Thread: Electric chainsaw sharpener..

I reckon that's gonna be a can of worms Travis....

Originally Posted by Sigidi

I reckon that's gonna be a can of worms Travis....

What is it now Allan?

motor oil vs chain oil........

Originally Posted by Sigidi

motor oil vs chain oil........

Good one!

Originally Posted by Sigidi

motor oil vs chain oil........

My chainsaws manual says motor oil

Originally Posted by montiee

My chainsaws manual says motor oil

Let me guess you bought one of those cheap chinese saws off fleabay!!!!! the people who write the manuals for those should be given a Brain implant, to replace what was taken out when they had their full frontal labotomy.

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

Let me guess you bought one of those cheap chinese saws off fleabay!!!!! the people who write the manuals for those should be given a Brain implant, to replace what was taken out when they had their full frontal labotomy.

Yep but I tell you what that baumr chainsaw performed exceptionally well. Great purchase. Certainly well enough I wouldn't even bother looking at a stihl or husky unless I was a real pro using it for a living and even then I wonder whether it might actually be good enough anyway for the money and just assumed I'd replace it every year rather than pay $100+ per maintenance..

I use a dremel, it works for me.

Originally Posted by montiee

Yep but I tell you what that baumr chainsaw performed exceptionally well. Great purchase. Certainly well enough I wouldn't even bother looking at a stihl or husky unless I was a real pro using it for a living and even then I wonder whether it might actually be good enough anyway for the money and just assumed I'd replace it every year rather than pay $100+ per maintenance..

My stihl 034 was bought new in 1992 and in that 17 nearly 18 years has had nothing more than a number of chains, a new airfilter, changed the sprocket to a splined radial one, and bugger all else as far as maintenance goes. just give it a good clean now and then. at that rate if you were replacing your baumr chainsaw every year at $150 to $200 a year you would soon find out that you would have spent a ship load more in the 17 years of reliable service that my stihl has given. For a number of years it was working all day every day cutting ironbark. At the end of the day the saw would not have had more than $100 on maintenance parts and maybe $200 spent on CONSUMABLES (not including chains, fuel and bar oil.) for it in 17 years and it still goes like the day it was made.

Not to say that the baumr probably isnt a good saw for the occasional firewood cutter or trimming the bushes in the backyard. Personally I will stick with Stihl or Husqvarna simply because replacement items such as bars, chains, filters etc are readily available and if something should go awry there are qualified service technicians and backup available in nearly every town in australia. Good luck getting warranty service on your baumr. Would have to be sent off at your cost, and if you get it back you would probably be looking at 6 to 8 weeks turnaround. bit of a pain in the butt if you only managed to get a couple of weeks worth of firewood cut before it got too wet to go cutting more.

The thing that irks me most about them though is that the manuals are written by people who really have no idea about what the tool will have to endure. I.E. MOTOR OIL IS OK TO USE. I guess that they also advise that you use ethanol blend petrol to mix your 2 stroke fuel as well. Even Talon, which are renowned as being cheap tools, advise the use of proper chain bar oil and quality 2 stroke oil mixed with non ethanol petrol.

P.S. I do not advise that you do try mixing your 2 stroke using ethanol based petrol.

Granted I did spend more initially but the reliability, serviceability, good design features that the baumr probably doesn't have, and backup should it be needed give peace of mind and as the mastercard ads say Peace of mind .....Priceless.

Sharpening poll update, twice as many people have voted compared to previous update, still around 80% using files.

Originally Posted by BobL

Sharpening poll update, twice as many people have voted compared to previous update, still around 80% using files.

BobL although I appreciate the polls it just tells us what the masses use, not which is better.

People are slow to change habits. How can you tell which method gives better results unless you try both methods? I'm not talking about some freak logger who is skilled at sharpening but the average joe in the polls. How many in that poll have gone out and bought a grinder for their chainsaw to actually make an informed decision and taken the time to learn how to set it up? I would say very few.

How many would be happy to shift their habits to using mutliple chains rather than changing a chain after a few hours. Very few. You can't teach an old dog new tricks springs to mind. Old habits die hard.

Now the file I believe has a place out in the field where electricity is hard to come by and which alot of work is done in remote areas so it's probably why it's going to be the most used method of sharpening. There is a work around and that is carrying multiple chains but as I said most peoples habits are hard to change once they have been established. Grinders that are good and affordable only entered the markets a few years ago so it's not surprising if the vast majority of chainsaw owners grew up with a file.

