Sharpen a Chain For Cutting Vines?

[Ianab]

I've been cutting vines and brush all week. I'm running stock Stihl RS chain. No problems on a 24" bar. Of course, some of the vines are 6" in diameter. Almost need to put a face in some of them. :D

Check out these vines. The original host tree has died of old age, and the "vines" are now a tree in their own right, just with a hollow in the middle where the old trunk was. 

The new tree / vine is called Rata, and can live on for hundreds of years more. 

[Mad Professor]

I've been cutting vines and brush all week. I'm running stock Stihl RS chain. No problems on a 24" bar. Of course, some of the vines are 6" in diameter. Almost need to put a face in some of them. :D

Dave, hope it was grapes or bittersweet and not P. Ivy..........

[Mad Professor]

Do save old chains for this.

Keep chains tight and rakers filed shallow.

[Dave Shepard]

I've been cutting vines and brush all week. I'm running stock Stihl RS chain. No problems on a 24" bar. Of course, some of the vines are 6" in diameter. Almost need to put a face in some of them. :D

Dave, hope it was grapes or bittersweet and not P. Ivy..........

Bittersweet. I don't get poision ivy.

[Mad Professor]

I've been cutting vines and brush all week. I'm running stock Stihl RS chain. No problems on a 24" bar. Of course, some of the vines are 6" in diameter. Almost need to put a face in some of them. :D

Dave, hope it was grapes or bittersweet and not P. Ivy..........

Bittersweet. I don't get poision ivy.

Be careful with PI. 
I caretook an estate that had a hillside of PI.  We usually let the goats pasture it and they kept it down.  Owner was coming up and the goats hadn't been there a while.  Co-worker claimed he was immune to PI and weedwacked in shorts, nothing much a couple of pimple sized blisters.  A month later he did the same, but looked like he'd been boiled in oil shortly afterward.
P.S.  I got my first Ivy fun right down the road from you on west center rd.  A cousin and I were crawling on hands and knees trying to seek up on native brook trout.  Ruined 1/2 of summer vacation.

[Cutting Edge]

I have put some sort of rake on the saw I use for that kind of work - a bit like this, but on the left side of the bar, works best that way.
And put the chain on correctly.
And I haven't got a pic of it, the saw is in the shed, it is cold outside and it is time to get to bed. Hope you can follow this link, or I'll have to do something about it tomorrow.

https://www.lawnandpower.co.uk/uploaded/thumbnails/tck-garden-GL25-2-pruner_1772_1000xauto.jpg

sablatnic,
That's just the sort of thing that will make chewing through the bulk these Multiflora Rose and Autumn Olives quite a bit easier.  

A quick search didn't bring up anything similar in the US, but doesn't look hard to DIY either.  

I've been cutting vines and brush all week. I'm running stock Stihl RS chain. No problems on a 24" bar. Of course, some of the vines are 6" in diameter. Almost need to put a face in some of them. :D

We've got vines that big too, even CTL for firewood a few times.  They make excellent kindling and burn HOT.  ;D

[hatman-nz]

did a few. tracks  in forest block    cutting.  alot of smaller. stuff  
found running chain just bit. tighter  helped  alot  also newer chains   and bars   less slop in the on the drive links    
also found  3/8 Lp  was a bit more prone to throw than. .325    

[Al_Smith]

For reasons unknown I am also one who doesn't get affected by poison ivy. My wife RIP had such soft  skin just the contact of ivy with work clothing caused her to break out .I had to disrobe in the garage so she didn't get it .Just the smoke from ivy burning in a brush pile would get my mother .

[thecfarm]

Kinda odd the oil from that stuff can still infect people in the smoke.   That is some nasty stuff.

[Inaotherlife]

I threw a chain today. Was ripping through a bunch of half inch or so brush and let myself get a little careless with pulling the saw through at an angle and got a little too much snag and not quite enough throttle.
This was with a pretty small saw with 14" b&c.
I wouldn't handle a bigger saw in this manner, and even try to always keep a smaller saw at 90° to small flexible limbs. But sometimes they're crossing in bunches.

No harm. Took the time to sharpen the chain, flip the bar, clean out around the clutch, snug'r up, and then back at it.

[coppice]

Vines and springy small growth (think saplings of thumb-diameter or less) really does have a tendency to cause some chains to jump.  

I've found that a couple things really help keep this to a minimum.  First, small-cutter .325" chain (eg Oregon 20-series or 95-series) does a much better job of staying on the bar than 3/8" Stihl RSK in this sort of cutting.  Second, shorter bars are a help because at any given level of chain tightness there is less deflection.  Third, cutting in against the dogs (or case, if you run without them) tends to minimize the loading/unloading of the chain when the material being cut tries to move about, since you are bracing the material against the saw and keeping it from moving around as much.

