Junkyard's work thread.....maybe haha

You're welcome Bob. Sometimes napa puts them on sale. That's where I got mine several months ago. They say the handle is unbreakable. I like that it doesn't transmit the impact to your hands or arms.

Junkyard

I've got one of those little Homelites, with a 14 inch bar. Have had it since early 1970's. Actually thinking about converting it to a 12 inch bar to use trimming trees around the property. Not going to cut down any big oak or maple trees but nice an light to use one handed.

My dads is mid to late 70's. I have a matched pair. The other came from my uncle. It's got a little longer bar than dads. Both still run pretty good. I don't have a loop for one and dads wouldn't cut butter like it is right now. When I was a kid I thought it was huge! Not knowing anything about them it scared the heck out of me, noise, smoke and the thought of being dismembered!

Junkyard

my dad buys those little homelites and super 2's whenever he seems them to keep his running or to have spares when he fries one or worse he uses them to delimb and cut off the usuable firewood from the limbs , saves him hrs and gas in his good saw

Junkyard said:

Here's my "busy work". 210 burnt a few months ago, been stripping it down for spares and we will scrap what's left. It technically makes three 210's I guess lol.

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I wish my chainsaw habit was little ones. Always seems to be big ones. Found a nice Husky 2100 the other day and another 660. Why? Beats me. We seldom see anything that a 28" bar won't cut. I would like to build a mill someday and that 2100 would be good for that. We don't see big saws around here very often.

The 210 got downwind of a burn pile and that's all it took. Poof. We had ordered a new undercarriage for it two days before it burnt. Guess we were lucky in some respects. Owner sure likes his Linkbelt excavators. I seldom do anything but service them and replace an occasional o-ring. The D11 represents half my workload when it's on a job.

Junkyard

Fairly uneventful day today. Had Cat out to measure undercarriage on D5 and work up a quote. Scraper tractor hand called and said I think the rear end just exploded. I drove out and was pleasantly surprised as it had just sheared a bunch of bolts off which allowed the rear end to change pinion angle to the point the driveline bound up and sheared the ujoint cap bolts off. So I get to extract four long big metric bolts that I can hardly get to. Should be fun. Noticed today my air compressor wouldn't hardly build air. Noticed it wasn't really sucking in very hard. Took the intake filter off and the little spring loaded valve or whatever it is was stuck and not letting air in. Cleaned it up and she works like new, quick recovery and 150 psi. To add insult to injury my 302 Airpak has been acting up, won't idle right, idle up under load etc. Called Miller and found out stepper motor has been changed twice since mine was built. Gave me part number and said dealer should give it to me free of charge. I like that machine but it's sure got a lot of electrical stuff. Half tempted to throw my SA200 on but I don't have room! Once I get to work on the scraper I'll snap some pics.

Junkyard

It's been crazy busy lately. Got the D11 back together. Lots of disassembly, swabbing hoses etc. Buttoned it all up, threw in a set of clean out filters and put her back to work. I expected a leak or two having had basically every hose off it it but so far she's made me proud. Moved to the scraper tractor, got the bent bolts out, fought to get the rear end lined back up and the bolts in, fixed the driveline, fixed the hydraulic hoses, rebuilt the remote valve while I was there as it was leaking between the sections pretty bad. Drove it around some to let things settle, tighten bolts, drive around some more, snug the bolts again. It's still not settled back into position correctly so I can work on extracting the four bolts in the back that created the catastrophy to begin with. Got the burnt 210 cannibalized as well, the D11 had pushed everything around it so we had to get it off the island so he could finish. Upcoming jobs are undercarriage on the D5, a couple hoe buckets to repair and a bunch of machines due for service.

Even though it's still in the 80's and 90's temp wise we've also started to cut some wood, I hate watching them clear nice wood and smash it into a pile and burn it. I worked about three hours yesterday and have about 3 cord worth of logs piled up. No good saw logs in this stuff but there are some nice oak and ash still standing that should give me a few hundred board feet to mill. I'm anxious to get to the next job as there should be some nice Walnut and white oak there.

Junkyard

Curious, what do you do with the lumber you want to mill??

Junkyard said:

I would like to build a mill someday and that 2100 would be good for that.

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Junkyard, do you have any Amish communities nearby? When I get logs like that, anything useable really, I haul them to the sawmill, come back when they say and there's nice bundle of wet lumber to haul away for probably less than it would cost in gas and chains. They're set up pretty well for it around here, roll the logs through, roller conveyors for the lumber and pallet jacks and hoists to move the bundles. Yard trees that might have hardware are no problem, just tell them which ones to saw last and they'll put on an old band for those. Even the new bands are only $40 if you've got some walnut that you want sawn tight.