What would be interesting is having a poll for all the people who voted showing whether they have even tried any other form of sharpening aside from file.

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

P.S. I do not advise that you do try mixing your 2 stroke using ethanol based petrol.

Didn't plan to and no the manual doesn't say use ethanol. It even makes a point to run if at 25:1 for the first 20hrs of use and then 20:1 after that. The manual is fairly good to be honest. I don't want to get into the whole bar oil vs motor oil argument but I don't have a problem running motor oil in a pinch as a substitute as long as it's the right viscoscity.

Originally Posted by montiee

Didn't plan to and no the manual doesn't say use ethanol. It even makes a point to run if at 25:1 for the first 20hrs of use and then 20:1 after that. The manual is fairly good to be honest. I don't want to get into the whole bar oil vs motor oil argument but I don't have a problem running motor oil in a pinch as a substitute as long as it's the right viscoscity.

At 20:1 any CS operator will be working in a constant fog of all sorts of unburnt gunk. It is not possible to tune a small 2 stroke engine to adequately burn all the 2 stroke lube present in 25:1 let alone at 20:1 so the unburnt lube simply comes out of the exhaust. Modern 2 stroke lubes are excellent at suppressing smoke formation and so operators think they are safe but just because they can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there in the form of invisible vapours and particles. If you read the MSDS for 2 stroke lube you will see it is a cocktail of stuff most of which is not good for us.

When using 25:1 my chaps get covered in a black greasy film of unburnt lube and I get a headache pretty quickly from the fumes. I use a quality lube and 40:1 for milling and most of the oil that ends up on my chaps is excess bar/chain that spits off the drive sprocket onto my angles. For other work like trimming up, 50:1 is fine even on old saws.

It is unnecessary for a small two stroke to be using these low ratios provided a quality 2 stroke lube is used. The reason these ratios are stated in manuals for all chainsaws (even the stihl saws suggest 25:1 if the operator does not use Stihl lube) is
1) Most of their users are operating in 3rd world countries where quality lube is impossible to get or too expensive
or
2) in the (sometimes vain) hope that inexperienced operators that tend to buy these chainsaws will mess up the mix ratio and add some, or any, lube to the petrol.

If a quality lube ie Castrol (it supplies the Stihl lube in Australia anyway) is used, any saws will very nicely run on 50:1, and if fully synthetic oil is used they will run on even higher ratios.

Anyway, whatever you do, also resist the urge to use even more lube.

Originally Posted by montiee

BobL although I appreciate the polls it just tells us what the masses use, not which is better.

As I already said;
" . . the folks on ArborsitSite represent a wide range of pro-arborists -millers and fallers, saw racers, saw modifiers, collectors, serious amateurs, through to weekend warriors . I'd say the poll is indicative rather than conclusive."

What I didn't mention was that this poll took place in the Chainsaw forum. Like WWF, Arboristesite has many other forums, firewood, tree climbing, milling, firewood cutting, tree nursery, even chain sharpening etc. Most members that frequent the CS forum have an inherent interest in understanding the way CS work and improving saws, and even though they like to show off their pickups from time to time, they don't worry so much about the practicalities of lugging 10 tons of firewood, as they do about cutting fast and reliably. Even though it has a large following the CS forum is too geeky for most Aboristsite members and members that are not interested in this topic tend to lurk in other forums. This is why I think this poll has more value than if it was run in any other forum (even the chain sharpening forum!).

The CS forum has a solid group of active members who are constantly experimenting, modifying and tinkering - like I said already - it's all about faster more reliable cutting. FWIW the majority of the active users on CS forum make me look like a complete newbie in this business. While there are plenty of die-hard single-minded members, most of the active members will try anything (even a Husky if all they already have is Stihls ) to get faster cuts. They test the changes they make by timing cuts in real wood and would use a burnt stick in hand beater to sharpen if it gave them faster cuts. To say they have not tried any other methods I think is underestimating their general approach of understanding how chainsaws work and using chainsaws to get optimum performance.

So although I agree that we have no way of knowing who responded to the poll, I doubt one can call the average active user on the arboristsite chainsaw forum one of the "masses".