Chainsaw Speed Cutting Races.

[mad murdock]

If i wasn't in this shape I'd be at the contest. A good sawing contest makes my teeth tickle. ;D

It would be real nice to have you up here for the festival lumberjack48.

Yesterday I got my 2 timbers or cants as some people call them milled up for next weekends contest. I made them 10"X14"-16 ft long to give those little Husky 550XP's some extra wood to chew on.
Not the best milling day, close to -40 below windchill had me wearing a wool balaclava under my helmet and muffs.
I had both the Husky 395XP and Stihl 090AV each with their turn on the mill. The 395 with .404 square ground chisel bit chain and the 090 with round filed .404 chisel full skip.
The square ground really impressed me seeing this is the 1st time I've milled with it. The 395 was keeping up with the 090 in speed plus the square held an edge way better then the round filed and a smoother finish. I'll never mill again with round filed.


  

  

  

  

 

Nice looking mill job HT!!  Can you provide a close up and a pic or PN of the file used?  This to me is VERY interesting!!!
Thanks 8)

[HolmenTree]

Here's a pic of my Windsor chisel bit files m Murdock. The last of the best quality chisel bit files on the planet made right here in Canada. As the one pic shows stamped Dec. 21 1984, notice the perfect straight edge on the file's corners.... try and find that today.
Also figured out how to rotate my earlier competition pics of the speed cutting contest, a young "quite as a church mouse school teacher" who took first place in the women's speed cut event and Jim Niedermayer who won the carving event in 40 below and under 4 hours.................full moon and bright sunshine. :laugh:


  

  

  

  

  

 

[shelbycharger400]

HolmenTree.   How old is that bar on that saw with the "different" setup with the bar tip.  Never seen one quite like that, almost like you can just replace the roller tip, not the whole nose assembly. Ive never seen one with a multipiece round rivited to the nose for the roller bearing.

[thecfarm]

I went to a saw demo once in the rain. Had 3-4 diffeant mills to look at. That kept the ones that did not really care about sawing away. I expect the same way with the temps you had.

[HolmenTree]

I went to a saw demo once in the rain. Had 3-4 diffeant mills to look at. That kept the ones that did not really care about sawing away. I expect the same way with the temps you had.

I will say a commercial grade chainsaw powerhead will run in any conditions whether it's 40 below or 110 above temps. And as my Alaskan Mark IV chainsaw mill shows it is the most simple and reliable design out there. Well proven since Grandberg introduced this design way back 50 years ago.
I also have to say my Husqvarna 395XP proved to perform better in 40 below temps then my Stihl 090AV "Jungle Saw".

[HolmenTree]

HolmenTree.   How old is that bar on that saw with the "different" setup with the bar tip.  Never seen one quite like that, almost like you can just replace the roller tip, not the whole nose assembly. Ive never seen one with a multipiece round rivited to the nose for the roller bearing.

shelbycharger400,  that bar nose setup I fabricated myself. I took a 1960's era Oregon 2 7/8" roller nose and attached it to a Stihl 36" sprocket nose bar. The rivet holes almost lined up perfect with a little drill bit reaming. Only had to use a 4 1/2" angle grinder, drill press and a hack saw.

[mad murdock]

Thanks for elaborating HolmenTree on the file particulars.  So I am guessing from the earlier pic, when you square file, you are keeping the file almost parallel to the top plate of the cutter?  and the files are sized by the cross section size of the square? I do quite a bit of milling with my saws, and anything to get a quicker cut and a longer lasting edge, I'm there! 

[HolmenTree]

Best advice I can give you Murdock is file lightly to "feel" the contour of the pre ground chisel bit chain. Took me many years of practice to get it right . The important thing is the proper working corner and side plate angle with no beaks.
There are several jigs on the market that can guide square filing. But what I have learned for the first timer they should just use a bench mount chisel bit grinder to do the job. With factory spec angles the chisel bit grind holds a superior long lasting  edge.   

[mad murdock]

Thanks again HolmenTree!  I have hand filed with a round file for nigh on 40 years, I will get ahold of some squre files and give it a go.  I have a pretty good idea what you are talking about.  I have sharpened, all kinds of cutting edges by hand, lance tooth crosscuts, Diston style crosscuts, rip saws, small circle blades, etc etc.  an old millwright sawfiler friend of mine showed me the ropes before he passed on a few years back.  I am kind of excited at the prospects of better milling, not that I have been doing bad as it is, quite to the contrary, but always looking for ways to improve my technique.  Thanks again!

