blazer

Yrs ago one night there was a car crash in the village - police, ambulance & fireman with cutting equip when through the masses of flashing blue lights walked 'a little old lady' with a tray of tea & biscuits.

To follow on from my last post. I tested out a saw on over-run only and it practically cut the pheasant in half. I assumed a free running chain would have less kinetic energy. From this I assume the injuries shown could have been the result of a saw kicking back with the right hand being pulled free and the brake not coming on. Like most I assumed a kickback was the result of a saw lifting under power and being saved by the brake. From what I have found I now wonder how much research & testing on PPE has been done on 'kickbacks'. It's only too easy to blame it on 'pilot error' - when the pilot gets all the blame letting off the owners/makers etc off the hook, or in the case of a kickback to blame the person for not 'doing it right'. From what I found it's easy for a saw to be pulled from the right hand.

it's an 'auto' that's a bit girlie - real men shift gears

Hi Tom, Only do trees at weekends on an estate. Medical engineering in the week, I have seen alot of recontructed skulls from gunshot wounds. The front of the skull is full of small bone and tissue, so is quite weak. The photos got me thinking, I assumed a kickback with no brake cutting in would give a very deep wound but the two pictures shown are shallow? For a large saw to kick back, it would be one of three situations; 1, saw kicked up with brake coming on = face contact with static chain giving small cuts and brusing. 2, saw kicking up with right hand pulled off saw, no brake applied = a freewheeling chain to contact the face giving shallow say 25mm rough wound. 3, saw kicking up throttle open, no brake = a chain contacting face under full power = say in contact with face for 1 second, I would expect a very deep wound say 50mm or more, possibly fatal. my dog killed a pheasant this morning while 'helping' the gamekeeper, so may give it a go and test it with a freewheeling chain as the bone/tissue is simular. will let you all know what happens when I get home - better not do it in the hospital carpark:sneaky2:

Just been thinking - ok I work as a medical engineer in a hospital seen loads of accidents and have done alot of meat chopping on animals. Both pictures of the guys with kickback injuries are less than I would expect from a powerful saw cutting tissue. So my query is did the chainbrake apply in both incidents and the injuries result from a slowing chain? I assume after the shock of a facial injury it would be hard to recall the exact detail of what happened. In my case my right hand was pulled off the saw, the saw flipped but nothing happened. If so it's abit scary as we all rely on the chain brake saving us from injury. The next time I get the chance I will test a large saw on a dead animal and let you know what happens.

lucky to get away with limited injury - bet his he was in shock, problem his saw would still be running after the accident. I always assumed a kickback was the saw lifting up when in both hands with too much power to hold the saw, relying on the brake, so I work with my left hand tipped forward to ensure the brake will apply quickly but I had a minor incident a while ago when the end of a 20" bar 'touched' when unexpected and the saw lifted pulling my right hand off the saw. The saw pivoted on my left hand flicking up, I was totally taken by suprise and didn't have time to tip my left hand forward OK nothing happened but it was abit of a shock, I only mention it if helps stop the unexpected. I have worked in different jobs plus motorbikes etc and always found chatting about this incidents will help reduce future accidents.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your 'mate'. I had a long gap without a dog but now I have a 'red neck' (spends more time in the cab than my wife) working cocker - he's not trained in the normal way but a mind reader, out on a quad dogging in pheasants - I'm redued to being his taxi driver. I can see how the bond develops over the years I never feel alone with him when out all day.

penny for the GUY

I doubted it at first but used the rope trick on my old Cortina's - blowing smoke, rattling etc but in say 2 hrs I could have changed the valve guide oil seals and reground the cam followers:thumbup: Yep I checked the sthil chain fitted ok on the Husky sprocket and only fitted the Oragon (stihl) bar with spacers for now, but it runs fine. I love these old tricks, one I have done but not to keen on is to 'Air change a 7lb Elwell axe' - cross cutting boughs, use it right handed then, swing it up in the air, let go with both hands and change to using it left handed. If it goes wrong - try putting both feet in you pockets at the same time, to save your feet

