I have two tiny lightweight Stihls. Perfect for harvesting limbs and young growth for the rebak chunker. Both running lean. I’ve tried to get to the carbs, but ran out of patience. They’ve been sitting for a year or so. My old 240 Husqvarna saws from the 80s have been running with close to zero maintence for decades.
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I have like 3 saws that need to be looked at for various issues. Eventually, I will get back to the big stihl, but it is definitely a reason why I wanted to try an electric.
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Hey! I haven’t had a need for running an engine on charcoal but I have been still making charcoal.
I was thinking about spreading it on the garden. I found one of those leaf mulch shredders. Do they work pretty good on charcoal?
This year’s plant growth has been absolutely supercharged. I don’t have time to chip, I just burn brush to charcoal.
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I had an electric mini chipper that doubled as a leaf shredder and it made an awesome flake consistency of charcoal. Only downside is the dust eventually killed the motor. I’ve seen some videos of people using old sink garbage disposals to crush biochar, adding water.
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I have wondered if something like the roller for our apple cider press would work for charcoal. It is a wooden roller at the bottom of a sloped walled bin that has screw head that protrude from the roller, but inside the gap that the roller fits in at the bottom of the hopper. It grinds the apples very well and if you wanted you could male the gap for the roller adjustable for different sizes.
kent
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They probably work okay. The leaf shredder part is usually a hammermill.
I have seen folks hammer mills out of a barrel. just a shaft with chains attached, A sizing screen at the bottom and usually a zig zagish input hole at the top (it prevents stuff from being thrown out the input.) Then the hammermill also can be used for other things as well.
Make sure to charge the char before applying it. it really can have a year or two negative effect.
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Here is a new-to-me woodcutters tool I’ll review:
The Stihl 2-in-1 file holder. I’ve been able to now get nearly chain-off-bar, machine ground sharpening’s. With those cuts-like-butter performance’s.
The only downside is the square file for simultaneous depth tooth filing is set up way too aggressive. Letting it decide on my first-use sharping I was then cutter tooth grabbing and even stopping the chain. This tool is set up as openable to allow for round files rotating and replacing. Tip: only let the square file work ~halfway down, then remove it. Finishing off with just the round files. Later when your chip eject and cutting rate decreases (or gauge measuring protrusions of the depth teeth), put the square file back in.
S.U.
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Does anyone have tips on how to mark the first tooth filed so you can tell that they are filed all the way around?
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Don, I just use a sharpie and mark the top of the tooth. The colour will be worn off the next time you sharpen
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Johan, that is what I use too but by the time it gets around, my old eyes can hardly find it back. I thought there might be a better way.
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I can’t think of any, perhaps a more screaming colour.
Perhaps a dollop of wite-out or liquid paper (called tipp-ex here) on top of the tooth would be easier to see.
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There are always 2 teeth next to each other on the same side. I start and stop at those. I just have to remember whether I filed them first, or not. 
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I just use a sharpie if I’m sharpening in the woods because I always have one in my pocket, but it can be kind of hard to see. At home I just dab the tooth with some red nail polish. The brush is always in the jar.
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Since my best reading glasses always seem to be somewhere else I’ve managed to learn that 3×4+2=14.
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I broke down and bought a 5-pack of identical glasses from amazon for 10 bucks that supposedly have blue light filters. This way people dont know I lost/misplaced or broke the other pair(s).
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Out of curiosity for a plasma cutter is the pilot arc worth the extra money over a high frequency start? I keep debating getting on but i am leary about safety with it.
At the low end they are about 80 bucks more which is almost double the price. The HF is 15 bucks more then the scratch start. It seems like there was a similar premium on the HF start when it first came out. so maybe the price will drop in a year.
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I would say yes, but it depends of course. CNC cutting with high frequency is asking for problems. Hand cut and have to strike? Bye bye nice cut/start. HF15? 15A? What do you want to cut? 1/8?
I used an old Smitweld plasmacutter 60A and changed it for a new Hypertherm 30xp. Wow, what a difference. Used it maybe ten years (time goes fast) for a diy cnc machine. Cant beat quality. CNC route is gone but I kept the Hypertherm. 30 A is probably all you need, 15 is little low.
So it depends where you want to use it for. If it is paid you wont or dont want to remember the price, if quality is bad it will frustrate you every day.
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right now it is straightening up my pile of scrap sheet metal to organize it. Just cut out the flat parts so the pile is a lot smaller and more organized. CNC would be cool, but that is way down the road if ever.
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