Chainsaw wont cut streight

[robnrob2]

O.K. I am always over on the sawmilling section of the forum.my 1st here cause I cant figure this out.
I have to Echos, the small one is a CS_370 and the big one is a CS-1001VL, they both run real good, always have. But I was cutting some logs the other day, and especially my lil 370 that chain wants to cut to the right as I am cutting the log,, log is already down,, so when cutting down, you might say it wants to turn counter clockwise as I go thru the log,, and I notice the beast, thats the 100cc saw it was sorta wanting to do the same thing, on the bigger stuff..
I have sharpend the chains before, infact several times,, I have what I think is an o.k chain grinder,, its a northern toolmachine, which came with 3 different grind rocks.
But anyway, I am setting the grind angle at 30 degrees,,

Any Ideas whats goin on here  ?

[sawguy21]

Are the left and right cutters properly and ground equal length? If so, the bar rails may be worn allowing the chain to rock in the groove.

[tonto]

I have ruined many good chains by trying to figure how to sharpen chains. I take all my chains to have them professionally sharpened for about 4 or 5 dollars a piece. It is a little pricey but they come back better than new. I keep many spares so I always have sharp chains. Nothing more frustrating than spending 15 minutes sharpening a chain and to have it cut worse than before. Tonto.

[KBforester]

I'm going through the same trouble with ripping chain... using a grinder... relying on the settings on the grinder to take the same amount of material on both the right and left teeth was a mistake. Yours might be better than mine though. I couldn't figure it out at first until it was really bad, and I could plainly see the difference. I think that's harder to do when sharpening by hand... but who wants to do that!

[John Mc]

IF you are getting a good sharpen on your chains (and that's a big "if" whether hand or grinder sharpening), the next thing I would look at is what shape your bar rails are in. If they are spread or worn, they can let the chain rock to one side.

The other thing you will see on a bar is uneven wear on the rails, so one is shorter than the other. There is a hand tool sold to square them up that works well -- Baileys carries them. It also is good for deburring bars. Or you can do it on a belt sander, if you have some sort of jig or table that will keep the bar square to the belt. If you don't want to do this yourself, a good chainsaw shop can do it for you. Once you've trued up the rails, you want to determine what caused the problem in the first place - usually it's got something to do with sharpening, possibly exacerbated by not getting enough good bar & chain oil out on to the bar.

[ladylake]

 When using a grinder make sure to get the wheel low enough so the side of the wheel hits the face of the tooth.   steve

[thecfarm]

I ruined a few chains learning too.  :D   I sharpen by hand. I found I do a better job on one side than the other.I just take another swipe off one side,when I sharpen and it cuts almost like a new one. I can even bring a chain back when I hit a rock. Yes,I've had ALOT of practice doing it.The few times it does cut at an angle,seems to want to go to the left. Just a swipe or two when the motor is on the right and I'm good to go again.

I did not catch BOTH saws. Has to be the way you are sharpening your chains. If they was mine another swipe or two on one side would fix it for me.

[WildDog]

Could be a bent bar, take your bar off and lay it on a flat surface to gauge it. I know you said both saws, so maybe a bit unusual.

[robnrob2]

Yea the big one not as bad as the other,, and on the little one i turned the bar over and the samething, so there could be possibly something on the machine, that I dont have dialed in just right.
With it being a off brand,, it is heavy and does seam to be pretty good considering,, does have all necessary adjustments.
Was a good GIFT.
Now I gotta make it work right.

[ladylake]

I'd guess your not getting the wheel low enough, if not low enough you can end up with a negative hook angle on one side and positive on the other as when switching from side to side there is a slight change in how far the wheel goes down which would cause crooked cutting. Try lowering your wheel untill the bottom just touches the links, you can't get it to low unless your grinding the links away. One other thing to look at is raker hieght, if to high on one side  they could cause the chain to tip but if that high the chain woundn't cut good.  Steve

[robnrob2]

Thanks Steve,
I'll be a bit more precise as I am when setting and sharpening my band blads

[maple flats]

Throw the Harbor Freight grinder in the recycle bin. do a few things. Use a rail closer, available from Baileys, then check the squareness of the rail edge, regrind if needed to true it up. If regrinding, you must use a grinder designed to do it or take it to your saw shop where they can grind it. Then either learn how to properly sharpen or buy a good chain grinder. Good grinders are priceless but not price less. You will pay from about $400 up to over $1000 for a good grinder. Lighter ones are not rigid enough to get both sides ground exactly the same. I use a Max, but others are good in the $400+ range.
The other alternative is to hand sharpen. I hand sharpened for years and got a decent cut in the beginning. After lots of experience I got excellent results. I only got the sharpener because arther (itis) came to stay. If hand sharpening there are some newer tools out there to give you professional results with very little investment. One is a roller guide, it sets on the chain and controls the amount of grind. It has a left and right position so both are 100% right. Another is a combo file jig, which has both the tooth file and the raker file in one tool. These take practice and your down tension must be the same on every tooth or you flex the guide and get too much variation. My choice if you hand file is the roller guide and if grinder, spend $400 or more to get a good one. If you do get a good grinder it still takes practice, not to get a good sharpening but to get a long life from a chain. Remove as little as possible. When lowering the grinder do it fast and lift, this keeps the hardness in the tooth from being ruined by heat.
On my grinder I do 20" loops in about 5-6 min average. I do it by setting up and doing all chains on one side and then doing them all on the other side. The angle never changes but each time a different chain is put on the depth of grind is adjusted because they have each been sharpened a different # of times. I have about 15 loops of 20" for each of 2 saws, then I have 3 loops of 34" for my bigger saw. I sharpen when I have the time rather than when 1 or 2 need it.

[quietrangr]

You might just have a worn chain, bar, or both. A worn chain will rock sideways excessively in the groove, and you'll get crooked cutting, or binding. The softer the wood, the worse problem you'll have with crooked cutting. Test a new chain in the groove to see how much it rocks sideways, then try your old chain. If a new chain of the proper driver width rocks in your bar, you need a new bar. Another possibility is to buy the next size wider driver (from a 50 to a 58 gauge driver).