I brought an 20" Oragon bar 3/8 chain 1.6mm for my MS390 but found the old hole didn't line up, so ground a small dip to help oil flow. Then brought an old Husky XP266 with a well worn bar. Sthil bars have a wider slot, I fitted a new sprocket on the Husky and made up some spacers to fit the (Sthil) Oragon bar and the oil hole lined up ok ( grind dip up, I will grind the other side later). Tested the Husky out by ringing up an large Oak bough, and all worked ok. One tip that may be useful; how to take the sprocket off a Husky without a plugtool? Remove the pull start assy ( it may get damaged) remove plug and put some rope down the plug hole, this will jam the piston to allow the clutch to be removed. I got that one from a mate years ago on how to change valve springs etc on a motor - used it many times - never jammed. Gave the XP266 semi strip, fitted a few new spares and it's running well on the wrong bar. I may get my son to put some pictures up - Iv'e been it the woods to long to work it out.

glad you are all ok - with kids myself, ok grown up a bit. There are some people who give you the creeps, hence I act on instinct. I love the story about a gamekeeper who took his daughters new boyfriend for a walk in the woods. They stopped and he pointed down to a large hole and said,"you touch my daughter & I will bury you it it".

After a big storm a few years ago a healthy tall beech also broke off at say 5 m up and the top landed up-side down - break pointing up. Looked the work of an angry giant.

Before buying check out the model; 4work = 4 f*ing up, often full of dents, whats and oil change? Animal= 4 p*keys, often seen with loadsa 'chrome bling' - never used off road. Warrior= 4 fair grounds often see towing fold up kiddy rides, even more bling. 4life = driven by real men, elbow out of window - often used off road (OK I've got one)

glad you have a mask Tom, I'm easily upset by fumes, goes back to a kid in the 50's Parrifin heaters with no windows open had flu symptoms all winter - now know it was carbon monoxide. I find if you are working in a breeze it's ok but in a dence area/ditch fumes can build up. 3 guys working in a bank vault locally with a small generator running nearly died a while ago. My lad has a ms170 and if left full, some petrol evaporates leaving oil, so smokes alot for a while. I checked myself on a CO monitor and found I had the same CO level as a smoker after a saw session - weeks later, bit worrying.

The problem is all saws produce CO which is deadly and in the pure form has no smell, OK faulty motors/fires will produce more CO, but all CO fumes which damage our red blood cells, and need to die off and be replaced which can take months. Fumes tend to make me sick so when i started using saws say 12 yrs ago I use a respirator mask, I use a 3M 4279 from Farnell about £20 and lasts say a year. Ok I look like Dark Vader but even after a big saw session with little air flow I feel fresh and no headaches. I checked up with the HSE years ago about fumes and power tools and they had no info. So I want to protect my health long term so wear a mask under my helmet no probs.

I brought a 03 reg a year ago for £4k - suspect clock wound back, bit of a risk and rough looking but proved to be a good truck to use on an estate. As a truck they are well built but being a work truck they will all have a harder life than a car of the same year. Around the 03 era thay can have cylinder head probs - mine is ok. They all need cam and balance belts changing - my advise if you buy one change the belts as urgent. One friend had one 02 reg but after a year the belt went and dropped a valve £2k to sort it. Also the bottom pullley can fail causing extra load on the fan belts damaging the water pump. I changed all belts, bottom pulley, water pump (slight noise but not a roadside job to replace), all fluids, cleaned out the intercooler (be careful on that one) reset valve gear & new rocker gasket ( an oil leak on the rocker box can leak oil onto the exhast manifold - making it smell like its blown the motor). My gearbox is a bit rough but after a year is still ok - may change it next year. Oh often the front of an old L200 can be a bit low, I wound up the torsion bars (needs a bit of advise)and fitted H/D rear springs as the STD rear springs can fail. I picked up a set of 31 x 10.5 - 15 M/T's on alloy wheels for winter off road use, they fit OK. Also I fitted a rear winch about 4 tonne for tree work and made up a ground anchor for pulling boughs out of hedges etc. Overall I am pleased with my L200 and plan on keeping it for the next few years, when using off road with the risk of plenty of dents and full of gundogs on shoot days why pay more. Good luck The old advise is take somebody along for a secnd look - good luck.

