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My use case for a chainsaw is walking around the woods chopping up the smaller trees that are down on my paths; for the bigger ones I am going to hire someone with a bigger saw and experience. I've got tinnitus that drives me a bit bonkers so I'm real cautious about noise. In another thread here someone suggested looking at electric chainsaws. I only knew of corded ones, and didn't realize that cordless tech on these had come a long way since the last time I looked at saws ~10 years ago. (of course I wear double hearing protection for loud stuff, but even at that, stuff like running my shop vac in a small basement for periods of time makes my ears real unhappy). What does this thread think of this saw, for the uses I've described? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0765BPGDR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0765BPGDR&pd_rd_wg=B6ku1&pd_rd_r=18R0P986WQX0CXGMJT4N&pd_rd_w=FiH20 I generally have a hardon for Makita tools, but not really for any good reason. I know that I'm going to be spending more on this than I would for a gas saw; my question is what the other tradeoffs are. It's hard for me to envision needing to spend more than an hour or two sawing on a given day.
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Apr 12, 2018 19:50
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:From what I recall from prior chainsaw conversations, the main differences between gas and electric saws are a) electric saws will happily chew through teflon chaps and other safety gear that will stop a gas saw, and b) Huh, why is that? Same deal with kevlar pants? edit: this video sort of implies otherwise... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uZQZBALVTc Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Apr 12, 2018 |
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Apr 12, 2018 20:01
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:I can't imagine hoping to use a saw for more than 15 or 20 minutes a day and expecting anything from an electric saw unless you're just limbing up tiny trees. I would be so frustrated the moment it started bogging down from low battery. that's disheartening. Maybe I should just borrow a gas saw from a neighbor and see if I can handle the noise. Makita has a demo video of that saw linked above where they made 52 cuts through 150mm pine on a charge; that's not terrible but it's obviously not great. On the other hand, I probably only have about 200 cuts to make this year, just need to chunk stuff up into pieces I can move with an ATV cart and then toss through a splitter.
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Apr 12, 2018 20:29
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One more question for the day. I need to deal with this, one way or another:  This is broken off about 8' in the air, and obstructing a trail. The easy thing to do would be to yank it down with a tractor, but I don't have a tractor, and because of where this is located, getting a tractor up to it is going to be a bear even if I can find someone who wants to mess with it. I need to get a high-load chain comealong for other reasons (barn straightening & re-posting issue). I'm wondering if it's reasonable to just toss a chain over the busted part, chain it to the base of some study trees ~15' away, and then just tighten it down until it comes crashing down. The sketchy part would likely just be getting the chain hooked over it well; once that's done, I can be standing far enough away that I'm not worried about it killing me. Good idea? Bad idea? Any other obvious solutions I'm overlooking? This is a softwood so it's not going to be amazing firewood, except I've also been making syrup and this is probably enough wood for half of my operation next year, if I can get it onto the ground and sliced up. (This one is bigger than the stuff I want to hack up myself, so one way or another I'm going to hire someone, but if it's already on the ground when I do that, it's going to be a much cheaper and easier proposition).
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Apr 12, 2018 20:38
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I just wanted to chime in with a trip report on a Makita XCU30PT1 electric chainsaw. This is my first chainsaw, and note that I've got hearing difficulties (relatively amazing hearing, but with constant extremely high pitched tinnitus) so the volume level of these devices was a very important feature for me. As you'd expect, the battery life is limited. I was able to delimb and section a ~40' pine in one charge of 2 batteries (saw uses 2 at a time), and I was able to just about delimb and section a larger tree (60-70', about 1.5' thick at the base) on a charge of both sets of batteries that came with the saw kit. So, if you need to be out there for hours, you'd spend a ton on batteries and dealing with charging them and it would not be worth it. On the other hand, if you only need to run a saw for 30-60 minutes at a go, then this seems totally fine. I don't have much experience with chainsaws so I can't speak to the power level comparison, but I have been a bit surprised at how torquey and powerful this saw is; getting through 1.5' sections of stump was no big deal at all. So far I've mostly been hacking up pine and other softwoods, I can post an update when I get to some of the harder stuff. Anyway, as someone who worries about their ears with powertools, this one doesn't scare me, and I think a normal person might just use this with no ear protection and not really notice the noise at all. As someone who has ~10 acres that they are trying to do as much self-maintenance on as possible, I think this is going to cover about 75% of my chainsaw needs. I expect to get a gas saw of some kind to augment it later in the season, but that's a low priority. Cross-compatibility with the rest of Makita's tools was of use to me because I am a long time Makita user and expect to get a recip saw and a few other things on the same platform this year. One ding against it, as others have noted: the power button will turn itself off after 4 seconds, as a safety feature since you can't hear the saw running. I don't find this that big a deal because my thumbs are not very thick so I don't have trouble operating the button with gloves on, but I understand why some people find it tempting to just keep fluttering one of the triggers to keep the saw on while idle, and that definitely seems like A Dangerous Idea. Final note, this thing will absolutely take your leg off with ease, and all normal chainsaw caution should be applied, lightweight and electric or not. 
Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 18:34
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Crotch Fruit posted:if I want to buy more 18v tools, like a circular saw, I would really prefer to buy Milwaukee instead of Makita. out of curiosity, why?
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Apr 27, 2018 19:57
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hmm it turns out chainsaw blades get dull really fast if you hit some rocks by mistake like an rear end in a top hat also my assumption that this wouldn't seem too much more insanely dangerous than a motorcycle was a little misguided, simply because I tend to operate my motorcycle on maintained roadways, not in unexplored terrain in the woods where I'm constantly having an entire leg slip down a badger hole or something. overall this work has been a mix of tiring, frightening and super fun and I see a ~18" husqvarna in my future Harry Potter on Ice posted:So you can change the rpm based on what you're doing? My $60 Black & Decker does this with an adjustment knob directly on the device. It's also got a flashlight directly on the device. Having to use my phone to adjust my drill seems... dubious. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Apr 30, 2018 |
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Apr 30, 2018 17:12
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:You're thinking too small.. professionals use these tools beyond what you're using your black and decker for. Some of those professionals are good at what they do but are still too dumb to remember or don't care to change the speed depending on the project. Maybe they want a more specific rpm than the set levels. This lets a project manager maintain and organize a sites tools easily Ah ha! I hadn't even thought about the idea of someone besides the direct operator using this, that makes a lot of sense. My gut reaction is to revolt against such ideas because I am so goddamn sick of every new toaster wanting to have app integration, but I think that clouded my snap-judgement here. Unrelated: yesterday I decided that there's a word for people (like me) who have no real business owning dangerous tools, but go out on their noontime breaks to hack up trees: Luncher-jacks.
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May 1, 2018 17:58
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Always look up and watch for widowmakers. Chainsaws don't mess around. Like you at least have chaps right? :/ got chaps, got gloves, got head/face/ear protection. Fully read the safety manual for the saw, then spent a couple hours watching "chainsaw how to" and "chainsaw fail" videos on Youtube :-P Started with some ~6-8" trees that were on the ground and very easy to support and section, to get a feel for the work and the tool. So far the stuff I'm dealing with is winter-killed trees that are already on the ground. I have a few things that need to be dealt with which are scarier than that, or just too thick to do with this saw safely, but I am expecting to bring in a professional for a day or two. Only scary moment so far was trying to drop a section of ~15" pine (which was well supported, but about 4' off the ground) and having my cuts not line up exactly, causing it start to twist the saw out of my hands on its way down. That seemed Real Bad, and I see how very easy it would be to just get straight up killed trying to do something which "doesn't look that scary". My brother in law had a co-worker kill himself last year, when he was up in a tree, cutting something over and right in front of his face, and the saw got knocked backwards and split his head apart. My takeaway from that was "don't cut poo poo in front of you / at head level" and also probably "don't be loving off the ground up in a goddamn tree with a saw unless you really, really, really know what you're doing". In my day job I do quality assurance automation (for mostly boring enterprise software), and my general philosophy of life is "everything is probably hosed or dangerous or broken in a hidden way, watch out". But, yea, even this little electric makita chainsaw instantly felt like one of the more dangerous things I own, and I have guns and a motorcycle... Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 19:03 on May 1, 2018 |
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May 1, 2018 19:00
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:One of the rules I've heard is just straight-up don't use a chainsaw unless you're standing on solid ground. Ladders or standing on the tree itself are not considered solid ground. I assume this rule is broken routinely by professionals, which I am not. I'll suck it up and use a handsaw for any elevated cutting I need to do, and if that's too onerous then I'll hire a tree service. Yup, this makes sense to me. Honestly, I wouldn't even want to try to remove a larger limb with a handsaw; anything that's heavier than I can lift with one arm, is not something I want to be cutting from off the ground...
