What do dull cutters feel like compared to sharp cutters?

[Burnham]

That's been my modus op for ever, Gary .

 

[Benjo75]

I will lightly run my finger across it but mainly I'll look at it before I use it. If you can see any kind of a mirror or shiny part on it then it's dull. If its sharp you won't hardly be able to see the leading edge. The first pic is obviously a sharp tooth. You can see the mirror edge in the second pic, slightly dull. The third pic looks like my ground guy has been using my saw.

 

[frans]

A few guys I have known over the years who are weed smokers do a really good job of sharpening. I guess the weed gives them focus and they really get into it.

 

[SeanKroll]

I back-brush my file on my pants, and bang the side of the file end on the bar.

Often a double tap, with an occasional tap on the very end to reset the file into the handle.

 

[Bermy]

All my wooden file handles look like the pencil you used to chew when you were a kid in school...

 

[stig]

You are wasting your time with that, Fi.
But, being an arbo, I guess you have time to waste.
Folks who fell to scale, don't.

( Sorry, Fiona, cabin fever is getting to me, got nothing better to do than bitching at a Southern hemisphere gal.)

 

[Mick!]

You a logger Stig? Thats a bit of a bolt from the blue, you never mention it.

 

[pantheraba]

Shoot, man....he's a BITCHIN' logger!!!!

Best kind! (probably the ONLY kind)

 

[stig]

Got me there, Mick.
But you know the saying: " most arborists can sharpen a chain as well as farmers can".

Loggers are a different breed.

 

[Mick!]

Most arborists can negotiate stairs well into their 70s

 

[stig]

Touche'.


Man, you do that shit so well

 

[Bermy]

Ah no worries Stig, just something I was taught...I do it more often than not, but not is starting to become more often...

Mick...have you been blind all these years to Stig's posts of commercial scale felling of beech trees 😮

 

[stig]

That was good old British sarcasm from Mick, Fiona.
He is truly a master of that.

 

[Bermy]

Whoopsie, I felI for that one LOL

 

[stig]

I do too, occasionally.
That is why I say he is good.

Might have to run the bike down there when life opend up again.
Sharing a bottle of red wine and bullshit with Mick would be a fine thing.

Not to mention seeing his garden.

 

[Mick!]

Always welcome, in a couple of months the house in Royan will be ready, so a bit of beach is included in the visit.

 

[stig]

Thanks, Mick.
Once the borders open again, maybe we can meet up.

 

[Mick!]

We only live once.

 

[stig]

Yep.
I didn't sleep to well tonight, since I was awake anyway, I got to thinking about driving down to see you.
If my right hand ever gets good enough that I can drive a motorcycle, it sure would be a fun thing to do.

 

[flushcut]

Road trip!

 

[BlackSmith]

Forget everything anyone ever told you about sharpening...

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[lxskllr]

I was looking into those a couple years ago. I was contemplating getting my boss a saw for jul, and there's no way he'd settle down enough to sharpen a saw. I though that might be an acceptable solution, cause just about anything's better than nothing. Reports didn't sound that good, so I gave up on the idea. There were other reasons too. He could use a saw, but he's one of those people that probably shouldn't own one :^D

That one looks like a ripoff of the Oregon system. I think you're supposed to buy it as a bar/chain/sharpener combo, but I never inspected one in person. They might just want to sell more stuff.

 

[BlackSmith]

The “blade” looks like it has a Oregon badge. If I remember right Mac had a self sharpening push button system years ago.

 

[Bart]

To Robert the o.p., my uncle worked in a nuclear plant and toured us around once. He showed us a cool gizmo that made microscope slide samples by shaving a frozen or solid specimen. Ridiculously thin to shine light through. Glass I think was cleanly snapped making a 90 degree cutting edge that worked beautifully, so you'er onto something about snapping off a fine edge. Undoubtedly you're thinking acute edge like a razor or knife but a chainsaw edge is not far off 90 degrees and definitely gets very sharp if you have a fine touch with a file. Chainsaw files are a compromise between coarse and fine, to get meat off as required but still be capable of leaving a fine edge. A metalworking tip is heavy pressure makes bigger burrs and leaves a coarser edge, so do heavy first as required and then do the final strokes much lighter pressure with the best precision you can muster to avoid rounding any precise edges you just made.

Same applies to grinding, light pressure and avoid heat buildup. Machinists face the same dilemmas on their cutting bits. Blunt looking edge just off 90 degrees but very sharp.

I've got one machinist file that's so fine its only for finishing work. If I start to use it normally I soon realize I'm getting nowhere but am making shiny patches. I use it to polish round items in the drill chuck. Again, light pressure produces the finest edge result or flat finish.

Also don't skimp on new files, and abort to a dremel grind stone the moment you hit a hardened tooth or kiss your file goodbye. Watch for this especially on rakers as they just skid, get hot and mess up their temper. I toasted at least 4 raker files in short order before I just went dremel for all rakers. Quite a long time ago.

And I believe the consensus is Oregon is a bit softer than Stihl and files easier. But dulls quicker.

take care