You don't get to enjoy the process as much, but that's what cutting firewood is for. Or fishing.

Randy88, I mill them to build various things. It's a throwback to my childhood. I loved helping during the whole process, felling to whatever we built out of the lumber. I don't know what it is about it I enjoy so much. Might be the satisfaction of telling somebody about the process from standing timber to my cabin or whatever. My stepdad has a cabinet shop so someday I hope to give him some slabs with lots of character to make tables or benches out of.

Delmer, there are quite a few Amish around here. I'm sure several of them have mills. If I was ever in a volume scenario I'd probably work through them to cut some for me. I hate to see all that timber cleared and wasted. I enjoy the time in the woods basically recycling what would otherwise be wasted. Hoping for oak and walnut logs as the prices are up right now. Might make a little walking around money.

My oldest boy and I piddling while the older girls are home with mom.



Junkyard

Junkyard said:

We've got a fair amount of clearing work coming up. I enjoy logging some before they trash all the good lumber and burn it. I set myself up with an old M1031 military truck that I got from a local fire Dept. It works good for all my saws etc. Anyway, I was piddling last night checking all my supplies and remembered I had my dads old Homelite. A very small saw as he never cut much and was tighter than the bark on the tree he was cutting. So I drug my 660 out and stuck his little saw along side of it. Made me giggle. Of course I had to send him the pic too!

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Junkyard

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Hey junkyard,

From all the saw's I see you have, I was wondering what your favorite mid size saw is. I use a sthil ms460 and I really love it. I think a 36" bar strains it so I stick with a 25" mostly. I also have a 30". Have you used a 460/461?



I am looking for another saw as a spare? I have thought about a 660...Also do you use Oregon chain or sthil?

Yep sure have. I have a 461 that I love. It's my go to saw, it's been ported and squished. It'll get with it. I usually run a 25" bar, sometimes a 28" as most of our stuff isn't that big. I also just put a cool saw together, 440 with a 460 top end. It's a salty little booger, I got it not running right, pulled the cylinder to see the ringlands beat out. Cylinder was probably useable but I decided to stick a top end on it and who doesn't want a little more juice? I didn't do much porting on it, just cleaned things up a bit. I'm still breaking it in, ran the first tank of fuel through it yesterday.

As far as chains I think the Stihl hold their edge longer than the Oregon but I use both based on what kind of deal I get on them. I like my 660, it's heavier and will work you harder than the 461 but when you need to run a big bar it's right at home with a 36". It's also been ported and squished. Do you run a skip chain on the bigger bars? I generally run a full skip on 28" and longer bars and am pleased with the results. Your second saw will depend on what size timber you get into. At least if you stay with Stihl you can share bars and chains if you stay with the same pitch and gauge. The majority of mine are 3/8" .050. I have an oddball bar on my MS390 that's 20" 3/8 .063. The only other .063 is the 2100 husky.

If I had to pick two saws out of my collection I'd probably take my MS390 and my 461. Best prices on Oregon chains is a place in IA and if you watch EBAY there's a guy in OR that has deals on Stihl chains and bars. Often you can buy chains and get free bars based on the price paid vs retail. Just my .02

Junkyard

No, I have not tried a skip chain yet. I just keep my chain razor sharp and keep the rakers ground a little to much. If I get into big hard wood I have to hold the saw up a little so that it does not grab too much tree. It will fly threw pine and I can cut all morning long as long as I keep it out of the dirt. Hickory and red oak dull the blade a lot faster for me than pine. The last hickory I got into was so hard I lost 3 teeth off my chain. It was an old worn chain but it was still cutting but I was down to about the last sharpening on that one any way. I will keep what you said in mind.

I am leaning towards another 461 or 660. I almost had a kick back that I lost hold of the saw on. Late in the day, hands covered in dirt and sweat and grip starting to go. So much vibe my hands basically hurt. Slowed me down a little. I respect my saw. I also had it kick straight back out of a bore cut and punch me right in the chest, with the back of the handle. Felt like a grown man punching me.

Thanks.

They'll hurt you. And if it ever happens it will be before you even knew what hit you. I've watched lots of guys act like it's a race. I don't get that. Also, on chains there are some that are made to limit kickback and there are pro chains that don't have any of the little safety features. All I have are full chisel pro chains. They work best and aren't terrible to keep sharp. It does help to keep the rakers cut down, I think .035 below the cutting edge is the standard spec. Too much and the chain tries to get too big of a bite. I saw another post you made about making your own chains, as long as they can be bought reasonably priced it's almost not worth the time. I do carry a breaker in case I muck up a long one I can make a good short one out of it. Try for a 660 if you can, the newer saws have some electronic stuff on them I'm not a fan of although a budy has a 661 and it's never missed a lick. It won't run with mine though haha. I also was never a fan of chaps until I saw them save a guy from a potentially nasty leg injury. Get some and wear them if you don't have them. Feel free to PM me if you need contacts for chains or whatever.