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May 1, 2018 19:04
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Alright so I am a loving idiot and let myself get distracted in the second between letting go of the chainsaw trigger and having the blade spin down, and bounced it off my leg. The good news is that I was wearing proper gear, and can report that kevlar stops electric chainsaw blades. At least, they do when the blade is already spinning down. I am not about to try it at rev, but it made enough of a fuss of some of the apron's fibers, that I'm pretty sure I would have been looking at a trip to the doctors and at minimum a bunch of antibiotics, if not stitches. Christ, that was terrifyingly easy to do. This thing is super useful and has probably already paid itself off in terms of what I've cleared vs what I'd have paid someone to do that clearing, but, if I kill myself that's not going to be very helpful. This was broad daylight, good footing, clear and focused headspace. Also, y'all were correct in your assertion that I probably wouldn't have much luck straight pulling that busted tree down with a chain winch. I've got it under tension so that it'll go in one direction if it does go, and I started delimbing some of it, but I'm going to hit a point where the stuff that needs to be sectioned and dropped is over waist level, and I'm just not feeling that (especially in light of my little mini mishap today), so I've got a posting out for a professional. Around here that probably just means some half drunk dude with a tractor, but, gently caress, better him than me. It took me almost three months of motorcycle ownership before I had any kind of close call, so I'm going to go out on a limb (har har) and say this stupid thing is the most dangerous object in my house. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 22:05 on May 9, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 22:02
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Tres Burritos posted:How dangerous are pole saws then? I have a hankering to destroy a tree in my yard and kinda want to de-limb it first, or is that a dumb idea? Pole saws look awesome to me; seems like a slightly different set of concerns. I would be very worried about dropping stuff on my head; having just started to do some of this work, I've been very careful to cut things into very small, manageable pieces. That (combined with being on the ground at all times) has kept it from being too scary when things drop in a different way that I was expecting, but... stuff falls slightly differently than I'm expecting it to all the time. Depending on the size of the tree, if I needed something cut down I'd probably just pay a guy. I'm going to take a class on how to fell trees, but in the meantime I'm not messing with anything that's not already down. Makita makes a pole saw that's 25cc and extends to thirteen feet despite only weighing 16lbs. I admit that I get sexually aroused whenever I see tools that are Makita Teal Blue in color.
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May 9, 2018 22:36
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:holy poo poo. You need some chainsaw training. quote:Don't forget about widowmakers. You should be comfortable enough to be looking up while sawing so you don't accidentally knock something loose. This is usually how experienced people die every year I also got a text message from someone who claimed they'd do it for $50-100, which seems too good to be true. I assume that anyone I hire to do this should have specific insurance for doing this kind of work, and lack of that would be a big red flag, right? This tree must be at least 2,000 lbs. (To phrase that question slightly differently: if some dunderhead claims they can do it and kills themselves, and they don't have specific insurance, I have liability, right?)
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May 10, 2018 16:12
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Size estimation is hard; 2000 pounds doesn't sound like that big a tree to me. Any reason you couldn't fell it with a handsaw or an axe and then delimb it when it's on the ground? It's more sweat and toil but substantially less chance of accidentally cutting your leg off.  Scale is kind of tough to see here but believe it or not, the point where it's broken is ~22" thick and the edge of the break is 9' in the air or so. If I was standing right next to it I wouldn't be able to reach the broken part, and I'm 6'1. If it was on the ground I would not be too worried about it at all, the problem is getting it there. It also broke two other trees on the way down, so the other side of it is just a total tangle. I suppose I could build a platform on that side of the trunk, and then get up there with an axe, but the LoE to do that in a way I'd consider is much higher than just paying someone to come deal with it. I'm curious to see how a professional approaches it; a couple people with some decades of homeowner chainsaw and trail maintenance experience have looked at it and expressed anxiety. TooMuchAbstraction posted:If they're on your property and they don't have insurance, then you're liable for anything that happens to them while working on a job you're paying them for. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 16:50 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 16:44
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the comedy option is to simply ignore it. it's not, technically, obstructing the trail, depending on your views of russian rouletteskipdogg posted:Maybe your local rental place has one of these If only
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May 10, 2018 17:01
