Is the chain cutting good???

[Woodhog]

Is the only indicator af a very good cutting chain the length of the shavings throw out by the saw...???

How long should they be if the chain is cutting real good, will the length vary in different species of wood for the same sharpness of the chain???

[qatanlison]

Green wood will render longer chips, as well as different speices will. Take a new chain, it's usually pretty sharp and try to remember how it feels in the wood and check the chips.
The first touch up of the chain ought to make it sharper, smoother and through longer chips than the original factory sharpening.

Good luck.

O

[tony_marks]

 the best indicator of an proper chain is how she cuts.. if its rite u will know it.. jmo

[slowzuki]

A brand new Stihl chain is sharper/cuts better than what I can do by hand.  I can almost get as good with Dad's Granberg File o ma Jig or whatever that thing is.

I cut a spread of different wood in a matter of minutes so chip size isn't a good measure.

I find when the chain is well and evenly sharpened, it is smoother when cutting, less vibrating/grabbing.  Your fuel economy goes way up.  Your fatigue goes down.

Ken

[Preston]

Well hhhmmmmm....... Wood chips lol I've heard lots of guys say OOHH WOW my chain throughing big long curls it must be dam sharp! But the truth is its not! wood chips will give you a little idea but its all on feel and how your saw feeds itself into the wood! If you can hold on the pistol grip and just give it with out pushing on it or any pressure and the saw feeds itself nicely and no bogging down then you got a good sharp chain and it cutts straight! But from learning from the old professional timber fallers and haveing a open mind I learned allot about chain sharpening! A dull chain can cost you money out there on the job when your in big wood bushelling!!

[qatanlison]

But then again, a dull chain will never leave you with long, nice chips...

O

[Preston]

Very true!! ;)

[qatanlison]

lowzuki,

You ought to put a few hours on filing - and experience the revelation of a truly sharp chain! I take it you use a fairly new file and a file of the right size? If you really put an effort to it and make the angles right + the raker-height - you'll start filing a new-bought chain before putting it on the saw, 'cos the factory grind leaves a lot to ask for...

Q

[slowzuki]

Quant:

Definately would like to learn well.  I use the correct file in good shape and I have the guide plate and depth gauge filing guides.  Just never seems as good as a new Stihl chain.

I used my dad's Granberg file-o-jig thing and it did almost as good as factory but takes forever!

I'm thinking a cheapo electric sharpener with a good wheel should speed the process up.

Part of the problem is what I was working at, clearing brush in the snow, involved hitting a lot of rocks.  One side of the chain was always getting damaged and I'd have to sharpen for 20 mins to get it all down even.

[Minnesota_boy]

Slowzuki,
If you are planning to cut only brush for a while, don't bother filing all the teeth even, just touch up the damaged ones the best you can and go back to cutting brush.  Then throw the chain away and get a new one for cutting trees.  

[rebocardo]

BY my limited experience, I think the wood has a lot to do with it. I can take the same chain, cut water oak and have little 3/8 chips, cut some sweet gum and have curls. I have cut very little pine (maybe five trees), I can not remember ever getting curls.

If I start to get dust or it slows down or seems to stand there then the chain is dull and I put a new one on. Sometimes you can tell just because the bar gets hotter then normal near the tip, especially a dull chain cutting big oak (28 inches plus).

My rule of thumb is unless you are making your falling cuts, if you have to force it, it is dull. If the saw does not cut by its own weight, the chain is dull.

[jokers]

You won`t get curls, or "curly fries" unless you are cutting with the grain. How much cutting with the grain does the average guy do?

Russ

[Rocky_J]

This thread is hilarious!! :D
 8)

[jokers]

Rocky if you think this thread is hilarious, head over and see what the "Tools" are saying about sharpening. Some real insight there.

Russ

[Rocky_J]

The funny part is all the serious answers to this question. The only person who doesn't know how a sharp chain cuts is the person who has never cut with a sharp chain.

Yes, I'm Politically Incorrect in my observation. But everybody knows the answer and no one is willing to say it. So I said it. Now we can let this thread fade off into oblivion.

[qatanlison]

Rocky,

Well, with answers like yours - threads are doomed to fade off into oblivion. The guy asked a, for him, serious question. Who are you to not show him the respect he deserves? Did you just wake up one day knowing all there is to know about chainsaws and chain-sharpening?

