I just cleaned my saw for the winter and took off the chain while doing so. Then I realized that I forgot which way the chain should go on. I put it on but I am not sure if the chain is on in the right direction. here's a pic below - to the left is the body of the chain saw and to the right is the tip of the bar. Sorry about this noob question. http://homepage.mac.com/tbone89/.Pictures/wheels/chain.jpg
img edited into a link because it is greater than 300 pixels wide. -Tom
That's backwards, looking at the picture the chain runs left to right.
Seen that more than once.
Unless the saw is upside down, NO.
Don't look like it'll cut real fast that way. Might even smoke a little. Flip it and you'll be fine......
Are you sure (just kidding) how can you tell (or is there a way or trick to remember ) which way it should go in the future?
The chain cuts towards you from the bottom. The sharp edges should be on the side coming towards you from the bottom, or away from you on the top. . Just a bit different but I've had many employees try to put a skill saw blade in backwards. Heck, I've done it myself once or twice. :)
Funny what a little observation can do. As I reversed the chain I noticed there's an arrow on the chain that shows what direction it should go. duh. A lesson to all noobs (like me).
(https://forestryforum.com/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhomepage.mac.com%2Ftbone89%2F.Pictures%2Fwheels%2Fchain3.jpg&hash=014d1000b7513e17f8357bd0b2c89392f693f921)
(corrected the pic size - sorry mods)
Once had a guy come in complaining his new chain would not cut. I told him I did not want to insult him but did he realize it was on backwards. He replied yes but he was cutting with the top side of the bar! Don't worry about it. We are here to help. You are not the first and won't be the last.
Maybe he had 'reverse' on that saw and in 'reverse' it cut just fine. :) :) ;D
I will admit to putting the chain on backwards (but can't remember trying to saw with it that way). I wasn't very impressed or happy with myself and "DanG'd-it-all" a bit when it happened.
Don't feel bad zband. I showed up for a Cutter III class all raring to go. The rest of the group were all professional loggers. Every now and then one would mosy over to gander at all our saws laying in a row and snicker. I looked at the different saws too but I never looked at mine (one of two stihls in a sea of huskys). I found out what the snikerin was all about when it came time for me to fall a tree. In my haste to get out the door in the morning I put the chain on backwards :o Everyone got a laugh at my expense and I was so embarrassed I proceeded (after re-orienting the chain) to screw up my notch and leave too big of a hinge. I did drop the leaning tree exactly where I said I would but there was a bunch of pulled fibre in it. How embarrassing ::) ???
For the record everyone, including the instructor, but one had a screw up at some point during the day. Mine just happened to get the most laughs. :D
yep thats the way i runem.. its the only way i can enjoy my chainsaw fetish without hurtin the tree. :)
not one of us not guilty o that zband.
Well, jeez, I have NEVER put a chainsaw chain on backwards. 8) (probably cause I dont mess with those things, they're for crazy people.) ;)
However... :)
I did put a 56 inch headsaw blade on backwards once about 25 years ago. :-[ :) I did notice it before I hit the start button, but we had to fire a lot of guys over the years before I quit hearing about it.
Quotewe had to fire a lot of guys over the years before I quit hearing about it.
:D :D :D
I have put my chain on backwards a time or two, but only once did anyone else know about it, but that was my dad and he's suposed to catch you doing :-[ like that.
I was clearing a snowmobile trail a few years ago when I got my Stihl stuck in a suspened blow down maple. I was five miles in on the trail which was twenty or so miles from the house. By the time I got home to get another saw it was near dark so I decided cutting a suspended tree with lamp light wasn't a good option, so I waited until morning.
When I got there the next day my saw was gone and the maple was bucked up and stacked along side the trail!!!!
That evening at the local watering hole a freind presented me with my saw in front of about twenty witnesses :-[
That cost me more then one round o' drinks.
QuoteWhen I got there the next day my saw was gone and the maple was bucked up and stacked along side the trail!!!!
You should have left your splitting axe there as well. :D
What I found out was that Harley was working on another section of the same trail and if I had gone three miles to the east I would have found him. But in these hills some times you can't tell exactly which direction that other saw your hearing is coming from.
We still get a good laugh when some one says they heard Stihls grow on trees in Cook County ;D
Carry a wrench with you and you can remove the saw motor from the bar and leave the bar in the woods. Take the saw motor home. Matter of fact, keep a spare bar and chain and you can use the same motor to free the other bar. :)
.......as long as you get the chain on right. :D
That's good advice Tom.
I've thought of several more ways of going about clearing trails in the last three years 8)
My gear weighs a lot more then it used to but when I think of all the money i save at the Legion it's worth it ;)
When I first bought my sawmill I also purchased a box of blades from Norwood, and all of the blades came out of the box with the teeth facing the wrong direction ::) so I had to turn 'em around before I put them on the mill. A couple blades into my sawing I couldn't figure out why one of em wouldn't cut into the log...so I just pushed harder on the carriage :-/ I didn't realize my mistake until after popping the blade off of the wheels.
Funny that the only blades I've ever received that were backwards were from Norwood. Maybe they save them just for newbies :D