New Toy! Well, new to me...

[Scott Fernald]

A friend gave me a pair of old Homelite VI Super 2 chainsaws with cases. One is partially disassembled (I'll probably use it as a parts saw) and the other has been sitting for a couple of years but ran fine before being parked. I'm going to pull it apart some and clean it up and hopefully let it tear up some bowl blanks....it's only a 16" bar but it's got to be better than the little electric I've been using!

If I decide to replace the chain (likely) is there any recommendations from the chainsaw crowd on the best style/brand of chain to use for cutting blanks?

And one for the picture police: 35350

This picture is how the saw looks before clean up - not too bad a condition for being over 25 years old.....

[John Hart]

Nice gift....Nuthin' quite like fixin' things like new....'course, you don't have that much to do. I'm chain challenged. Sorry.:o

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice haul. Looks like you are loaded for wood now.

[Jim Dunn]

Dick has some maple he'd gladly part with. Course he's about 500 miles away. Great looking tool. I'd never thought of a chainsaw as anything but work before I started hanging out here.

[Dennis Peacock]

Congrats on the saws there Scott. A little web searching turned up this for a bar and chain replacement:

105701 - 16" Oregon Bar & Chain Combo. 3/8" pitch, 050 gauge 16" Oregon Bar and Chain Combo for many Homelite saws. 3/8" pitch, .050 gauge.

I'd recommend replacing the bar and chain since you're reworking the one saw as this will provide you with asurity that you have a good bar for a new chain. Remember to turn your bar over from time to time to provide equal wear on the bar on both sides. Some even recommend this after every 3rd chain sharpening. I just do it when I feel it's time to flip the bar over. ;)

Happy sawing!!!!

[Robert Mickley]

Nice little saw!! best part was the price. I wouldn't worry about replacing the bar. From the looks of it it can't have that much wear on it, heck from the looks of the pics the paint is all there yet.

Just get a standard chisel tooth chain, what ever your local saw shop has on hand. Personally I stay away from safety chain.

Get yourself a file from the saw shop and if you talk nice you can probably get them to show you how to sharpen a chain. Leaning this is a must, if you take it to be sharpened all the time in no time flat your going to be buying another chain.

Husquvarna makes a nifty tool called the Sharp force. Two files in one, a round one for the tooth and a flat one for the raker. files both of them at the same time. And since it has guides it keeps all the ranker's the right height. If you touch it up every 3 or 4 tanks of fuel it it is pretty easy to keep it sharp.

The only other thing you need to watch is the wear on the drive sprocket. First time it wears out have it replaced with a rim and drum system drive. The factory one you have to replace the whole drum everytime it wears out, with rim and drum the drive rim slides off of the drum and you replace just it, cuts the cost to around 3 bucks for a drive rim as opposed to about twelve for a one piece unit