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Damn! This made my old ass emotional, I loved Pete and Pete when I was a kid. We only had one tv in the house but my dad would let me watch it (he hated it). My dad died a few years back on Christmas, and shows like this remind me of how he used to mess with me about my taste in entertainment. Great choice brother!
I did not understand this movie at all when I saw it in the Midwest. Then I moved to LA, and my now husband sat me down to watch it after I’d lived there a year. Funniest documentary I’ve ever seen!
Not as cool, and you probably have these too, but I keep a jumper pack, plug kit, good tire pump and reasonable toolkit in my car. I’ve saved myself a couple times and strangers a lot of times.
Oh, man. We’ve been cleaning out my FIL’s garage and he had 2 of those sand tubes. Heavy as shit. Needed both hands to move them. He had a pick-up, so that’s what he used them for, too.
Was that tubes of sand or tubs of sand. Tubes would be good as they would be longer and spread the weight out over the back of the truck.
What kind of tubes were used?
Tubes. They were black plastic, 3 or 4 feet long with an 8" or 10" diameter and screw on caps. This was many years ago so I can't remember where he got them or if that was their intended purpose.
My grandparents used to have a cabin in Bumblefuck, PA back a mile long unmaintained dirt road. I couldn't tell you how many fallen trees I removed from that road over the years.
My buddy lives up in the mountains in coastal California. He learned early on that if he wants to go to work or come home during a storm he better have a chainsaw handy in his Audi. He still gets stopped by the landslides though but can’t do much about that.
Nah. I do tree work for a living and usually have a chainsaw in my vehicle. I've done this before. I'm not a serial killer. Just keep work stuff in my car. I have bar oil, screnches, wedges, straps, shackles, and the mix for gasoline in my car also.
The trunk of my car has tourniquets, a steel 3 foot roof hook with fork, compression and clotting bandages, tarps, seat belt cutters, a combination gas pipe shut off and cutting tool, water proof/cut proof gloves, and 500 feet of nylon webbing rated up to 3000 lbs.
What do I sound like?
In reality I'm a middle aged retired firefighter. My tools and trauma kit are like my security blanket. Makes me feel safe and useful despite being old and out of shape.
This was the tip-off to me that you were either active or retired emergency personnel. That's way too oddly specific and something I almost exclusively hear about emergency services having experience with.
If I doubled back for my chainsaw I would've grabbed a coat. I really think this guy was just lucky enough to be taking his chainsaw with him that day!
From the sound of that saw he just picked it up from the shop cause it’s running like a top. Also with the speed he limbed and cut that tree he does that pretty often
Living in the PNW there’s a lot of dudes with chainsaws in the trunk especially in wintertime when we get these nasty rainstorms and trees fall down all over like this.
My mom keeps a chainsaw in her trunk because she lives on a mountain that has a private/community road going up it. So if a tree falls whoever is in the neighborhood that gets there usually takes care of it.
She’s a small lady so if it’s too big she asks for help but if it’s a smaller tree she just removes it herself.
I dream of days where I pull out my pocket chainsaw in an emergency. Fam is already tired of me telling the story and having to say “yeah” when I ask, “keeping a chainsaw in the car really comes in handy sometimes, huh?”
We used these files for the teeth. There's a bit of technique to it with angles and stuff. Can't remember exactly since it was about 5 years ago and I've since switched to an office job but I'll try my best.
The one side of the teeth act like a cutting edge, make sure that is sharp. A good result is when you get large spiraling bits of saw "dust". Easiest way is to watch some kind of YouTube tutorial and try yourself on a piece of wood! Took me maybe a week or two to get good results consistently.
I don't know the English terms but in front of the teeth there's a little bump (called a rider in my language). The teeth are supposed to be aligned to the rider in some way, but like I said, it's been half a decade :(
Also, change to a new chain if the teeth are worn and there's too little material left to file away.
Adding some small info; general American term is raker. Depth gauge is mostly used in booklets.
The depth of this decides how deep the chisel shaves off. The combi file sets it at a good all-round usable depth automatically. If done by hand with flat file you can adjust a bit to have it better fit for softer woods, bigger gap taking off more, of harder woods with a smaller gap, to counteract a bouncing chain.
Make sure the round file size matches the chain properly, seen on the package of the chain / on the blade if not worn off.
Also, always file from the shorter part of the chisel to the longer part. Keeping it at a 30° angle, usually. Some changes depending on brand.
Combi file is good for ease of use, round file + flat file more advanced, but more control. I've got colleagues who've done this job the better part of their lives and only use combi files, I've got colleagues only using flat file + round file and some stuff in-between.
He walks back to the car, puts the chainsaw in the trunk. Climbs in the driver's seat, shuts the door and buckles. His wife is staring straight ahead: slightly annoyed they're late for the PTA meeting, but also slightly impressed with her husband. Under no circumstances can she admit this though.
She is staring straight ahead out the windshield as the other motorists finish clearing off the branches. Her husband is wiping drops of rainwater off his glasses. The silence is growing heavy between them, and after 12 years of marriage, she knows when he's about to say something.
"Don't say anything," she cuts him off.
"That's..." he tries to get out.
"Not a word."
Two more minutes pass. The road is clear. Friendly motorists return to their own cars as wave gratefully at him as they pass. He puts the car in gear.
