Tips for Cutting Your Own Christmas Tree

One of the most magical parts of the season is choosing your own Christmas tree and cutting it down to bring home. It’s a great all-ages outing and a time-honored tradition for many families across the country that brings memories that will last even longer than that classic fresh pine scent.

If this is your first time cutting your own Christmas tree, you might be wondering what the easiest and fastest way to cut down a tree is. Well, we’re here to help with our top five tips for cutting your own Christmas tree.

1. Leave the ax at home. Contrary to the popular image of a dad chopping down a tree with an ax, axes don’t actually work very well for this purpose. Axes cause you to end up with a very uneven and messy tree base. While a handsaw is an option, chainsaws are the only way to go for big trees. Make sure you’ve brought your chainsaw and all of the accessories and fuel you might need.

2. Dress warmly. It’s December, so you probably realize it’s going to be cold, but don’t underestimate the importance of dressing as warmly as possible and ensuring your kids are bundled up as well. You don’t want to have to settle on an inferior tree just because you and the kids are too cold to continue on. Make sure you and the kids have warm coats, nice gloves and appropriate footwear for the adventure.

3. Find out if the farm offers supplies. Once you’ve cut down your tree, you’ll need to get it home, so find out ahead of time if the farm offers twine and tarps to help you attach it to the roof of your car. If they don’t, be sure to bring your own, and plenty of it.

4. Bring a bed sheet. Bed sheets can help collect the pine needles and ensure your tree doesn’t dry out as you transport it home. Even if the farm supplies tarps for wrapping your tree, we recommend bringing a bed sheet anyway to keep your tree protected.

5. Go for the taller tree. It’s always possible to make your tree a little shorter if it ends up being too big for your room, but it’s pretty difficult to make a tree any taller. You don’t want to get the tree home and realize it looks weak in the corner, so start with a bigger tree and adjust to what works for your home.

6. Look for a tree with a long tip at the top. Long tips are necessary for a lot of tree toppers, and you can always trim the tip if it ends up being too long. As with most Christmas trees, it’s always easier to start bigger and trim as needed.

7. Cut the tree as low to the ground as possible. Giving yourself as much wiggle room for trimming the trunk as possible is a great idea. Cut as low to the ground as your chainsaw skills allow and you’ll be less likely to worry about how the trunk fits into the tree base later.

Have you already cut your tree this season? Do you have any tips for readers who haven’t yet? Let us know in the comments below!

Replacing Your Engine vs Getting a Tune-Up

Should you consider replacing your chainsaw’s engine, or is it just time for a regular tune-up? That depends on a few different factors. The chainsaw carburetor is critical to all types of engines and chainsaws are no exception. When the carburetor is adjusted correctly, your chainsaw produces maximum power and the engine will have a longer life. Minimal smoke is produced and the motor idles smoothly.

Now, when a chainsaw’s engine is poorly tuned and the carburetor is poorly adjusted, it’s a different story. The fuel doesn’t burn well (due to the air/fuel mixture ratio), causing a poor power stroke and lots of smoke. Over the long term, the engine will be damaged. Outside of carburetor adjustments, there’s also the matter of old stale gasoline or having too much oil mixed with the engine fuel.

If you’re still having difficulty, consider replacing the chainsaw carburetor. HLS Supply offers several carburetors within a variety of price ranges. Consider our Original Tillotson Stihl carburetor, or perhaps take a look at our Husqvarana OEM Zama carburetor.

Alternatively, perhaps the issue lies in parts of your chainsaw engine, such as the fuel line or the cylinders. Generally a compression test will be enough to determine whether the engine’s cylinder / piston is in need of replacement. If you’re looking for a cylinder kit, consider the Husqvarna EM Cylinder Kit.

It’s best to make sure that your engine is properly tuned before use. In order to protect your investment, be as proactive as possible in making sure that the above mentioned factors have been reviewed for quality assurance.

Once you’ve tuned or replaced your chainsaw’s engine, your saw is sure to run more efficiently and cleanly. This allows your saw to last longer and require less maintenance and troubleshooting in the long run.

Oh, and here's a good piece on choosing lubricant for small engines, if ya need Lubricant.

Our Favorite Examples of Chainsaw Art

We enjoy crafting all kinds of different chainsaw art. There’s no better way to express your artistic skills than to take a chainsaw to wood! It’s unique, creative, and lets you display your talents in an unusual way. More and more artists are experimenting with chainsaw art as a new way to carve out something lasting and iconic.