O

[David_c]

qatanlison if you have ever noticed by the way he treats people that he must have come out the womb knowing it all. becuase he sure could'nt have learned it like everyone else or he would'nt be so arrogant.

[Rocky_J]

And how many here have needed someone to explain to them the difference between how a sharp chain cuts and how a dull chain cuts (or doesn't cut)? Can anyone here claim that they could not tell the difference and needed it explained to them? And just how did YOU learn the differences in cutting characteristics between a dull chain and a sharp chain David? So I'm out of line for stating the obvious?  :

[Tom]

There was a time when I didn't know and was lucky enough to have a friend instruct me.  Didn't take but a minute for me to learn it.  There is a difference in a dull chain and one that is "sharp as a spoon".   Most everyone can figure out the "spoon" end of it.  It's knowing some of the other little indications that allows you to determine that your chain is dulling.  

Ridicule doesn't make a student want to learn.  ......or return.

[David_c]

rocky i learned by cutting with good chain and bad. and just becuase a question may be obvious to some does'nt nessicarily make it obvious to others. theres ways of saying things rocky without being so blatently arrogant. if a thread is beneath you stay out! the man is trying to learn something not be ridicualed. i'm quit sure you have asked your fair share of questions others thought were dumb. i know i have. so just keep your snide remarks to yourself. contribute or dont say anything.

[Dom]

I think David_c signature says it all.

I know my chain is dull rignt now. I was out cutting alders and thorns bushes and I accidently hit a old fence that was hidden in the dead hay.  :  

[beenthere]

Lets go back to the original question, and not do to RJ what we think he did to the original poster, who has the need to learn.

I spent this week working with my son, and trying to teach him what to look for in a sharp chain (bucking wh. oak firewood with his new Stihl MS361), and how to hand sharpen it to keep it sharp. He went through 4 tanks of gas, and sharpened once. I was hoping that he would get to see a few signs of cutters showing the telltale signs (shiny edges, like a knife that reflects light when looking straight on) of getting dull). But in four tanks with a new chain, he managed to keep it very sharp. Either learning well or lucky.

When he lets that tip touch the dirt sometime, or catch that un-seen barbed wire, or hidden nail or rock, then he will experience the sudden change in cutting ease. Its like night and day when the chain gets dull that way.  Touching the chain up after each tank is usually what I do.

Now, if he had started learning to saw with a dull chain, and only experienced the slow cutting and extra work to force the chain to cut, then who knows what he might conclude.

[jokers]

I`m not interested in getting into the developing fray, just want to point out that my remark about curlies is not in contradiction with Ola`s statement about "nice long chips". I see nice long chips all the time, see a distinction between them and curlies, and don`t believe that Ola was referring to curlies either.

Russ

[9shooter]

One time a while ago I worked with a friend making firewood from 9 acres of oak tops. I didn't have a saw at the time so I used his old 034 (I think)  Stihl, he used the new one. He had one of those electric chain grinders that ran off the car battery. His chains were so dull, I didn't get much wood cut the first day, so I picked up a box of files that night. The next day he came over and wanted to switch saws because "that new saw ain't cutting right". I gladly switched and went and got a file and spent a while trying to make a chain out of the mess he had on the new saw. Also filed the rakers down a might. Boy, that new saw ran just fine. One common mistake I see made using a saw file is that people will file in the wrong direction. You want to file into the cutting edge of the tooth so that the burr is on the inside of the tooth not the outside. As soon as that burr breaks off the wrong way filed tooth the tooth edge is already getting dull. Many folks don't know what the rakers are for and I think the manufacturers leave the rakers a little high to reduce kickback liability. First thing I do to a new chain is file the rakers down a stroke or 2.

[Kevin]

You want to file into the cutting edge of the tooth so that the burr is on the inside of the tooth not the outside.

That's the first I've heard of that being done with a file.
Is there a manufacture reference to that somewhere?
  

Always Use Correct Filing Procedures!

When filing saw chain, make sure that the correct filing procedures are used:

    File saw chain frequently during use.

    Avoid removing too much material while filing.

    Always file from the inside of the cutter to the outside of the cutter.

http://www.cdcstihl.net/stihlpost/spring2001/chain.html

Sharpen cutters on one side of the chain first. File from the inside of each cutter to the outside. Then turn your saw around and repeat the process for cutters on the other side of the chain.

http://www.oregonchain.com/faq.htm#sharpening