Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Jstpssng]

Being out on the coast there’s always wind, that’s Sitka good luck sending a single one at a time in that mess.

What do they do, wedge all of them before dropping one onto the rest as shown in the video? Or how do you make sure that the first 27 trees don't fall on you while cutting the last two?

 

[Skeans1]

What do they do, wedge all of them before dropping one onto the rest as shown in the video? Or how do you make sure that the first 27 trees don't fall on you while cutting the last two?

You’re either putting a wedge in or not cutting up completely, we all have times we domino fall and it’s something I don’t recommend unless you have plenty of time with the pistol grip of the saw.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don’t recommend unless you have plenty of time with the pistol grip of the saw.

I'll agree with that!!!! I will stick to watching it on youtube.

 

[Hilbilly]

When I used a standard Oregon 511ax for doing depth gauges I left the head set at 60 degrees, shaped the wheel for a flat working area that’s parallel to the vise. How this grinder is set up now the head is around 80 degrees with a square edge wheel which gives a slight angle on the depth gauge which makes it cut a little smoother right out of the gate. Normally after the first cut you can’t tell the difference between the two ways.

As far as setting up a chain for how much to take before I even use a chain the minimum I’ll do is drop the rakers to spec, most of the time I’ll also sharpen the cutters to what I’m doing. After that normally every grind if not every other grind I adjust my rakers looking at the raker itself you’ll see a heat mark normally from cutting it’s where it’s been scrubbing and use that to set the depth.

I used the 1/4" wheel, which is too big for the teeth on my chains, so I will use it for the rakers. I set the angle to 80* (which is the angle specified on the box the chain came in) and found one raker that was set 0.030" below the tooth and used it as a gauge to set the depth for the other rakers. I went around the whole chain and some of the rakers never got touched and others took a bit off. I think after using the new sharpener a few times I will get the teeth and rakers all uniform and then I should see better performance from the chains.

I like the new sharpener but will likely still touch up the chains in the field and only use the bench sharpener after a few hand sharpenings. That way the electric sharpener can bring everything back to spec and make all the parts uniform. Judging by the varying length of each tooth and the varying depth the rakers were set at on my old chain, I need something like this new grinder. I think this new tool will be a very good investment.

 

[Skeans1]

I used the 1/4" wheel, which is too big for the teeth on my chains, so I will use it for the rakers. I set the angle to 80* (which is the angle specified on the box the chain came in) and found one raker that was set 0.030" below the tooth and used it as a gauge to set the depth for the other rakers. I went around the whole chain and some of the rakers never got touched and others took a bit off. I think after using the new sharpener a few times I will get the teeth and rakers all uniform and then I should see better performance from the chains.

I like the new sharpener but will likely still touch up the chains in the field and only use the bench sharpener after a few hand sharpenings. That way the electric sharpener can bring everything back to spec and make all the parts uniform. Judging by the varying length of each tooth and the varying depth the rakers were set at on my old chain, I need something like this new grinder. I think this new tool will be a very good investment.

Myself I hardly file other then a burr on a driver or bar rails, I’d rather swap a chain out it’s faster as well as easier to grind at the end of the day.

 

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I'm going to have to remember all the good suggestions here, when I get back to firewood gathering.

I also picked up one of the better Princess Auto electric chain sharpeners. After getting it set up and giving it try, I really like it.

For those of you that use the electric sharpener on the rakers, do you change the wheel and use a flat edged one that has not been shaped or just use the same wheel that was used for the teeth?

Nooo. Establish a dedicated wheel for rakers.

I wouldn't uses a electric sharpener on the rakers unless you have a controlled way of doing it ... ...

You can fine tune these grinders to take no more than 1/32" off a raker if you want.

 

[Hilbilly]

Nooo. Establish a dedicated wheel for rakers.


You can fine tune these grinders to take no more than 1/32" off a raker if you want.

I will only use the 1/4" wheel for rakers, since it is too big for any of the teeth on my chains.

Myself I hardly file other then a burr on a driver or bar rails, I’d rather swap a chain out it’s faster as well as easier to grind at the end of the day.

Your situation is different than mine and the biggest difference I see is that you use much longer bars and therefore have a LOT more teeth to sharpen plus you are in a production environment. I'm just an old guy getting firewood at his leisure, lol. Plus my chains are much smaller on the 16" and 20" bars that I use. I also tend to get a lot of my firewood when I am camping and may not be home for several weeks. So I will likely just hand sharpen occasionally, when I'm camping and take the chains with me when I go home to drop off a load. Then use the bench grinder to bring everything back to spec.

I really like the fact that all the teeth and rakers will be the same after using the bench grinder. I did notice one thing with this knock off grinder and that is, when I swing the clamp to move from the right teeth to the left teeth I have to readjust the tooth stopper. The pivot must not be centered properly because the difference is very pronounced. That could be a good thing though, since it will be obvious that it needs to be adjusted when I swing it, instead of me having to remember that.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Man

Right. I think I have burned about 5 cord so far this winter. About half of the 1 tree it came from.

that is a huge tree. Here is Cape Breton we don't get them that big. Usually not more than one cord per tree and that is a good tree. I do know of a place where there is 30 acres of nothing big huge trees, 3 and 4 feet across. It is very hard to access thou.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

One TBN member touts the value of grapple thumbs on his forks. I don't know if that would work for you or not.

Forks maybe no but I was thinking of the entire brush grapple for the front end loader. I think the brush would just fall through the forks unless I added a third tine.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Not enough room to move it once hooked. Part of the problem.

When I built the place I used various methods to take down hung-up trees and sectioning was one of them.
Back when I did this I was daring and much faster. I am neither now.

I know how you feel about slowing down. I wonder if you had a long rope or cable and hooked a pulley to the tree and ran the rope from tractor, through the pulley then to the hung tree. This way you may have a better angle to move the tractor farther.