The art form has become popular over the last thirty years, with all sorts of interested artists trying out chainsaw carving as a new means of expressing themselves. The skillset’s popularity stems from a combination of the ancient concept of woodcarving and the modern technology of electric chainsaws. Today, chainsaw art is exceptionally popular all over the world.

Some of our favorite examples of chainsaw carving are regularly posted on our Facebook Page because we genuinely enjoy discovering and sharing new artists and examples of their work. One of our recent favorites is this seasonally appropriate pumpkin carving done entirely by chainsaw – a high degree of difficulty considering how small pumpkins are:

Another example of recent chainsaw carvings include this wooden owl on a stump, painstakingly cut and refined over many hours of cutting. A carving like this requires intense concentration and focus over an extended period of time. It’s not easy to do!  As a result, it’s probably one of the most impressive examples of chainsaw art that we’ve seen in a long, long time. Carvings like these portray the level of mastery that some chainsaw artists have, truly separating them from the pack.

One of our recent favorite instances of well-done chainsaw carvings is this sculpture of a group of bears. Take a look at how lifelike their fur coats and facial expressions look – it’s really quite incredible. The larger bear was carved with a curious expression, facing forward and half-raising a paw in the air.

These are three of our recent favorite examples of chainsaw carving. When it comes to chainsaws, no one has as many parts from leading brands as HL Supply does. Take a look at our collection of chainsaw parts and accessories here, so you can put together a chainsaw that’s right for you and your needs.

We carry aftermarket chainsaw parts for all kinds of chainsaws, including newer and older models. Take a look through our collection, and find the chainsaw that fits your budget and size requirements.

Of course you'll need to sharpen that chainsaw, but before you read that, read this.

Three Ways to Save Money by Winterizing Your Home

Autumn is a great season for tackling outdoor projects and preparing your home for the coming months. The cool weather will make working outside a pleasant change from scorching summer days, yet you’ll still have time to perform your last-minute winterizing tasks before more severe weather hits. If you’re looking to perform some smart, cost-savvy home makeovers to cut down on energy or prevent expensive problems, consider the following projects:

1. Assess Your Roof for Damage

The only thing worse than a damaged or leaky roof is discovering it the hard way. So before the storms hit, hop up on your roof and perform an exterior check. Red flags include torn or missing shingles, signs of rot or mold, loose material, or poorly-attached gutters. If you need to replace any shingles and you don’t have extra shingles from the last you worked on your roof, pick up a sheet at the construction store and use a cut-off saw to trim the sheet to size. Cut-off saws are perfect for working with abrasive building material like roof tiles, and we happen to sell all the cut-off saw supplies you’ll need.

2. Remove Damaged or Dangerous Trees

If you’re lucky enough to live in a wooded area – or even a back yard that boasts a tree or two – then perform a yearly check to make sure trees within falling distance of your house or a fence don’t show signs of becoming a costly problem. There’s a vast difference between the natural process of losing leaves for the winter and disease or damage, and the signs of a problem will be fairly obvious: soft spots on the trunk, oddly discolored leaves, multiple broken limbs, or large cracks on the tree bark. You can also perform the “twig test” and check to see whether a twig is green inside (a signal of good health) or brown (a sign that it’s dead) upon breaking it in half.

If a tree seems diseased but not dead, it’s okay to not give up on it just yet, as many species are quite resiliant. However, if the tree suffers from rot anywhere near or on the roots, it’s extremely likely to succumb to the wind and topple; as a rule, any root damage is a sign that it’s time for the tree to go. In that case, remove the tree pre-emptively in a safe, controlled way with a powerful chainsaw like one of the Stihl varieties. Keep your Stihl at its best with our Stihl replacement parts.

3. Winterize Your Basement and Attic 

 Once the outdoor work is out of the way, tackle your basement and attic to save money on heating and repairs. Use an indoor sealant like liquid rubber to patch up any cracks or holes you can find to prevent drafts and leaks in the walls and floor. Do the same for any windows with a window insulation kit or even just use a low-cost window insulation foam. If your attic is the type that uses pull-down stairs from a hole in the ceiling, then use some plywood and a chainsaw to make a DIY stair cover and prevent heat from escaping upstairs. Even the simplest insulation can save you hundreds of dollars on energy.

You’re done! So, get out your leaf blower and get ready to enjoy one of the best seasons of the year.

October is Here!!

