Chainsaw tip

[lunghd]

Learned this one the hard way a while back & it's something that should be mentioned with fall "chainsaw season" coming up: There is no substitute for the recoil spring when it breaks so in addition to a spare plug, filters, plenty of chains & lube etc pick up a spare recoil spring to keep with your supplies. (Not all saws will use a recoil spring like mine so check your saw's parts diagram.)

The recoil spring on my Husqvarna chainsaw broke off it's little curly end-tab one day. Tore it apart to see why the rope wasn't being pulled back in and found the coil spring that rewinds the rope had broken off the end of it's coil.

Being a cheap sorta guy I figured "No problem. I'll just take a pair of pliers and rebend the broken end and make a new tab."

Huh-uh. Nope. Not gonna happen! The coil spring's metal is very brittle and simply snaps when you try to reform or bend it. No way to reuse it and no way to use the saw without it. Spent at least an hour trying to reform it but the metal appeared to be annealed into shape and simply broke as it was bent. Having a plastic housing on the recoil spring assembly meant that I couldn't try using a torch to heat & reform it without destroying the housing or getting into more "fun" than the part was worth to simply replace.

Good news: About $10 for a new one.
Bad news: Lost a weekend of wood cutting and then found it wasn't a stock item... make that a lost week plus two trips into town.

We can't keep "one of everything" for all of our equipment but this item is worth keeping a spare handy if you have this style of saw.

[Dame]

Thanks for the tip. We are a long ways from town.

[grumble]

Can't speak to the Husky saw, but I've repaired many lawn mower recoil springs. As Lunghd indicates, the trick is to use a propane torch to heat the broken end of the spring to anneal it so it's soft enough to file and bend.

He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, so I guess the plastic end piece really isn't removable or can't be easily fabricated. All that said, any spare parts you have for any machinery is very much worth having.

[JohnNH]

Thanks for the tip.

[J R Adams]

Can't speak to the Husky saw, but I've repaired many lawn mower recoil springs. As Lunghd indicates, the trick is to use a propane torch to heat the broken end of the spring to anneal it so it's soft enough to file and bend.

He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, so I guess the plastic end piece really isn't removable or can't be easily fabricated. All that said, any spare parts you have for any machinery is very much worth having.

Good info on tempring hardened steel. You can also retemper (harden) by dipping in motor oil and burning off. Takes practice,

Have also seen revolver hammer springs made from corset staves. Don't know what a corset is? Ask you grandma or the ladies.

[grumble]

Not to be picky, but adding temper hardens a metal. To soften it, you anneal it.

Cooling hot brass or copper quickly anneals it, doing the same to steel tempers it.

Edit: Har! Let me see you use whale bone for a hammer spring! But, tempered hacksaw blades can make decent leaf springs, too.

[cubcadet]

Sometimes, picking up used saws cheap is good for stockpiling parts. Locating small repair shops that have old junkpiles is useful too. It`s hard, the economy being as it is, but possible. Even if you gotta go online and find folks out of state.

[Musky]

Along the line of tips, one of the best and easiest I was ever told by an old woodsman was "When you fill your saw up with oil or gas let it overflow just a wee bit and it will float all the crap out of the tank". It seems to work for me anyway.