Hi Andy Sorry I meant to say it will run like a blast furnace, it's wood only so top fed air only, giving a good air curtain. A few years ago it ran a bit hot but I changed to glass seal tap and the door fibre seals. To give it low control, I don't like to run it too low as it can smell & (as all stoves/boilers can) blow back when the door is opened. I left the old cat flap in the kitchen to act as a air balance flap for the house & as the house has wooden supported floors I drilled x6 large holes in the floor boards to draw air in ( with a grid over to place the log basket)It runs all winter when cold so we burn say 10-15 tonnes or about 20 pickup fulls = fuel cost only. I clear boughs on a large estate and also take wood back for the manager/gamekeeper + shoot squirrels/ rabbits to feed my dogs. My first dog went off squirrel after giving him 400+ one year. I went for a Swedish stove - being a cold country they must know what they are designing. Yep air leaks can be a problem to trace, I test it now by running it well then closing the vents to see if it will drop down, and test the flue by seeing it the front doors will be pulled shut by the draft vacuum. It failed with the old liner breaking near the top once giving a CO risk. When running well on say dry oak embers build up and the smoke leader will run red hot even with the top vents down to say 1/4 open.

No. it's a wood only stove but on good wood will run like a blast furnace, we can never run it with the top vents open. As I said the 'smoke leader' the cast iron deflector at the top back of the stove will run red hot and will last say 3 seasons before burning out. To make changing them easier I had to drill out the countersunk screws the first time but now fit mild steel 1" long hex bolts with a few washers behind, so I can shear the old bolts of when changing smoke leaders. The top casting cracked when the top fire bricks had a gap in them which made the top run redhot but as the casting has a thick part it stopped the crack. Glass is original but most of the seals have been changed to improve low burning. I may as well be honest about the stove. Overall it uses say 2-3 baskets of logs in mid winter and the whole chimney stack is warm, so with all internal doors left open the whole house is warm.

I fitted a Stovax Sherraton (may of spelt it wrong) say 13 yrs ago into my say late 50's semi central fireplace. I say that because I could only find small stoves that fitted at the time and the Sherraton was wider than a UK std fireplace, but with plenty of brick in my fireplace I cut the brickwork out to fit the stove and fitted a 6" liner. I runs really well and will stays in overnight with larger night logs, it has run constanly in bad winters. maintanance - Being used as the main heating for the house, I have replaced x3 sets of fires bricks, burnt out x3 smoke leaders ( it runs red hot in winter) plus x2 top tile supports and cracked the top casting but not replaced (no leak). Overall I would buy another anyday - bit dusty but can't face wither without it.

Speaking as a failure to start a friends saw - but from my old 2stoke bike days. Assuming it ran ok recently? Don't touch the carb etc for starters. See if there is any compression, to much fuel can wash of any oil seal on the piston ring. place the plug on the side of the cylinder and pull cord to check spark, it should be a thick spark & orange in colour, a weak spark may fail to fire. Leave the plug out for an hour to dry the cylinder out, then using a new plug try to start again - I have wetted out a few plugs trying to restart before it fired up. If that fails I could be the carb prob. Good luck

don't know if I'm much help here. I recently brought an old XP266 being obsolete spares looked a problem but I found a US website that listed part numbers and cross referanced to simular Husky saw spare suppliers in the UK and found everything I needed. Some UK suppliers will have part number lists that they will email to you, then look for common spares.