How do you sharpen saw chain?

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Feed rate is a big deal when cutting wood, thought given to burning and load on a machine, and speed. They have it worked out what is the ideal feed rate for devices that push wood through saw blades or other cutters. Lots of variables though, including species, type of cutter, thickness of material, degree of sharpness, and rpms. Essentially that is what rakers do, regulate the feed rate in a chain saw kind of way.
 
Not only could you get more kick back with short rakers ,you could also break a clutch segment .In addition given enough time it could wipe the bearings and with enough power break a crankshaft .Even if none of the afore mentioned things happened you'd be beating the piss out of yourself running something like that .
 
Al: Funny you shld mention the clutch segment thing. My old foreman--I shld mention that he's horribly far-sighted, and too proud to wear bi-foculs--used to be the one who wld take down the stops ridiculously far, and then try to bore into a log for some stupid reason. Sure enough: busted the clutch.

Jay: Really appreciated your last post. Feed-rate is a thing that fascinates me. I think that the rednecks who compete in the race-ported hot-saw competitions shld try hollowing out their square ground chains with a "goof file" before putting on the final cutting edge with the double-bevel file. Seems like it wld increase the feed rate.

The way I envision this is by using the goof-file from the underside of the bar, (with the chrome as with a round file) but at an extremely acute angle: one that wld dull very quickly if put to the wood that way. Then, once the chisel has been thus "hogged-out" the double-b cld put a normal edge (from the top of the bar, against the chrome) on the, now "hollower" chisel.

Does this make a lick of sense to any non-inbred person?

I am a geek.
 
Kind of makes sense, Jed ......:)

Angles of cutters, they have that worked out too, a divergence between soft and hard woods. For most practical purposes, I believe that the angles are a bit of a compromise between aggression of cutting and edge durability. With racing it would seem that the durability would be a lesser concern, assuming that folks sharpen after each run.
 
Wait, Im confused. Were you fellas teaching me about kickback from rakers too low or were you just chiming in?
 
On a racer you don't want "beaks " .It might seem they'd cut faster but they don't .Actually a side plate that is nearly vertical cuts faster .Try and file one like that those who file square .It isn't as easy as it sounds .
 
Al: I--and all acknowledged authorities whether real or (in my case)--completely agree with you about "beaks," but I'm curious about what you said about the "nearly vertical side-plate". Up till now, I had just assumed that the Oregon factory square grind, which has about a 7 degree forward angle, was the fastest; but, thinking about what you wrote put me in mind of a really old role of 404 pitch Stihl factory ground chain which displayed the "vertical" side-plate angle that you're talking about.:/: I'm really curious now. But why wld the vertical angle cut faster? :?
 
inbredJed said:
I'm really curious now. But why wld the vertical angle cut faster? :?
Click to expand...
I don't know but it just does . I've seen it done several ways .Either nearly straight going clear to the gullet or half way transitioning into a round near the bottom .

You're only cutting with maybe half the side plate anyways so in theory I suppose it wouldn't matter that much .The only theory I have is possibley the tooth could hold more chip until it rocked up out of the cut maybe .You gotta remember though this is on green cottonwood ,poplar or some other soft wood used in most competitions .Hell on a scale of 1 to 10 I'm only about a 4 when it comes to good filers for this kind of stuff .
 
I know I'm pretty much preaching to the choir but for the less experinaced a point to ponder .

You can pretty much tell when a chain falls off it's pace .You hit a big knot,run through some rot full of dirt,kiss the ground .Stop right then unless you're right in the middle of a fall cut and lay the file to it .

It might only take a swipe of the file per tooth then than several more later which means more time . The file first will last longer plus you will more than make up that 5 minutes it takes to file a loop of 20" on the first tank full .
 
So what do you do when there is something in the tree that the tree has grown over? Like nails or metal or concrete that someone put into the tree years ago, but you can't see. What does it do to the chain?
 
With all the effort you guys put into sharpening, have you ever tried putting the chain on the bar backwards?

It sure keeps that fine edge, you've laboured over, much longer that way.
 
Al Smith said:
If I were a betting man though I'd wager just about everybody has put a chain on backwards at least once .
Click to expand...

Yes, I will be in the more than once group. Also, years ago I reversed the blade on a skilsaw. I had to trim the bottom of a door and switched to a finer-toothed blade so I could get a nice clean cut! Boy that thing smoked and was burning the wood. It was near the end of the day, and hot, and I was rushing to get done. I think I cut the whole thing backwards.
 
Yup: I've done it, I think, once.:X

Willie: Are you kiddin' man! She LOVES me. She wants me to be out there doin' what I want to be doin'. :lol::lol: Yeah, they must love me (the wife and daughter) cause they pretty much just tolerate me at this point. But darn it! This stuff's important!! :what:

Al: O.k. I'll take your word for it. At least, it's an interesting theory. I don't know why I'm so obsessed w this stuff, but I am.
 
Well get a half worn out round ground chisel and try it .Just shy of being back to the rivet is about right .

I'm fascinated with it too .Other than racing though it's very impractical .
 
Ive sent saws up a tree with the chain on backwards........

My family owned a large tree service in the suburbs of philly. As a small child there was no day care. I sat patiently on a tailgate all day. I used to load rounds into trucks with a skidsteer at age 8. Thats just how I grew up, for better or for worse. My point is, at about age 11 or so, I started running ropes(supervised by an experienced ground man atleast). At that time I started becoming ambitious and wanting to get all saws fueled and oiled up, tap out dirty filters, tighten chains, etc. Well I can recall sending saws up the tree several times with chains on backwards.

..............and got my face chewed off for it each time.
 
11-13 is a good age to start a manual trade, being flexible and in the natural learning stage, it just isn't legal in a lot of places. I recall seeing a young boy hauling boxes and other things around at a Hong Kong open market, seeming to be in the 8-10 years old range, and appearing to work with serious intent. What particularly caught my eye is that he also appeared to be white.
 
I look back and feel as though sawdust got in my blood so young that naturally, I couldnt ever do anything else and be happy.

My earliest memories as a child were strapped in the seat of these ancient GMC c60 chip dumps with coils of this itchy scratchy stinky rope (manilla) rubbing my skin beside me. I can remember big old pioneer saws on lined up on work benches. I can even remember having to sit in the truck MANY nights for hours of estimates or even sitting in my carseat in a pickup all evening getting jarred back and forth by someone running a tow behind grinder behind the truck. I guess Im sitting here right now reminiscing about my earliest memories in life. Sorry for the derail.
 
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