Author Topic: Drop start (Read 5959 times)

GASoline71 · « **Reply #40 on:** May 01, 2009, 03:15:21 pm »

Quote from: oldsaw on May 01, 2009, 08:10:17 am

Please be aware that Gary is one of those overcompensating West Coast longbar guys.

Yes sir! Imma proud to be a knuckledragger...

Gary

SawTroll · « **Reply #41 on:** May 04, 2009, 01:40:49 pm »

Quote from: oldsaw on May 01, 2009, 08:10:17 am

I'll drop start all of my saws warm, the only exception is when I have the 42" on the 066. Cold, I won't drop the 066 unless it's got the 24" on it, but I don't do it often since it has no compression release. The rest, whatever. Funny how I do it without really thinking about it, but I've got short bars on everything else. Just run a 20" on the 372, and with comp release, that's an easier start than the Super XL, which starts easily when it has been used recently.

Please be aware that Gary is one of those overcompensating West Coast longbar guys.

I allways dropstart, with the left hand on the rope - but 372xpg/24" is my latgest saw.

And yes, I agree on Gary!

RSteiner · « **Reply #42 on:** May 05, 2009, 05:58:24 am »

The technique I have seen and associated with drop starting is where the left hand grips the starter cord and the right hand throws the saw down and around the front of the body. This causes the saw to swing wildly around in front of the person staring it. There was a logging crew working on land behind mine where I saw this method being used so not knowing any better at the time I copied the "pro's".

Once I was introduced to the between the knees method by Soren Erickson I changed my ways. I will admit that when warm my two Huskys with compression release start so easy with one pull that I am able to hold the saw down with a stiff right arm and pull the starter cord with the left hand with a light short pull and it is running.

Randy

nmurph · « **Reply #43 on:** May 23, 2009, 02:08:32 pm »

not much going on here today, so i will reply. i'm a right hand-on-the-rear-handle drop-starter. i do it on everything from the 394 with a 24" down. i don't use the decomp most of the time, except on the 394. the 125 with a 60" is just a little too big. as to some the previous comments, i am not at tall as Gary, though 6'4" is pretty close, and that height does give you a little more distance to the ground. i do occasionally use the brake when starting. i use the brake more and more while i walking throught the woods. i guess it is more dangerous, but so is everything else in the woods. i think that for me, this is one of the safer things i do with a chainsaw. this is an inherently dangerous activity. you have to always be aware of the worst-case scenario possibilities.

Ironwood · « **Reply #44 on:** May 23, 2009, 07:03:04 pm »

Always drop start. Always use the safety brake immeadiately as my cuts end (just second nature now)

Ironwood

Al_Smith · « **Reply #45 on:** May 23, 2009, 10:56:28 pm »

I started doing this stuff long before chain brakes were ever even thought of .At this point in life I forget they are even there most of the time .

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #46 on:** May 24, 2009, 07:24:31 am »

I never set the chain brake,to me it dosen't seem right to start a saw on high idle with the brake set and wear the clutch.When I started we were lucky to have the hand guard.Have good footing and think before you do something.Frank C.

Ironwood · « **Reply #47 on:** May 24, 2009, 07:48:10 am »

I grew up listening to Homelite xL's, heard a nieghbor fire one the other day, knew exactly what kinda saw it was.

Amazing how far saws have come, quiet, safer, easier on our bods (vibration isolation). Makes you wander what will come next? Suppose that is what folks driving 1940's cars said

Ironwood

DanG · « **Reply #48 on:** May 24, 2009, 10:14:04 am »

Personally, I'm looking forward to electric start!

Like most other oldtimers, I use the brake sparingly. I put the bigger saw on the ground for cold starting, and it does start on high idle. However, I use the brake when doing this to protect the chain from striking the ground. I pick the saw up immediately and release the brake as soon as it clears the ground. Once I clear the high idle, the chain doesn't move at idle, so the brake doesn't seem important anyway. When warm starting that same saw, I use the drop method. It starts on first pull every time with no throttle, so here again the chain isn't moving and the brake isn't needed.

As Frank stated, having a good plan, which includes good footing, frees you up to concentrate on the saw and the cut itself when the saw is in the wood. I would venture to guess that being in a hurry hurts more people than any other factor, including fatigue.

