Oregon Power Sharp

[sotc]

I gave him 2 chains last year but he seems to think he is bothering me to ask for them to be sharpened so when I go over to help him cut he is burning away at it till I take his saw.
Burnham, if people don't cut all the time, they typically don't know how to sharpen. Think about how long it takes a greenhorn to finally start putting a decent edge on a saw.
SST, supposedly it does the rakers too.

 

[Burnham]

Even those that haven't the skill to sharpen a chain themselves must be able to tell when it's not cutting, can't they? How hard is it for the occasional cutter to keep a few chains for his saw and drop them off at the saw shop to be ground every once in a while?

Apparently the answer to my first question is, "no"...and the answer to my second is, "too hard".

 

[Cut4fun]

Give him 5 sharp chains and a promise of sharpening them when they get dull.

I have two different friends, that I sharpen for. They have 5 chains each, the deal is, they change the chain as soon as it stops cutting well and they DO NOT attempt to sharpen anything by themselves.
Nothing worse than trying to file a chain that somebody has botched by filing too deeply into the teeth.

Both of them cut firewood with friends and have noticed that they are the only ones, whose saws can actually cut..

Thats what I have been doing with 2 firewood cutters I consider friends. But they are rotating 4 chains I hooked them up with. Came home with 3 out of 4 for one saw yesterday.

Even those that haven't the skill to sharpen a chain themselves must be able to tell when it's not cutting, can't they?

I actually had to start removing the dawgs off saws I hooked one guy up with. If I didnt I knew the saw was in a world of hurt. I have done this for the last 2 saws I have set him up with. The 1st of 3 came back with the dawg bent all to hell. Lesson learned. No more dawgs for him.
You and I both know wth he was doing with the dawg and a dull chain. leverage baby leverage LOL.

 

[squisher]

I think it's great that most people can't sharpen a saw worth a sh-t. Helps keep us all in business. I'll be interested to see how this thing works out if you still end up getting one Willie. And tell the truth, we know it's really for you! Lol.

 

[Reddog]

Wouldn't a better solution simply be to learn to sharpen a chain with a file? It's not rocket science.

Well like for my dad, he doesn't have the dexterity in his fingers like he use to. Still has plenty of grip strength, but struggles with filing now. Bugs him to ask me to file chain.

 

[Burnham]

That's a good reason right there. Maybe the darn thing will work.

 

[Bounce]

I just got my dad a log jack so he doesn't get the bar into the dirt as much. Since he mostly just cuts firewood this works pretty well, but it would not be a solution for somebody in our line of work. However I still have to leave him with several sharp chains. I'll be interested to hear what the response is to this though. It seems like it will work great or else not at all. I think I'm going to sit on the fence until I hear more.

 

[Al Smith]

Burnham, many casual saw users I know even the ones claiming to have cut wood all their lives won't even attempt filing.

Willard.

It may sound odd but I know a few so called tree trimmers that can't file a chain .They send them out to get sharpened a dozen at a time .

 

[sotc]

Burnham, I bet if you went into 10 mens garages with no background in the woods or tree service, and the had chainsaws. 9 of them would be ruined chains. People actually think saws are supposed to run like that, the fact that a chain can be dull makes no sense to them.

 

[stig]

I had a homeowner ask me to look at his saw while I was taking a tree down in his yard.
He couldn't get it to cut, nomatter how much he filed it.

The chain was on backwards

 

[Burnham]

Burnham, I bet if you went into 10 mens garages with no background in the woods or tree service, and the had chainsaws. 9 of them would be ruined chains. People actually think saws are supposed to run like that, the fact that a chain can be dull makes no sense to them.

I don't get that...all those saws had a brand new chain on them when they came home from the store with these weekend warriors. How could any concious being fail to notice the difference between how the saw cut then and how it cut right after they cut dirt and rocks with it?

But I defer to y'alls broader experience with these...er...people.

 

[Al Smith]

Well Burn you just would not believe it living in the PNW .People bring me saws so plugged with chips they hardly start let alone run .Chains all screwed up .I clean the thing up,tune it in and sharpen the chain and they think I'm a freakin genious .Nothing could be further from the truth .

 

[Burnham]

Oh, I expect the run of the mill guy with a chainsaw out here is just as clueless...I just seldom have to mix with them, I suppose.

 

[Cut4fun]

The chain was on backwards

I had something like that recently. Guy from work trimming brush with saw I just went through and sharpened chain.

He says I need you to sharpen my chain for me again. I tell him bring it in and i will drop back off next day. So I get whole saw out of back of envoy and take to barn. I took a quick look at chain and started laughing.

I got hold of him and ask. Who removed the chain and put it back on. He says he did when it came off in the brush trimming duties. He said it dulled it right out quick. I said nope you just put the chain on backwards.
So when I gave him the saw back I gave him a quick lesson on how to tell if the cutters are in the right direction. He thanked me and has been happy ever since.

 

[HolmenTree]

It may sound odd but I know a few so called tree trimmers that can't file a chain .They send them out to get sharpened a dozen at a time .

