Puttering
A Tuneup
Earlier this year, the cherry tree in the Devil's strip got knocked about by our neighbor's giant roofing van and broke a somewhat significant branch. The one upside was that it gave me an opportunity to use one of my favorite tools - the electric chainsaw on a stick! But, about halfway through cleaning up the tree, the chain came off and I noticed that some of the teeth had gotten damaged so it wasn't riding through the bar properly. Then a week or two ago we had a rainy weekend so...time to fix it up. Let's get into it.
The Reaper's Scythe
Back in 2018 we realized the hemlock tree in the back yard was getting too big. We always knew the day would come that we'd have to chop 'er down and alas, the dreaded day had come. And, with not just a little sorrow...the chore was undertaken, the chainsaw on a stick swung like the Grim Reaper's scythe - claiming all whose time had come.
This was the first time the chainsaw on a stick was used for more than just trimming, and I hated every moment of it, even Linus looked a bit sad...
But it got the job done very efficiently, if not poignantly.
Boogered Up
Like I said, at the beginning of spring, we were cleaning up the damage on the cherry tree the chain came off the chainsaw on a stick.
When I took it apart in the workshop, it became clear why the chain kept hopping the bar...a bunch of the teeth were boogered up.
The drive links (#3 above) are what got messed up, probably because I hadn't properly adjusted the chain tension. A drive link is a tooth on the bottom of a chainsaw chain that fits into the groove of the chainsaw's guide bar and runs around the sprocket. The problem is that if the drive links are messed up they won't run around the sprocket smoothly and will just keep jumping off the bar.
Anyway, I think it was somewhere between 10 and 12 teeth. I've gotten a little bit mangled at the top of the tooth.
So I just took a file to the affected teeth and filed the flaws back down flat. That took maybe ten minutes.
I am no prophet - and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid. - TS Eliot
Cleanup
While I had the chainsaw taken apart, I decided to give it a good cleaning which only made sense. Because, why would you open it, then close it back up without cleaning it first?
Once cleaned up (and quite frankly, I didn't go nuts with cleaning) I put it back together. Otherwise, it would just be a pile of parts as opposed to a chainsaw on a stick!
I think that's one of the best nicknames for a tool ever. Think about it a chainsaw....on....a...stick - marvelous!
So that's that. Just a quick story about a little bit of a tuneup on the old chainsaw. Now it's time to do a little more tree trimming! Hey, thanks for stopping by - see ya' next time!