Cut4fun · « **Reply #49 on:** May 24, 2009, 12:59:25 pm »

Quote from: Al_Smith on May 23, 2009, 10:56:28 pm

I started doing this stuff long before chain brakes were ever even thought of .At this point in life I forget they are even there most of the time .

I haven't used saws that long, but the 4 I learned on didn't have chain brakes. Poulan 2000 305 3300 3750. So I never use the brakes either.
But one day while using a Poulan 220 I picked up dirt cheap like new from Texas for $50. I hit a 1" solid metal rod in the center of a hand hewd beam and found out how a chain brake works when that puppy kicked back, shut off with brake engaged. Also cutting through a barn door and hit a metal slide on the opposite side and did the same thing and broke a few cutters off.
So I do see a use for the brakes, but only when they decide to be needed.

Engineer · « **Reply #50 on:** May 26, 2009, 02:00:01 pm »

I am 39 now, been cutting since age 14, so that makes 25 years worth of starting my saws exactly the same way Gary shows in his video. I always thought that was considered "drop starting" - I'd think you were insane to start a chain saw with the right hand on the rear handle and the left hand pulling the rope. When I took GOL training, I was taught the same way Jeff demonstrates in his video, but I don't like it much and especially not on a cold-start larger-displacement saw. I have done the "boot-on-the-handle" start on the ground, but there's been a few times that I got a bar nose full of dirt from a failed start. I can't say that I've started a chain saw with my left hand more than 20 times in my life, and it makes me nervous every time. The 'gary' start, however, is what I'm used to, and from the way you have to hold the saw I can't see how it's any more dangerous that any other method. I used that method successfully when I had a 25" bar on my old 066, and it worked fine when I din't feel like it wanted to dislocate my fingers.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #51 on:** May 26, 2009, 05:24:54 pm »

I've always started a chainsaw the way Gary does it, with the exception that I always use the chain brake when I start it. I've never owned a saw without a chain brake (I started out with a Stihl 029 and now I have a 440). I've also never seen or heard of someone drop-starting a chainsaw while holding their handle with their right and and pulling the rope with the left, until now. I guess that's why the drop start gets a bad rap, because I honestly don't see where the risk is the way I do it.

DanG · « **Reply #52 on:** May 26, 2009, 07:12:05 pm »

Dodgy, the chainsaws of yore were cantankerous beasts. They didn't have the choke-activated fast idle feature like we enjoy today. On most of'em, you had to keep your finger on the trigger to get the thing going, and that left a feller one hand short for doing it any other way. That's just another joy of life that better technology has taken away from us.

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #53 on:** May 27, 2009, 05:56:09 am »

Many times the smaller "limbing" saws are started by holding the handle and pulling over with the left hand especially in a bucket.Frank C.

Dodgy Loner · « **Reply #54 on:** May 27, 2009, 10:01:22 am »

DanG, I guess I'm glad I missed out on that era.

Bandmiller, don't those limbing saws have a handle balanced in center of the saw, rather than on the end, so they can be used one-handed? (Like this). That seems to be a lot safer than drop-starting your average chainsaw while holding the handle.

Cut4fun · « **Reply #55 on:** May 27, 2009, 01:45:45 pm »

Quote from: bandmiller2 on May 27, 2009, 05:56:09 am

Many times the smaller "limbing" saws are started by holding the handle and pulling over with the left hand especially in a bucket.Frank C.

I never thought about it, but when my little poulan 1800 and 2000 are already warmed up from trimming duties. I start them with the right hand on the throttle and pull start with the left hand, never realized that I was doing that till reading these posted and it sunk in.

GASoline71 · « **Reply #56 on:** May 27, 2009, 05:53:34 pm »

Yep... My little Power Mac 6 is the same way... hold handle with right hand, and pull with left. It's only got a 12" bar on it. Little feller...

Gary

nmurph · « **Reply #57 on:** May 28, 2009, 09:16:50 am »

when i drop-start with the right hand on the rear, i do not have my finger on the throttle, so the kick-back argument is pretty much moot. besides, gunning the throttle while starting will only flood a saw. when i drop-start the saw moves down and away from me putting the bar farther away from my body than if i had it bw my legs. again, i do not argue with someone who wants to do it a different way, but with my height and arm length, i do not see it as a significant safety risk.

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