Dumbest chainsaw question ever....

[CMV]

Bought an Echo CS490 - 20", 50cc chainsaw. Bought the $6 Echo scabbard for it. But with the included tip guard installed on the bar, the bar won't go in the scabbard. Do people just not install those guards? Seems really odd that the scabbard made for the saw won't fit with a safety device the manufacturer includes.

I try not to make a habit of running the nose into stuff or standing directly inline with the saw....but for just an infrequent chainsaw user (24 hrs/year maybe), I'll take all the added safety I can get Is there some other generic 20" scabbard I can find somewhere that will fit with the nose guard installed? I'd like to have both. Oddly, the $130 Ryobi this replaced fit into its scabbard just fine.....and included the scabbard and case.....

 

[CincyFlyer]

I plunge mine too much to use a tip guard, and sometimes cut trees larger in diameter than the bar length, so I never use them.

 

[Gordon Gould]

If you can't find what you want you can make a scabbard any size you want out of plywood or the like. Some use High Density Polypropelyne. Here is an example of a plywood one I made.



gg

 

[ericm979]

They probably assume everyone takes it off or does not install it. My CS-352 came with the guard not installed. I did not install it but I think that the Echo scabbard would have a hard time going over it.

The Stihl scabbard has a slightly wider flared bit at the mouth to make it easier to get it on the bar (if you don't shorten the scabbard- they don't make all lengths). That might let you stuff it in there witht the guard on but it'd take some force to put on and take off. Husky's scabbard does not have the flare. Both are thinner and more flexible than the Echo one.

 

[ericm979]

This isn't the dumbest chainsaw question ever- that would be "I cut my leg off, should I have been wearing chaps?"

 

[YLee Kioti]

did you buy the sthil sharpener?

I touch up the teeth about every three trees if hackberries and every two trees if oak or pecan.
I got the CS490 with an 18" bar, man that machine is a hoss no doubt.
Never did get the nose guard because I have to make multiple cuts to work through large trunks. Although I can see their value. I'm just not smart enough to know when I should be using one...lol...

Amazon.com: Stihl 2 N 1 Easy File Chainsaw Chain Sharpener 3/8": Garden & Outdoor

It's handy to have when working out in the field.
Also, learned the hard way why I shiuld use this more often instead of just carrying it around!
Amazon.com: Oregon 26365 Grease Gun: OREGON CUTTING SYSTEMS: Garden & Outdoor
nose gear locked up so tight that chain would not budge, like the brake was on.

 

[4570Man]

I wouldn’t loose any sleep over it. My longer bar is probably 6” longer than the scabbard and doesn’t cause any problems.

 

[CMV]

I use the dremel attachment sharpener....probably not the best, but works well enough

 

[stuckmotor]

I've owned at least seven saws and none of them have come with a tip guard. Like CincyFlyer, I plunge too much to want one.

 

[John_Mc]

Also, learned the hard way why I shiuld use this more often instead of just carrying it around!
Amazon.com: Oregon 26365 Grease Gun: OREGON CUTTING SYSTEMS: Garden & Outdoor
nose gear locked up so tight that chain would not budge, like the brake was on.

It's unlikely that failing to grease the tip caused the nose sprocket to lock up. Many top quality bars come without the hole to grease that sprocket, and may bars that do have the whole are run regularly by pros who never grease that hole. The two most likely causes of a faile tip are pinching the tip of the bar (often while limbing) or running your chain tension too tight.

 

[YLee Kioti]

It's unlikely that failing to grease the tip caused the nose sprocket to lock up. Many top quality bars come without the hole to grease that sprocket, and may bars that do have the whole are run regularly by pros who never grease that hole. The two most likely causes of a faile tip are pinching the tip of the bar (often while limbing) or running your chain tension too tight.

