Tips and Tricks

[southsoundtree]

Pretty slick tool @Cereal_Killer View attachment 73385

Wanted these yesterday.

 

[Dan Cobb]

For wood that's on the ground, I think the trick of sticking a piece of small diameter pvc pipe with a rare earth magnet glued in the end onto the chainsaw bar looks pretty cool. (Pvc sticks out 90 degrees to the bar to serve as your measuring stick.) Stick it on, scribe for your cuts, then take it off and go to bucking.

 

[Njdelaney]

I've been thinking a 16" measuring stick with a magnet, stuck in the bar, would make it easy to mark out a log, then move on to cutting.



I have these

Magnetic Trailer Alignment Kit

Amazing deals on this Magnetic Trailer Alignment Kit at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

for backing up a narrow trailer on my own, sticking off sideways.

Also, makes for a magnetic picker-upper.


I think marking firewood will be a good, additional purpose for the tool.

You can also just put a mark on your bar 16" from the tip(when using a big enough bar) and turn it vertical to get a quick reference point. That's free if you have a Sharpie and you can do it to every bar you own.

 

[Jehinten]

I've been thinking a 16" measuring stick with a magnet, stuck in the bar, would make it easy to mark out a log, then move on to cutting.



I have these

Magnetic Trailer Alignment Kit

Amazing deals on this Magnetic Trailer Alignment Kit at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

for backing up a narrow trailer on my own, sticking off sideways.

Also, makes for a magnetic picker-upper.


I think marking firewood will be a good, additional purpose for the tool.

I've pre-drilled and screwed one of these to a 1/2" Dowell rod. It works well to scribe, then remove to buck through the log.

Alternatively, the owner of eastonmade splitters has a few videos of him bucking wood. He has what appears to be a snowplow marker bolted to his bar stud of his saw. It bends out for measurements, and bends back out of the way when not needed. I think this would be nice for a dedicated firewood saw

 

[southsoundtree]

You can also just put a mark on your bar 16" from the tip(when using a big enough bar) and turn it vertical to get a quick reference point. That's free if you have a Sharpie and you can do it to every bar you own.

Pistol grip to forward bar-nut is 16"... lots of extra motions and bending, though.

Also, from bar tip to a point on the name printed on the side of the bar works, like the marker idea, but similarly, extra motions, and possibly easier to get sloppy.

 

[27RMT0N]

So just to be more clear, when I do firewood I go through and mark everything first. It's easy to just walk down a log and make that one quick swipe with the handsaw against the marking stick the whole way down, with perfect accuracy. Then grab the saw and just cut on the lines. It removes all the body twisting of having to turn your chainsaw 90 to measure with your bar in some way, and you don't have to have some weird stick hanging off your bar getting in the way of cutting. That's my preference at least.

 

[SeanRuel]

From @Serf Life

On dirt driveways you can lay the pincers of a BMG flat on the ground and push huge piles of rakings around.

 

[27RMT0N]

With practice, on a vertical or near vertical stem, snap/bypass cuts can be just as accurate as perfect face-cuts on trees that don't require rigging, and WAY faster and easier:

Edit: Making your cuts in a knot-free section is critical, the lower cut is towards the fall direction of course, understand and control log rotation.

 

[JD3000]

Learn to notch and back cut with a stick saw.

 

[27RMT0N]

Learn to notch and back cut with a stick saw.

Do they make stick saws 90' long?

(but yah, that is an important skill and harder than it looks!)

 

[Flying~Squirrel]

With practice, on a vertical or near vertical stems, snap/bypass cuts can be just as accurate as perfect face-cuts on trees that don't require rigging, and WAY faster and easier:

Edit: Making your cuts in a knot-free section is critical, the lower cut is towards the fall direction of course, understand and control log rotation.

View attachment 73489

In a vertical stem, do you make your cuts with the bar perpendicular to the intended lay?

 

[27RMT0N]

In a vertical stem, do you make your cuts with the bar perpendicular to the intended lay?

Yes, I aim the bypass cuts (upper and lower) with the sight on the saw just like you would while aiming your face. The height between the cuts and the depth of overlap have general rules, but it all varies depending on the length of the piece, angle, weight, diameter, species, etc. That is where the 'practice' part comes in: start small and learn every piece in a low consequence situations first. On doug and grand fir, I've gotten comfortable doing 10-12' sections, up to about 18" this way. Even on our tall trees, it makes for a pretty fast removal once you get the hang of it. Set the snap cut, hang your saw, take your ear protection out so you have full auditory awareness of when and how it is breaking. Be prepared for some on the fly adjustments by hand as you push because each piece may still break off a little different. You also need your hands on it to control rotation so it lands flat. By making the top cut opposite the fall direction, you have a reliable pivot point to work with once the piece has broken free and begins to move (although most of the pivot does happen on the flat bottom cut).

 

[southsoundtree]

Gord's Magic Cut is great for that.

Undercut the center of gravity, add a Humboldt creating a full Dutchman, and back-cut lower than the first cut.

It falls on it own.

A sniped snap-cut.


Magic!

 

[27RMT0N]

Even a small amount of build-up on your handsaw blade can seriously hurt cutting performance by adding a lot of extra friction when the blade is in the cut. The way I clean mine is a spray bottle of denatured alcohol, let it soak for 30-60 seconds and scrape the gunk off with a razor in a handle, then blow any additional debris with my air nozzle.

 

[flushcut]

^same is true for pole saw blades. I use acetone it's mostly what I have on hand.

 

[Dan Cobb]

I got tired of trying to remember the recommended number of times to push the primer bulbs on my various equipment so I just put labels by the primer bulbs. For controls "labels" that are just molded in plastic, highlighting them with a sharpie makes them easy to read when your vision is crappy. Not really needed for stuff I use all the time, but nice for equipment I don't use that often. And I like the way it looks.

Chainsaw

Blower

Gunning sight

 

[Jehinten]

If your pulling an arbor trolley by hand, your doing it wrong.


Benefits of the 4 wheeler:
Less labor
Fast travel time
Less tracks in the soft yard than the mini
Allows the mini to stage the next log while one is in transit

 

[27RMT0N]

Get more height/distance when broadcasting chips by finding a rock or chunk of wood and pull one chipper tire onto it to achieve a higher chute-angle. Great for firing chips uphill.

 

[Jonny]

Pretty slick!

Along the same line of thought, I have a smaller chipper and have trouble filling the top corners in front of the chip box, so if I need to squeeze in those extra few feet of chips, I’ll unhook the chipper and crank the trailer jack as high as it goes.

 

[Bendroctanus]

He’s going the distance, he’s going for speeeeed…