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[Jason]

I hit a nail the other day with my chainsaw.  It was embedded deeply inside an oak log with a diameter of maybe 20 inches or so.  I didn't even hit the thing until I was 3-4" into the log.  As soon as I saw a couple sparks I quit cutting because I realized I'd hit something. 

I have a Stihl FarmBoss saw with a Stihl chain on it.  I'm not one of these people that says my brand of tool/equipment/whatever is the best and anything else sucks by any means, but I know that Stihl is one of the upper echelon manufacturers of this type of equipment.  As such, I was a little surprised at how much I messed up the chain. 

I realize that a nail is really hard on a saw chain but one little nail seemed to completely take the temper out of the chain.  I sharpened the saw really carefully this morning and went to the woods.  I cut 3 pieces off a small green locust tree that the township had pushed over (right along the road) and then I attacked an old dead elm that was almost rotted to powder in the middle.  After about 5 minutes the chain was as dull as can be.  A new chain is not a big deal-I'm about due anyway. 

Has anyone ever done anything like this and totally slaughtered a chain?  I've hit nails before and not had this problem.  I just couldn't believe that after that the chain is shot.  Oh well, off to the Stihl dealer for a new chain sometime this week.

That brings up another question:  Do you guys use the brand of bar oil specific to your saw, or any brand of bar oil you can find, or just whatever kind of oil you have handy?  I tend to be in the first category and my dad is comfortably in the third.

[Scratch]

Wow... too bad about the chain... at least they're not too expensive.  Never hit one myself so not much help there.  As for bar oil, I use the cheapest stuff I can find.  Figure it's not for the engine or anything too critical so why spend the extra money on it.

[willieG]

i cut mostly all dead elm jason..let me tell you  they can be hard on chains..such as the one you mentioned about being almost powder inside..this type of wood is hard on your chain, when you get into an elm that is starting to decay you  have bits and pieces of dirt and gravel and sand that the bugs have brought in. I do take these trees to clean up the forest floor if they are near to my trail but i prefer to cut the ones that are still standing and still have some bark on them.

[603doug]

I burn pine alot and several of my contractor contacts give me the butt logs that are often left behind and over the years I always watch for nails fencing etc,one reason loggers do not want them. Brand new chain on my 2171 jonsered (this saw can throw some chips) second cut hit some fencing in the middle of a 3 ft butt and the chain flew apart, stayed in a pile just like the pictures show for safety, but out $25 because it was beyond repair. Now use old chains on the butts not as costly

[Jason]

Willie- never thought about the bugs bringing stuff into the tree but that's a good point.  Everyone else- thanks for the input.  I don't feel so bad now.   

[ckbetz]

I was going to say what willie said.  I can't seem to stay out of the dirt with my saw.  It only takes a half second for the dirt to dull a chain, it seems worse than almost anything else. 

[willieG]

i had a soft maple at the end of my drive about 15 years ago that got two chains..the county cut the tree down and cut it into blocks  for me as it was on their property and I was to get the wood right on i thought...well the guy from teh county told me i had to deal with a block he quit cutting on, he had it alsmost cut but said he hit something and destroyed his chain, so i went at it with and axe and chipped around his cut till i got to what he had hit, he had cut 3/4 of the way through a 3/4 inch gate hinge that had been in the tree for (by the rings) 67 years then to top that off on of the branches was left long and it so happened that to make two nice sized pieces i had to cut it right on a hughe knot..turned out taht the knowt was in fact a clump of gravel the snow plow must have threw into the crotch of the tree and then the tree grew around it!

that was the last tree i took from the side of the road

[ckbetz]

Ok, dirt is worse than everything but a gate hinge...upstaged again..hehehe

I have heard of people hitting horse shoes, fence posts, etc that people lean in the fork of a tree that grows over them.  It's amazing how they'll just keep growing around whatever they need to. 

[Scratch]

Be extra careful when cutting bamboo trees!  I saw on Mythbusters, that those things will grow straight through a human torso!

I guess supposedly in Vietnam, it was used as a method of torture.


So yeah... careful when cutting bamboo trees for use in your wood burner.  I know I'll be careful up here in Wisconsin.

[ckbetz]

I have actually seen a few areas around here where bamboo grows pretty well.  It's a funny looking thing while it's growing.

[willieG]

I have actually seen a few areas around here where bamboo grows pretty well.  It's a funny looking thing while it's growing.

i live in ontario canada and when i was a kid it (or at least it looked like it to me) grew behind my dads autobody shop it grew wild and spread slowly year to year then a cold winter would kill it back it looked like bamboo but it never got taller than about 8 or 10 feet and never wider in diameter than about 1.5 inches..was it  really bamboo, i don't know, im not much of a horticulturest

[ouch]

something else to add.

a full chisel chain will dull much faster than a semi-chisel chain if exposed to any
abrasives. however the full chisel chains cut faster.

I mainly use 72-JGX skip tooth full chisel on my little 455 rancher.
Its nice to have a lot less teeth when it comes time to sharpen.