Chainsaw (Almost) Ready

With the warmer weather that is not yet too warm, it’s time to start thinking about cutting up that wood pile in our front yard. I broke out my chainsaw and did some tune-up maintenance, which was more involved than I thought it would be. First off, I was sharpening the chain with my Dremel tool (thanks to my Mentor) and I realized that the sharpening stone looked a little worn. Funny how that works. Not only that, but it looked like it shrank.

I set out to get a new one, but wasn’t sure where to go. I had a sense that Home Depot carried them, but that was a bit of a trek, and we were in Norwich, so I asked around. The True Value in Hanover didn’t have it, neither did Dan and Witts, though they said they could order it if I knew what size I needed. This, of course, required that I know the size of my chain, and as you can guess, I did not. Sort of embarrassing for a real-man in training, but in all fairness, when I actually looked at the chain package, it wasn’t really clear. They indicate the size of the chain, but not the actual diameter of the file that I needed. They would have known this in a second at Joe’s, but I wasn’t at Joe’s.

Either way, they didn’t have it, so it didn’t matter. I finally went to Foggs, and they had an amazing assortment of Dremel accessories. They even had the variety pack of chainsaw sharpeners, and from that, I could figure out what I needed, because they color code the sharpening stones, and I could recognize what I needed. It turns out I needed a 3/16^th stone, which I got. Whew! It also became clear to me that the old sharpening stone was worn down and narrow, so it was good I replaced it.

After sharpening the blade, I decided to inspect the air filter, something I’d never done before, and saw that it was caked with dust. The manual says to tap it clean, but that stuff is glued on. I need to get a new one, which is a bummer because I was just at Joe’s. Now I may need to go to Charlie Brown’s, which is much closer, but that store smells like an ashtray. Not a pleasant environment.

At least I’m close to being ready, and I think within the next week or so I should be all set to tackle that wood pile. Nothing like using a chainsaw to make a city boy feel like a real man.

Until then, thanks for reading.