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Pretty sure the $100 offer was someone without insurance. Someone else just looked at it and said they weren't sure if they could do it -- and also doesn't have insurance. Someone who DOES carry insurance (through their friend's LLC, which sounds slightly suspect to me, but I am out in the woods here so some of that is to be expected) is going to look at it next week when they are here doing some other work. They are the owner/operator of a large-scale sugaring operation (staff, ~20,000 taps) and it sounds like they do most of the logging for that. If they decide it's too sketchy for them then I'm probably looking at some dumb amount of money for a fulltime lumberjack dude, which is definitely going to cost a pile, but if that's what it is, fine, this is my first year trying to maintain this property and I am looking to not die in the process. I'm kind of an rear end in a top hat to live with, but I think my wife would miss me and also spend the next 30 years telling kiddo about how daddy was too stupid to pay ~X hundred dollars to not die. In other tool news, stuff I still need for this spring: * a trailer that a forester can pull which can move a small to midsize ATV * a small to midsize ATV * an ATV trailer * a lawnmower I've never dealt with trailers before so I'm still figuring that out; I can pull 1500 lbs on my vehicle per the manual (factory 1.25" hitch receptacle), but only 1000 without trailer brakes. Looking like I'll probably have to figure out trailer brakes, unless I can find a trailer on the lighter side. Once I have a trailer I will just start checking out ATVs from local forums; I've bought (and to some extent maintained) cars and motorcycles that way so I think I know what I'm in for, but if there are any special tips around ATVs that'd be good to know. In the early '00s, I flipped an ATV onto its side in a snowbank, so part of me wants something with a rollbar but they are all much more expensive and I also don't know how useful they are. Bars with some kind of enclosure seem more useful in the woods, but that's a lot more than I want to spend so I think I might just skip the bars and go really slow / watch out on steep grades. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 20:17 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 20:01
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Tannerite hadn't occurred to me; quartersticks had, but not seriously. Many years ago, with goons (of course) I shot at propane tanks that had been duct taped to lit road flares; I'd say that part of my life is well, well behind me. Hilariously, it turns out that the random text message offering to do this for "probably $50 to $100" is from the guy who plows our driveway and I didn't realize it. He's fully insured and operates his own logging company, so he probably knows what he's talking about, and has been super dependable and responsible for plowing/firewood, so hopefully problem solved. If he's able to do it I will try to get a video, ought to make some pretty good cracking and crashing no matter how he decides to do it.
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May 11, 2018 15:25
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Super noob question: is there a reason you couldn't just attach a line at the split and one to another tree a good distance away and winch it? Then at least it would be on the ground to cut up? I did this with chain and a 2-ton winch. It didn't budge under significant tension and obviously I don't want to have the winch cable snap in my hands and kill me. The larger limbs are tangled in the limbs of the other trees it brought down. Looks like my firewood/plow guy is coming Monday to hopefully just fell it.
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May 13, 2018 13:44
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Great success, unfortunately I didn't get a video. But, yeah, was just a matter of a 20 inch husqvarna plus 20 years of experience, one hour, done. He delimbed the fallen side, sectioned it until the large piece would fall, then sectioned that, "easy". He also told me that there are "family forestry" classes right down the road, if I want to learn how to fell some of our (smaller) trees. He did not sound surprised that a couple people had looked at this one and been uncertain about it, because of size and sketchiness, but he didn't have any trouble. Now I just need to buy a Gator or something so I can get all this wood out of the forest. The list of things I "need" right now is bottomless :-/
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May 14, 2018 14:50
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I'm on 11 acres. We have maybe 1/2 acre of actual yard, then a lot of fairly hilly wooded land, which has a number of ATV trails cut through it that I'd like to maintain. All of them are mostly flat with some amount of grade (up to maybe 30-35 degrees, maybe a little more for a couple really extreme but short uphill stretches). We also have a couple horse pastures that have some significant brush encroaching (~1/3" thorn bushes, mostly). Being able to clear that would be nice, but is less essential. I'm going to guess the total area is like 1.5 acres, and maybe more like 2 if we include the brushy pastures. I need a mower of some kind, ASAP. Growing up we always had slightly better than average consumer self-propelled mowers -- the sort of Honda you can get for ~$5-600 now. The two things we're considering are like a higher-end consumer mower (like the aforementioned $600 Honda) -- or, a more expensive Toro floating-deck walk behind deal (something like this, but the ones we looked at in also had a cylindrical thresher thing in the front that is basically a mini-brushhog:  These were ~$1500-2300 at the Toro dealer, depending on engine power, electric vs pull start, etc. My guess is that the honda would do most of what we want, if used carefully, and the other thing would probably do everything and require slightly less caution. But, i don't really know anything at all about these floating deck units; growing up we did everything with a consumer Honda. Just curious if you have any thoughts, since I bet you know a lot more about these machines than I do. I'd rather not spend a ton of money this year, but I also don't want to spend $600 on a mower and then kill it or decide it's not really useful. I can post better pictures of the areas we're trying to clear, if it's helpful, but "muddy paths through the woods with some steep bits" more or less sums it up. I am willing to do a pretty thorough job of walking them and clearing sticks and rocks off before running any machine across them. We did also consider riding mowers, but after talking to the guy at John Deere it sounds like the ~$3K entry-level riding mowers are not really appropriate for trails like this, and I am not going to spend $10,000 on a commercial riding mower. Does anyone have any input? e: should also mention I am super house poor this year, because of some weird things that happened we bought a house a year before we really expected to be ready to do so, and as a result my liquid cash right now is muuuuuch less than I am used to, so budget is very much a factor. On the other hand, I don't want to spend $600 on something that doesn't really do the job. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 14:50 on May 27, 2018 |
