Someone Might Care... Who Knows?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jed
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Thanks, coldlogging. for the tips. I prefer to sharpen my chain in a vise, and I also sharpen my chain the same spot on the bar everytime. "takes the variables out of it all". I can sharpen a chain pretty well and it even cuts straight. (well most of the time) :D. The full skip .325 on my 450p I noticed that even in oak I can take the rakers way down without it getting grabby. I had them set at .25 but I played around with the depth gauges and took them down a little at a time, I think there around .40 right now if I had to guess, and its still not grabby but it will cut like a "Snaggle tooth girl in a hay field". lol...
 
Filing is a passion of mine.
It is hard to set a scale of sharpness, but if you think a new chain is good or you take depth guages down before it is filed 50% you have a lot to improve and most is pretty easy.
Filing so it cuts is no problem.
File so it is super sharp and last is harder.

If you have trouble seeing result on tooth after. Snap a pic of it and look in close ups. Look at the surface you cut, it tells a great deal.

Learn to file vertical it is the best way to see and have control as well as letting file work natural without much help other than back and forth motion.
The more focus you can have to guide the file the better so if you eliminate most other things you try to do it becomes static.
 
I file harvester chains.
They run 3-5 times longer than grinded chains and use 30-40% less power. This mean better economy for owner.
Bars last longer, sprockets, chains as well. Less oil is used to lube and cool as it is not running hot.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #79
Sorry Magnus, but I'm super confused. Doesn't take much for us inbreds.

1) What do you mean by "learning to file 'vertical'"?

2) I would assume that by "harvester", you would have to mean the bars and chains that would go on a huge hydraulic machine like a feller/buncher. Could you possibly be talking about modifying those bars--and sprockets I would assume--to fit on chainsaws? Wouldn't it be waaaay to heavy?
 
1) Filing vertical is with chains tooth standing on its end so to speak. If you have it on saw you simply hold the saw with tip pointing up.
Then file work its way back if toot naturally as it then is down and you have one less thing to think about.
If you place it correctly in front of you with tooth in appropriate height and saw in correct placement you don't need to worry about angle if wrist is locked.
Elbow and shoulder don't change angles either so as long as wrist is right and saw is placed correct you get same stroke each time you move.

2) I mean for harvesters like feller/brunches. I do use harvester bars on some saws and wood processors, but that is another story.
 
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  • #81
Another story huh? But one I would like to hear. Yes, I can imagine those harvester bars being amazing on some huge wood-processor chainsaw. As Americans would say, it would be a "Mad Max" type of thing. I would love to put a short one on a 395. :rockon:
 
OK.
I use old harvester bars on saws there is no bars for to be found. Usually it is 24" or 32" solid bars. I cut mount of and shape it to what mount I need then re-cut groove and off it go.
Some become belly bars, some Use when larger rims are used 9-11 pins.
 
inbredJed said:
Another story huh? But one I would like to hear. Yes, I can imagine those harvester bars being amazing on some huge wood-processor chainsaw. As Americans would say, it would be a "Mad Max" type of thing. I would love to put a short one on a 395. :rockon:
Click to expand...

395 and 11 pin, 16"..

Wrooommm
 
How much filling does it take to get a new chain super sharp with a new file? Is it just smoothing out grinder defects? Does it help after all grinding?
 
I've often wondered if going a step further than a file by using a ceramic sharpener to remove all marks and put a shaving edge on the cutter would make a difference. It would be very time intensive but I'd be curious of the results. Anyone ever tried it? I would think the hot saw guys surely would have tried it if they thought it would give them an edge.
 
Honing won't gain you much of anything in a work saw. It is the corner that goes first. In dirty wood it will be from the outside not the filed surface.


The long noodles if while cross cutting means the chain isn't rocking in the cut. Which is the standard way the chain works.
Did you use a file guide for depth or free hand?
 
Wood cutting edges responding to different ways of sharpening are a deep subject, from the feel of sharp to looking at them under a microscope, as some folks like to do. I have been working with them almost everyday for a lifetime. My own opinion, and perhaps similar to Wally's, is that unless you have superlative edge holding steel, in totally clean wood there is usually little point in getting edges to the level of extreme sharp, because they are going to lose it fast in even the best of conditions. If someone just likes doing that and the effect to gives for some initial cuts though, ultimate sharp is awesome. Even wood that is considered clean, often has an abrasive content to steel in it.
 
I did not check the depth. I will do that Wally, thanks.

I have been just cutting treated wood set posts, pointing them for driving in the ground. You can buy them pointed, but at 30 cents a post............

It took eight strokes per tooth.
 
I drive them about two and a half to three feet into the ground. The point cuts take about eight inches off the side on the bottom, well below the surface line. It seems that six inches above or below the surface is where the decay happens.

The posts I have been buying are from North Dakota and are pressure treated with CCA. When I cut the points the posts are green all the way to to center, good posts! I have bought posts from Canada that were not green under the bark that was left on the outside. Also, all the straight ones were on the outside of the bundle! The post yard in Medicine Hat was much better.

Sorry for rambling on, I spend a lot of time with posts.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #96
SouthSoundTree- said:
How much filling does it take to get a new chain super sharp with a new file? Is it just smoothing out grinder defects? Does it help after all grinding?
Click to expand...

On Stihl, I takes me a good little bit. If I round-file, it always feels like I'm re-grinding the factory grind, ya know? I absolutely love the 6" goof files for Stihl. Cuts like a deamon and keeps the same "pulling" feeling as round grind.
 
I always sharpen a "out of the box chain" . Usually, about 4-8 strokes a tooth. then take the depth gauges down to .25 or .30. Then I put her in the wood and let'er eat. Also, sometimes when im bored I use a normal file then do about two strokes with a "fine" file . Seems, to help the stay sharpness if I finish it off with the fine. Baileys has fine files. But everytime I go to reup there always sold out.
 
What are these goof files you speak of, Jed?

I always thought chain was sharp out of the box. Never tried sharpening new before. I've heard Sqwerl, among others, mention it years ago. I would be interested to see timed test cuts on this. Anyone seen any on Youtube?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #99
I think that they are for fallers who suck at hand-filing their square-ground chains, cause, unlike the square files, the "goof" files are pretty easy to use; but, to answer your question... uh.... it's like a flat file that's still got teeth on the little sides, and the little sides are convex enough to impart the slightest little undercut in the side plate. Clear as mud, eh? You get em from Bailey's. They're pretty cheap, man--you should try one, and just keep the same top-plate angle as your round grind. Cuts like mad, which brings me to the point. Finally!! Yeah... the factory grind is just weird. Even though they look pretty good to the eye... it's like there's just a little bit too much metal crammed into the spot where the side and top plates meet. They don't seem to flow chips very well. Also the saw will actually wobble into the cut if you try the experiment of one-handing a bucking cut into a horizontal log. It's weird. I used to think that it was because Stihl was trying to shoot for a bit of a "durability" grind; but now, I insist (unless I'm totally out of my mind) that it even dulls prematurely. Probably just me.

And Jim: You got nothin' on me man. Now you know what "running on" is!!
 
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