5 Ways to Prolong your Chainsaws Life

A few weeks ago we did a post on "5 ways to prolong your lawnmowers life" and we got alot of good feedback and reviews so we decided why stop a good thing? So today we are going to look at 5 ways to prolong your chainsaws life...

High Quality Oil

Using high quality oil in a chainsaw is an excellent way of prolonging the life. Buying from reputable brands ensures that there will be no problems with oil consistency or mixture and you are not running the risk of harming your machine.

Sharpen the Blade

Many people may be a little confused as buying a new blade is relatively inexpensive but its the problems that can occur when using even a slightly dull blade. Dull blades catch and can cause serious malfunctions within the machine and this can all be avoided by regularly sharpening the chainsaw blade.

  

Nuts & Bolts

When working chainsaws they constantly exuberate a lot of power and vibrations. This can cause nuts and bolts to come loose and therefore lead to problems with the machine. It is best to give the machine a quick once over to tighten these nuts and bolts every few weeks.

Mixing Oil & Gas

Short and sweet this one. Check the ratio for oil and gas. Use that ratio to the decimal point.

Drain the Chainsaw Fuel

During the down months chainsaw fuel can actually freeze within the chainsaw. This means it is very important to ensure your chainsaw is stored in a dry place and the remaining fuel has been drained from the chainsaw to ensure no problems.

How to Sharpen an Axe

Using a dull axe is ineffective and can create large amount of splinters when splitting hardwood or it can make cutting down a tree take an extremely long time so here are some tips to maintain your axe for the best splitting.

Clean and polish the head

You can use steel wool or a rust eraser to remove all the rust if any then sand the entire axe head with rough-grit aluminium oxide or silicon carbide sandpaper. Then go over it with a finer sandpaper and a third time with even finer sandpaper. Next polish it with polishing paste applied to a felt pad or rag getting the whole head with an even coat.

File the blade

Either clamp the axe on to a worktable on its side or into a vice. Then get a bastard file with a finger guard to file the blade with some form of protective glove recommended. File toward the blade only, do not make contact on the return stroke, and use a file card or brush to remove metal build-up on the file. Continue filing evenly along one side until a burr of metal appears on the other side. Then swap sides and repeat.

Hone the blade

You should do this every time you are going to use your axe. Apply honing oil to the blade using an oil stone then water using a water stone. This helps remove the metal particles. Then work into the edge of the blade using the rough side of a two side whetstone in a circular motion. Do this until a burr appears then switch sides and repeat. After this process do the exact same thing with the fine side of the whetstone.

Protection
 

When finished rub a beeswax and oil mix into the steel when warm to protect against future rust.