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May 27, 2018 14:47
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Hubis posted:What's the cut width on the Honda? Personally, if I were mowing ~20,000sqft I would want something with a wider cut than even a nice 21" could ever provide. How much time are you willing to spend? This is a concern and year I think the hondas maxed out around 22", whereas the Toro things were 28" - 32" depending on model. That said, if we go the Honda route, we're really just looking at doing the yard, and ignoring the pastures (letting them go wild until we get goats at some point) -- so we'd be looking at a smaller area. Jaded Burnout posted:I don’t know much about mowers so I won’t comment there, but have you ruled out some very beefy gas powered weed whacker devices? Seems like it might save you some time and money if you’re going to walk the trails anyway, and less prone to taking damage from twigs and rocks. I have thought about this; for the moment I've been halfassing it with an electric whacker, but now that things are growing fast it's getting out of hand. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 15:13 on May 27, 2018 |
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May 27, 2018 15:11
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tangy yet delightful posted:Am I understanding right that you want to pushmow your ATV trails plus your yard? Or just the yard/pasture? I think this is probably the right answer; we're going to walk the trails again today to see what's grown in the last week before we pull the trigger on something, but my inclination is to get the honda, get a more powerful weedwhacker, and ignore the pastures until we have something we need them for.
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May 27, 2018 16:03
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Haven't pulled the trigger yet but I think we're going to get some kind of toro walk-behind floating deck mower. The amount of stuff we need to mow most weeks isn't actually that extensive -- probably 1-2 hours of work. But, it's all at some kind of grade, and half of it is steep enough that it seems really sketchy to do (and in many cases very inconvenient to turn around) with a riding mower. And, there's a lot of places where the ground is pretty beat up / has gouges / etc, so something with a suspension seems like it will last a lot longer. My parents have a ~$500 Honda self-propelled deal, I reminded myself what that was like when I was visiting them last week, and I don't see that working well here. The thing that got me to really stop thinking about riding mowers was realizing that if we had a walk-behind with a sulky, I'd probably only want to use the sulky on like a third of the lawn, which maybe amounts to an hour of mowing with a normal lovely civvie mower, and probably a half hour with a ~32" Toro deal. I still need an ATV and probably a tractor with a loader and god knows what else, but that's going to have to wait for another year at least. I am gonna break my back pulling pine chunks out of the woods with a hand cart this year, and not worry about trying to haul any of the real firewood. (The economics here are a little dubious, but I need the pine for maple sugaring, and I can't buy wood for that because it becomes a stupidly expensive endeavor if I do. On the other hand, just buying pre-split hardwood to heat the house makes more sense because it's offsetting oil consumption). Also -- I messed around with my dad's chainsaw, it's a 14" Shindaiwa. I do not think it's any more powerful than the 14" Makita electric I have, and despite a better run time, overall it seemed like a lot more of a pain in the rear end to deal with. I do still think I want a gas saw, but probably a 16-18". I need to go use some of those to understand how much louder they are than the small ones; my dad's little saw actually was not any louder than the electric (both around 104db measured a few inches from the blade while cutting). Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 15:56 on May 29, 2018 |
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May 29, 2018 15:53
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Well, we ended up with a 32" worldlawn floating deck walk behind with a 16hp Kawasaki engine and keyed ignition. I realize chinese tech is not going to be as good as the equivalent Toro or whatever, but those were significantly more expensive and seemed entirely geared at professionals, whereas this one seems to be trying to uncomfortably straddle the line between "people with sort of unusually hardcore lawns" and "prosumer". This is probably overkill for what we need to do, but I looked at a lot of cheaper and less hardcore options and just couldn't convince myself that we wouldn't kill them in a year or two. We don't actually have a ton to mow, but half of it is crazier than anything I've ever tried to mow before (in terms of steep, uneven, gouged land, etc), and I grew up in the woods with several acres to mow. I am not used to operating a mower that I am physically incapable of lifting fully off the ground, so this ought to be exciting. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 15:25 on May 30, 2018 |
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May 30, 2018 15:23
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Jaded Burnout posted:Electric mowers have been the standard for longer than I've been alive. with a 2004 reg date I sort of question that
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May 31, 2018 01:24
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tangy yet delightful posted:He's from blighty and with their 10ft x20ft yards they mow em plugged up. No way he means actually good battery powered mowers. huh, interesting. I had no idea that was a normal thing ~30 years ago, but I grew up in the woods.
