. I looked at Stihls, pricey, but I found a "new" Echo 490 for half price, and grabbed it. After performing the exhaust mods and carb retuning, I still wasn't happy with the cutting speed. A little research resulted in ordering a "professional" Oregon chain, to replace the low-kickback safety chain it came with. Wow! Now, instead of sawdust, I am cutting with chips at about 3 times the speed.

The only time a safety chain behaves differently is when the chain rounds the nose of the bar and the safety rakers protrude further. When running along the flat edge of the bar, the cutters of the safety chain and standard chain behave exactly the same. This is easy to verify with a visual inspection.

The only time you really need a chain without safety features is when you are doing plunge or bore cuts, but those are pro maneuvers and average homeowners/landowners are not qualified to do that, nor should they need to.

If you were seeing sawdust instead of chips, it means the chain was not sharp and/or the depth rakers were not filed down. That can happen on any chain type. I see many people cutting with dull chains, and can't imagine how they tolerate it. And I see a lot of people who sharpen the cutter but never check the depth rakers to take them down as the chain wears, so they are not getting an aggressive cut. As soon as you stop seeing confetti, it's time to sharpen, and every few sharpenings you should be taking some metal off the depth rakers.

If cutting dirty wood, switch to a semi-chisel cutter -- it will hold up longer between sharpening. Full chisel dulls much more quickly. Unfortunately, many people buy full chisel in the quest for better cutting performance, but that will not last too long when cutting dirty wood.

To give an idea, when I am cutting firewood, I will sharpen at least 2-3 times in a full day when running semi-chisel. That is a big improvement in productivity. With full chisel, I was sharpening a lot more frequently, maybe once an hour.

 

[varmint]

s219, while you may be correct, my experience is different. The Echo started with a new chain, and I believe I know how to sharpen: I have the right file/guide sets, a good workstation, and plenty of experience with handwork. I tried sharpening the chain many times, but when I put the new Super 20 chain on, I was off and running. I understand what you mean about plunge cutting, having done that. I will try the semi-chisel chain, since I often have wood that's been on the ground for a while. Not dirty, but not clean, either.
As for pricey gas, I also hate wasting money, but when I was running with ethanol gas, even though I would run the saws dry before storage, they always gave me trouble the next time until whatever deposits were in the carbs got cleared. Switching to the liquid gold gas, no problems at all. So I will run the last tank, and the first tank, with the good stuff. Too bad we don't have any small airports close by.

 

[s219]

What was the original chain? Echos ship with an Oregon chain. It's very likely that your new chain has a different cutter or some other factor is at play. But don't get distracted by the safety/non-safety aspect. All else equal -- same cutters, same sharpness, same raker depth -- a safety chain will only behave differently as it rounds the tip of the bar. That is the only time the safety rakers will raise above the depth rakers. In all other scenarios, the depth rakers determine the size of the chip removed and thus the cutting performance.

I think that if you're making a chainsaw thread for novices, the worst thing you could do is tell them they need to throw away their safety chain. Yes, they should choose the best chain and keep it sharpened right, but unless they are doing plunge/bore cuts and qualified to do so, there is no reason *not* to run a safety chain. Especially novices -- they are often not educated about kickback, and they are rarely wearing protective equipment. A safety chain adds a good layer of insurance with no real downsides for a novice.

 

[Coyote machine]

I agree with s219 completely regarding what one tells novices, especially if one is a novice themselves. Chainsaws are dangerous enough without creating more confusion about how to cut with them and erroneous information about how chains work and why.
If you're not absolutely certain about what you're telling people about a chain or a saw, or both stay clear of giving advice to others. It could cost them their life. No kidding- I've been doing saw work my entire life, and I've seen even life experienced guys die from one mistake on the job.
Professional training courses are the way to learn proper saw and cutting techniques, everything else is amateurs guessing.