October is my favorite month. Here in Florida we finally get a break from the stifling heat and the daily thunderstorms which dump rain by the cup full instead of drops. These are usually accompanied by lightning and thunder and normally happen right when it's time to get off from work. But October is absolutely gorgeous weather here. It's in the 70s or low 80s for a high and low 70s is the low. It's also our favorite time of year because it's football season. College football is a religion in the south, and few places take it more seriously than in Florida. Tailgating at a Florida Gators, FSU Seminoles, or UCF Knights game here is about the best way to spend an October day. But if Football is not your thing there is Biketoberfest in Daytona, a week long party filled with motorcycles, loud music, alcohol and bikinis.

Another reason to love October is the rest of the country is going into Autumn. Autumn brings us not only the leaves changing colors, which many Floridians will take a road trip to go see since we rarely see it here, but also it is the busy season in the chain saw business. While it is still plenty warm here, it is getting a bit chilly where most of you live, and that means it's time to cut firewood. Many of you will find that your chainsaw is not running like it did before. That is where we come in. You can find your aftermarket parts with our distributors and save a ton of money over going to the dealer to buy original parts. The Hyway cylinder and piston kits are very comparable to the originals for a fraction of the cost. So get out there and cut some wood and get ready for winter. And if you get done in time, come down to sunny Florida for Biketoberfest or maybe some football. Either that or just hang out on the beach and get your "Jimmy Buffet" on. It's the perfect weather for it.

Go Kart Racing: Where the Stars Got Their Start

Whenever you see a story on a famous race car driver, when they talk about how he or she got started, kit is almost always in a go-kart at the age of four or five years old. Most of the time, these go karts run a Honda engine such as a GX160. These engines are often found in equipment such as pressure washers, generators, and lawn mowers but they are also found at nearly every go-kart track as well.
These GX160 go karts are perfect for getting young kids into racing. They can run around on the farm or on the local dirt track. They are rather inexpensive to build and maintain. Many of the parts can be replaced with aftermarket parts such as the ones we carry here at HLSupply.

 Here are a few videos of GX160 go-karts in action:

It’s nice to think that at HL Supply we will perhaps play a role in getting tomorrow’s Jimmie Johnson or Kevin Harvick or Tony Kanaan his start by supplying quality aftermarket Honda parts for his fist go-kart. We are big racing fans here in Daytona Beach, the World Center of racing, playing our part.

Motor Repair Go-To Resources

As fall comes rolling through and quickly changes to winter, many of us will find ourselves scrambling to get our projects done in the home and in the yard before it becomes too cold. When that is the case, there is no worse feeling than turning on your chainsaw or power tool and discovering a broken motor. Instead of running to the repair shop, take a look through our collection of favorite resources to troubleshoot and correct the issue on your own.

Tips for successful motor troubleshooting:

Consider all of the symptoms individually and carefully. Do not just focus on one or jump to conclusions

Don’t waste time on quick fixes that will need to be addressed again in short amounts of time. Look for the actual cause of the problem, and solve it at its root.

Assemble all of the information you can about the problem. For example, did the motor peter out when it was running at top speed, or during regular use? Did the motor fail to start up? Arming yourself with information will help you find the right solution for your problem, instead of wasting time on irrelevant remedies.

Briggs and Stratton Engine Performance Solutions
Briggs and Stratton, the world’s largest manufacturer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, has an expertly arranged guide with potential solutions to common motor ailments, easily making it one of our go-to resources. Easily navigate the guide to find the exact problem with your machine. For example, if your engine is smoking, Briggs and Stratton will ask a series of questions, including “is the engine emitting white or black smoke?” and “is the air filter blocked?” From there, if that problem is applicable to you, they offer links for corrective solutions, such as how to adjust the carburetor or how to clean or replace the air cleaner. Briggs and Stratton’s guide for engine problem solving tips is another handy guide to bookmark.

RepairClinic
If you are looking for assistance that is specific to your chainsaw or other power tool, Repair Clinic is a great online tool. They offer easy-to-understand solutions to such commonly heard questions as “chainsaw chain does not turn” or “chainsaw does not cut properly.” Additionally, they allow the user to look up the specific model number of their machine, and even offers videos on how to repair the problems.

YouTube
When in doubt, check YouTube. Whether you are simply looking to repair an engine, or you want help with a complete engine rebuild, there are tons of videos to guide us visual-learners. One of our favorite users is DonyBoy73, the self-appointed “Small Engine Doctor.” He has a vast video series on how to use, clean and repair all kinds of outdoor tools that you are curious about.

We are pleased to offer you tips like these here on the HL Supply blog. Be sure to visit some of our older posts for more ideas on repair resources, such as this one from last summer specifically on repairing your chainsaw.