Shooting shack construction underway!

Intheshop

Banned
First time I saw an electric chainsaw was.....

Prolly early 80's. Was working a pretty big job in West Richmond..... the HVAC guys were using them to "plunge cut" subfloor for boots/registers. These were 500k$ "duplexes"..... think about that $ amt.

Keep steam rolling it Ian..... gotta find that balance point of $/time/results (which you are)..... then crack another one out of the park. What you "learned" cutting pockets for the joists can not have a dollar amt put to it. This is exactly the chit y'alls Gfathers were doing 150 years ago....just sayin.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That floor primary structure looks pretty flimsey. If you are going to park your pickup in there you may need
a bit more foundation support. :rofl:

Well, it's clear you won't have a problem with the floor joists sagging. :oops:

That looks like it will be a really solid shooting platform. Standard floor construction is good for 20 to 40
lbs per square foot. I'm thinking you are good for about 100 or 150 lb/sq foot. You can store your lead
there, no problem, I'm sure. Will help stabilize against windstorms. :)

Bill
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
speaking of electric chainsaws.
I have one made by snap-on don't believe their forever warranty BS, I can't get them to even recognize the fact they ever made it.
I think it has about 4 horse power though.
 

JSH

Active Member
I see I am way behind on this comment.
I priced steel compared to good asphalt shingles, the steel came up cheaper and I got 6” gutters basically free.

Being in a tin barn and a house with tin roof is totally different. They put the steel over one layer of shingles on mine. Wind, thunder storms sirens etc. I don’t hear hardly anything. Most storms I don’t even know where there and I am a light sleeper.

Hail may beat the snot out of the tin and if it would ruin it and leak the shingles would do no better.

And my insurance rates dropped with a steel roof.

Ian, if you were close I could hook you up with some black plastic. Same stuff they put over ensilage bunks. The stuff is UV resistant and tough. Buddy has some on a duck blind roof that has been on there since 2000-01 dry under neath.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I don't want to hijack Ian's thread BUT..... How good are Electric Chain Saws?
Like me, everything around the property now is getting old and falling down!
I can not tolerate the noise, the smell nor the work of a gas powered chainsaw so I do not have one or want to own one!

Last summer I bought a Cheap Portland 8" pole saw from Harbor Freight and it paid for itself in a few weeks of property clean up
And a few weeks ago I used it to cut up a large 10" diameter branch that came down across my driveway in a storm.
While it was a bit of work for me, the saw worked great! So I say I got my $70 worth out of it within a year!
I was thinking about getting hand held electric Chainsaw this morning..........Then I came here to catch up on a few threads and saw Ian's saw in the background! Maybe I'm not crazy?
Jim
 

Ian

Notorious member
I'm still looking at pond liners, need 12x16' to have plenty of excess. About $80 on azon, not bad. Wife is wanting me to build a second-story, overhung like a Stabbur, with a metal roof, says it would make a good spare bedroom. I didn't ask for who, but she might have a good idea there....especially in about 10-15 years when I'll have two hormonal females in the house at the same time, one starting and one ending.

The learning curve has been making something square, level, and plumb out of irregular materials. The native rock piers were a pain in the arse, but I like the visual effect. The poles are fairly uniform but all have about an inch per 10' taper and do have plenty of dips, waves, and curves. Everything has to have a reference point which has to be created somehow, such as making the first pocket for the first floor joist. I just sunk the end of the first joist log in halfway, then sunk the other end until it was level, then used square tubing to span across to the other end and block it up level to the top of the first joist. Then cut the ends square and to length on the next joist, roll it around to find the "top" side, strike level marks on the ends, measure the height, mark height on the sill log down from the square tubing, then measure width and divide it at the joist center mark, eyeball the radius and connect the dots with a chainsaw and #7 chisel, repeat on the other end of the log, drop log in place, minor fit correction, repeat. Seven joists in 6 hours, lots of hand work and measuring. The measuring and truing takes almost as long as the woodcutting with any of these operations.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I got the cheapest thing I could find in town, a Homelite 14", 9-amp for $50. For $80 they have a 16" 12-amp, but 9 is plenty for pine and the short bar is handy for what I'm doing because I use mostly the tip of the bar and have good leverage with the short bar. This saw is very light and handy but has no anti-kickback features (other than the fake chain brake and the stupid tip guard that got removed before I ever plugged it in). The chain adjustment is the easiest I've ever used and requires no tools, just crank the big plastic knobs. I'm running it off of 200' of extension cord, the last 100' is very light, probably 16-gauge. If you need more than that, pick up a suitcase genset at HF.

