Any hope for rocked chain?

[Vibes]

I just put a brand new 20 in chain on my Oly 264. On the third cut, I ran it to far through and bumped a rock. Well I more than bumped it. It won't cut at all. Can I hand file It or do I have to take it to someone with a grinder.

Also I lost the web address for the Oregon chain and bar selector site. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Poley4]

I just put a brand new 20 in chain on my Oly 264. On the third cut, I ran it to far through and bumped a rock. Well I more than bumped it. It won't cut at all. Can I hand file It or do I have to take it to someone with a grinder.

Also I lost the web address for the Oregon chain and bar selector site. Any help would be appreciated.

Yep, take it to somebody with a grinder.

 

[scotclayshooter]

http://www.oregonchain.com/tech/manual_maint.htm

Theres the link and yes you should be able to file/grind it back Unless its really destroyed!
Pics would help! But you will need to take the damage back untill the top plates are flat again.

 

[Crofter]

http://www.oregonchain.com/tech/manual_maint.htm

Theres the link and yes you should be able to file/grind it back Unless its really destroyed!
Pics would help! But you will need to take the damage back untill the top plates are flat again.

It is certain you have to get behind all damage to the top plates but also look at the outside top corner of the cutter and you can see how far back the chrome is scratched / damaged. You have to file back the whole tooth till all signs of the corner damage is removed, whether or not the sides and tops look sharp. The corner does maybe 90% of the work and if that aint right nothing else is!

You may hit a bit of hard filing in spots where the chain has been heated or work hardened from rubbing stone. I like to have an older file handy and give the first few licks with that rather than damaging a prime file.

 

[scotclayshooter]

It is certain you have to get behind all damage to the top plates but also look at the outside top corner of the cutter and you can see how far back the chrome is scratched / damaged. You have to file back the whole tooth till all signs of the corner damage is removed, whether or not the sides and tops look sharp. The corner does maybe 90% of the work and if that aint right nothing else is!

You may hit a bit of hard filing in spots where the chain has been heated or work hardened from rubbing stone. I like to have an older file handy and give the first few licks with that rather than damaging a prime file.

Thats what i thought in my head but couldnt put in print! Long day!

 

[Rftreeman]

you can hand file it, just take your time and be ready for a hand cramp.........

 

[Mad Professor]

I never wrecked a chain too bad to fix with a file.

As mentioned above you'll need to take a lot off the bad teeth to get a good corner again. Try to get the good and bad (heavily filed) cutters back to even length, can do this over several sharpenings to avoid wasting the good teeth too. If you take a lot of tooth off take down the rakers a bit.

 

[Poley4]

Oh, there's no doubt that the chain could be filed by hand, but if your time is worth anything, either grind it or replace it.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

It'll file clean

May take a while, but patience is a virtue. Look at it as an opportunity to practice holding the proper angles freehand.

If worse comes to worse and you decide not to deal with it put Bailey's on speed dial and get some new loops while they're on sale.

Take Care

 

[litefoot]

Oh, there's no doubt that the chain could be filed by hand, but if your time is worth anything, either grind it or replace it.

:agree2: I'm with you, Wes.

 

[Crofter]

Yes it is easy to spend half an hour on a chain so its better to save that for a rain day project. I think you can get a twenty inch chain for 12 bucks or less.

I prefer not to do a rocked chain on the bar but rather in a chain vise where it is dead solid and you can put good two hand pressure on the file. You could easily have to take back close to 3/32" on each tooth.

On the other hand it is not easy to take that much off with a grinder either without winding up with hard spots that you find out about the next time you try to file that chain. You gotta do the math and decide how much your time is worth to you.

 

[MR4WD]

all of you "grind" folks need to buy new files! What's a file worth! 75 cents? what's a grind worth? 5 bucks? A new chain, 20 bucks? Turf your file if it takes you more than 10 minutes to sharpen a chain.

 

[litefoot]

all of you "grind" folks need to buy new files! What's a file worth! 75 cents? what's a grind worth? 5 bucks? A new chain, 20 bucks? Turf your file if it takes you more than 10 minutes to sharpen a chain.

If you can take a severely rocked chain and hand file all the cutters to equal length (with proper angles and depth) in 10 minutes then you must be Superman.

 

[Poley4]

all of you "grind" folks need to buy new files! What's a file worth! 75 cents? what's a grind worth? 5 bucks? A new chain, 20 bucks? Turf your file if it takes you more than 10 minutes to sharpen a chain.

I don't own a chainsaw file, nor do I need one. Sounds like you're too cheap to by a grinder of you would rather sit around all day filing on a rocked chain when there's work to be done. If you can file a severely rocked chain in 10 minutes, I bet it cuts real good.