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Looking for some opinions and information on some FD ventilation saws. My department has been using Tempest and Cutters Edge Ventilation saws with Bullet and Raptor chains for some time now. Recently however we have been having issues with the carbide fire service chains lasting only one incident. With the price of these chains we are now looking at other options such as using K saws, other brands of chain etc. Any help would be appreciated. For alittle background information we are a small department running about 5-6 working fires a year. We do alot of vertical ventilation and trench cuts with our first due area being comprised of almost entirely row homes. These roofs also tend to be layered with years of roofing materials added on top of one another. Thanks in advance.
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This is very unusual for Cutters Edge saws, especially with bullet chains. Back in the 80's and early 90's, we had bought our first saw- a Stihl 038 Magnum, and put a 12" bar on it, and were using a carbide-tooth chain. We kept knocking off teeth left and right, same as you- chains only lasting one job.
So I started doing a little research, talking to factory reps, etc. Seems that the problem at the time was a horsepower/velocity problem. The Stihl power head was not spinning the chain fast enough for optimum cutting efficiency, and as a result, whenever it hit nails or anything else hard enough or dense enough to knock teeth off, it would. The Stihl rep that I talked to was bluntly honest- there was no fix, and that (at that time) there was no Stihl power head to spin a carbide tooth chain fast enough for the fire service. So we just grinned and beared it and allowed a budget for chain replacement.
Fast Forward to nowadays- We have two cutters edge saws, that were specifically designed for the fire service and engineered fast enough to do it's job properly. Never have any major problems. Are you using the cutters edge chains or a (pardon the pun) knock-off? Are your saws running properly- when was the last time they were tuned up, perhaps that may be a contributing factor?
As for new saws and blades, I personally love the Partner K950A mated with the "WARTHOG" brand blade for roof work, especially big truck work like trench cuts and the like. The Cutters Edge saws are good units too, you just have to maintain them properly. Stihl chainsaws are good, but again not really designed for the fire service. And Stihl circular saws absolutely suck for firefighting- too heavy.
Hope this helps."Loyalty Above all Else. Except Honor." -
We have THREE Big vent saws. One is the new K12 with the Husky powerhead and a Warthog.......AWESOME! We have a CE Bullet and a Big Stihl with a Diamond wheel,550 powerhead as I recall. Plus a couple conventional saws for utility work. T.C.Comment
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a partner "k-12" is a great saw for cutting built up / tar roofs. i have only used the warthog at fdic, but even the standard wood carbide blade is good.
i suggest have a chainsaw and get a circular saw and many blades. diamond type, wood, and the steel cutting and concrete ones too.Originally Posted by madden01
"and everyone is encouraged to use Plain, Spelled Out English. I thought this was covered in NIMS training."Comment
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As mentioned, K-950 with a Wharthog blade. We have had our for about 2 years now, use the heck out of it, and it just kicks *****.
That said, if you do go the rotary saw route, make sure you get a Partner. All the other manufacturer's are now going the "Enviromentaly freindly route". Stihl's press 5 times, pull 10 times is not what I want to do when I need it now.A Fire Chief has ONLY 1 JOB and that's to take care of his fireman. EVERYTHING else falls under this.Comment
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Yes, take their advice. Partner is the way to go, same with Cutters Edge (this is coming from a Stihl user)...Originally posted by JTFIRE80 View PostComment
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We're running 2 Partners, one with a warthog type blade made locally and one with a diamond blade and the chainsaws.. a Stihl 460 r magnum with a standard carbide tooth chain and our old Univents with the same chain. This setup is working really well for us.Comment
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Thanks for the information, it seems like the K saw is the perference of the people who have replied so far and that will be brought up at our meeting as the one saw broke at our most recent fire and must be replaced. We were running Tempest Raptor Chains on all our saws including the CE so it might be time to switch to the Bullet Chains and try our luck with them since we still want to keep at least two of our four vent saws chainsaws. As far as the K saws i seen one person recommended the K-950 any other recommendations on what particular type of K saws that works good. The only Partner saws we have now are two K-650s for forcible entry. Would they work just the same they are nice cause of the light weight or would the saw need more HP like the K-950 and K 1200 provide. Thanks for the help again.Comment
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k12fd
i am not keen on the flashing red light thing, but the large handle is very nice to have when your gloves are on.
contact your local fire distributors and have them get you loaner blades and run them through the paces and make informed decisions.
use the blades on acquired structures, not just pallets and plywood in the back parking lot.Originally Posted by madden01
"and everyone is encouraged to use Plain, Spelled Out English. I thought this was covered in NIMS training."Comment
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True Story: we were in the market for new blades, back when the Warthog first came out. I contacted a sales rep, and asked if he had any loaner Warthogs we could try out. He said "Sure! No problem, I'll ship one out tomorrow."Originally posted by ffmedcbk1 View Post
A few days later we get a package from UPS. I open it up, lo and behold a brand spanking shiny new Warthog blade. I called the sales rep and said "Hey you sent us a new one, we want a loaner." He replied "Go ahead and use it. You wont send it back."
He was correct!"Loyalty Above all Else. Except Honor."Comment
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Vent Saws
We have (2) Stihl 046 Chainsaws with Raptor Chains and a K12 Rotary Saw (our 2nd Rotary Saw is being loaned to the Medic Engine) for venting.
Honestly, it doesn't really matter how awesome your equipment is unless you train, train, train..... Even the lower-end Saws can be very effective in well trained hands."Be LOUD, Be PROUD..... It just might save your can someday when goin' through an intersection!!!!!"
Life on the Truck (Quint) is good.....
Eat til you're sleepy..... Sleep til you're hungry..... And repeat.....Comment
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Yes, take their advice.
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If you Plan on running a WARTHOG,get the BIG engine(at LEAST the 950). That blade is the cat's azz but you need to GET it spinning and KEEP it spinning. And that takes POWER. T.C.Originally posted by happyvalleyff View PostComment
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Read my first post. If your power head does not have the horsepower to drive the chain at effective velocity, it's going to spit teeth. Period. No matter how good the operator is. Training cannot overcome the laws of physics. (and by the way I agree- train train train.)Originally posted by mikeyboy View Post"Loyalty Above all Else. Except Honor."Comment
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Thanks again for the information so far. Last questions that I can think of right now is what are your preferences, brand wise, for chain saw chains. We currently use Raptor chains which are giving us issues. Prior to that we had Bullet Chains which did work well and we might be going back to. Locally alot of people like standard chains and replace them after every fire we found however that these alot of times are shot before a larger cut is complete which does us no good when we need it the most.Comment
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