On 24 Nov 2003 10:50:00 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

Again, if you know what you are doing, it only takes a few minutes to
brighten up a chain. Now, mind you, I'm not talking about a chain that
hasn't been sharpened in a long time, that takes time to regrind into
decent shape. I was taught early in life that if you file your chain
often, it doesn't take but a few minutes, and makes cutting SO much
easier. If you let it get dull, then it takes a long time to file
sharp.

I have to agree with the above. For years I'd use a chain until it
was dull, then just buy another one for $20. I'm now in the habbit,
when I use my chainsaw, of sharpening the chain, cleaning the whole
rig, and putting it back in it's plastic carrying case. It's sure is
nice, when I need it, to find it clean, sharp and ready to go. Damn,
I'm turning into my grandfather.

bb

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 15:02:46 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

Spent the last few hours at the marina, unloading all the loose stuff
off of Yo Ho, and having her plopped onto her trailer for the long trip
(:} to the dealer's for winterizing, washdown and shrinkwrapping.


Nice to say the season is not over hear on Tampa Bay. I went out for
a few hours Saturday afternoon. No luck fishing, but it was sure nice
to be out. The whistler bouy at the ship channel was loaded with
baracuda. A couple more days of calm weather and the bait should move
back inshore.

I'm planning on taking my step dad on an across the bay trip in the
morning just at sunrise. He'll get a big kick out of that. The guy's
pushing 70 and he's still like a teenager.

bb

Nice to say the season is not over hear on Tampa Bay. I went out for
a few hours Saturday afternoon. No luck fishing, but it was sure nice
to be out. The whistler bouy at the ship channel was loaded with
baracuda. A couple more days of calm weather and the bait should move
back inshore.

I'm planning on taking my step dad on an across the bay trip in the
morning just at sunrise. He'll get a big kick out of that. The guy's
pushing 70 and he's still like a teenager.

As far as I'm concerned the season's never over on Tampa Bay. Once it starts
to cool down it can get a little windy, but take along a warm jacket and
you'll be fine. It's strange to me how so many people put their boats up for
fall and winter when we have more good boating days in those months than
some northern boaters have all year.

I went camping with friends on the island off of Apollo Beach this weekend,
beautiful weather the whole weekend and there were only 3 other small groups
of campers. If you go there in the sweltering heat of the summer it's packed
solid all weekend.
I'll never understand the mentality of some of the boaters around here.

"Joe" wrote in message
...
" I went camping with friends on the island off of Apollo Beach this
weekend,"

Do you mean "Beer Can Island"? I think the official name is "Pine Key", but
Beer Can Island seems to be pretty prevelent. I caught a small hammerhead
shark there a few years ago, and the locals told me that hammerheads breed
in the area. Probably just a story to drive off the Yankee invader Pretty
good fishing right off the power plant at Big Bend, if you can keep the
catfish off your bait.

" I went camping with friends on the island off of Apollo Beach this
weekend,"

Do you mean "Beer Can Island"? I think the official name is "Pine Key",
but
Beer Can Island seems to be pretty prevelent. I caught a small hammerhead
shark there a few years ago, and the locals told me that hammerheads breed
in the area. Probably just a story to drive off the Yankee invader Pretty
good fishing right off the power plant at Big Bend, if you can keep the
catfish off your bait.

Yep, that's the one.
Don't know why it's called "Beer Can", it's been pretty clean the few times
I've been there.
All in all it's a pretty nice place to camp this time of year. I won't go
near it in the summer.

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 15:02:46 +0000, Harry Krause wrote:

Spent the last few hours at the marina, unloading all the loose stuff off of Yo
Ho, and having her plopped onto her trailer for the long trip (:} to the
dealer's for winterizing, washdown and shrinkwrapping.

I was going to head out on the Bay today, and take advantage of the nice
weather, but good sense prevailed. Well, maybe not. Still, I have a couple of
friends with boats still in the water here, so there is hope for another outing
before the snow starts falling.

And Miami in February, hopefully.

I "winterized" Far Cove last Sunday.

That is, I turned on the electric heater and put a tarp over it. Made sure the
tarp could come off in a few minutes in case I want to go out...