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May 31, 2018 02:29
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Makita 18v batteries are around $50 a pop. You can get two knockoffs for 40. I am assuming the knockoffs are probably garbage that will stop holding a good charge even faster than the real ones? ex: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-18V-3-0Ah-LITHIUM-ION-BATTERY-LXT-FOR-MAKITA-BL1830-US-LATEST-PACK/253679652803
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Jun 12, 2018 15:00
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here's where I am with my sectioning and hauling project: Not pictured is roughly 4 full cords of other assorted hardwood (that was here when I moved in); this is all getting split this weekend. I sectioned all of this with the makita electric 14" chainsaw I bought, and moved most of it out of the woods with that cart (in some cases pretty far, but at a slight downhill grade). Lessons learned: * Makita electric chainsaw overperformed, based on my modest expectations * Having an ATV would not have made this as much easier as I thought; because I was moving it down, loading/unloading was more time consuming and overall as energy-demanding as the work of actually pulling it out of the woods * the $130 Gorilla "1,000lb max" cart was absolutely up to the task of moving all this goddamn pine, lovely amazon reviews to the contrary notwithstanding. I flipped the fucker a few times and did no significant harm to it. That said, I am pretty sure that if you actually put 1,000lbs into it all at once, the axles would split. * chainsaw blades get dull as gently caress faster than I was expecting, and so far I haven't figured out how to put an edge back on them which is anywhere close to as good as factory spec. I think I am up to 6 blades now * making cats with chainsaws is fun and easy: 
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Jun 15, 2018 20:34
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Having never owned a snowblower before, and given that the one I got is heavily loved (and was $75 for a running 24" 5hp), of course I managed to burn up the first replacement auger belt I put in through my failure to understand how the auger tension cable mechanism worked, with its guard plate. On the plus side, this forced me to completely take it apart, which led me to properly retension the auger cable, which I might not have otherwise. Neat little machine; I guess these belts are more expensive than I thought, good thing I'm in VT and was able to trade a quarter ounce of legalweed (cost me $6 to grow) for both of them... Snowblowing has been more fun than I expected, unlike lawnmowing which is just a much of a pain in the rear end as I remember from youth. I've convinced myself that when the time comes for a new snowblower, 5hp will be insufficient. We get a lot of footage, up here in the hills... I've already saved more than $75 on plowing since I got this, so, already revenue positive, good deal. My lower back might disagree with that, but, gently caress you back, here's some Klonopin.
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Feb 5, 2019 19:30
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I'm sick of paying $800-1000 a year for plowing when plow dude can really only clear the ~150' straight shot to the road, and I end up spending 20-25 mins out there with a snowblower anyway making it so that we can turn around and do firewood etc. I am also sick of bullshit snowblowers that can't climb the steep bullshit I need to clear for said firewood! I am considering spending $2500 on a Cub Cadet 3-stage track driven snowplow, (or $2000 on a 2-stage if I can't source the 3 stage) and if I do, I am also considering at least attempting to say "gently caress plow contracts" this year and just do it myself. Note that we are remote workers; need to get kiddo to preschool 3 days a week so that's 3 mornings I am definitely on the hook, but half my frustration with paying to be on someone's plow schedule is that we'll get plowed and then get a melt before we even need to go anywhere. On the other hand, if you're not on someone's schedule, good f'ing luck getting plowed in less than 48hrs notice. Any thoughts? I realize ultimately this is a question of how much work and hassle I want to deal with; also I could buy the fancy rear end snowblower and still get plowed if we really need to. The non-track-driven ones will not climb critical parts of the landscape here and also tend to gently caress with my lower back. Am I correct in thinking a 3 stage is worth the ~25% tax over the 2 stage if I am really looking at doing this as primary snow removal? Am I completely loving insane to be thinking of clearing a 150' driveway with a walk behind, or am I just Vermont crazy?
