Can't cut. Too hot and dry. The woods are burning

Here in the mountains of northern Ca. I have the Monument fire 10 miles from my house and I don't foresee any time soon it will be safe to run a chainsaw or get the ok from the Forest Service.

 

That’s a bummer Dennis. I hope conditions improve soon, so the fires are extinguished and you can cut again.

 

Even though I've heard it multiple times on here by now, it still amazes me that they ban running chainsaws. I've never even thought about them starting a fire, and I still don't see it happening.

dennish, what size and how much wood do you normally cut at a time? This may not be relevant to your needs and situation, but could you use a battery powered saw?

 

I don't think that the Forest Service specifies what kind of saw one uses. Would have to call and find out. Also, the National Forest is closed. All the roads are gated and locked. I have down trees on my land but it's so dry that I will not cut there either. Never considered a battery saw.

 

So I guess they are trying to keep people out of the forest to minimize any activity causing a fire. If that's the case, then all, cutting even with a saw that shouldn't start a fire, is probably out.

Is there also a local (county/state) ban on cutting wood? Seems a Battery saw would let you cut some on your land if you couldn't/don't want to run a gas saw. There have been quite a few threads on here on battery saws, they definitely have their fans.

 

If you place a hot saw on a pile of leaves or dry twigs I suppose it could ignite. If you spill gas and a flying ember from the fire close by hit its, it could ignite. I guess they also just want people to stay clear of the area too.

I was once playing stickball at a school in a suburb and the opposing pitcher's car burst into flames because he parked on top of a pile of leaves. It can happen!

I found the pic.

 

I started a fird with my 460 last Summer. I was bucking ash and the interior was dry and punky. Didnt flame just sparks. This was my thread.
Muffler "fire"
Wonder if you could use a battery saw dennish ?

 

Fires happen sawing and I've had more than one. Punky wood and the saw pulls in until the muffler is in the punk and it's burning.

 

That was a first for me. Good learning experience for sure.

 

i've got my eye on a couple of downed fir >28" diameter. Could any battery saw buck these?

 

Good question. Calling campinspecter as he has bucked softwoods with a battery saw. If they do you'll probably need several batteries.

 

2 things-

1) singed my grass the other day laying my saw in the grass while I was moving some logs I was cutting away at- so I do believe that it's possible to start a fire without intention.

2) a buddy of mine helped me cut some big logs up- I'm going to estimate 30ish or so inches in diameter with a Greenworks battery powered saw. I was really impressed with the performance and my buddy Richie was testing the saw out for going down to an off grid cabin he was building with his brother in law in NC.

I'll add this as a postscript - I'm a guy that gets pretty easily impressed by things working. I absolutely lean towards to eco friendly stuff. And I was over the moon to have a buddy giving me a hand cutting wood. (his saw was also brand new, so I don't know what the life is like on those battery packs- but that also might mean that they hold up great for 3 or 4 years at a time with recharging).
All I can say is firsthand I witnessed a battery powered chainsaw run like they were filming a commercial for it.

 

It takes 3 AP300S batteries to make 16' lengths out of a half cord of dirty railway ties.

 

The Stihl MSA 220C could do it but you would need a case of batteries. I got a stock of batteries when Stihl had a promotion going, but at the regular price it would be very expensive!

 

Is there any smaller stuff available? 3”-4” diameter branch wood is easy to load in 8-10’ long logs that can later be processed at home with a miter saw. Taking that stuff out of the forest also reduces the fuel loading and thus severity of future fires. Not sure how much wood you have stashed away, but waiting for a govt agency to lift a ban may take a lot longer than you want..

 

I’ve had glowing embers and smoke coming off a round after a long cut with the bar buried so that the muffler was right close to the wood. Was in my back yard 2 summers ago, iirc the log was a little punky on the outside.
Never had seen that before, made me a little more aware, especially after a longer cut.
A little more experience gained about things to watch for

 

I’ve cut while it was getting dark and I’ve seen sparks come out of the exhaust which surprised me. If it’s really dry out with low humidity, I could see a fire starting.

 

So if I understand the issue correctly, with a 2 cycle motor on the saw, as a result of incomplete combustion, you can end up with carbon deposits in the exhaust. Not unlike creosote in your chimney, these carbon deposits can ignite and burn. The issue is that if a chunk of burning carbon breaks from the inside of the muffler, it can shoot out of exhaust as a burning ember and ignite a fire. That is the reason for spark arresters in the exhaust. To prevent the big stuff from exiting the exhaust. Found a video of a guy burning the carbon deposits out of his motorcycle exhaust with just a heat gun. No additional fuel. Amazing how much of a flame he gets out of it.

 

Here’s another one describing the issue.

 

I cut plenty of rounds 28" with my 14" Makita 36v semi-chisel LP chain. No problem at all.

When I was at the dump bucking some logs the DPW guys were stunned and actually said "Dude I can't believe your little electric saw is outcutting our gas Stihl saws".....which has more to do with the sharpening of the chain than the raw power of any given saw.