Stihl insanity

[SwampDonkey]

Those new Stihl zero turns look rugged enough.

I've been using a Craftsman pro series tractor lawn mover for 12 years. I mow almost 2 acres of lawn. Have never replaced a belt or a tire. Just oil filter annually and only one air and fuel fliter. The air filter was not really that bad. You'd think it would be stuffed, nope. Blades I replace every so often, but I find the lawn blades I got must have had a different profile because they don't throw the mulch as nice as the old ones. I'll have to get out the grinder and sharpen them up and put them back on. My new lawn has a heavy clover mix with timothy, which is harder to mow than straight grass anyway. I tend to let it grow a bit between cuts. The old blades aren't really that bad, but on new lawn they kinda smoothed out the rough spots for awhile.

[Skeans1]

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br> Big thanks for the tips Ed!! Much appreciated! I will check that out on the bar.


HEXA CHAIN ??
Nobody seems to know anything about the Hexa chain. I emailed a guy a week or so ago that has a bunch of the .050 and I told him if he gets his hands on some.063 I want some. He sent me a Email he hadn’t forgotten me and said he has some so I’m getting some. They say it cuts better and holds a edge better than the RS full chisel.
I will compare both since I have RS and Hexa on the way

That’s great till you need to sharpen it, it’ll always be a file job and on something that’s 185 drivers in 3/8’s that’s a lot of time messing around. In normal square to do a 114 driver full comp chain on the grinder I’m less then 5 minutes a side and a few minutes on the raker grinder. Simple fact of time is money and money is time is true when it comes to long bars especially a couple strokes here and there add up very quickly.

[Walnut Beast]

STIHL 5203 750 7018 3/8"' Hexa Chain
Grinding Wheel

[Ed]

You didn't have that 881 set up with .404 chain?

Ed

[Walnut Beast]

Hey Ed ! The 59” inch bar I have is a Rollomatic E sprocket tip. The 3/8 .063 Hexa chain is for the Stihl 500 with the 28” Cannon Duralite bar I have

[Walnut Beast]

Full time Turner logging boyz in Missouri say the Hexa chain cuts better, faster and easier to sharpen when the name of the game is putting wood on the ground to skid out! 

[teakwood]

The chain seems nice, but boy, real old school logger, seems hot there and the guy with heavy chainsaw chaps, should try some light weight pants. NO ear protection, whole day cutting without ear protection, ughh

[Walnut Beast]

They might be old school but they stay really busy. Especially cutting walnut. You should see his Dad that’s probably pushing 80. His kid doesn’t hold a candle to him. The old man with a 661 dropping big walnut trees like domino’s. Absolute stud. 

[Walnut Beast]

Drinking the Hexa chain kool-aid. 
Cuts faster, stays sharper and a kid in diapers can sharpen it 😂


 

 

 

[beenthere]

WB
Have it on your saw now?

[teakwood]

Saturday was one of the best days ever, went for the ongoing battle to repair  the struggling  forklift.
After several attempts and lots of talking to the old mechanic, owners and operators of the forklift came to the conclusion that it needed a new carburetor. The old company got a quote from Manitou of 2200$ for a new carburetor, they just ridiculous some times!  
Found a AM chinesium carb on ebay for 200$ and bought the thing, had it laying here since 2 month and the forklift finally stopped working last week so i gave it a shot, new carb and new plugs. had the thing running at 8am, two cranks and perfection. was so happy wanted to open a beer. Pre owners used it that way for years, started to stutter and turned off, let it idle and came back to life after some minutes, push gas and it died again. was overflowing.



long story short, it made my day and then the txt came in that my christmas present finally made it to CR.  Was like a kid in a candy store.   thanks to our FF friend; the ship captain/ night logger because he works 22/8, sleeps 1hour and makes love to his woman's the other hour,  




the only bad thing is the handle, never in my life have i seen a wrap handle but i don't get it  . would lose 20$ on each tree for leaving a high stump. put the grinder to it. need to order a original handle. 

[Skeans1]

@teakwood 
Try cutting steep ground without a wrap handle and you’ll find out fast why they are a must. Imagine having to have the clutch side up dialing in a tree it’s much easier to do with a full wrap vs back barring. I can’t imagine cutting without one especially with some of the ground I’ve been one and size of the timber. Another way to think of it is staying on one side to do all your cutting without back barring from face to stump.

[doc henderson]

@Skeans1 what is the shoulder pad you speak of for carrying a saw?  Is it the leather and felt deal that Baileys sell to put on a suspender strap?

[Walnut Beast]

WB
Have it on your saw now?

It’s in the works 😊. 
Nice saw Teak!

[barbender]

 Teak, great saw! That part time logger you speak if, he is something else😊

 I just picked up a very lightly used 500i from a friend. I haven't even got to cut anything that will show me what it can do.

[teakwood]

I've put one tank thru it but just bucking here at the sawmill. What a cool sound this saw has, and the performance is just wow. That is some serious power. I weighted it and with a 20" light bar full fluids its 8.7kg. The same setup on my 361 was 8.1kg. So only 0.6kg, about 1.3 lbs heavier.

Friday we will go falling, that's the real test. It will be fun with this powerhouse. Will make pics.

[barbender]

They do sound cool, they rev like a dirt bike!

[teakwood]

Yeah, i was surprised by the acceleration, you hit the trigger and BAM, not even a half second later you hear the saw "4 stroking" at the rev limiter. If you have adjusted a saw manually before then you just smile when you hear this sound, the sweet spot.

[Walnut Beast]

Keep us posted on the performance when falling 

[teakwood]

Went falling today, put 4 tanks thru it. I don't like this saw, i love it! If I could only have one saw for the rest of my life i would choose this one. There is just nothing compared to this animal. I could feel the weight difference though or i'm just out of shape, was done at 11am.

We had a rough start (was totally my fault), first tree, a big one, i ..... it up and the tree got hooked up on another and broke the whole tree, then i had to cut the other hanging tree which was dangerous, what a mess. then i hung up another one.


The problem was: i had my falling technique dialed in almost to perfection with the 361, when the tree starts going i give it a blink of an eye till he has direction and then stump jump the tree so he can accommodate or rotate around the others. for this technique you need to control the hinge pretty accurate. No problem with the 361 but the 500i ate me alive the first 2hours. first tree i was afraid the hinge will be too small because this beast cuts like a son of a gun, so the hinge was too big and then when i needed to jump the tree i blocked the chain on a hook up because this saw just grabs. total disaster. hinge was still on when it hit the other tree, grabbed the poor guy and brought it down. Well, nobody was hurt so that's more important.

At 6am







11am