agg221

Thanks Spud and Rich for your help. It doesn't show the same symptoms as my 066 did when it had an air leak. It idles down quickly, to a stable, consistent point which hasn't changed as the chain is still just on the edge of moving. When revved out, the pick-up is good and the revs are stable and don't climb. My experience of air-leak failure is limited (fortunately!) to one, but this saw is not doing the same things as my previous experience, hence my further questions. The only things it's doing differently from normal are that the revs drop that little bit more a couple of seconds later - again it's consistent, and it's not much as I can only just hear the engine note change. I can't test what happens if you rev up after idling - it does the idling bit, but not the revving up as it consistently dies. I will take the carb off and give it a clean - I've run neat acetone in ultrasonic baths before which gets a bit exciting at times, but I won't go that route this time as my kitchen ceiling is quite low. I'll see if this helps, but it's worth pressure and vacuum testing it anyway I think. Is there anything hidden to look for when taking the carb off? I haven't worked on a saw this small before and it looks very fiddly compared to an 076! Alec

What do you stick in the ultrasonic bath for carbs? Alec

I would have expected that to happen every time though, rather than being able to rev it up normally once re-started? It also doesn't sound fast. The revs are if anything on the low side (where I tend to leave them) and they haven't climbed. It will be tested to make sure though. Alec

I've tended to think of air leaks as resulting in lean running, and hence the revs climbing rather than dropping, but pressure and vac testing would probably be a good idea anyway - looks like it will be turning up on this thread again as 'what's on Spud's bench today' I'll have a look at the needle valve though anyway. Alec

Any thoughts on an unhappy 026? For some reason my wife thought I shouldn't spend the day on the roof, so I did various bits and pieces, including cutting some firewood with the 026. It started fine cold, and revved up well. Set it down and it idled now nicely, the chain just not moving. After a couple of seconds the idle revs dropped a bit lower, but it would still idle as long as I left it. Pick it back up and it stumbled a bit, but didn't stall and holding it the revs would pick straight back up to the slow idle point. However, the slightest touch on the throttle and it stalled. It would then re-start immediately (first or second pull) and idle very low, but pull the throttle and it would open up and run fine. If instead of leaving it running between cuts I turned it off, it would re-start fine, but stall when I touched the throttle. The only way to use it was to stall it between cuts, unless there was no more than a few seconds between them. I'm anticipating that it's a flooding type problem, but any guesses where I'm looking? It's throwing me slightly that it will still idle well if flooding. I haven't dismantled anything in between uses, so it's not that I've put something together the wrong way, although something could of course have always been wrong since I bought it. Alec

We've had feeders up since Christmas and the birds have found them, but they're not all over them at the moment. Saw a lot of birds of prey yesterday though - first the heron flew over low, then there was a kestrel hovering over the garden which sat in the top of a Norway Spruce even though we were stood talking right underneath. Next the buzzard came by, trying to stoop on pigeons and finally in the afternoon I walked down the garden and a barn owl took off from the trees and flew right past me. Lots of little birds too. Alec

Physically possible, yes. Will it work properly, depends on the appliance at the bottom - whether it's a stove or an open fire and what size it is etc. You can find the information on flue sizes in Part J of the building regulations. I think you need the table on page 30, which suggests that you will not be able to reduce it to 4" unless you have a wood-burning stove which complies with the Clean Air Act. You can download Part J here: Planning Portal - Approved Document J - Combustion applicances and Fuel Storage systems Also note that technically an 'installation' should now be made by an approved contractor, or inspected by Building Control, although the odds of anyone noticing non-compliance are very small. Alec

Given the precise location (which I'll let people know privately) the best bet is the train. Alec

Fixed it for you:001_smile: Alec

I thought I'd put this up as an idea in case it's of interest to anyone. Pruning fruit trees seems to be an area which for some people is a bit of an experience gap, and it gets regarded as a black art, so I wondered if it might be useful to anyone to come and have a go. As I've posted before, I've looked after Mum's smallholding orchard in North Kent (near Dartford) since about 1988. It's currently just over an acre of top fruit - mostly apples with a few pears, plums and cherries. It's not a commercial orchard anymore. The trees are now mostly about 95yrs old so well over commercial age and the aim is to keep them alive, healthy and stable, with a reasonable crop for use rather than sale. There's a mixture of vigorous and semi-dwarf, with a few young trees planted over the past 20yrs. The trees are much more the kind of size and form you would find in a back garden than a modern, dwarf orchard. I'll be going down there soon to do the pruning (apples and pears). If anyone is interested in coming along and having a go then they're welcome. I'm aware this could look a bit like 'come and do some free work for me' but that isn't why I'm offering it (if it's not of interest then I'm quite happy to crack on and do it as usual) but I thought it might be of interest to see the difference between pruning forms, how they can be developed over time, different growth and fruiting habits of varieties and how to take account of it and whatever else anyone is interested in (so long as it's within my knowledge). It would be very much my personal view and I don't have any formal training or claim to be an expert but hopefully anyone interested would go away knowing more than they did when the came I should add, I haven't suggested this to Mum yet, as it's always better to give her definite options rather than hypothetical ones so I thought I would see if there was any interest before broaching the subject, but I would imagine that she would be OK with it, since I look after the trees anyway. Alec