[HolmenTree]

I'm still waiting for my festival photographer and website moderator  to finish making up a video from the vast number of photos they have to work with. With them being volunteers and having full time jobs to dedicate to things do take a little longer.

But in the meantime I would like to talk about the fuel I used in the competition's supplied Husqvarna 550XPs. This is the first time I ran these saws on Husqvarna's 95 octane canned fuel mix which is available here in Canada.
I'm totally sold on this product and can only say is "why did it take this long to get the quality and convenience this fuel has to offer?"

In my picture below this Husqvarna 125 blower I tried to use in -40 below weather to blow some snow off my competition stage, it had fresh premium 92 octane gas with Stihl full synthetic mix in it. At this low outdoor temperature the blower would not rev to full wide open throttle and had a hard time idling even after repeated warm ups.
So I dumped out the gas and poured in the canned Husqvarna fuel, after a short warm up the blower revved up to W.O.T. and worked for 5 straight minutes  getting the job done and after that idled perfectly.
I was even more impressed how strong the 550XPs ran throughout the competition. As the back of the can says "stays fresh for 3 years".


    

[Bandmill Bandit]

Good job on your marketing system, HolmenTree!

Have you ever tried Using Av Gas for your saws? i use #2 Av Gas Most of the time. I buy it at the airport 5 gallons at a time and mix it with the husky synthetic oil a gallon at time. I think the #2 Av Gas is 100 octane. might be 98 but it works extremely well I find. A 5 Imp gallon can costs me just over 30 bucks plus the mix oil.

[HolmenTree]

Good job on your marketing system, HolmenTree!

Have you ever tried Using Av Gas for your saws? i use #2 Av Gas Most of the time. I buy it at the airport 5 gallons at a time and mix it with the husky synthetic oil a gallon at time. I think the #2 Av Gas is 100 octane. might be 98 but it works extremely well I find. A 5 Imp gallon can costs me just over 30 bucks plus the mix oil.

Yes I used AV gas for years and it worked well for me, but the only trouble is now that I'm 56 years old I'm very particular about my health and no longer want to breath in the hazardous lead content the AV gas gives off when burned.
With these handy Husqvarna canned fuel there's no lead, no moisture absorbtion  and no mixing to worry about. I heard one fellow  chainsaw collector from Sweden by the name of Magnus saying he's got saws that have this fuel sitting  in them for 10 years and still run perfect with no degradation.   

[Bandmill Bandit]

Very Interesting to say the least. I know my local dealer doesn't carry it and i have been told that there is a new AV Gas that will not contain lead that is supposed to be available some time this spring. Apparently there are some new aviation engines that are starting to be used that are lead free gas friendly. Guess we will have to see.

How much does the mix you buy cost and what is the largest container available?

[Andyshine77]

Sounds like the reid vapor pressure was too low for the temperatures at the time. The canned fuels have more stable vapor pressures, so they can run well in both cold and hot environments. I've used VP's SEF, Stihl's canned fuel and True-Fuel. They all work about the same, other than the Stihl mix smelling bad. The problem is the high cost it you burn gallon after gallon. 

[HolmenTree]

Thanks for your input guys. My dealer is just new at selling this stuff and looking at getting larger quantities , but for now only in 1 quart cans at $9 CDN. Pricy but premium gas at the pump here is over $6 gal plus another $4 for the Stihl Ultra mix.
I have had a lot of my Stihl mixed gas go stale and ended up pouring it out into my stump grinders tank. Some of my saws like my 338XPT and 395XP that I don't use as much as my other saws could use this canned fuel.

My dealer says large companies and fire departments who have saws on hand are buying up this canned fuel for ease of storing and no more worries about mixing up batches in gas cans.
There is a distributer in B.C by the name of Mike Acres who sells similar fuel in drums called Aspen, same stuff sold in Europe.

[celliott]

At college, (Paul Smiths) the forestry department uses the SEF fuel. They have a large number of saws that get used alot some of the year, and then sit unused for a longer period of time.
They buy 50 gallon drums of the fuel, both mixed gas for the 2 strokes, and the SEF 4 stroke fuel for other equipment.
Carburetor problems dropped significantly after they switched to the "good gas".

