Chainsaw Problems

How were you ripping the log? With it standing on end? If so, then try tipping it down straight in front of you and ripping at about a 45 degree angle. It's still ripping but you're not hitting endgrain straight-on. Having your chainsaw at the angle is also not putting your chain at a direct parallel with the grain either. Having it at a direct parallel with the grain will easily clog up most factory chainsaws too. It's a compromise.

How long of a bar did you have that it took you over an hour to sharpen it?

An actual ripping chain isn't necessary but for the most demanding of ripping tasks (such as a mill). Ripping chains are terrible for normal chainsawing tasks and are pretty dangerous at them too.

- Andrew

Hey Barry,

Logs are best cut at a 50 - 60 degree angle. Maybe this was the problem? Hope to see you Tuesday night.

Jim

A chainsaw should not take an hour to sharpen, ever. And if it looks like it will take that long with a file, don't. Spend the whopping $5 (that's the local price) to get it ground at a chainsaw shop, or ~$16 to replace it with a new one. When the shop grinds it, they have a jig which makes all the teeth the same length, etc, and it definitely comes out of there cutting better than it does after 5 or 10 filings. I suppose that someday it might be worthwhile to replicate their setup (jig, special narrow wheel grinder), but for now it's easiest to keep a couple of chains, and drop one off for grinding when needed.

You don't need ripping chain. It's dangerous stuff in a handheld saw, and should be used only on mills, IMHO. YHO may vary.

A freshly ground crosscut chain rips just fine. The face comes out nearly perfectly flat. It feeds itself. One that needs grinding wanders all over the place and it an annoynace to try and control. It needs to be pushed, and this is a clear sign that the chain needs to be swapped out for a sharp one.

You can get away with crosscutting with a somewhat dull chain, but ripping is much less forgiving.

The HF chainsaw sharpener works like a charm. Unfortunately the new ones are all plastic. Still I saw one on sale the other day for $99. Have used to sharpen my chains for the past three years and love it. I do a lot of milling so go through some chains.

A sharp chain is the only way to go. The nice thing about having a proper sharpener is that I don't wait until I am burning through the wood to sharpen. I take it off as soon as I don't like the way it is cutting and when I have four or five I sharpen them all at once.

Brian

I watched people cutting firewood for commercial purposes. Truck load of 8 foot long logs are brought in. They are then cut it in stove length with a chain saw and hydraulically splitted. The workers are paid by the cord (4'X4'X8'lg). They work all day. Cutting speed is of the essence. They stop to sharpen their saw as need it and never allow it to become dull. They only use a round file and eye balled the angle. I got to talk to them and asked as to why they do not use a jig and fixture. They look at me and smiled. :-)

They also remember to file their depth gages, which, we can hope, Barry knows about. Most piece-cutters hereabouts actually take them down to the link, which makes it more remarkable I haven't had more than two traumatic amputations in 25 years.

Anyway, pictures being worth a few more pieces of bandwidth, and having already posted a Sweetmunch-length post today, check

He may not have a Kubota, but he does logssame as I. Skip chains self-clean real well. Ripping chains are for chainsaw mills cutting end, not skew to grain.

I thought an hour was pretty fast! It included tying to use a worn out file, then a trip to "Homestead" for a grinding point for my Dremel tool! It was just a standard 16: bar. I was going at the log at an angle from the side, not ripping from the end.

Barry

Now, I know about depth guages. Wish I had know about them yesterday. I told you guys I was a newby. Thanks. Barry

Ahhh, ok. So it wasn't an hour of grinding then. If I'm taking more than 10 minutes to sharpen one of the 24" trimming saws, I'm doing something wrong or I got into some rocks, wire or fierce bugs. Grind just till it's sharp. It doesn't take much more than a couple of strokes if you've got a good file.

How do you like the Dremel sharpening? I like it myself. My Dad can't stand it. He says that it takes off too much metal. I tell him you just use it until the teeth are sharp and not just to play with it! I especially like the diamond coated wheels you can get for it to grind the depth setters down on the safety chains. The main problem with the cordless Dremels is that it will only do for about a couple of hours of sawing in the field and there just only so many extra batteries you can carry.

- Andrew

No, no, just a few minutes. But remember, everything takes a lot longer when you don't know what you are doing. Actually, I tried my old file and when it wouldn't cut, I went to the hardware for a new one. When the new one wasn't much better, (man, those cutters were hard!)I went back to the hardware store for a grinding point for my Dremel.

I have sharpened chainsaws before, but never encountered a chain made from steel this hard. Or, maybe I just never encountered a chain so badly in need of sharpening! This saw may be in need of a new chain, but the saw is a borrowed one. Actually, the Dremel works pretty well. Mine's a corded model, so I don't have to worry about batteries. Thanks for the help.

Barry

"AHilton" wrote: (clip) The main problem with the cordless Dremels is that it will only do for about a couple of hours of sawing in the field and there just only so many extra batteries you can carry. ^^^^^^^^^^^ I have a chainsaw sharpener that is sort of like a Dremel, but it is Oregon brand. It is designed to run off a car battery, which eliminates the recharging or spare battery problem. I can't imagine being very far from a motor vehicle when using a chainsaw. The sharpener works great, and my local chairsaw shop guy tells me it is actually better than his bench grinder. I think that's because it removes less of the tooth per sharpening.

The fellow in Idaho that makes a couple of my saws has one of those. I've not tried it but he says that he really likes it out in the field. Unfortunately, I'm often in places where I am away from a vehicle and have to use the mules or winches. I assume the device plugs into a cig lighter plug? I guess I could always just haul a battery to a central location and use it from there though.

- Andrew

You might have to file down the rakers. The safety style chains run them fairly close to the height of the tooth to limit the size of the chip. After a few sharpenings the raker will be too high. I keep mine down about .03" from the top of the tooth. That might be a little deep for a low horsepower saw, but works great on my .029 Stihl.

I believe that was the problem. Anyone know why they still call them rakers when they are filed the wrong way to "rake" anything? Depth limiters would be more descriptive of their function. Sort of like those feed limiters you see on circular sawblades nowadays.

I think it was definitely a chain/sharpening problem. Maybe it is the depth guage that is not allowing the saw to cut properly. I thought I did a decent job of sharpening the chain, but I guess if I didn't adjust the height of the depth guages, I didn't do a very good job at all. I can do a fair job of sharpening most things, but maybe not a chainsaw.

It appeared to be a fairly new saw. So, I'm thinking...........new saw.........blade needs only a touch-up..........wrong! Owner musta been ripping cinder blocks with that saw! I thik it just needs a new chain and toss the old one. Thanks.

Barry

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According to the books I have the proper name for the part of the link in front of the cutting edge that limits how deep the cut will be is "depth guage".

The term rake angle when used with saw blades refers to:

"The angle that is generated between a perpendicular line passing through the tip of a tooth and a line that runs along the cutting face of that tooth. "

Since they didn't specify perpindicular to what I assmume it is actually a line orginating at the centre of a circular blade and passing through the tooth tip. In the case of a straight saw blade, such as used in a chain saw, it would be a line perpindicular to the back of the cutter link.

From that I would guess that you could call the entire link a "raker" since it cuts the wood and rakes the shaving ( thats what gullets are for) out of the way.

The Oregon book is quite good.

Frank