I have the Ryobi 40V cordless chainsaw but it's spendy at $200 and only comes with one battery, is heavy, and won't handle repeated, long cuts in hardwood. Extra battery is the same price as a weed-whacker with same battery and charger, so I got both. For hacking up brush and small limbs it's great.
 

JSH

Active Member
Weed eaters and chainsaws.
If everyone would remember to dump out the last bit of gas, then start it and run it clear out of fuel life would be simpler. Along with good fuel treatment all the time.
GF had three of the little junk imho weed eaters. None would start. She was going to sell them at a garage sale for $10 for all, so I gave her $20. A little carb cleaner, one new primer bulb a few hours tinkering and a 6 pack, all start with a small tug, ;-).
Took them over for her garage sale and said I want $30 each or $75 for all three, put new line on them too. She had a few pet names for me, lol. I got my $20 back and a case of beer.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
My dad had an elec. saw years ago, I got the cheap 40$ Sears one for light trimming, works great. bar is cheap but chain is OK. Neighbor borrowed it when trimming his, then went out and bought one of his own. He was using a bow saw so I lent him mine. They also stop when you let go of the trigger so accidents aren't as easy as gas model. I've cut 4" oak with mine, no problem.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've used a couple types of electric chainsaws. I have a Remington from probably back in the 70's my ex-SIL gave me. Freakin' thing works surprising good for rough carpentry type jobs and light tree trimming. I've used a much heavier duty, but just as old Milwaukee. That thing was a 15 amp beast and weighed a good 25 lbs IIRC. It had maybe a 12or 14" bar on it and this was back in the days of "chipper" or full rounded chain. It was a great saw for what it was made for which was cutting bridge type timbers. I believe I used a Craftsman or maybe another store brand job too maybe 20 years back that was a copy of my Remington. I wouldn't want to cut a winters wood wit one, but for rough construction they work as good as a gas saw and are a lot quieter. Safer? I dunno about that. Maybe, but it's not like "safer" is a truly objective term.
 

Ian

Notorious member
My only real complaint about the cheap Homelite is lack of an automatic brake. I guess it's not all that simple to do with brushed AC motors, but my cordless has the feature (along with a load-sensing anti-kickback feature which electrically brakes the chain instantly if the bar bounces, sounds annoying but actually is very effective) and it's nice not to have to wait several long seconds for the saw to wind down before setting it down.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't want to cut a winters worth of wood with one either, but as a throwaway beat it down cutting up whatever type saw the 50-70$ price is hard to beat.[especially when a new blade is like 30$]
I can run the 14" ace store saw with one hand if necessary,, but it will cut 10" stuff no problem without making you walk around shouting for 2 hours afterwards.
the auto oiler feature is handy too.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I do now... LOL
but you know? back then [shrug] gloves, ear muffs, safety glasses, who had money for that stuff?
gas for the saw was barely affordable [and usually stolen from something else to afford the 2 stroke oil]
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Everyone worries about kick back with a chainsaw and yet in my experience kick back is a weak sister compared to touching the chain while in motion (done that twice while cutting brush), tripping and falling on the chain or running it into your legs or feet. I've done all the above. I admit I'm not a particularly safety conscious person, but I don't think I've had 5% or less of the kickbacks I've had of other issues. And kickback is pretty much eliminated if you just learn to keep you left arm pretty stiff and to hold onto the saw. And learning to loo were the saw tip is going. We use the chainbrake more as a way to keep the chain from spinning or "walking" as we move around in the woods with the saw running. Maybe it's the old "familiarity breeds contempt" thing, but I've had many, many times the problems with light saws that I have had with bigger saws. Maybe it's just me, but a chain brake is not a make or break thing for me. I like most of them, but many of my favorite saws don't have one and never did. I think with an electric the kick back risk is more reduced because none I've seen spin nearly as fast as a real, higher end gas saw, and it's the chain speed that creates the energy for the kick back.

