Bad Habits: Part Three:

Continuing on with this short series of common mistakes made by operators is the classic "head in line with the bar" syndrome. This is such a common error and it's easy to see why; especially when you're concentrating on getting your cuts right and trying to line them up.

Of course, the real problem with this is that should you suffer any kickback then you can guess where the bar is heading..? If you look at the picture on the left, you can see that this student has his head right in line with the bar (I realise that it's unlikely that he's going to get any kickback here, but it's just to show a poor head position). Find out more after the jump...

With you head in line with the bar, should you get some kickback then that chain, which is doing something approaching 50mph, is heading straight for your face. That's not good, and definitely would constitute a 'bad day at the office'. I tend to find that students want to get their cuts as accurate as possible, and hence they can line up the cuts if their head is over the bar, so how are you supposed to line everything up if you can't put your head in line with the bar?

Easy! Line it all up, then move your head before you start cutting! Now, I'm not suggesting that you try and hold the saw way out to your right hand side, just that you move your head slightly to left to take it out of the line of kickback. That's really only just a few inches.

This point is very important and can be a potential failure point on your assessment; it's written in the assessment schedule under part 2 (CS30.2) where it expects safe usage of the saw, and specifically states that your head must be out of line of the chainsaw. So remember, line everything up, move your head slightly to the left, chain brake off and cut. Stay safe...

Bad Habits: Part One.

It always amazes me just how quickly new students pick up bad habits. I've lost count of the times that students returning to me for more chainsaw tuition have got into bad ways! I kind of expect 'old-hands' at using saws to have already fallen into bad habits, but not people who have just passed their CS30 and are coming back after a couple of months to do their CS31! So what are these common pitfalls? Find out more after the jump...

There are several, common poor practices that I see again and again, and in the first of a short series I'll be picking up on these and try to explain why they're such a heinious crime not a good idea.

In this first one, we'll take a look at the Wandering Thumb Syndrome. You can probably make out in the picture above that this student has moved their thumb on to the top of the front handle. Not a good move, and a potential failure point on your assessment.

So why is this so bad? After all, it's often quite comfortable working this way, but the problem starts should you suffer from kickback. What's going to happen to the handle when the tip of the bar contacts some timber and throws the saw back? The saw handle will come out of your left hand as there's nothing to stop it.

Compare that with keeping your thumb around the handle... try it out, just hold a saw with your thumb on top of the handle, and then wrapped around it. You'll see that if you were to get any kickback, the handle just pushes back into that squashy part of your hand between thumb and forefinger.

So, for your own safety (and to get you through the assessment!) always keep your hand securely on the front handle, and that means keeping your thumb round it.

Poor Cutting Performance...

Does your saw not cut as well as it used to - figure it'd be easier to use the old bow saw instead? Are you having to apply quite a bit of pressure to get the saw to cut through the wood? Do you find yourself actually performing a cutting motion as if you were using a normal hand-saw? Does the saw no longer cut straight?

All of these things are a sure sign that there's a problem with your chainsaw that needs sorting - and fortunately they are all to do with just one component on the saw. Find out more after the jump...

It's very common for users of a chainsaw to carry on trying to cut through the timber even though it's obvious that something is not quite right; hopefully after this post, you'll have a better idea of what to look for and how to correct the situation.

The saw should self-feed, that is to say that it should cut through the wood with very little pressure as the cutters will pull themselves through the timber - forcing it through the wood just increases wear and effective loses power due to the increase in friction. So if you are having to push down on the saw, or rock it back and forth you're going to have to face the fact that... it's blunt!

There's nothing for it, but to sharpen the chain. Trying to cut with a blunt chain is a lesson in futility - it takes longer, is more tiring to you and it's not good for the saw. Always use a sharp chain. There's one sure-fire way of telling if your chain is blunt and that is the wood-dust that is produced. This dust is just like a fine powder and really does give the game away.

A sharp saw should produce wood chips, but you must remember to ensure that the depth gauges are set correctly to maximise the amount of timber cut by each cutter.

Sometimes a chainsaw just will not cut in a straight line; this is a classic symptom of incorrect sharpening and caused by having the cutter lengths different. Remember, the length of the cutters must be the same for every cutter. You can check the lengths using the nut and bolt method as mentioned in an earlier post, and in the picture on the right.

A saw that suffers from a lot of vibration when cutting is likely to have the cutters incorrectly filed (i.e. set to the wrong angle) or the depth gauges set too low (i.e. filed too heavily). This last scenario is a particular problem as it increases the risk of kickback from the saw.

If your saw is not cutting efficiently then try to work out why; all of the above problems are related to one single chain compenent... the cutter, and that's where you should start your search for the reason behind poor cutting performance.