Leylandii - Chainsaw Blunting & Clogging With Swarf

[Stubby]

So its the Titan corded electric saw ....from the link ?  If it is it will have a very " safe , non aggressive home owner low kick back " type chain . This will make it hard work .  If you are upgrading I would get a 2 stroke saw , the best you can afford .

[Zirynx]

10 minutes ago, Stubby said:

So its the Titan corded electric saw ....from the link ?  If it is it will have a very " safe , non aggressive home owner low kick back " type chain . This will make it hard work .  If you are upgrading I would get a 2 stroke saw , the best you can afford .

Thanks @Stubby - yep, it's the corded one in the link. With the majority of my tools, I generally place quite a bit of emphasis on good value for money over the long term rather than just the short term, but it was difficult to argue against this machine when I (initially) had just one small/medium tree to fell; had I known I'd be taking down as many as I have, I'd have re-thought the purchase.

 

I completely understand your thoughts about the 'safety' aspects (and associated limitations) of this particular machine and really, I think that's a good thing! I've learned a lot from using it and feel I could now safely step up to something more capable. I may well do a bit of research and then pop a post into the machines section.

 

Thanks.

[Stere]

My makita corded electric 2kw outcuts the  smaller homeowner 2 stroke huskys & stihls but I only use it for firewood , but it would do the tree in picture no problem.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Stere

[Will C]

Check the bar doesn’t have a bur on the side from getting hot and a lack of oil, his can make a saw feel blunt as it hold the chain away from the wood. Easy sorted with a flat file just check the top of the rails are at 90 deg

[drinksloe]

To be honest the brand or even size of the machine shouldn't matter that much as long as it is still pulling the chain throu the timber and not dying/stalling on u.

 

I'm guessing prob be a combination of chain/bar issues, chain already getting dull and the combination of ripping/crud on bark was enough to finish it off,  was about to say possibly poorly sharpened either not evenly or rakers not even (but probably not true with such a new chain) but possibly u have not quite got the hang of sharpening it yet.

With a blunt chain it does look like that and i think the fine chips/dust stop it oiling properly

 

 

It does look like not oiling enough, again was going to say should use a fill of oil to  petrol but not relevant with an electric saw.

Does it have a control screw to alter flow rate?

 

Ur other cheeky option might be to take it back and exchange it?? I imagine it would come with a 2/3 year warranty. And if not oiling right u' be justified

Mibee even exchabge/upgrade it for a 2 stroke?

Althou i do buy some cheap own brand screwfix tools and find them pretty good really, i only buy cheap corded tools anything petrol/battery powered i try to go for a 'proper' make

 

[Zirynx]

25 minutes ago, Stere said:

My makita corded electric 2kw outcuts the  smaller homeowner 2 stroke huskys & stihls but I only use it for firewood , but it would do the tree in picture no problem.

 

It uses one one oil tank  to 1 fuel tank.

 

 

That's a trap I would wish to avoid: the presumption that simply being 2-stroke would 'automatically' make it 'better' than corded. That particular trap lies everywhere - for example, the best compact / bridge / crossover cameras are more often than not 'better' than the cheapest SLR cameras. Research is key! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[Zirynx]

24 minutes ago, Will C said:

Check the bar doesn’t have a bur on the side from getting hot and a lack of oil, his can make a saw feel blunt as it hold the chain away from the wood. Easy sorted with a flat file just check the top of the rails are at 90 deg

Thanks Will. I gave it a thorough clean up when I changed the chain recently and I don't believe there's an issue with the bar, but I'll certainly check thoroughly tomorrow.

 

Thanks.

[Zirynx]

Drinksloe - thanks for your thoughts - lots to ponder there.

 

Chain was relatively new (had taken one tree down with ease) and I hadn't sharpened it - could be a bad thing (if it would have benefitted from sharpening) or a good thing (in the sense that it eliminates me messing it up!)

 

I've taken a lot from this while discussion but mostly, that the oil delivery is poor and probably insufficient. Given that it's always been this way, from new, (and no, there's no user-adjustable flow control) I may have a conversation with Screwfix to see what they say. But I'm not going to get militant about it as it's already earned its keep for the minimal initial outlay.

 

Thanks.

[petercb]

Have you checked vent hole in oil cap is not clogged? If that's OK and oil passages are definitely clear then there is a fault so return it to Screwfix. Had an air leak develop on one of the Titan petrol hedge cutters replaced no problem  or hassle. Don't forget it's a 24 month warranty. 

[drinksloe]

Sharpening a chain properely is not rocket science, but it is also quite 'knacky', i've met some folk who've had saws for years and still can't sharpen them. Farmers are a great example of that, often don't know wot the rakers are

I also take it chain is at correct tension?? Another typical farmers saw, chains usually hanging off

 

Generally ur better to keep it sharp and sharpen little and often rather than wait till its blunt.

I've heard of folk giving chain a rub everytime they fill it, so every 30mins-1hr, which i think it really exxessive (althou that was boys doing 1st thinings on piece work so they must of thought it paid there time to sharpen as often??).

If things going well on softwoods and no stupidity from me catching soil/rocks etc, 2/3 rubs a day keeps it pretty sharp all day. Bit more of trees are dirty along roads/railways etc

 

I remeber 1 summe rit was a bit of a heatwave (really unusual up here) and the norway spruce did get quite numb to cut more so than the SS and if it rained overnight u could almost feel the difference in the norway. To be honest i wouldn't have believed the difference the rain made