Oh it got hot ( cut down 37 tree stumps ) and seized up while cutting. I could see the chain dancing and leave a gap when it looked like it would jump off the bar. This was a gas and go day non stop. some were hackberry, oak and pecan stumps; diameters about 6 to 12".
Used flat tip of bar tool and ratchet for a hammer to get it to even rotate. Once free it was very stiff. Pumped it with grease until it oozed out and picked up by chain.
After that, every time I touched up the chain and give it a few licks, the tip wheel gets a squirt as well.

Some previous owner planted over 40 trees along the fence line right under the city power lines. All cleaned up now, heh been heck of a summer. 100+* the whole summer and worked it all but between hours of 2-5pm where the UV index would at times hit 13.
That chain saw got used like a rented mule.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Sounds like you did also. Ouch.

 

[Jstpssng]

The last time that I greased a tip was in 1984 when I borrowed my father's Jonsereds. If you grease do it every tankful, as the lube forms a seal which prevents the B&C oil from getting to the sprocket. The only time that I've known anybody to burn up tips prematurely is when one of the guys I worked with on powerline maintenance liked to run his chain too tight so that he wouldn't throw it cutting bushes. He would seize a bar up at least once a week.

PS; I lean toward the theory that the only dumb question is the one that you don't ask.
The exception of course is one which you already know the answer to.

 

[sixdogs]

This isn't the dumbest chainsaw question ever- that would be "I cut my leg off, should I have been wearing chaps?"

Yeah, this question is not dumb at all. I got a dumb one 25 years ago when a guy asked me to look at his saw he had a problem with. He had the chain on backwards.

 

[tjkubota93]

Oh it got hot ( cut down 37 tree stumps ) and seized up while cutting. I could see the chain dancing and leave a gap when it looked like it would jump off the bar. This was a gas and go day non stop. some were hackberry, oak and pecan stumps; diameters about 6 to 12".
Used flat tip of bar tool and ratchet for a hammer to get it to even rotate. Once free it was very stiff. Pumped it with grease until it oozed out and picked up by chain.
After that, every time I touched up the chain and give it a few licks, the tip wheel gets a squirt as well.

Some previous owner planted over 40 trees along the fence line right under the city power lines. All cleaned up now, heh been heck of a summer. 100+* the whole summer and worked it all but between hours of 2-5pm where the UV index would at times hit 13.
That chain saw got used like a rented mule.

I've done the exact same thing. Now they get a squirt with every fill up.

Alot of of people I have run into think I am an idiot having done things like that and others think its OCD to be that way about maintainence.

But I made mistakes and learned. I think alot of people just cover up their mistakes and chastise those who dont.

 

[kayco53]

If you can't find what you want you can make a scabbard any size you want out of plywood or the like. Some use High Density Polypropelyne. Here is an example of a plywood one I made.

[ATTACHbb=CONFIG]567662[/ATTACH]

gg

Now I need to make a couple of those plywood scabbards for my Kubota.

 

[RandyT]

The rule on tip greasing is grease it every time you use the saw or don't grease it at all. the occasional grease will do more harm than good. And like said previously the top quality bars don't have the grease hole any more, mainly because people didn't grease than correctly.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yeah, this question is not dumb at all. I got a dumb one 25 years ago when a guy asked me to look at his saw he had a problem with. He had the chain on backwards.

That's not completely unheard of either, although most of us figure it out when the saw bounces off the first tree you try to cut.
It's also a mistake which you don't repeat twice.

 

[dougtrr2]

The rule on tip greasing is grease it every time you use the saw or don't grease it at all. the occasional grease will do more harm than good. And like said previously the top quality bars don't have the grease hole any more, mainly because people didn't grease than correctly.

It surprised me when I bought a new bar and it didn't have a grease hole. I never had trouble with mine. But I tend to saw until I run out of gas so then it was always fill the gas, fill the bar oil, grease the tip.

Doug in SW IA

 

[sixdogs]

That's not completely unheard of either, although most of us figure it out when the saw bounces off the first tree you try to cut.
It's also a mistake which you don't repeat twice.

He actually made a couple of nasty looking softwood cuts with it.