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Drop start

Started by bandmiller2, April 29, 2009, 05:43:01 AM

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Engineer

#50
May 26, 2009, 02:00:01 PM
I am 39 now, been cutting since age 14, so that makes 25 years worth of starting my saws exactly the same way Gary shows in his video.  I always thought that was considered "drop starting" - I'd think you were insane to start a chain saw with the right hand on the rear handle and the left hand pulling the rope.   When I took GOL training, I was taught the same way Jeff demonstrates in his video, but I don't like it much and especially not on a cold-start larger-displacement saw.  I have done the "boot-on-the-handle" start on the ground, but there's been a few times that I got a bar nose full of dirt from a failed start.  I can't say that I've started a chain saw with my left hand more than 20 times in my life, and it makes me nervous every time.  The 'gary' start, however, is what I'm used to, and from the way you have to hold the saw I can't see how it's any more dangerous that any other method.  I used that method successfully when I had a 25" bar on my old 066, and it worked fine when I din't feel like it wanted to dislocate my fingers.

Dodgy Loner

#51
May 26, 2009, 05:24:54 PM
I've always started a chainsaw the way Gary does it, with the exception that I always use the chain brake when I start it.  I've never owned a saw without a chain brake (I started out with a Stihl 029 and now I have a 440).  I've also never seen or heard of someone drop-starting a chainsaw while holding their handle with their right and and pulling the rope with the left, until now.  I guess that's why the drop start gets a bad rap, because I honestly don't see where the risk is the way I do it.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

DanG

#52
May 26, 2009, 07:12:05 PM
Dodgy, the chainsaws of yore were cantankerous beasts.  They didn't have the choke-activated fast idle feature like we enjoy today.  On most of'em, you had to keep your finger on the trigger to get the thing going, and that left a feller one hand short for doing it any other way.  That's just another joy of life that better technology has taken away from us. 8) 8)
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

bandmiller2

#53
May 27, 2009, 05:56:09 AM
Many times the smaller "limbing" saws are started by holding the handle and pulling over with the left hand especially in a bucket.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Dodgy Loner

#54
May 27, 2009, 10:01:22 AM
DanG, I guess I'm glad I missed out on that era. :D

Bandmiller, don't those limbing saws have a handle balanced in center of the saw, rather than on the end, so they can be used one-handed? (Like this).  That seems to be a lot safer than drop-starting your average chainsaw while holding the handle.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Cut4fun

#55
May 27, 2009, 01:45:45 PM
Quote from: bandmiller2 on May 27, 2009, 05:56:09 AM
Many times the smaller "limbing" saws are started by holding the handle and pulling over with the left hand especially in a bucket.Frank C.

I never thought about it, but when my little poulan 1800 and 2000 are already warmed up from trimming duties. I start them with the right hand on the throttle and pull start with the left hand, never realized that I was doing that till reading these posted and it sunk in.  teeter_totter

GASoline71

#56
May 27, 2009, 05:53:34 PM
Yep... My little Power Mac 6 is the same way... hold handle with right hand, and pull with left.  It's only got a 12" bar on it.  Little feller...

Gary
\"...if ya mess with the bull... ya gets the horn.\"

nmurph

#57
May 28, 2009, 09:16:50 AM
when i drop-start with the right hand on the rear, i do not have my finger on the throttle, so the kick-back argument is pretty much moot. besides, gunning the throttle while starting will only flood a saw. when i drop-start the saw moves down and away from me putting the bar farther away from my body than if i had it bw my legs. again, i do not argue with someone who wants to do it a different way, but with my height and arm length, i do not see it as a significant safety risk.
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