I think you are right. I still remember the first time I heard "****"
used in mixed company. It was around 1956...my college roommate and I
were going somewhere with our respective girl friends and he uttered
it. My ears burned. I use the word with some frequency depending
upon the situation - I was in the Navy - but not in mixed company (or
with females in other than appropriate circumstances).

I almost never swear, even in private. Ironically, my wife can be quite the
potty mouth.

We have lost a lot of things in the intervening years...the word "gay"
to describe what was a wonderful mood.

Yeah, I can't help but laugh every time I hear the Christmas song: "The
Most Wonderful Time of the Year". You know, the part about "gay happy
meetings".

I keep annoying my wife because I'm frequently saying "Be of good cheer",
since a line in that song says "everyone telling you be of good cheer". I
don't think I've EVER heard anyone tell me that.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com

On Thu, 15 Dec 2016 16:49:04 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband advised:

Sadly, being polite and considerate seems to be disappearing from our
culture. Profanities and being rude or insulting has somehow become
"funny" or normal to many people. I don't get it, maybe I'm just too old.

On Usenet, it's pretty common to be impolite.
I am guilty of that myself.
Mea culpa.

I don't know what a "stretcher" is
It's a contraption that lets you stretch carpet in a room so it lays flat.
Thanks. I never laid carpet nor fixed a bumpy one.

I have been thinking about getting a cordless battery powered chainsaw.

I have used them. At least the Ryobi brand that Home Depot sells for around
100 bucks since a neighbor bought one. It's OK. It runs for about an hour.
If all you need is 1 hour at a time, it's ok. But his is only 8 inches (as
I recall) whereas most chainsaws are 18 or so inches (yes, I know they
vary, but 18 inches is pretty common out here).

I have a nice Stihl gas chainsaw but I probably only use it once or twice a
year to cut up firewood.
I have a husky but Stihl is even better (yes, I know about all the
discussions on which is better).

It's always a hassle mixing up the oil and gas and
trying to make sure the fuel is fresh so it doesn't gum up the engine. It's
also hard to start in the middle of winter when a tree comes down, or when
it's hot from using it. Not to mention the noise and exhaust that comes
with using it. Somehow I always seem to be out of gas when I need the saw
the most.

Mixing oil with the gas is a pain, I agree.

I keep a 1 liter soda bottle and a spoon measure in my chainsaw box.
I put a measure of oil into the soda bottle and fill the soda bottle with
gas, and shake the bejeesus out of it, and then I pour it into the
chainsaw.

1 liter gets me a few hours of chain sawing.

I assume you are talking about torsion springs that mount on the rod above
the door (not extension springs that mount on either side of the door).
Either way, the automotive spring compressor would be useless for that.

OK. Just wondered. I wish I could have watched how the guy replaced them
because it seems like black magic to wind them up since they're about 3
inches thick and they go across the top of the door on a rod.

An advantage of doing it yourself is you can spend the money on beefy
springs, instead of on someone's labor. That way they last longer.

Hi Frank,

Thanks. I never laid carpet nor fixed a bumpy one.

I installed the carpet in our house 12 years ago. It was my first time
and I really didn't know what I was doing. That's probably why it
developed bumps in recent years.

I've done it a couple times since then when we were remodeling my in-laws
house.

I have used them. At least the Ryobi brand that Home Depot sells for
around 100 bucks since a neighbor bought one. It's OK. It runs for
about an hour. If all you need is 1 hour at a time, it's ok. But his
is only 8 inches (as I recall) whereas most chainsaws are 18 or so
inches

The EGO cordless chainsaw has a 16" bar on it, the same as my gas powered
Stihl chainsaw. I already have a couple of batteries, so I could
theoretically run all day if I needed to by swapping batteries. Not much
different than refilling the gas tank in my Stihl.

I've watched a few videos for the EGO chainsaw on YouTube and it seems to
perform well. The sound really throws me off though. It's obviously
quieter than a gas saw, but it sounds "plastic" when they are using it.
That makes me wonder about long term durability. I also saw the chain
bind and stop the saw a couple times. Not sure how much of a problem that
is.

The only way to really know for sure is to try one myself. I just haven't
had $300 laying around to gamble with lately.

I have a husky but Stihl is even better (yes, I know about all the
discussions on which is better).

I had some cheap off brand saw years ago. When it finally died on me I
bought the Stihl. When it works, it works great. But it can be really
hard to start. I've put new plugs, new air filters, even had the local
saw shop go through it and rebuild the carb for me. It's still finicky.
With my current adjustments I can usually start it OK when it's cold. But
once I run it for a while and shut it off, it refuses to start again. I
have to let it cool down before it will restart. Frustrating when there
is work to do. By the time I get it started, I'm too tired to use it.

I keep a 1 liter soda bottle and a spoon measure in my chainsaw box.
I put a measure of oil into the soda bottle and fill the soda bottle
with gas, and shake the bejeesus out of it, and then I pour it into
the chainsaw.
1 liter gets me a few hours of chain sawing.