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36

What about motor size. I was looking at a Sears Craftsman 12amp version.
It looked half decent at $ 140.00 Cdn loonies

Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 15:02:46 +0000, Harry Krause wrote:

Spent the last few hours at the marina, unloading all the loose stuff off of Yo
Ho, and having her plopped onto her trailer for the long trip (:} to the
dealer's for winterizing, washdown and shrinkwrapping.

I was going to head out on the Bay today, and take advantage of the nice
weather, but good sense prevailed. Well, maybe not. Still, I have a couple of
friends with boats still in the water here, so there is hope for another outing
before the snow starts falling.

And Miami in February, hopefully.

I "winterized" Far Cove last Sunday.

That is, I turned on the electric heater and put a tarp over it. Made sure the
tarp could come off in a few minutes in case I want to go out...

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36


Yeah, well, even when I was growing up in New England, I was never a fan
of cold-weather boating. My winter sports were swimming and ice hockey.
The swimming was in an indoor pool.

--
Email sent to is never read.

On 24 Nov 2003 10:50:00 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

(Steven Shelikoff) wrote in message ...
On 24 Nov 2003 04:52:55 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

(Steven Shelikoff) wrote in message ...
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 15:42:52 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

Don White wrote:
I just spent part of the afternoon trying to get a large snag branch down
from a big old ash tree on my front lawn.
This was damage left over from hurricane Juan.
What a struggle. It was hooked up well.
Since I don't own a chainsaw anymore, I had to use my tree limber with it's
foot long curved blade on the end of the pole.
After cutting through a number of medium sized branches, the snag came
crashing down, narrowly missing the wife and
mini-van. D'oh!


I've not owned a chain saw for many years, but I'm considering the
possibility. We lost some trees during the last big storm here;
fortunately they fell where they do no harm. Plus I have some scraggly
stuff at the edge of the woods I'd like to cut down.

If it's for occasional use near your house and you are only going to cut
stuff less than around 8"-10" diameter, consider getting an electric
chain saw. They're cheaper, much more convenient and very capable.

But I absolutely hate sharpening chain saw chains.

Again, if it's for occasional use, you can go years without sharpening
the blades.

Funny, that goes against what most chain saw manufacturers suggest,
and that is to sharpen the chain before each use. Once you learn how,
it only takes a few minutes to do.

Of course manufacturers are going to suggest that, mostly for liability
reasons. That way, if someone gets hurt with a chain saw (as they very
frequently do because it's probably the most dangerous tool most people
ever use) the manufacturer can claim in court that they weren't
following the instructions because they didn't sharpen the blades before
every use (which almost no one I know does).

Most people only sharpen the blades when they need sharpening. And just
getting down one snag branch by cutting a few medium sized branches that
could also be done with a tree limber shouldn't dull the blades enough
to require sharpening next time.

Again, if you know what you are doing, it only takes a few minutes to
brighten up a chain. Now, mind you, I'm not talking about a chain that
hasn't been sharpened in a long time, that takes time to regrind into
decent shape. I was taught early in life that if you file your chain
often, it doesn't take but a few minutes, and makes cutting SO much
easier. If you let it get dull, then it takes a long time to file
sharp.

I don't let it get dull, but I also don't sharpen it every time I use
it. There are many times where I only have to make maybe 2 or 3 cuts
into a 2" or less branch. After that, I'm not going to sharpen it.
Doing so would be just unnecessary wear. I may do a job like that quite
a few times before I bother to sharpen it. But before I use it for a
larger job, like pruning a tree and cutting up the branches for
firewood, I'll take a sharpening stone to the blades. I don't use a
file.

I've had the same electric chain saw for maybe 20 years with the same
chain and have done plenty of small jobs with it. About 10 years ago I
used it to cut the branches of several large felled trees into about 2
cords of wood, a pretty big job for an electric. In the past 2 years
I've cut up and burned another couple of cords of firewood for heat,
also with the electric. The blades are still in fine shape and it still
does a good job. But I'm about to replace the chain because the
adjustment is almost to the stops.

Steve

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 02:17:34 GMT, "Don White"
wrote:

What about motor size. I was looking at a Sears Craftsman 12amp version.
It looked half decent at $ 140.00 Cdn loonies

I didn't even know what mine was until I just went into the garage and
looked. It's a Remington Power Cutter, 14" bar, 9amp motor. It has
served me very well for a very long time. It's not going to easily
slice through the trunks of large trees. But to trim limbs it does very
well.

Steve