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Brian --- 'flayb' to respond wrote:
"H Ryder" wrote in message ... How easy are these to use? Someone has lent us one but we are afraid to touch it. We are thinking of trying to dismantle a couple of trees with them. Hayley _________________ I have owned and worked with chainsaws, regularly, since they were a two man machine with one at each end. I take few precautions and find them easy to use. HOWEVER many like minded have lost lives or limbs. Few are as stupid as I, these days. A chainsaw is exceptionally dangerous~~ the most simple, and easy to use, being the worst. More so than a loaded gun! One major problem you will have to overcome is the sharpening of the chain~~~ it requires great expertise and lasts for only about an hour. Neither of these things is really true. I used to send my chains off to be sharpened professionally but just recently I got a jig for my cheapo Dremel clone and found that sharpening a chain was actually quick and easy, it took me only ten minutes or so. It may be worth sending the chain off to be done properly every half-dozen sharpenings or so but DIY is fine in between. Secondly, if you treat it right, a sharp chain will stay sharp for a huge amount of wood cutting. It's mostly only misuse that blunts the blade, make sure you don't hit any non-wood while cutting. Obviously avoid nails and screws in the wood but the real killer of chainsaw blades is dirt, e.g. soil and such. If you can avoid hitting soil (i.e. don't try and cut too close to the ground) and if you quickly brush dirty logs before cutting, one sharp chain will last for many, many hours of cutting. Special clothes are also a must. Some, but common sense and safe handling of the saw is much more important. Electric saws are of little use other than heavy duty pruning and still need sharpening. Electric saws are excellent, just as good as petrol IF you have mains power available. They are *much* less noisy than a petrol saw, no need for ear protection. They are generally lighter and easier to manage though there is the additional problem of the cable. They have much less rotating mass so the *big* danger of chainsaws - kickback - is much less violent with an electric saw. An electric saw makes much more sense for log cutting, for tree felling they're fine for trees up to (say) 18" diameter which are near power. After that you need petrol. I've felled 18" diameter, 50ft high trees with an electric saw quite easily. In your position I would advise great caution and would suggest that a Swedish bladed bow- saw would be your best option. They are very effective but still need horse-hide gloves~~ if you are inexperienced. Yes, I think I'd agree with that, using a chansaw for the first time to fell a tree is probably not a good idea. However there are other risks in felling trees which are nothing to do with the sort of saw you use, the OP should at least read how to fell trees safely before attempting it, whatever sort of saw they're using. -- Chris Green |
An Oasis wrote:
Oh and make sure that you get all the roots out or you?ll end up doing the same thing every few years. That depends on the type of tree of course, some will just die and then slowly rot away if you cut the trunk a few feet above the ground. -- Chris Green |
I'd agree about leaving it in the box if you're not practised.
If the trees are large, get a contractor. He will have the extra benefit to you of disposing of the all the debris; when down, a tree is 2 or 3 times the size it seemed when it was 'up'! If the trees are not so large (and I myself would take down one with a trunk up to a foot thick), nobody else has yet said: - saw off all the boughs progressively from the top down. - saw off pieces of the trunk until it's about 8' (that's feet) tall - dig round the roots, attach a rope to the top of the 8' "stump", recruit the neighbours (or use the car) and pull the stump over. There is no work in the garden harder than digging up a tree stump, so use the leverage of the tree itself to do you that one last service. have fun john |
In article , John writes: | | If the trees are not so large (and I myself would take down one with a | trunk up to a foot thick), nobody else has yet said: | | - saw off all the boughs progressively from the top down. | - saw off pieces of the trunk until it's about 8' (that's feet) tall Depending on its shape, yes. Some trees are better done slightly differently. | - dig round the roots, attach a rope to the top of the 8' "stump", | recruit the neighbours (or use the car) and pull the stump over. Nah. And pull the towing bracket out of the car, ending up with a bill that will dwarf that of employing a "tree surgeon". Most modern cars aren't up to the job for stumps large enough to be a problem digging out. | There is no work in the garden harder than digging up a tree stump, so | use the leverage of the tree itself to do you that one last service. It's not as hard as all that for trees of up to about 1' in diameter and pretty easy for ones of up to 6", if you have enough space, the right tools[*] and take your time. It is a real pain if you don't have enough space to dig the stump out. And, above about 1', stumps get HEAVY. [*] Including a grub-axe, sharp axes and enough beer. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