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Oct 6, 2021 18:34
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Vim Fuego posted:I know nothing about plows or snow blowers, but (if you have a truck) why not get a truck mounted plow? I don't have a truck and I'm 20k short for truck + plow and 8k short for ATV + plow! I have it on good authority that putting a plow on a forester is Not A Good Idea, Carl I have considered getting a not-street-legal $2000 beater truck "runs good, exhaust doesn't exist" as a farm vehicle but I don't know about doing that on this timeframe additionally, I'd have the same problem Plow Dude has: can do the primary 150' run, but would still need to hit the edges and everything else with some kind of substantial snowblower, or else I can't move firewood in or turn around in the driveway.
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Oct 6, 2021 19:46
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Blowjob Overtime posted:We got the 28", three-stage Cub Cadet (https://www.snowblowersdirect.com/Cub-Cadet-3528SWE-Snow-Thrower/p11995.html), and it has been great. This will be the fifth winter we have it. It is wide enough to clear the driveway in four passes, and can throw the snow far enough that it doesn't pile up and encroach on the driveway even at the end of a snowy winter. awesome, thanks. I am calling around to see if I can get a 30" Cub Cadet 3-stage trac locally; if I can't the slightly lower power 26" is available for delivery and I think I'll just do that. If I can really clear the driveway with it and not deal with Plow Dude, this pays itself off in 2 seasons, ha. Thanks a lot for the feedback! We have a mix of dirt and gravel and poo poo at the bottom, a 3-stage seems like a big improvement over the (lovely, beat to death) 2-stages I've been using.
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Oct 6, 2021 20:11
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wandler20 posted:I'd honestly try to hold out of the 30" if I were you. I have a 28" and I always wish it was a little bigger and you have a lot more snow to move than I do. It might not seem like much but it'll probably end up being another pass or two with the smaller machine. Blowjob Overtime posted:Yeah, the clear in four passes part holds true on the straight part of our driveway, but I do wish it was 30" on some portions, so definitely agree on seeking that out if possible.  Thanks, this helped confirm a gut suspicion.I believe I literally managed to get the last 30" Cub Cadet 3-Way Track blower in the state of Veremont, because I had to call the store, they said they only had one and I had to pay for it right then if I wanted it, and the other stores listed are in New Hampshire and poo poo. As soon as I F5'd after signing my soul over for 24 months of 0% financing* on a $2700 machine, the website updated from "low stock" to "no stock", and Cub Cadet's own website basically says "lol, you are hosed" when I look for this model anywhere here.  This is the most I've ever spent on a gasoline powered machine that's not street legal. I will get the cute little plastic bubble for it, and I am gonna take a real shot at just..... not using any plow service this year. $1000 a year, gently caress that noise. If we both worked out of the house it would be different, but as is, it's very often that I see multiple snowfalls projected over a 5 day period, during which I know we're not leaving home at all. I don't mind going out a few times myself to keep a handle on poo poo, I do mind paying for three plow jobs during a period when our car doesn't move. I am not blaming Plow Dude for this, I know their lives are easier and more lucrative when it's just "hey, you're on my rotation", but the finances don't work out too well for people like us who have weird schedules that change week to week known only to ourselves. Maybe I'll hate myself for this in February, we'll see! I was going to make a sarcastic comment about "who the gently caress are headlights intended for?" but then I realized our kid has to get up for preschool at 7 these days, and so I may well be out there in 5am darkness once in a while. That's cool, gives me an excuse to smoke pot before breakfast? Medicating my muscle aches, and all. *fully intend to pay this off in early 2022, but, life has a way of creating complications and we're about to have a bunch of roof work done so I didn't want to pony up the cash today. The American way!! 
Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Oct 6, 2021 |
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Oct 6, 2021 21:25
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 I got this for $25 at a garage sale because why not and then bought a new bar and blade after verifying that it fires right up. This was a cheap saw to begin with and it does not replace my desire to eventually own a Husq 562xp or similar, but this morning there happened to be a fallen pine obstructing my road and I made pretty short work of it. Never don't buy $25 chainsaws, IMO, given that they pull and appear to be in reasonable condition. There was a 57cc one next to this one which looked like it was in rougher shape but now I wish I'd bought both. edit: I was out cutting the tree up with blinkers on my car, wearing orange PPE etc. Anyone driving by probably thought I was the highway dept but I definitely did not get $100/hr to do this. I did get ~a face cord of sugaring wood out of it, though, if I chop it up.
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Jun 8, 2022 15:52
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The POS used chainsaw I got won't fire up this year. I need a new chainsaw, I want it today, and I don't mind paying more than I would pay elsewhere, to get something very local. The main thing I do is chop up stuff that's fallen over trails. Sometimes I bring down small trees (mostly 16-20"). I don't gently caress with widowmakers or huge trees, I have a bonded person I pay to do that. The thing that jumps out at me from local stock is a Stihl MS 251, 18" bar, 45.6cc displacement. That's about 30% more displacement than the 16" bar saw I am replacing, but I'd prefer to err on the side of spending more money for less kickback risk. I do own and wear proper PPE for this including a kevlar smock, ear protection, eye / face protection, gloves, just to throw that out there, and I've taken down a number of trees over the last few years with no major issues aside from incurring a $800 fee for dropping one on my own power connection line  A saw like that is gonna run around $400 locally, and that's pretty consistent with online prices. I don't think I need a $1000 high end Husq, but I'm also trying to do this once and not again for a good number of years, so I'd rather get a bit more than I need, than not.
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Apr 19, 2024 15:46
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deimos posted:Ego 20" or the greenworks commercial 20" if you're not doing commercial forestry seems like a really good deal. Just figure out what platform you want to be in and go for it. I have a pretty good Makita electric setup; I want a gas saw for when that won't cut it. Electric saws are not good for sectioning trees for an entire afternoon. My experience with the Makita is that I can cut 3-5" thick stuff for days, but if I try to section a single tree into 18" sections, not good. At present I have enough trees down that it would be several days of charging both sets of batteries over and over to deal with it; I just want to walk back there with gas & oil in my cart and be done with it in an afternoon. The main ding against that particular Stihl is the stupid tool-less tensioner, I probably want something nicer-but-not-pricier-just-different-audience.
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Apr 19, 2024 19:39
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kid sinister posted:And you have to worry about cutting through the cord by accident. Yeah. I don't really get the obsession with trying to replace every single tool with an electric thing. Electric is great and cordless drills/impact drivers are possibly my favorite domestic technology, but electric snowblowers are dubious. Electric chainsaws are great until you want to apply them to a problem that's 18"-24" thick and wants 20 cuts. I have not tried to use a corded electric in the current generation of things but my impression is that once you get into 45-60cc+ displacement engines, gas is still the only game in town. We have a large gas mower (self propelled walk behind floating deck 3-blade) and an electric mower. I use the electric mower 95% of the time, it's quieter, it doesn't make me smell like gas, it's light. Also, there's 5% of critical tasks it simply can't do, part of which is doing a basic reset on a couple pastures every year. I don't mow them, generally, but if I want them to stay pastures and I don't currently have goats or horses then I gotta cut through all that poo poo once every year or two. I like electric because it's quieter and generally cleaner for me the user. Also, in my local grid, the stuff I charge it with is pretty clean. The lithium batteries themselves are part of our ongoing mass extinction event, they are not part of the solution to it  e: also I loving hate mowing and we mow maybe 5% of our property, but it's nice for the kids to have some places to play that aren't instant tick death traps; half our ticks have lyme and if you don't find them very quickly it's basically automatic antibiotics now; tremendous sad.
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Apr 20, 2024 14:07
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Well after a lot of reading i decided I’m not in love with the stihl toolless adjustment on saws this big and also at this price point I’m close enough to pro grade saws that it would absolutely be worth going to a famers expo to shop for a deal or a used saw. I know a guy who has a $1200 msrp not lastest model Husq he got open box for like 750. I don’t need a saw that big but he did. So that all seems complicated and in the mean time i used my electric saw to do the bare minimum lovely job that clears the trails off without worrying about getting firewood out of it. I may well post the same sequence of posts next year at this time.
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Apr 20, 2024 17:36
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