[jezza]

 hi   i dont want to to put you off using chainsaw ,my college chainsaw tutor drummed it in to us to always wear safety trousers  he didnt practice what he preached he decided to cut logs on a frosty morning the saw slipped went into his leg the rest ile leave to the imagination protective trousers would have saved him We used to put a log down protective trouser leg then cut with saw 3 milliseconds the saw was jammed   jezza

[MickyB]

I have had a bash at those pesky stumps today and the good news is that I still have all my limbs intact. 

It's a lot lot tougher than what I thought it would be, I was expecting to easily wizz through the base of the stumps in one go like a hot knife through butter- but no chance! I have had a good couple of hours at it and have only managed to get one done and about half a second one done (and the third one is the biggest of the lot), I ended up taking off small bits at a time and gradually reducing the stump in size.

Now I have handled one I do feel a lot more confident about using a chainsaw.

The chain is now blunt so I will look to get it sharpened I have also ordered a replacement to use now and as a spare, it will take a couple of days to arrive - which is good because it will give time for my shoulders and arms to stop aching - I feel like I have gone nuts at the gym - I thought this was an easy options - Ooops wrong again. 

Just as I was finishing off one of the fellow plot holders who apparently used to work with chainsaws for the Forestry Commission, came along to offer his help and advise, it was good to get some on site advise from someone experienced with chainsaws, he has given me some more tips and pointed out that I have over-tensioned the chain so I continue to learn.

[grinling]

we bought a sharpening kit online.
well done so far and never climb into a tree to dismantle it. The people who drop trees off to us to cut up at our leisure,has turned down such a job and told the customer to get a tree surgeon in.

[Trillium]

Interesting sensation, the post chainsaw jiggles    I don't even notice them anymore

Glad you got through your first few stumps safely. The chain needs a bit of flex to work properly. My OH always wants to tighten it up thinking it's loose but my saw guy always loosens it back for me after he sharpens it. I'm lucky that I found an elderly chain guy who just wants to keep busy and he charges just $5 per chain for sharpening, which is dirt cheap. Recently we bought a sharpening tool for our Dremel and that works nicely too, especially when there's a big pile to get through and we don't want to take time to get the chains professionally sharpened.

[MickyB]

The blade went blunt a lot quicker than I expected, I thought it would last a few months.

[Trillium]

The harder the wood, the faster the teeth dull. Oak and maple/acer are wicked on blades. If the overall saw blade is small, then the teeth dull even faster.

[MickyB]

  All gone 

The new chain whizzed through them very easily.

Thanks for all the help. 

[Swed]

Here are some good pdf's on chainsaw usage:
http://www.chainsawchains.eu/Maintenance-Manual.pdf
http://www.oregonproducts.com/pro/pdf/maintenance_manual/ms_manual.pdf
http://www.stihl.de/safety_manuals/usa_en/Motorsaege_US_englisch.pdf
http://www.teagasc.ie/forestry/docs/advice/HSA_Guide_timber_chainsaws.pdf
https://www.safework.sa.gov.au/uploaded_files/rs4i.pdf

etc

There are a lot of good pdf's on the net concering how to use a chainsaw, safety, service, maintenace, and so on.

Just be careful - sillily so... chainsaw is perhaps one of the most dangerous Tools to use... next to the angle grinders...