John wrote:
I'd agree about leaving it in the box if you're not practised. If the trees are large, get a contractor. He will have the extra benefit to you of disposing of the all the debris; when down, a tree is 2 or 3 times the size it seemed when it was 'up'! If the trees are not so large (and I myself would take down one with a trunk up to a foot thick), nobody else has yet said: - saw off all the boughs progressively from the top down. Don't do this with a chainsaw if it involves being up a ladder, working with a chainsaw off the ground is a highly skilled occupation for which you need sereiopus training. - saw off pieces of the trunk until it's about 8' (that's feet) tall - dig round the roots, attach a rope to the top of the 8' "stump", recruit the neighbours (or use the car) and pull the stump over. There is no work in the garden harder than digging up a tree stump, so use the leverage of the tree itself to do you that one last service. Always assumes you want to be rid of the stump of course. Felling a whole tree is easier/safer if you cut it two or three feet from the ground. -- Chris Green |
| - dig round the roots, attach a rope to the top of the 8' "stump",
| recruit the neighbours (or use the car) and pull the stump over. we were intending to just saw the thing off as near to ground level as possible and leave it, after pouring some kind of weed killer onto it - would that be a problem? Both trees (the weeping birch and brambly apple) need to come down as the roots are likely to cause problems with our septic tank (birch) and house foundations so we want to stop the roots from continuing to grow. However we are not intending to plant over the area - the apple will be a barked play area and the birch will be just lawn (but this bit has so many "obstacles" apparently connected with teh septic tank that one more stump will make no difference). Hayley |
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message ... [*] Including a grub-axe, sharp axes and enough beer. Hmm. I'm not sure which is more dangerous, a sober man with a chainsaw or a drunk one with a pair of axes ;-) -- Martin & Anna Sykes ( Remove x's when replying ) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm |
H Ryder wrote:
How easy are these to use? Someone has lent us one but we are afraid to touch it. We are thinking of trying to dismantle a couple of trees with them. Hayley, Whatever else you do, please ensure you have the proper saferty gear worn correctly, and follow all directions on the use of the chainsaw. The potential for an accident with a chainsaw is quite high. IIRC the two trees you are talking about are not too large. I recently had a huge willow and two sycamores removed with the trunks cut just below ground level, all debris etc. taken away by a council recommended contractor for £200. If it is any help, I removed 3 eucalyptus trees from my garden including stumps single-handed a few years ago. The largest tree had a trunk diameter of maybe 6", and I used nothing more than a pruning saw, sceatuers, spade, fork and a pick axe. A bow saw would have speeded things up tremendously! Sarah |
On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:17:26 +0100, Sarah Dale wrote:
The potential for an accident with a chainsaw is quite high. I don't think the potential for an accident is any different to any other power tools. The consequencies on the other hand... -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message from "H Ryder" contains these words: How easy are these to use? Someone has lent us one but we are afraid to touch it. We are thinking of trying to dismantle a couple of trees with them. Well, there are chainsaws and power saws. Chainsaws break down into two types, remote, and operated with cords (difficult), and hand, (fairly easy). However, I expect you mean power saws. These can be quite easy, especially the electric ones, but the petrol driven ones can be very idiosyncratic. Most of them have excellent safety features these days, so assuming that it isn't too heavy for you to use comfortably, go for it. A few rules: [...sensible rules snipped...] I don't care what Rusty says: forget it. The things are *******s, and you must have had a proper ATB or similar training course, and _all_ the correct protective gear. I wouldn't, in fact, even recommend one of the Mickey-Mouse Black and Decker ones. A good bow saw costs very little, and will do your small job well and quickly. If that's beyond your capabilities or experience, _please_ pay a properly insured professional. -- Mike. |