Having run essentially identical saws side-by-side in this stuff - 346xp/16"/3/8" versus 346xpg/13"/.325" - I can assure you that the latter combination is essentially chain-jump free (1 throw in 20 hours of cutting), whereas the saw with the 3/8" throws its chain with some regularity (1 throw in 2 hours) in the same material.

[Al_Smith]

Here we are conversing about vines and Swampish hasn't said a thing .He's got the hot ticket--brush saw souped up weed eater ,no chain to toss .
Fact I've got a hotter ticket in the form of antique Whipper Clipper brush mower you have to wear body armor to operate .Grinds them up and spits them out .Problem is it doesn't care if it's vines or rocks,flings everything out . :D

[John Mc]

Here we are conversing about vines and Swampish hasn't said a thing .He's got the hot ticket--brush saw souped up weed eater ,no chain to toss .

Well, Swamp donkey hasn't been along, the the brush cutters have been mentioned. Apparently that is not in the cards for the OP.

[Philbert]

Some will depend on the size and type of vine.

'Less grabby' usually means less 'hook' or higher depth gauges.  The low-kickback chains with the bumper tie straps were originally designed to be less grabby and smoother; the reduced kick-back was an unexpected attribute.

I have also seen 'full house' chain (no spaces between cutters) offered for sale in Japan for cutting bamboo. In the US, we usually only see that on 1/4" carving chain.

Philbert

[Al_Smith]

Here's a question I could never figure out .Why is it poison ivy seems attracted to black cherry trees?

[upnut]

The slickest saw I've found for vines has been my Stihl MSA 120 C battery saw. Light, quiet, and efficient. Probably not the best for large scale jobs, but for small wood lot work it suits me just fine. The 1/4" Stihl Picco chain works great on vines.

Scott B.

[lxskllr]

 rakers filed shallow.

This did it. I've been tearing up some vines lately, and between dust infused poison ivy, and hitting hidden rocks/junk, I've had to frequently sharpen the chain. It's about 75% spent, but I haven't touched the rakers. Only threw a chain once, and that was on a diagonally tensioned branch that peeled the chain off when I cut through it. Didn't feel like adjusting the cutter angle, and I haven't been putting much care into sharpening them anyway. I hit it quick with a file, and get back to it. Dulls too quick to worry about a great edge.

[old guy]

Square ground chain seems to cut brush better than anything else for me.
 I watched Buckin Billy Ray clear brush from around a log with his hot 372, he would reach out and touch the small stuff with high revs and it just fell off, it didn't whip around or pull back into the saw,and I know he was running square chain.
 This was about the time I got my Simington grinder and was working with a pair of 372s, I soon found square chain cuts brush best.

[Air Lad]

Horrible stuff to cut without it moving .
Bigger the tooth the more it grabs and moves and jams.
I removed a giant spikey Bouganvillea and started up high with a pair of extendable shears to get rid the start of it
If using a saw high revs and mild bite on the chain may get somewhere
How about a brushcutter with the circular saw type blade to slice it up a bit ?
Good luck mate
Cheers 

[donbj]

I've cut quite a bit of brush and figured out  a very helpful tip. I was throwing chains quite a bit by the smaller brush getting pulled between the chain and bar. Solution- don't cut brush at an angle. Hit it at 90 degrees as much as possible. If you don't the brush sitting at an angle against the bar after cutting gets pulled in by the chain as it drags it back toward the saw and many times into and under the chain. This made a HUGE difference, stay square to the brush.

[Air Lad]

Remove and look close at the chains youre throwing.  Theres a pretty good chance a few drive teeth are mangled. Once that happens they seem to throw easier.

100% 
Had one that jumped several times and on closer inspection found a few burred drive teeth
Careful filing to remove the burrs and things returned to normal
Cheers

[esteadle]

Forestry tip: Cut vines like Grape, Poison, and American in late Sept. Early Oct. 
This causes the vine to re-leave using up stored sugars just before winter. 
In spring little or no stored sugar will prevent/retard growth and often kills vine permanently. 

For PI, try IvyX or another skin barrier cream before contact. 
Wash after contact with cool (not hot) water, and soap, 2x. 
Apply benzoyl peroxide product when you start to itch to start exfoliation. 
Run under hot / scalding water to relieve itch. 
Benadryl if you get it real bad to the point of oozing. 

[lxskllr]

Thanks for that esteadle. I've wondered what would be best to kill them without using chemicals. I've been cutting them off, and for big vines, boring through the center at ground level. My thinking is it could cause rot, and retard growth. I was kinda dubious that would actually work, but it gives me pleasure causing vines discomfort  :^D


I've especially come to loathe bittersweet. That stuff's obnoxious. A tangled mess at ground level, and pulls whole trees over when it gets big. I find that vine personally offensive.

[Air Lad]

If no rush,identify where the tap root is. Take it out
Stop the beast at it's source.
Without this link it will die and leave  
Cheers