Palm Trees and Chainsaws???

[The_Golden_Wrench]

I am planning a trip to Florida next week to do some disaster relief work.  I have heard that palm trees are really hard on chainsaws, especially aluminum frame saws.  I have never ran in to this before because palm trees do not grow in Tennessee.

Can anyone tell me if this is true and is there a way to neutralize the effect?

[kenskip1]

Go two page two and read the thread, Kens

[The_Golden_Wrench]

Kenskip1,

I read that post but I did not see anything about the trees corroding or destroying the saws case.  Did I miss something?  If I did, and you don't mind, copy and paste it into a response on this post please.

Thanks

[Ianab]

Hi Golden Wrench

I dont recall ever seeing anything about palms specifically corroding saws, but I know they are pretty tough on bars and chains. Possibly due to dirt and sand embedded in the trunk and the stringy nature of the 'wood'
Expect to do a lot of sharpening!
If you are concerned spend a bit more time cleaning up your saws at the end of the day, there may be more salt and sand around than usual. But if you take the bar off and scrape all the crud out regularly then short term exposure shouldn't do much harm

Ian

[Tom]

I agree Ian.  The tough part about palms is trying to take apart the material that makes them up.   They will dull a saw of anykind in less time than it takes to say "jack spratt".   They are quite fibrous too.  A chainsaw may suffer from the fibers building up beneath the covers.   Just keep the thing clean and you'll be OK.

[Gordon]

I've never sawed palms but I do have a question. Does saw rpm matter and chain style matter? Reason being that a lower rpm saw might work better because of the hardness of the tree.

Any guesses?

Gordon

[Tom]

I'm not convinced that the problem is hardness.  Palm looks like a bunch of packaging string glued together linearly. The consistancy of the fibers is likened to a corn broom.

[beenthere]

I've been trying to pin it down, but I think the palm 'wood' has silica in it that causes the cutting tools to dull. There are several woods that have silica, and also cause saws to dull. Just like cutting through sand, so to speak.

One site has the following ""Palmae Juss.
General anatomy. Plants with 'crystal sand' (occasionally), or without 'crystal sand'. Plants with silica bodies (hatshaped, spheroidal or ellipsoidal, occurring universally)"" when referencing the anatomy of palms.

[Blake22]

It looks like where a monkey tore up a straw hat.
They are nasty. Keep your saw clean.

[DonE911]

Well since I am right in the middle of the mess here.....

Palm tree's will eat up a chain and clog up the saw.  This is my advice since I've cut hundreds of them over the years here in south FL.

Use a cheap saw ... homelite,poulan or the like... something with a price tag under $200....

Don't sharpen the thing until it will not cut at all.... a sharp'n cut's only maginally faster and makes much larger chunks of pulp to clug up the saw...  clean out the junk and keep going cutting.   Save your good saw for the oaks and pines ( and they are everywhere )

Palms are not hard ...  very soft and full of sand, water and all kinds of nails, fence staples and sometimes the fence itself. Palms make great fencepost as long as they grow where the fence should go.

Compressed air is great for cleaning the oatmeal type pulp that clogs things up if its dull... wont work if its sharp and making bigger stuff.....

Good luck, and if you need that cheap saw... home depot has about 10 pallets of homelites and poulans... take your pick.

[DanG]

Palm trees will be the least of your worries if you're coming to Fla for relief work. Be prepared to deal with big oaks and pines laying across houses and power lines. If you are not affiliated with a relief agency, make sure your license and insurance are up to date.  Keep in mind that most of the easy stuff has already been done. What is left is the heavy stuff that requires heavy equipment that just hasn't gotten around to it yet.

[DonE911]

DanG is correct on the easy stuff already being done. Also on the insurance info.....

The big boys are still laying on houses... mostly pine and Water Oak... the Live Oaks around my area are still standing proud although stripped of leaves....

Most of the palms are still laying on the ground since no one likes to cut them up and they take up little ground space compared with the big pines and oaks.

Come down and help if you can... we have a huge senior citizen population that really can't afford to pay alot for clean up and can not physically do the work themselves.

[The_Golden_Wrench]

Thank you all for the comments.  Please keep the advise coming.

I will be responding with the Tennessee Sounthern Baptist Disaster Relief.

I have got an 088 w/ 47"  and a 066 w/ 36" and a 026 w/ 18"