Al Smith

Just a suggestion ,take it for what it's worth .If you have a short knife edged cutter before your wedge it helps split those gnarly twisting rounds a lot easier .

Well if this is show and tell,this is the last one I built .10" beam ,5 inch cylinder .Detent return valve .16 gal per minute pump ,11 H P electric start Briggs engine .The oak is 30"

Well the Stihl corperation will take a dim view of pirating copy written material for a profit . As for yanks having more money than sense,most of us already have the IPLs . Have you heard the term "yankee ingenuity "

There is really no sanctioned saw racing things in the US .It's just a regional thing . I wasn't really talking about an all out cookie cutter racer ,more so just what we on this side call a "woods ported " work saw . Compression raised ,ports retimed type of stuff that will run in a working type envioronment all day ,every day . I just don't see it much in any place other than mostly the US and Canada and a little in Australia which is why I raised the question .Not a big deal ,more just my curiosity . As far as sites for hot or racing type saws the only one I can think of is Racesaws .com . Kind of an ornery bunch .Watch out for that fellow called Al Smith ,he's a bad one .

There is really no sanctioned saw racing things in the US .It's just a regional thing . I wasn't really talking about an all out cookie cutter racer ,more so just what we on this side call a "woods ported " work saw . Compression raised ,ports retimed type of stuff that will run in a working type envioronment all day ,every day . I just don't see it much in any place other than mostly the US and Canada and a little in Australia which is why I raised the question .Not a big deal ,more just my curiosity . As far as sites for hot or racing type saws the only one I can thing of is Racesaws .com . Kind of an ornery bunch .Watch out for that fellow called Al Smith ,he's a bad one .

Now here is something I just don't understand .Somebody explain it if you can . You Brits build some of the fastest two cycle motorcycles in the world .Fact is I often get my porting tips from British bike sites .Hows come nobody seems to know a blessed thing about souping up a chainsaw .? Is it just not done at all ? I mean nothing derogatory by that question it's just something I've thought about for long time and never got an answer to .

Well truth be known some people can make any thing run ,some can't . Those that can't turn a wrench often chastise those that buy cheap . I choose not to myself . Pshaw I know of some folks that recommend buying an 066 just to cut firewood . Makes sense to me,spend 1200 bucks American to cut maybe 3 cords of wood and sit for the next 11 months . I won't argue that a person has to pay for quality but you can get by with less with a little effort . I see very good buys at garage sales and auctions on saws that died from just sitting from lack of use .More times than not just a carb rebuild gets them going again . Now I'm not one in favor of Asian stuff .However I recently acquired a little Echo that had sat for 15 years with a screwed up rewind . About twenty minutes of work and that thing fired on the 4 th pull . To tell the truth this thing is not that bad,cuts great and is all metal . Besides that it was a trimmers saw and anything that can hold up in that type of service has to be pretty tough . So ,you just never know ,it might surprise you .Did me .

Well cheap or not it still should run no matter who made it . People on this side of the pond poke fun at Poulans .Funny I have one I purchased in 1975 that has likely outlasted the heckers Stihls and Husqvarnas ,so I blast it right back at them . Inexpensive saws have their place not everybody can afford to lay out a kings ransom just to trim a few bushes ya know . If however a person used a saw to make a living it would make good sense to purchase better equipment . Then again if you don't know how to work on the things it might be good advice to purchase a machine that has good dealer support .

Sounds to me like it is a fuel delivery problem . Were it not for the fact this thing is new I would guess stiff carb innards and a rekit in order . Back out on the high speed jet a tad and see if that helps . There is a remote chance the tank vent could be plugged also . It it dies again ,loosen the fuel cap .If it starts back up,that's your problem . It can't suck gas [petrol to some ] if it can't breathe .

I don't have a clue what it cost's.I haven't bought any in years . You see I have this magic refrigerator that always has a good supply of good old Budweiser in it .I have no idea how it gets there .

Things are a tad bit different on this side of the pond .Several large mail order supply houses often have Oregon or Carlton chain in a 20" loop for 10-12 dollars American . By the driver length it's 22 cents per plus about another dollar in the tie strap . So for two-three dollars less than making your own you get one ready made.It's a no brainer . Being a collector I have some odd ball stuff like .404 by .058 and 1/2" chipper .Those I make up . On occasion I might cut down a loop if I damage a cutter or two also .

Running some kerosine or diesel fuel through often cleans them out . Automatic transmission oil does good too .The detergents in the oil disolves the gummy residue left by old bar oil . You think they get gummy while sitting part of a year .Try one that has been sitting for twenty years some time if you want a challange . I've traveled that road a time or two .

I think RB was refering to the pump ,if you are going to work on it .To get to it you have to remove the clutch,inner cover etc . The pump drives off a worm gear which is driven from the clutch drum . It isn't that hard to unscrew the clutch but if you don't get it tight enough on reassembly it could spin off . Then they shoot accross the floor about 100 miles an hour and end up in the darnest places . Like in the rear window of your wifes automobile or something . I imagine that wouild tickle her .

