Noodling went sideways

I have some big rounds up back I got from a neighbor about two years ago. Despite the checking, I still had the dreaded bounce of defeat when I hit it with the maul a few times.



So I’ll just fire up the MS250 and saw it! Here’s where thing went sideways; literally. And most likely from me sharpening one side of the chain more than the other.


I know it’s called noodling, but I’m branding mine as Dry Oatmealing with a mix of flour.


Not my best work…


With uneven cuts, fine chips and a smoking chain, I put down the saw, left these where they work and split some more manageable rounds. LOL! I’ll let these dry out more or rent a splitter down the road.

 

Rounds of black birch that are dried and checked on the ends can definitely be stubborn to hand split. You’re right about the chain too. It’s almost an art form to sharpen them evenly by hand. I’m only so-so at it myself which is why I ended up buying a machine

 

Did you cut across the flat or with the log on it's side and cut with the grain? Looks like really fine sawdust. Knoodling looks like noodles , long strings.

 

Cut it right from the top down. I agree, the chips look super fine. I usually have good chunks when I cut normally.

 

That's a rip cut, the slowest way to cut wood known to man, lay them down for improved performance.

 

I can confirm the above statement regarding slowest cut known to man.

 

Cut with the grain and it’ll go much better.

 

This ^^^^^

You noodle with the bark, with the round on its side.

 

Noodling/ripping (cutting with the grain, lengthwise) is the fastest way to cut, the way you did it there is the slowest.
Lay that log down and cut from the end(s) this is when it's nice to have a bar at least as long as the round is

 

Lay them on bark edge and cut. The sawdust looks like noodles.

Couple other tricks:

Cut a kerf with the saw an inch or two deep on the end. Makes a groove for a wedge to fit into if you sledge & wedge split.

Store the rounds with one end touching the ground and allow it to get wet for a period. The wet end splits much easier than if it dries and checks.

 

As already mentioned, you are not noodling, you are ripping or milling. Also, the angled cut might not be your chain, it may be your bar; if the bar groove has opened up a little the chain will tilt and cut sideways, especially when pressure is applied as in ripping. I had bar rails spread so much, it would cut sideways enough to completely jam/stop the chain.

 

Does that one wet end trick work with Elm?

 

I can attest to this as well. Check your bar. Mine was shot and a new bar, even on the same chain, didn't even touch up the chain, it cut like butter. It went from fine dust to big old chips and if noodling, long noodles.

 

Lol. I've never tried that trick, but the hydraulic splitter doesn't care.

 

If you still have some elm rounds, give it a try...no, wait you have a bum wrist...have Dave try!!!

 

Cutting from the end like that also gets the bar & everything else super hot which isn’t the best either.

 

To add to the above, I'd bet a cuppa coffee, that if you noodle, you'll find out that there's nothing wrong with the bar or chain.

Sca
Even though I didn't chop the elm.

 

That looks like a crotchety piece that didn’t want to be split no matter what. Best I ever did with those when hand splitting was to knock off the outer 1/2 of each side of the V.

 

And toss the rest in the brush pile.

 

Thanks everyone! Looks like I’ll try laying a round on it’s side and cutting that way.

Live and learn!