How do you sharpen saw chain?

[Burnham]

Warped for life, son .

 

[treesandsurf]

It's a curse and a blessing for sure...

jp

 

[woodworkingboy]

No way anyone can blame you for what you do now, Chris.

 

[Bermy]

Does anybody else find the thought of a women wielding a machete hot? Or is it just me.

Yes, one gets very hot when wielding a machete....hot work

 

[Jed]

Chris: Never apologize for a derail like that man. That was fascinating. I'm jealous of your upbringing! I didn't discover this work till I was about 28 years old, but like Al said, really early influences in the forest in Minnesota are at least partly responsible for why I love my job. It's as if all growing up, I've always loved it, but was just too dumb in my twenties to realize that I cld make a living at it. Instead, I did a job as an Ironworker that sucked, and that I hated, just because I made more money at it. Man, life is NOT about money.

O.k......... So who uses .404 instead of .375 (3/8ths) and why?

 

[Al Smith]

.404 on the big saws of over 100 cc because that's the bars I have for the them .084 Stihl, 2 125 Macs ,2100 Homelite ,105 Mac .In addition the older antiquish Mac reed valves all have .404 ,10 or so I suppose .

I once tried a short bar on one of the Mac 125's with 3/8" and it didn't cut as fast as 404 .I suppose it might be the fact that the larger chain takes a bigger bite .Torquey old saw has power but isn't lightning fast .Also all those large saws run 8 tooth rims with that .404 which gets the chain speed up a tad .

 

[woodworkingboy]

Doesn't the .404 have a heavier chassis? Might be a strength factor there, less deflection in the cut or something.

 

[Burnham]

Only on the 084.

 

[Al Smith]

I just think .404 was a throw back used on older saws that continued to the present .Some of the west coasters use it and some 3/8" from what they tell me .It's kind of hard to find around here which doesn't mean much to me because I get my chains off the net .

 

[HolmenTree]

I used .404 chisel on my Stihl 066- 24" for years. Good tough long wearing chain. Takes alot of punishment and holds a good edge. Stretching was never a issue. The bigger drive links in the bar groove kept the chain much more stable when in the wood even when the cutters were filed small enough to start breaking off. This chain was an old 100 foot roll I aquired from the 1970s. Oregon 50AL full comp chisel bit .050 .404 square ground. I filed it with a 7/32 round file for the 066.
Haven't used it since I retired the 066 years ago, still have about 25 feet left.

 

[HolmenTree]

Here's 2 pictures of my good ole 066 with the 24" and Oregon 50AL .404- .050 chisel bit chain as I mentioned in my last post.
Zoom in close and see the rocked out cutters if you can, would have been alot worse if it was 3/8".

 

[sotc]

1 of my 090s

 

[woodworkingboy]

My 088 came with .404 chain. Never used it though, just changed to 3/8. I can't remember if it is Oregon or Woodsman Pro brand, but I believe I noticed in a Baileys catalog from a few years ago (they never update my catalogs even though i have ordered thousands of dollars of stuff from them for this whole part of the country ), that they offer a 3/8 pitch with a heavier chassis than usual. Trying to gain some of the strength factor of the .404, it seems.

 

[Al Smith]

I've never seen .404 in 50 thou driver thickness .I do have one of the last rolls of 58 thou .404 Baileys ever had .That is rare now also .

That 3/8 you have Jay is most likely .063.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I believe that you are correct, Al. Isn't there a movement to basically eliminate .058 in all pitches?

 

[Al Smith]

No on another web forum the Aussies claim it's what they use and .050 is rare in Oz .Now as I take it 3/8" in .063 is a west coast thing because I've never seen it around here .

 

[woodworkingboy]

I recall when discussing this before, that a few folks prefer the heavier drive link. I think Wiley P was one.

 

[Al Smith]

I've never seen 3/8" chain used on an over 100 cc saw except as a racer .I would imagine though if it were then the heavier drivers would be prefered .

 

[woodworkingboy]

I use it on the 088 with .050, but the saw doesn't see much daylight these days. I also tried it on the 090G, and it seemed to work ok until the home made sprocket disintegrated. The long Woodsman Pro bar has a .050 groove, so they must have figured that folks would want to run that gauge, for better or for worse.

 

[sotc]

.063 is what I run

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Here ya go...

I know I know.. it ain't a chain... but it was pretty cool

 

[Jed]

Yeah that's pretty cool!! Thanks.

Yup. .063 on my 395, but I run .050 on my 440. Just a tiny bit less weight for the little guy to have to throw around. I like what people have said about the nice feature of a slightly thicker driver on the bigger saws. Seems a lot nicer--like the cuts run a tad straighter and smoother or something. I wonder if this is the same reasoning that the guys who run the 404 chain are operating by. Just wanted to shoot this out there to get a little feedback from a few guys who run it--thanks Al.

 

[woodworkingboy]

If there is any correlation, heavier saw blades sure run truer in the cut than thinner ones, especially when they get hot.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Residentially, I run 3/8"- 50 gauge which has always been fine. For State Parks, we run 3/8" .063 because we hit lots of nails. One day went by where we hit nails in EVERY tree.

 

[stig]

.063 is all I run as well.
And for what it is worth, Al, I run 3/8 on the 880, just like I did on the 084 I had before.

Wouldn't know where to find a roll of .404 around here.