I solved it too with a new shaft .I just don't understand how or why it could go bad ?

I've got several top handles .The best is a Stihl 200T . I have 2 or 3 Husky 335 's along with a few mini Macs ,Echos and one tiny Homelite and Sseveral Poulans The 335 Huskys aren't that bad for power but the oilers are not the best which I can't understand why . The pump is nothing but a shaft with a flat milled on it and a gear on the end .Nothing to really go bad . Never the less the fix is an 8 dollar part which is not a big deal .The big deal is you nearly have to disect the stupid little saw down to bare bones to replace it .

It's all in the pump design and transfer pressure . For example the splitter I made has an 11 HP engine and a 16 gallon per minute pump . The transfer pressure shifts at approx 600 PSI to low speed which is 4.5 gallon per minute at 3000 PSi although I have it set at 2250 . Because of the fact the machine has a 5 inch cylinder it seldom shifts to low speed high pressure and thus has 8-10 second cycle time ,give or take . I only assume that automatic shift two stage pumps are available in Great Britan ,Ed would know .Some things we have on this side of the pond are not available on the other side for reasons unknown to me .

They ought to be illegal in this country too as far as I'm concerned . Looks like a good way to chop an arm off . With a good powerfull hydraulic splitter two good stout men can get a cord an hour . Even if one is an old duffer like me . Around the first of Novemeber 5 of us did 8 cords in about 4 hours ,two splitters .4 on the splitters one working like a crazy man with a 044 cutting down out of the pile . Tree trimmers for reasons unknown to me want to cut them about 3 feet [1/2 a meter ] but you sell the stuff in 16 to 18 inch pieces .

A dropped a 100 foot white ash growing in a dense woods about 8 years ago .It was nearly two feet accross and contained 117 growth rings that I could count . Of course this is in a different continent in different soils and from a dense woods where it had to fight for sunlight .

The English variety and the American most likely then are similar . Of course Dutch elm disease all but wiped them out . They might get 18" to two foot if they are lucky before they die .Which is better than it used to be as they only made it to 6 - 8 inchs . When I was a young lad it was not uncommon to see a 4 footer .

If the elm in England is like the American variety it splits extremely hard . Not a big deal with a hydraulic splitter but a real chore with an axe/maul whatever . About the only way I could ever figured to split it was using steel wedges and an 8 pound sledge hammer . Other than that it burns okay .Maybe a little more ashes than others but it puts out heat which is what you want anyway .

What brand and what size ?The subject comes up all time on many forums . Truth be known about any thing from 40 ccs to 125 will cut firewood ,some just preform better than others . Then too it just depends on the users mechanical ablities to keep one in running condition .If you can't turn a wrench on one ,find a good dealer .It's not a question of if they need worked on but rather when . My favorite firewooder is a Stihl 038 Mag which has been ported and runs about as good as any 80 cc stock saw. Then again this usage of a 15-20 year old saw is not everybodies cup of tea ,so to speak . You have to keep in mind that some of us Yanks are just a tad bit eccentric on this stuff though .So all that said ,my suggestion is whatever works out best is the thing to do .

It's not really a shortage Steve .It used to be if you lived in the country you could get all you wanted just for the asking .Downed woods trees ,fence rows etc . People got extremely worried about somebody injuring themselves and bringing a law suit against the owners . This firewood thing goes in cycles depending on the price of fuels for heating .The last big push was mid 70's to early 80's . I sold the stuff then for around 75-80 a cord and had no problem getting all I wanted for free . That was half a life time ago for me . Now of days ,in addition to 3 acres of my own plus another 5 I have access to ,I have two tree services that drop the stuff off . I could sell it I suppose .Instead I just horde the stuff and have numerous piles of it . Oh ,those 150-160 prices will increase locally as the winter moves to colder and the seasoned wood becomes more scarce . Probabley around 200 tops is my guess .

In regards to those high prices ,just depends on where you are . At the present time in this area of Ohio the price is $150-$160 per cord . This is in a rural area though .Closer to a large city the prices go up .

These are more recent ,about two years old .My little bud Tom's 084 was on the fritz so he borrowed one of my 125 Macs to slice this little white oak .

Well ,you folks on the other side of the broad Atlantic either missed it or you were too young for it .Mcculloch was the chainsaw in times past . The ten series type porting has never to this day ever been duplicated .It was and still is the best ever .Not so much for speed but true brute power . The McCulloch impulse oilers ,just like the ten series have never found an equal .Surprisingly to some these saws were made in the USA ,Canada ,Australia ,England ,Italy .Perhaps sold under different names but under all that camoflage they were Macs . Further stating the big boys ,the 125 Macs ,while being now thirty years old will still cut with the best ever made in the large displacement saws .No matter what ,Ms 880 Stihl ,3120 Husky or oldies like the Sachs-Dolmar 166 .