Batteries will get better and better, but as you mention, there are issues. They are actually 'greener' than fossil fuels in principle, as although they are using electrical power, this can in theory be generated either at higher efficiency (due to scale of operation at a grid scale power station and not having other constraints such as portability) or from renewable sources. The lack of ecological credentials comes, at the moment, more from the materials they are made from. Lithium ion (or lithium polymer) batteries contain highly toxic materials which are difficult to mine in the first place, use a huge amount of energy to convert due to the low ore concentration and are currently very difficult to recycle. Other cell types (such as nickel-cadmium or lead-acid) are easier to recycle, and although they contain toxic heavy metals this isn't an issue in use, as they're contained. They don't have the power density though, so you need a bigger, heavier battery. Lithium type batteries also need a good management system, otherwise they can rapidly overheat (see recent problems with the Boeing Dreamliner). The difficulty with a common approach to batteries is that to get the best power to weight you want to minimise the weight of packaging. If you work to a lowest common denominator, say a phone, you would add a lot of extra packaging space and weight to a battery with enough power to run a chainsaw. I think it's highly likely to be the way things go though - I would look very seriously at a small backhandle saw with a lithium-ion battery. Something equivalent to a Stihl 026. I can imagine it would be very popular for firewooding in sensitive areas. Alec

I must admit I was half expecting to see a sculpture of a burger, but this is much better Alec

Agree the Grand Canyon looks like a spring gouge. I'd be surprised if that resulted in the central nut failing though. Alec

Looking at the pictures, I don't think this was a clutch spring failure. To go like this you need a big lump to come free and hit things - clutch spring failure tends to bind on. It also needs to move out of the operating plane of the clutch as otherwise it will just be held against the clutch drum by centripetal acceleration. My guess is that either the central nut sheared first or one of the central tabs holding the clutch shoes. These would both leave large lumps of metal free. If it was the clutch shoe that broke free then it might have been held against the clutch drum but vibration and spring tension could soon pull it out of line. This is probably slightly more likely as the metal thickness is lower. The failure is likely to be due to fatigue. Why? Possibly a small notch at a corner, due to poor pressing or forming, or maybe due to being a bit too cold when bent to shape. Likelihood of recurrence? Pretty low I would say if used normally. Alec

Worth posting the pic, with an approximate location in the country. Several people on here are sometimes interested in single butts. Alec

If you're going this route, I would suggest cutting the thickest slabs you can move. One big downside to chainsaw milling is the wide kerf. For making beams this doesn't make any odds, but it means wasting a larger percentage of the total the thinner the boards you're milling. Re-sawing on a bandmill will reduce this wastage significantly. If the owner of the land will let you leave it there, I would aim for extraction from around September next year - I don't like exposing unseasoned timber to hot sun as it tends to crack, so I would be looking for one of those dry, cool spells you sometimes get in early/mid Autumn. It won't be anything like seasoned, but at least it will be a bit lighter. You will still need to figure a way of rolling it to make the most of the burrs. Big J knows about the best pattern of milling to go for on this - I haven't tried it myself as I've tended to mill more structural stuff. What size actually is it btw? Alec

In our previous house we supplemented the heating with an open fire that mostly burned wood. It kept about half a two-bedroomed house warm. I reckon I burned about a dozen 4-6" logs a night. This would take me about half an hour to saw, so I'd go out most fine evenings and do an hour or so - then I didn't have to when it was raining or I didn't fancy it. I used a bow saw for this as I was sawing seasoned timber and it didn't upset the neighbours. Once, the furniture restorer opposite was clearing out his workshop before retiring and throwing the contents in a skip. He'd said I could help myself to (got some really nice tools) so for a few days I was heating the house by burning books and fine furniture, which was reminiscent of the French revolution. Alec

If it was dead straight and perfectly round you would just squeeze an 8" x 8" out of it, which at 5' long would be a shade over 2 cu.ft, so it might be £40 as a cut beam. It would be about the right size for a fireplace lintel. Also, assuming it's a branch rather than the main stem, it's likely to be stressed and move around a bit, but should be fairly stable if left as a big section like this. Setting up to mill it would take pretty much the same time as setting up to mill something bigger, but will only yield the one piece. If you factor in someone's time travelling to get it, fuel etc, then to recover anything like a sensible hourly rate they would need to pay no more than £10 for it, even if local. This is about in line with the typical £5/cu.ft level (without me bothering to calculate Hoppus feet which would be more accurate). So in summary, probably not worth it, but if you had the option to do it yourself, you might just decide to mill it - I've done small bits like this sometimes when they're with something else. Alec

Reminds me of the time we welded a new rear quarter-panel on my old Nova, stuffing a bit of rag down the petrol filler. The car and I survived the experience, as did the person doing the welding. With hindsight it probably wasn't a very good idea...

I can confirm that it doesn't necessarily, but that most certainly doesn't mean it won't....

I'm not sure if this is recommended practice (i.e. it probably isn't!) but if you run down the chain oil and then run a tankfull of petrol through the oil tank it is very effective at flushing out anything that will dissolve. If it's blocked by bigger bits though you will have to take it apart and poke it through. Alec p.s. it doesn't do anything useful if you try this the other way - i.e. put a tankfull of chain oil in the petrol tank......

That's really good. Have they considered Weird & Wonderful Wood - near Bury St Edmunds? Alec

I am - first milling was to rebuild a wooden canal boat, after years of volunteer navvying at the weekends. Cheers - I'll give it a look. Alec

Series 2 owners' club, chainsaw collectors and Just Canals. I was briefly on the Carpenters' Fellowship forum, but then they started trying to charge £50/year - not sure they have many members now..... Alec

I do - best not start a rumour! Alec