In my travels throughout the PNW I have met professional fallers who cut for a living for over 20 years who never filed a chain, and these guys were top producers. They owned their own big Silvey grinders and kept a stockpile of sharpened loops like you said Al, a dozen at a time.
I never owned a bench mounted grinder but I did learn to file the hard way long ago as a young faller...... sitting on a stump in minus -30F touching up my 18" b/c with my partner on his skidder barreling down on me looking for another load.

Willard.

 

[Al Smith]

The only time I ever saw 30 below was on the polar ice cap and it was 42 below .Only one occasion, a blizzard which is rare and I happened to be out in it.I think it was 31 below that night and me drunk as a skunk .

Long ,long time ago early 60's ,I don't remember anybody ever filing a chain .They just had several and had the saw shop which usually was a farm equipment dealer do it .Early 70's I learned how and that was because of an Oregon file guide which I still use on occasion .

 

[HolmenTree]

Winters are alot warmer here in Manitoba then they used to be. But I remember in the 1980s some years for a whole month before Christmas it was -35 to -40 below F every day. As loggers we had no choice but to go to work to put presents under the tree. Just dress smart and keep moving. Now a days the loggers are sitting in heated feller bunchers and grapple skidders.
I remember when I started to get good at round filing with the saw on my knee. It took a few cuts to the bone on my index finger knuckle right through my leather glove, to learn not to be lazy filing the right hand cutters to avoid slipping off and the left hand cutter gets in the way. And of course also never sharpen the left hand cutters first.
It takes an aquired forearm and grip strength to round file with one hand.

Willard.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Wouldn't a better solution simply be to learn to sharpen a chain with a file? It's not rocket science.

I frequently get asked to 'fix' chainsaws for people, dull chain is #1 on the list and bad fuel is #2 (there is no #3 because sharpening and changing the fuel is about the extent of my expertise)

 

[Burnham]

In my travels throughout the PNW I have met professional fallers who cut for a living for over 20 years who never filed a chain, and these guys were top producers. They owned their own big Silvey grinders and kept a stockpile of sharpened loops like you said Al, a dozen at a time.
I never owned a bench mounted grinder but I did learn to file the hard way long ago as a young faller...... sitting on a stump in minus -30F touching up my 18" b/c with my partner on his skidder barreling down on me looking for another load.

Willard.

I'd consider a pro sawyer using a pro level grinder to sharpen chains as one who is filing...just using another method than hand filing. One of the reasons those fellows are top producers is because they don't spend time on chains in the field.

I basically do the same, though not with a grinder...and not for production, but because I always can do a better job filing on my bench in the shop than on a stump in the brush.

 

[NeTree]

Most of them don't know it needs sharpening anyways. One of my buddies called one day. He had bought a new saw to clean up some ice storm damage. He was worried that it was not cutting very fast and was smoking. Wanted to know if 5 minutes to cut half way through a 10" diameter tree was normal. He "only" touched the ground 7 or 8 times. I went over to find the paint completely burned off the bar. I told him not to bother having the chain sharpened, that he should just throw it away when it was cool enough to touch. This power sharp stuff could be a good solution for idiots like that. Insulting that it is even being marketed towards "pros".

That wasn't John, by any chance was it?

 

[squisher]

I'd consider a pro sawyer using a pro level grinder to sharpen chains as one who is filing...just using another method than hand filing. One of the reasons those fellows are top producers is because they don't spend time on chains in the field.

I basically do the same, though not with a grinder...and not for production, but because I always can do a better job filing on my bench in the shop than on a stump in the brush.

And more then likely any of those guys could put a hell of an edge on with a handfile too if push came to shove. Or atleast tickle one up if needed.

 

[HolmenTree]

And more then likely any of those guys could put a hell of an edge on with a handfile too if push came to shove. Or atleast tickle one up if needed.

As I said earlier with these coastal fallers using the Silvey grinders they would be putting a square grind on their chains. And yes some could touch their chain up in the field with a bevel file too quite nicely. But I'm talking 25-30 yrs ago. Even before the spotted owl b.s.
Where I felled in the interior the biggest b/c I used was 20", every thing round filed. It doesn't take long on the stump to touch up a 16"-18" chain. But I did carry a spare chain in my wedge pouch when in rocky terrain.

Willard.

 

[Al Smith]

Now about this grinding business .There a feller,faller whatever from Idaho that goes by the handle of "Bushweasel " on another forum .Fact is he's the guy that gave me the antique Lombard . He has a grinder on a stand he hauls to the job site that runs off a convertor from the alternater of his truck that he grinds his square ground chains with .Does a real nice job of it too .Doesn't take him very long either .

 

[squisher]

By Interior do you mean Manitoba. When I hear interior I think of where I live BC interior. 20" bar I'm assuming you mean further east as ime it's to short for the bush around here.

I worked 7 years on the coast, and 5 years in the interior(bc) mainly highlead.

 

[HolmenTree]

They are a labour saver when your shortest chain is 32". I remember getting a couple of chains square ground on those beautiful Silvey grinders at Madsens in Centralia Wash when they still had their small original shop in the early 80s. It was a real pleasure to watch them do their magic. And those chains cut like magic too.

Willard.