Interesting idea. Thanks for the tip.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com

On Fri, 16 Dec 2016 15:42:32 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband advised:

I had some cheap off brand saw years ago. When it finally died on me I
bought the Stihl. When it works, it works great. But it can be really
hard to start.

My husky has a compression relief button for starting.
It's not all that useful since it starts after I turn off the choke.
Ten pumps of fuel, choke, a couple pulls, and then off choke, and then a
pull and it starts. Takes a minute or two to warm up.

I've put new plugs, new air filters, even had the local
saw shop go through it and rebuild the carb for me. It's still finicky.

My Husky is not finicky. But I never heard of someone being unhappy with
Stihl either.

With my current adjustments I can usually start it OK when it's cold. But
once I run it for a while and shut it off, it refuses to start again.

Oh. My Husky starts right up once warmed up. Even cold it starts up the
first pull after the choke pulls.

I
have to let it cool down before it will restart. Frustrating when there
is work to do. By the time I get it started, I'm too tired to use it.

Too bad. Most people love Stihls!

I keep a 1 liter soda bottle and a spoon measure in my chainsaw box.
I put a measure of oil into the soda bottle and fill the soda bottle
with gas, and shake the bejeesus out of it, and then I pour it into
the chainsaw.
1 liter gets me a few hours of chain sawing.

Interesting idea. Thanks for the tip.

I also have a 500 ml bottle. I love the German ones that I get when I visit
Europe. They re-use their soda bottles in Germany so they're THICKER (by a
lot).

So, a 500ml German CocaCola bottle is perfect for a chainsaw because it
pours nicely into the chainsaw without making a mess.

Of course, you have to pour the fuel into the bottle, but if you make a
mess of that, it won't get on the chainsaw - it just gets on the ground.

All you have to do is figure out how big of a spoon of oil to use to get
1ml of oil in 40ml of fuel, which is about a dozen ml of oil to the 500 ml
of gasoline in the German cocacola bottle.

I don't get it down to an exact science, so, it's just a spoon of oil to a
bottle of gas. Shake. And Pour. (It's a lot easier to carry with me than a
classic 1gallon jug of gasoline is also.)

It's not OSHA approved though, I'm sure!

On Friday, December 16, 2016 at 10:44:00 AM UTC-5, HerHusband wrote:

....snip...

I had some cheap off brand saw years ago. When it finally died on me I
bought the Stihl. When it works, it works great. But it can be really
hard to start. I've put new plugs, new air filters, even had the local
saw shop go through it and rebuild the carb for me. It's still finicky.
With my current adjustments I can usually start it OK when it's cold. But
once I run it for a while and shut it off, it refuses to start again. I
have to let it cool down before it will restart. Frustrating when there
is work to do. By the time I get it started, I'm too tired to use it.


Have you tried setting the choke half closed when trying a warm start?

My snow blower requires full choke to start when cold (regardless of the
air temperature) and half choke to start when warmed to operating
temperature. It doesn't matter for how short a period it's been off, even
1 second. Once the motor stops, it requires 1/2 choke to restart.

I'm not complaining. It's worked that way for the 6 winters I've owned it
and it's 100% consistent. I'll trade consistency for a very minor
inconvenience any day, especially when it's 11°F and the snow is blowing -
like this morning.

Frank Baron posted for all of us...



On Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:11:39 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband advised:

So, I put a chisel bit in
the hammer drill, set it to hammer only, and proceded to drive it into the
ground in multiple places. This loosened up the soil enough that I could
easily shovel out the loose dirt. Weird, but it worked great.

I have never used a hammer drill before so I have to ask if you can *feel*
the hammer action when using the drill (either just spinning it in the air
or when chipping that soil)?

I can't feel any difference in the drill in hammer mode versus is normal
drill mode.

Is that how it's supposed to feel?

Orgasmic

--
Tekkie

Frank,

Too bad. Most people love Stihls!

I originally bought the Stihl because it was supposed to be "THE" brand
everyone recommended. Once I get it started it's an awesome saw and I have
been happy with it.

Unfortunately, I've had issues starting it since the day I bought it back
in 2002. Every other gas tool I own starts on the first or second pull.

I figured it was operator error, even though I followed all of the tips and
instructions in the owners manual (I actually took the time to read it). My
own maintenance and adjustments didn't seem to help, so I broke down and
paid a professional shop to go through and rebuild it back in 2014. It ran
better, but is still difficult to start.

Judging by numerous Google searches, I'm not the only person who has
problems starting their Stihl chain saw.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com

Have you tried setting the choke half closed when trying a warm start?

I haven't used my Stihl chain saw in a while, but I can't remember if it
has a half choke setting. There's basically one lever that controls the
throttle and choke. All the way down is full throttle and full choke. I
think the next click up is full throttle, choke off?

In any case, I've tried every lever setting and it's still hard to start
once it's warm. From what I can tell, it seems to get flooded once it's
warm. The only way I can get it to start is to pull the spark plug, pull
the cord a few times to empty the cylinder, then reinstall the plug. It
usually starts right up after that.

It's worked that way for the 6 winters I've owned
it and it's 100% consistent.

Unfortunately, my saw never seems to be consistent. Just when I think I
figure out a system that works, it stops working.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com