It takes centuries for trees to mature, yet chainsaws may bring them down in minutes with their ferocity.
If it seems like a crime to cut down a magnificent tree only for the sake of its wood, it is important to remind yourself that trees eventually die from the inside out and frequently become dangerous at the end of their life spans.
What Is a Chainsaw?
A chainsaw is a tool that cuts through wood and other wooden materials using “teeth” that travel circular around the guide bar. There are grooves or notches in the chainsaw’s “teeth” that allow it to quickly cut through even the most rigid types of wood.
A chainsaw’s horsepower and its engine speed are two parameters that influence the pace of the blade’s circular movement.
You can use a decent chainsaw for everything from cutting firebreaks in highly forested regions to gardening trees and foliage and making ice sculptures in the winter!
If you are going to use a chainsaw for any activity, you need to exercise extreme caution because the blade is powerful enough to cut through a person’s muscle, skin, and bone.
Many markets also have pants and jackets lined both internally and externally with a wire thinly interlaced and designed for chainsaw operations.
An external or internal blade cannot pass through these garments, which is why they help prevent deadly accidents
What Goes On In the Chainsaw’s Engine?
- Chainsaw gas is used to provide all the energy you will use for chopping up and cutting down wood in chemical form. To make the chainsaw tank as light as possible, it’s made to store just 1.1 US liquid pints of gas.
A gas tank of a car usually has the capacity to hold around forty-five to fifty-five liters or twelve to fifteen US gallons, which is nearly 100 times more.
- A carburetor is used to combine the fuel and air in the engine. The combination of air and gasoline is pumped into a cylinder which is similar to that in a vehicle engine.
Still, instead of the more sophisticated 4-stroke that cycles use, it just has a basic push-pull two-stroke action. A spark (also known as a spark plug) ignites the air-fuel mixture within the cylinder, causing it to burn and release energy as a piston is pushed back and forth.
For comparison, the piston in a standard automobile engine contains a bore of 1.75 inches and a stroke of 1.3 inches.
- On the other hand, the chainsaw piston has a bore and stroke that are less than half that of the car piston.
- A crank and connecting rod turn the piston’s reciprocating action into rotational motion.
- A driving shaft powers the centrifugal clutch.
- It’s unsafe and wasteful for the chainsaw engine to be running while the chain isn’t moving, so it’s best to keep it at a standstill. The clutch solves this issue. For example, the centrifugal clutch acts as a throttle lever for the engine, connecting it to the chain at high speeds and stopping it at low speeds when your chainsaw is simply idling.
- Power from the chainsaw’s clutch travels through gears to the chain sprocket.
- The chain’s rotation around the guide bar spews wood dust into the air.
The Main Reason for Inventing Chainsaws
An old-fashioned kitchen knife, rather than a chainsaw, is what we can call an original chainsaw. It was initially seen in the late eighteenth century and included little teeth on an oval-shaped chain.
They were created to make cutting through bone easier during medical treatments. Medical breakthroughs eventually led to its demise as a tool for performing different bone-cutting surgeries and amputations.
The “symphysiotomy” procedure, formerly conducted with a tiny knife and saw, required a chainsaw. The surgeon used a chainsaw to cut away at the flesh to speed things up.
It was utilized throughout the majority of the nineteenth century since it was successful in performing its duties.
Chainsaw Care and Upkeep
2–5 percent of the oil in two-stroke chainsaw fuel is needed to lubricate the engine, whereas the motor in its electrical chainsaws is generally lubricated for life.
A fuel blend of 2% is often used in today’s gasoline-powered saws (1:50). Because ethanol degrades rubber, plastic, and other materials, using gasoline-containing ethanol might cause difficulties for the equipment.
Unfortunately, this can lead to severe issues, especially on older machines. To get around this issue, use the saw when it’s dry after the task is done and only use fresh fuel as you advance.
All chainsaws utilize chain oil or bar oil from lubricating the bar and chain. Chain oil is quickly exhausted due to the centrifugal force of the chain and the sawdust that soaks it up.
The reservoir of chain oil on two-stroke chainsaws is usually refilled simultaneously as the fuel tank. Chain oil may usually be obtained between fill-ups since the reservoir is large enough.
Chainsaws are frequently damaged because of a lack of oil for the chain or the use of oil with an inappropriate viscosity, which causes the bar to wear out quickly or the chain to seize or come off the bar.
Adding some tackifier chemicals to chain oil makes it exceptionally sticky, reducing the quantity of the oil that may be flung off the chain.
Motor oil is also a typical replacement in an emergency, but since it evaporates so quickly, the chain is left under lubricated.
Wrapping Up
Chainsaws are not only for cutting wood for winter heating anymore; they are also becoming increasingly popular for a wide range of other uses.
With chainsaws, you can turn a massive piece of wood into a one-off piece of furniture or cut driftwood into fantastical creatures direct from a book.
Whatever your reason for needing a chainsaw, you have a bewildering array of options for power, length, and other attributes to consider.
