the dead thread

[who me]

perhaps it will come back as a zombie tree,
LEAFvsssssss!

[Qray]

[who me]

oh no! it came back! the only good news is that zombie trees are even slower than meat zombies.

[Qray]

That's the thing. Dirt, I can understand, since dirt usually contains gritty material, like sand, but rotted wood? I'm still puzzeld by that.

Like dirt, rotted wood can clog up the bar lubing system, it can gum up the teeth on the blade, and it can overheat the blade. All of which lead to blade dulling (there's also an issue of energy transfer difference from the soft material of the rotted wood compared to the hardness of the sapwood, and how the moisture content effects density, but I'm just a dumb wood cutter.) The normal way to check this is that you should be going through the same amount of bar lube as fuel, but since you have an electric saw [cough]Stihl[/cough] it's hard to gauge that way.

Most saws get about 45 to 60 minutes of run time on a tank of gas. Since your under-sawed you'd get less time between filing up on bar lube (assuming electrics use the same amount as gas.)

Also, when cutting with a sharp blade, you'll get wood chips and not saw dust. If you see saw dust, your blade has gotten dull. I know it's a pain when the blade dulls so often, but if you keep on it, it only takes a few swipes of the file on each tooth to tune up the blade.

I guess you need to look at the time your spending bucking up this tree with your electric chainsaw as opposed to the money it would cost to rent or buy a bigger gas saw. Even though I'd be a bit under-sawed with my 20" bar Stihl, I could get the Oak bucked up in a couple hours, no problem.

Technique can help too. Though it won't help in avoiding nails. Make sure you're pulling up with the trigger hand and not pushing down with the guard hand. You'd be surprised what a difference this makes in cutting. Also make sure you have the correct blade tension on the bar.

Just some thoughts.

[Boikat]

That makes sense, but in the case of this tree, the sapwood is the rotted part, and the heart wood, for the most part, seems good, but the same applies when going through the rotted wood and hitting the harder wood. It almost feels like going from cutting soft butter to hitting a rock. I've pretty much resigned myself to the "slow burn" method of removal. The only bad part about that is having to hose it down if I can't keep a long-term eye on it, or if it's too windy.

[Asp Zelazny]

What other science fiction based website would have ever thought to present such a useful discussion of dead tree destruction? Amazing!
SV goes Above and Beyond!

... now there's an unsolicited endorsement that's gotta be worth something in the Blogosphere ...

[Qray]

AND you tied that all together with a reference to a science fiction TV series.

Nicely done.

[Asp Zelazny]

thank you, thank you ... glad someone caught that. I rather liked that show, though it didn't last very long. The thing that was weird about it, as I remember, was that in one episode they'd be flying Hammerheads, then 2 episodes later they'd be ground based troops, being dropped from anti-grav Hueys, then back again. Didn't really hold continuity.

[Boikat]

Budget cuts.

[Qray]

Perhaps being a pilot in the Space Aviator Cavalry in the Series wasn't as specialized a skill as it is now. Perhaps in the S:AAB universe, piloting a Hammerhead was just another skill that all Marines needed to know. Or perhaps those in the Space Aviator Cavalry just received special training to not only be a gropo, but a pilot as well.

As far as I know, it was never explained in the series.

[who me]

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
Carl Sagan

[Boikat]

What does that have to do with Zombie Trees?