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In article ,
"Mike Lyle" wrote: I don't care what Rusty says: forget it. The things are *******s ..... Yes - following up my previous post (where I suggested heaving the stump out of the ground using the tree itself as a lever)... I had intended to add to "Leave the chainsaw in the box" the words "and use your nice quiet, friendly bowsaw". Chainsaws are indeed evil *******s (even though I've got one, and use it occsionally). A new bowsaw is a wonder to use - get a fairly big, expensive Swedish one: the Swedes know all about timber! If you want to leave the stumps in - great: you only have the easy work, and you might decide to leave a bird-table support. If you have an open fire - even more great. And to Nick McC who implied that grubbing out trees is easy and fun: yeh well mate, I can confidently assert that you are either 25 years younger than me, or 5 stone heavier; or both! :-D john |
In article , John writes: | | And to Nick McC who implied that grubbing out trees is easy and fun: yeh | well mate, I can confidently assert that you are either 25 years younger | than me, or 5 stone heavier; or both! :-D Well, I am unlikely to be 25 years younger, as that would make you 82 :-) I may be 5 stone heavier, but that would make you 8 stone - and a significant amount of my weight is paunch :-) More seriously, I said that it wasn't hard, primarily just time-consuming - IF you have the right tools, can still kneel and bend over and have enough space. You don't HAVE to do it at full tilt. Removing the stump of trees up to about 6" is straightforward, and removing those of above about 1' is infeasible for most people. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
The message
from contains these words: /slice/ Special clothes are also a must. Some, but common sense and safe handling of the saw is much more important. Yes. We started using chainsaws in the mid to late 'fifties, and it was the devil's own job to even get ear protection then. Goggles were a bit easier, but helmets and visors? Safety trousers? The nearest we got to those were goggles and steel toecap boots. Leather industrial gloves were easy too. BTW, our first saw was a Pioneer with a 36" arm - and we used that up trees until we got a 12" McCulloch. The drill was for the operator to climb the tree and get into position. The saw would be started on the ground and hoist with block and tackle. Since it had a centrifugally operated clutch, the blade wasn't running during this manoeuvre. Later we got a nice light little Stihl, and that dreadful method never had to be used again. Electric saws are of little use other than heavy duty pruning and still need sharpening. Electric saws are excellent, just as good as petrol IF you have mains power available. They are *much* less noisy than a petrol saw, no need for ear protection. They are generally lighter and easier to manage though there is the additional problem of the cable. They have much less rotating mass so the *big* danger of chainsaws - kickback - is much less violent with an electric saw. Agreed. But the ones I've used tended to be rather gutless. /snip/ In your position I would advise great caution and would suggest that a Swedish bladed bow- saw would be your best option. They are very effective but still need horse-hide gloves~~ if you are inexperienced. Whether or not you are experinced - a nick with one of those blades may draw a *LOT* of blood. Yes, I think I'd agree with that, using a chansaw for the first time to fell a tree is probably not a good idea. However there are other risks in felling trees which are nothing to do with the sort of saw you use, the OP should at least read how to fell trees safely before attempting it, whatever sort of saw they're using. Yes, that's good advice too. You really need to be able to walk round a tree and gauge where it will fall if you cut the trunk straight across, then know (and this only comes with experience) where to put the cut and at which angle to get it to fall in another direction. It pays, if your tree cannot be felled into an open space, or if there is anything close which might be damaged, to attach at least one strong rope high up, so helpers can guide it if it doesn't fall just where you expected. It's an art. (I used to be a partner in a tree felling (and planting/surgery, etc) company, and while I couldn't say that we never had any scares, we never had any disasters either. But then, we had a good grounding as we were all Scouts. (From the same Group.) One of my friends (a gamekeeper) has to wear all the safety gear or his insurance would be invalidated - and it all has to be within its official age limits. When I'm with him on the estate I'm not allowed to use the saw. When he's with me, we both use them. -- Rusty Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
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