Yep they are heavy saws. They are not something I would take up into the mountains and cut with all day. A lot of my saws have no chain brakes.
Ive never operated a saw without a safety chain brake but maybe later I could try. Nice to see them running though!
I see you are using one t-post. How well does that work? I do have some five foot t-posts; which means only 4 ft if I drive one foot deep. I am guessing one could stack higher in the middle. I need to figure out storage etc here at some time.
Kimberly I did this with a few stacks of mine. They just get the job done but make sure you have good soil and not many rocks. Ive got a bad problem and was punching them in, bent a few. Oops.
I do not have a problem using one T-post at each end of the stacks. I use 6 ft t-post and I stack on the sides of a hill with no issues.
My first saw was a Homelite Super XL with a 16" bar bought back in the early 80's. Auto and manual oiler on it but no chain brake. I was a total novice at the time so when it developed a break in the fuel line, I traded it in for a used Stihl 029 super.
The first saw I ever ran was a (Homelite?) electric saw with manual oiler and no brake...does that make me a BA too? Hey Mag Craft , how'd it go splitting that pole? How much time/gas/oil/chain sharpening(s) did it take? Hit any foreign objects? Guess its kinda like "vertical" milling 'eh?
They work fantastic. I have a pile of them waiting for more wood to put on them. Probably enough for 2 more cord. I will slowly replace all my pallets with them in the next few years.
That makes you like the rest of us experienced. I inspected the poles real close for any metal objects and there was plenty that had to be removed. So no I did not hit any objects. The cutting did not take too long less than one tank of fuel per pole, but I did have to stop and sharpen the chain twice to get through just one pole. Yep like free hand vertical milling.
We throw tons of them out at the shop and try to salvage as much as we can though. Be it For firewood, fenceposts, building posts, stacking rails or even lumber! One of the guys built a gorgeous porch from old cedar poles we milled. The crossarms actually look nice too if you plane them a bit. I've seen cedars, southern yellow pine and chestnut in our area so far.
If I was to take a guess from the color of the inside of those poles I would say the southern yellow pine.
Most of the old ones were treated with creosote and in our area right now we are replacing the old cedars that are 1933-1940 vintage, with the exception of a few newer ones here and there. The old cedars seem to have treatment only about two feet above ground level to the butt which only loses you about 8' give or take and leaves anywhere from 25' and up clean and good for projects Today the wood is southern yellow pine and the ones we use are treated with stuff called penta. From what we understand it's a mix of diesel fuel and insecticide and it gives the poles a brown color when new. Other areas have poles treated with CCA or copper chromium arsenate which is general pressure treated lumber type stuff and the wood appears green. If you get your hands on old poles check around a few feet up from the old ground line and chances are they might be a date nail there kind of fun to collect. Just a little iron nail with the last two digits of the year stamped in the head
We used to have a plant that treated RR ties locally...its been gone for years and everything has been torn down now. There is maybe a couple hundred acres of prime real estate sitting there growing back into wilderness because nobody wants to pay to "un-hazmat" the property. If you stir up the bottom of the stream that runs off the property, it still reaks of creosote! No 3 eyed fish in it though...
