Chainsaws

A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable mechanical, motorized saw. more...

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It is most commonly used in logging activities such as felling, delimbing, and bucking; by tree surgeons to fell trees and remove branches and foliage; to fell snags and assist in cutting firebreaks in wildland fire suppression, and to harvest firewood. Chainsaws with specially designed blades have been developed as tools for use in chainsaw art.

Construction

Chainsaws consist of a small two-stroke gasoline (petrol) internal combustion engine (although smaller versions sometimes use electric motors), the "guide bar" (essentially a long metal frame of a very hard wearing alloy) and the cutting chain itself. Usually each segment in this chain (which is constructed from riveted metal sections similar to a bicycle chain, but without rollers) features a small sharp blade, called a "tooth." "Skip tooth" chain has a tooth only on every second link, and is used for reduced risk of the chain clogging when cutting very soft wood. In modern saws the teeth are not straight blades; they have a forward section that first chips a piece of wood from the bottom of the cut, then another section, at a right angle to the first, which chips a piece from the wall of the cut. There are left and right handed teeth, depending on which wall of the cut they will chip. Left and right teeth are alternated in the chain.

The underside of each link features a small metal finger that keeps the tooth centered between the rails of the bar, helps to carry lubricating oil around the bar, and engages with the engine's drive sprocket inside the body of the saw. The engine drives the chain around the track at a high speed, providing an effective (if rather rough) cutting action.

As chainsaws become more popular among home owners chainsaw manufacturers are introducing features to make them easier to use. Stihl has developed an Easy2Start, or ErgoStart in Europe, system that uses a spring to overcome the engine's compression. These saws usually start on one pull.

Women are increasingly becoming loggers and foresters. Husqvarna has developed the 339XP as a small saw easy to use for felling and bucking small trees and marketing it towards female foresters. Stihl also sponsors and gives away saws to female chainsaw carvers to promote women in the forest industry. Masters of the Chainsaw has an all women carving demonstration team called the "Chainsaw Chix."

As chainsaw carving becomes more common chainsaw manufacturings are making special short, narrow-tipped bars for carving. These are called "quarter tipped", "nickel tipped" or "dime tipped" bars, based on the size of the round tip. Echo also sponsors a carving series and carvers like former Runaways singer Cherie Currie. RedMax specifically built the G3200 CV chainsaw for carving applications.

Read more at Wikipedia.org