Petrol Chainsaw.Org

Petrol Chainsaw

The petrol chainsaw is a hand held portable mechanical saw. It is powered by petrol or gasoline but there are other versions of this chainsaw that are powered by electricity, compressed air or hydraulic power. The petrol chainsaw is used to fell trees, limbing and bucking, and by tree surgeons  to remove branches and foliage as well as actually taking trees down. Other uses include cutting firebreaks in the wild land areas and also for cutting fire wood.

There are several parts to a petrol chainsaw and all of them combined and working together give us this very useful tool. The engine is the heart of the machine and in most cases it is a two stroke internal combustion engine run off petrol.

The drive mechanism is a clutch and sprocket. The guide bar is a long bar with a round end of wear resistant alloy steel. There is an edge slot that guides the cutting chain. And of course there is the cutting chain itself. The chain which is made in the same way as a bike chain is constructed out of riveted metal sections. In most chainsaws the segments of the chain have small sharp blades which are called teeth. To describe these teeth , they are a folded tab of chromium plate steel which have a sharp corner and two very sharp edges that do the cutting. They are located on the top plate and side plate. There are left handed teeth and right handed teeth that are alternated on the chain. The chains are measured by pitch and gauge. The pitch of a chain is measured by half of the length taken up by 3 consecutive rivets. The gauge of the chain is the measurement of thickness of the drive link where it fits in to the guide bar. The conventional full complement chain is a chain that has only one tooth in each drive link. There is a depth gauge which is built in to every tooth and this works by riding ahead of the tooth and monitors the depth of cut of the tooth. This action is very essential in the safety of the petrol chainsaw cutting operation. If the cut level is too high then it will cause very slow cutting. And of more concern is that of the cut level being set too low. Set too low will make the petrol chainsaw very hard to control and hence a very dangerous tool to have in your hands.

On the underside of every link on the chain is a small finger which is called the drive link. These drive links keep the chain located on to the bar. They also transport lubricating oil all around the bar when in operation which is when they engage themselves with the drive sprocket of the engine which is located inside the body of the chainsaw. The engine of the petrol chainsaw drives the chain around the track with a centrifugal clutch. This works by engaging the chain under power but when the engine is idle or turned off the chain stops because of the control of the centrifugal clutch.

Since the first introduction of the petrol chainsaw there have been dramatic improvements in overall design and safety measures. Some of these improvements include chain break systems, better chain design and anti vibration systems. There is no doubt that these improvements have saved countless numbers of lives and prevented many serious injuries.

Maintenance of the petrol chainsaw

As with all mechanical tools and unit’s the petrol chainsaw needs to be maintained in order for it to continue operating to the best of it’s capabilities. The majority of chainsaws require 2 sources of lubrication. The first being the engine. Two stroke engines are lubricated by their own fuel which has about 3% oil dissolved in the fuel. The second source of lubrication is that of the bar and chain. When in operation the chain oil soon runs dry very quickly as it is thrown of the chain as well as being soaked up by sawdust. So in order to keep oil supplied to the chain it is always important to fill the oil reservoir each time you fill the chainsaw with fuel. The good thing by doing this is that you will never run out of oil. This is because the oil reservoir is large enough to outlast the fuel tank. So the petrol chainsaw will always run out of fuel before it runs out of oil. Without proper lubrication the chainsaw will become damaged and at the very least you will have excess wear and tear.

In order for the chain to function to it’s best capabilities it must always be sharp. The petrol chainsaw blade blunts very quickly when it comes into contact with soil, metal or stones. The thing is with a blunt blade the chainsaw will produce a powdery sawdust as opposed to the longer clean shavings it gives off when sharp. The other thing about making sure that the blade is sharp is that the chainsaw does not need much force from the operator to push it into the cut in the wood. There are special chains that can be used on a chainsaw for cutting roots and stuff like that. They will come into contact with soil but will not blunt because they are made from tungsten carbide which are specially hardened chains.

And finally to fully maintain your machine remember to clean out the air intake filter from time to time. This air filter intake has a habit of getting clogged up with sawdust.

History of the petrol chainsaw

There is no clear evidence as to when exactly the first chainsaw was invented. However Bernard Heine who was a German orthopaedist made the first chainsaw like tool in 1830. It was called the astrodome which had links of a chain carrying small teeth with the edges set at an angle. It was not motorised and to get the chain to move round the operator had to turn the handle of a sprocket wheel. The main use at the time for this tool was to cut bones.

Joseph Buford Cox and Andreas Stihl brought the chainsaw forward in development and made the first modern type of chainsaw. They developed and patented a chainsaw in 1926 and later in 1929 they introduced a gasoline powered chainsaw. But it was actually in 1927 that Emil Lerp developed the world’s first petrol chainsaw and mass produced them. The thing with these early models though was that they were so heavy and were actually 2 man devices with long bars. Some of them were so heavy that they were actually on wheels.

After WW11 due to aluminium and new engine designs these petrol chainsaws became much lighter and were possible to be operated by just one person. Nowadays though they are so user friendly that they have completely replaced simple man powered saws in forestry. So nowadays they come in many sizes, from small garden saws to large lumberjack saws. The choices are vast and there is almost certainly one suitable for whichever job you want it for. They are a superb piece of equipment to own and as long as you take proper care of the unit it will last you for many years of use. Operate it correctly and take all safety precautions to ensure you have safe experience from you petrol chainsaw.

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