Just my 2 cents.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Dunno nuttin about no electric chain saw, never had one, never ran one. Have had several gas saws over the last 50 years. Never have had an issue with sawing myself though did have a close call one time when the chain got hung up in a briar patch and promptly ruined a perfectly good pair of Levi's. That's about as close as I've ever been to ruining my day with a saw. Dunno if that's plain luck or that I have always had great respect for the business end of that tool and a firm belief that the only thing the chain likes better than a log is meat. I've had more trouble with "helpers" and trying to convince them to stop sticking their hands anywhere near the chain. Have never had any issue with kick back and most saws I've had didn't have a chain break including my current saw. I never walk around with the saw running, if I need to move to a new area I shut it off. Why not? It starts on the first pull.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I wear my chainsaw chaps any time I am running the saw. Eye protection ( new thing, since I don't wear glasses
for middle distance any more, when I wore glasses, it was taken care of), ear protection, steel toes and gloves, every time.

I was working with my father after college, late 70s and he slipped with the Homelite......cut his boot toe, pretty deeply. Shut down,
and we both looked. I asked if "it got him", and he said, he couldn't tell. So, sit down, unlace the tall boot, and pull
it off. The sock is cut through, oh crap. Slide off the sock -- not a scratch of the skin. Cutting thru the sock and not
the skin is as close as you ever want to be to a powered chainsaw chain.:oops:

He switched to steel toes after that, and I learned the same lesson, without any blood.
 
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KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I'm convinced that we are our own worst enemies. We regularly do things to ourselves that rarely would be done to us by an outsider. Yes, I hear "stranger danger" and staying aware of our surroundings and the right to self defense and all the other things we try to do to protect ourselves - then we deafen and blind ourselves, ruin our lungs in lots of ways, damage and even cut off vital parts of our anatomies....

I started operating a few years ago under the theory that if I stopped doing things to damage or kill myself I would live a lot longer than spending all my time and energy in a paranoid effort to protect myself from the outside world and the people in it.

By the way I insist that even in our garage shop, and certainly in our new shop, we follow all the rules for safety and utilize the appropriate PPE.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
I don't recall if my little electric Remington chain saw has a brake or not? but I do know it spins pretty slow. It is a pole saw, with removable pole, I've never run it with the pole removed, since I got other saws for that.
The chain brakes on both my Stihl saws have saved my bacon more than once, while cutting logs in a thick brushy woods...not so much needed if you are cutting logs in a nice clean area.
On another note...dangerous note that is...I was lazy ONE TIME, with the big saw, it was idling a bit fast and I leaned to one side and wasn't paying close attention to saw position and the moving chain cut through my pants :oops:, but super luckily not into my skin.
While I do have safety chaps, they are so uncomfortable, I never wear them :(
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
We have one set of chaps between 3 of us. My oldest boy Matt likes to wear them, Gordy the youngest will wear them if we make him. I wear them on occasion. We all have helmets with muffs and screens. Honestly, I wear it on the tractor to protect my face/eyes from whips and thorns. Gloves/boots, phhh! Matt has chainsaw safety boots that he or Gord wear sometimes. Other than that it's wear what is warm and watch your toes.

Like I said, I'm not a real safety Nazi. I bear the scars of that, but it is what it is.