Junkyard

660 is a nice saw but gets old lugging it around all day long, had a 460 we loved but kept scoring the jug and piston all the time, traded for a 461 and everyone loves it, don't ask me why, but its the saw everyone wants to use and fights over to get to run, all around handy is what I call it, enough power to get any job done, but light enough to not break your back.

If your wanting a new 660 you'd better get one soon, many dealers can't get them anymore, only the new 661 with the electronics on them, some love them others hate them, never ran one myself so can't say either way. Been thinking about trading for a new 661, but just can't seem to let the old 660 go for some reason, basically it was the first big saw I've had I liked to run and been a great saw for me, call me stupid but don't want to end up with another lemon like many of the past saws have been for me.

I run a 36 inch bar on my 660, 404 chain and its all she can do to run it, skip tooth would help, but I buy chain in bulk and make my own chains, everything but the 36 inch bar is regular chain and I don't want to mess with skip tooth chain for just one bar. We also run some 3/8 .063 chain, and for 3/8's it gets the job done, but won't stand up or last like the 404 will.

We've pulled over 30k board feet of lumber off clearing jobs over the years, another 5k this year alone, hire it all sawed and bandsaw guys are hard to come by that stick around and keep going it seems, I've worn out five over the years it seems, told the one I have doing it now, I'm bad luck, everyone so far has got out of the business who works for me, he just laughed and told me it comes with the type of work and has nothing to do with me personally. The amish near me do pallet lumber only and are not really interested in sawing logs for finishing lumber, quite a few of them have blade mills and not band mills.

Stihl chain is the only chain to get, nothing lasts or stands up like stihl chain does, tried them all and have always ended up back with stihl, but beware, its so hard its about impossible to sharpen by hand, we use a grinder for all the sharpening.

Finally getting a breather around here! Got the tractor rear end lined up and began the exciting task of getting broken bolts out. Top two came out ok, bottom two fought all the way. Drilled them all the way through, heat, every penetrating oil known to man, more heat and they won't budge. They're about 1-1/2" inside the housing so getting anything welded to them isn't a viable option. I decided to get an annular cutter, stick the mag drill on there and drill the suckers out. Worked like a champ. Tapped some new threads and buttoned it all up. Oh, while I was wrestling the tractor I had to break off and replace a turbo on the 11, it just about threw a scrap iron fit, I'd say 3/8" end play, just started chewing on the cold side housing. Reclaim is winding down, maybe 20 days and the D11 will be done. Then it's slopes and finish grade. Equipment is begging to collect at the shop since the other big job is almost done. We have some little ones then it's the big bridge after the first of the year. I have the D65 Komatsu to basically rebuilt front to back, top to bottom. A bucket to rebuild before it gets totally trashed. Thumb to put on one of the 210's. A bunch of stuff to service blah blah. Mostly busy work. Nothing photogenic lol. I do like iron parked at the shop since I live there, makes things nice. My boys can watch and hopefully learn and I can keep an eye on the boys who come calling on my girls! Haha. After a summer of chasing major failure after major failure I welcome the break!

Even managed to get my old 706 Farmall running. Drug it out of a fence row last year. Stuck an injector pump on it, changed the fluids and went to work mowing with a brushhog I dug out of a pasture, filled the gearboxes and greased the U-joints and away we went. I figure I have $600 in the rig. Nothin better than an old Farmall with a straightpipe. My wife calls it "crusty".

Junkyard

Well it's continued to be fairly quiet. Getting the D65 tensioners resealed, new idlers, blade pivots etc all rebuilt. Moved a 210 and the D7 yesterday on a trailer owned by a friend of the boss. Close to the pit I felt something funny. Went the last couple miles to the job. When I got out to untie the dozer I saw what I felt, right frame rail at the transition had a bit of a structural failure.




Junkyard

Is it rusting from the inside out. Found a spot on ours on the main beam justin front of axels that had a build up of moist dirt and rusted a hole in the beam from the inside out

That's a bad little break. That's the worst thing about borrowing equipment. Obviously this isn't a new problem, caused by abuse on your part. But, it still happened while it wasn't in the owners use.

Not quite the same price wise, but I had a guys chop saw borrowed. It got knocked over, and the handle broke. Not only did I have to buy him a chop saw, but I have to buy one for me too.

If I borrow something, and it gets damaged in my use, I end up feeling/ being responsible. It can be a strain on a otherwise good business relationship.

Going to just fire up the welder and patch it back together?