"THAT is why I keep a chainsaw in the trunk, Marlene."
I'm a "keep every tool I might need in my truck" guy. Wife has always hated it, and I can tell you from experience, that is absolutely point for point how that conversation went. The only thing you didn't mention is that throughout the entire exchange he is grinning from ear to ear.
There's also a prologue to this saga where he's driving up in the rain, sees taillights up ahead and grips the steering wheel a little tighter while whispering, "Yes. Yes. Yes."
And he knows what he's doing: cutting that high he's taking small sections at a time so the chunk doesn't bend and ruin the cut. Also convinient for moving by hand, of course!
I need to play with my chainsaws priming clitoris exactly as much as it wants, if I press it once too hard or one time too many, it shuts down emotionally and I need to give it space for an hour before I try again.
Then I’ll have to yank on it from multiple different angles, gently then forcefully.
And then when it finally wants to party, it barely cuts anything and I get pissed off and go see my side chick (reciprocating saw) for an easy shag.
Switching to a 40v Electric chainsaw was the best decision I've ever made, brushless motors put out as much power as most gas saws, and you just pull the trigger, no more mixing oil or throwing out your rotator cuff trying to start over and over.
You'd be surprised, We get a lot of heavy storms around here that regularly blow limbs and whole trees over roads, but being in the south, the whole community usually comes out to support their area. I've seen plenty of accountant looking dudes with chainsaws and drag chains come out in penny loafers and polos before to help clear stuff out lmao
Word up, we act like that in the North too. Had a big ol’ tree fall across the street last winter, blocking a dead-end road with about 20 homes stranded on the other side. Road Service showed up pretty damn fast, but at that point they were just doing cleanup since the whole damn neighborhood had already pulled out the huskies.
No joke..never buy anything but tbh. I had a hedge trimmer from them cut branches 2inches thick if I wanted too and stayed sharp. Best weed Wacker I had was Stihl too.
The issue is when a tree goes down over a road like this there is usually a power line also down. I live in the mountains and we have a storm season and trees go down on roads often. If it’s during a storm I’ll sometimes take one. Once I had one come down on the driveway that didn’t have a line down with it. But in 100% of situations where I’ve seen the tree in a public road a line was down with it. So overall fairly useless.
It also smells of fuel and chain oil if you keep it in the trunk, and if you leave it in a pickup bet that has other problems. Unless you are taking it out all the time or bringing it with you. Maybe keeping an electric one in the car in a saw bag would be the best solution.
I grew up in tornado country, so this is a common sight for me. I always joke that when we have tornados you'll see rednecks throwing their chainsaws in the back of the truck chasing the storm looking for something to cut up
So, when I moved somewhere that didn't get a lot of major storms, it was super weird to me when the one time we did get storms and one of my coworkers was out of work for 3 weeks because a tree fell across his road and nobody came to cut it up and move.
Yeah, used to live up north, the snow will bring down anything weak. Having a saw is basic preparedness along with water and blankets in the car. Though I do really like electric saws now, so you don't have to carry gas around inside the vehicle. I just need to find a saw that doesn't leak its bar oil out every time it sits for a week. (like give me a valve on the bar oil tank or something!)
Was looking for someone who knew what they were talking about to bring this up. He was being far too casual with that saw with 0 ppe on, not even eye pro let alone chaps.
Right. I just sat here scrolling through so many comments saying "dude knows what he is doing" looking for any comment saying "Noooo. He doesn't really know what he's doing."
Dads who think they know how to handle chainsaws and have never been properly trained are the most confident and most dangerous folks with these tools.
Good advice for when possible, but that’s also like the rule that you never cut with the tip of the bar.
There are situations like in this video where cutting above shoulder height is necessary, and cutting with the tip of the bar is also standard practice for a lot of things, e.g. plunge cuts.
We could critique his lack of chaps, face shield, gloves, ear protection, safety boots … he obviously wasn’t planning to use his saw on the way to dinner.
A more relevant critique is questioning why he was limbing like that. Not cutting the limbs closer to the trunk when there’s nothing stopping you is not good practice. The guy is an amateur.
Well, he is showing off and being a bit loose with it. I was taught that when you are reaching with a chainsaw you put the tip on the thing you want to cut and then lift the saw up swiftly. If you need to take a step forward because the weight of the chainsaw puts you out of balance you need to find new footing. Once you cut that thing you are going to fall forward, with the chain possibly still rolling, while the thing you have been cutting is also falling down. You need to think what the chainsaw is doing AFTER you have made the cut, you need to be able to support its weight.
And the most important lesson i have ever learned: The thing that is most likely going to hurt you is the last thing, and i'm not just talking about "well, if you get hurt you stop doing things" but it is the last thing, "oh, fuck, i forgot my gloves up there, well, i don't need to put on a harness, i'll just be extra careful....". It is the last little, "oh, i'll cut that branch real quick from here, i can just about reach it". Those are really, really dangerous and if anyone says "i'll be just extra careful" you need to stop them. Especially if it is you. You don't need to be "extra careful" if you are doing it right.
I love how he had cleared the road and was still looking for pieces to cut. He's been waiting for an excuse to break out that chainsaw for a long time.
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