[HolmenTree]

Bumping this thread.
I just got back from winter holidays and don't have my new videos and photos from our 2014 winter festival chainsaw events yet.
So thought I'd post some World Championship Dog Race videos from our previous winter festivals  for a little entertainment

http://youtu.be/ENprL2IjzLc
http://youtu.be/_eNl0a0SB1c
http://youtu.be/0pPQNMA9Tto

[HolmenTree]

I thought I'd bump this old thread as I just got a photo today of last February's winter festival chainsaw competition.
Where my last post left off  from February  2014 I was waiting for our festival committee photographer and website moderator to  supply new photos and videos. Well at the time the school where this person taught as a teacher was severily damaged by a fire.
Most of his data on his computer was lost so for the last 2 years promotion of my event came to a stand still.
Anyways I did get one pic today from my competition last February . As it shows it was a bright sunny day but the strong north wind was producing a chilly -55 F. below windchill. Notice the  cloud of frost from the pulp mill in the distance and the wind blowing the stage back wall.
We're a tough bunch and about 30 competitors still showed up and we had a  competition.
Here I am on stage as the master of ceremonies  between 2 women running Husqvarna 550XP's . Little saws ran perfect through out the  afternoon in the frozen spruce 8"×8".


 

[Ada Shaker]

Hey they were great.
Not really a fair competition. That mountain lumberjack had one leg longer than the other, that stage should have had a slope on it to compensate for him. Maybe next time :D.

[HolmenTree]

Hey they were great.
Not really a fair competition. That mountain lumberjack had one leg longer than the other, that stage should have had a slope on it to compensate for him. Maybe next time :D.

Nope those were both women, only difference one is over 6 foot 3 inch.

BTW  you must be the new kid on the block here, welcome to our fine site.

[HolmenTree]

As it shows it was a bright sunny day but the strong north wind was producing a chilly -55 F. below windchill.


 

I got my temperatures backwards, darn metric conversion.
Wind chill was -55 Celsius  or -67 F. Below.   

I got some awfully tough competitors as most of them like to get the best handle on the saws with bare hands.......no the 550XP's  have no heated handles or carbs. ;D

[sawguy21]

Please keep those temperatures in the north where they belong, I have had enough of that. :D I watched a lumberjack competition at our local fair on Thursday, nowhere near as professionally run. It was a bit hokey, a lot of theatrics by the m/c and competitors. Much like monster truck racing, the kids were impressed. : Still fun to watch, it was the first I have seen live.
They had two guys with 372XPs, one piped. He was given a one cut handicap but still smoked the stock saw, that thing was fast and LOUD. I didn't stay for the climbing.

[Pine Ridge]

Holmentree you all up north are alot tougher than i am. If the weather got that cold here the only thing moving would be a snowplow , that is if it would start ! Sounds like you all have a good time at the competition, i wish we had something like that here, it would be fun.

[HolmenTree]

Thanks Pine Ridge. It's not always that cold here in winter ,but when it does look out.
With snow on the ground here from November  to the end of March the Winter Festival in mid February is a nice break.
Summers can be tough here too, highs of 110F with lots of humidity

[Ada Shaker]

Hey they were great.
Not really a fair competition. That mountain lumberjack had one leg longer than the other, that stage should have had a slope on it to compensate for him. Maybe next time :D.

Nope those were both women, only difference one is over 6 foot 3 inch.

BTW  you must be the new kid on the block here, welcome to our fine site.

:D :D :D
Thanx Holmen.
BTW That's one butchy looking sheila over there with the clog hoppers, at the 4:15min mark. The one that looks like the flying Dutchman. The one I think your referring to should have been disqualified, she looks like she's on stilts  it is a wood chop comp right?. The idea I suggested about putting the stage on a slope for those mountainous cutting flying Dutchman lumberjacks was just a little light hearted humour. You can't cut strait if you have one leg longer than the other on flat land, all your cuts end up all crooked, you have to to go back up the mountain where the longer leg compensates for the slope. Perhaps that stage should be both tilting and height adjustable to accommodate all sorts, or if you wanna lower the river then just make the lumber adjustable. :D