Now I have a chain sharpening question

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heimannm

heimannm

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I collect a lot of saws and have all kinds of chain that arrives with them. This past weekend I had a couple that I tried to file and one in particular the file would not touch. I even tried a brand new file thinking perhaps I had a really dull one in my hand. This was a .404 chain with a really rough looking cutter, I was using a 7/32" file.

Now, the question is, what can someone do to a chain that makes it so hard you can't touch it with a file? I had another similar one that I was able to work through, but some of the rakers were so hard they scratched the new flat file I was using! Others I could get cut down once I got through the "crust".

I have been around saws and chains for more than 40 years and sharpening my own chains for nearly 30 years and I have never seen a case like this before.

Ideas?

Mark
 
Mark,

Some of the hand saws you see in the big box stores claim to have hardened teeth. These are generally inexpensive saws that are not expected to ever be re-sharpened, but Stanley, or whomever, assumes that the harder teeth will last longer.

Always a trade off between keeping an edge and ease of sharpening.

Looking back at all of the things that people tried at one time or another with chain saws, maybe someone tried something similar with those cutters? Induction hardening or something similar?

Perhaps they assumed that the cutters would be ground? Perhaps it was an idea that did not work out so well, which is why this is the first time you ran across it?

Regards.

Philbert
 
It is also possible that someone got it to hot when sharpening with a grinder. I have had some sharpened in the past and ended up throwing them away, file would not touch them. I only file now.
 
I've been workingn on a bunch of old saws recently and just about every chain I have encountered on them was like that. By looking at the chains and knowing how long it took me to hand file them ,in my opinion, it was due to ex owners running the crap out of the saws and never doing any maintenance on them at all especially with the chain. They probably got into a nail or hit rocks etc and ran it past when it would cut using it like a hand saw. The chain and bar probably got real hot also and this didn't help matters. The ones I have filed like this after about ten strokes with a standard file it will finally break through that hard coating and then the tooth will sharpen on up.
 
Rocking them out will put hard spots on the outside corners of the teeth but is usually not too hard to muscle through. Grinding them definitely can make them too hard to touch with a brand new file.

I just finished resurrecting a couple of chains that had been grinder hardened as well as rocked out! I could have done them on the grinder but had a lot to take off and it is a slow process to take the teeth back without leaving them in the same unfileable condition. Take the dremel to them and you can break through the hardness and then they will file again.

Best bet, like has been said, if you want to be sure to be able to file em, dont touch them with the grinder yourself and for sure dont take them into a shop. Unless they have a CBN wheel they are almost guaranteed to be petrified! It takes a lot of patience to slowly peck away at a chain when taking a fair bit off. I can do it quicker with a file when the chain is in a good solid clamp.

In the right hands the dremel is a good tool though I admit to being sceptical about it in the past. Same deal, watch the heat and read the heat colours and they do a good job.
:chainsaw:
 
Due to the age of these chains, I suspect they were made before anyone got the idea to infuse carbide into the cutting teeth. My guess was cutting when dull causing the chain to heat up then accidentally quenching them when they cut into the snow or some such scenario.

I am away from home so I can't tell you any more about the chains themselves, one may have been an Oregon but that's about all I remember.

If someone could perfect the technique used to "modify" these chains while they are sharp you would have quite the business opportunity.

Mark
 
heimannm said:
Due to the age of these chains, I suspect they were made before anyone got the idea to infuse carbide into the cutting teeth. My guess was cutting when dull causing the chain to heat up then accidentally quenching them when they cut into the snow or some such scenario.

I am away from home so I can't tell you any more about the chains themselves, one may have been an Oregon but that's about all I remember.

If someone could perfect the technique used to "modify" these chains while they are sharp you would have quite the business opportunity.

Mark
Click to expand...

I am sure the one I was working on was hardened on a grinder...When the guy picked up the saw he said that he had one and would just grind it when he got it home...The fact that it was just one side makes me think that he screwed it up w/ the grinder...:dizzy:
 
I've seen that too...

on a heap of barely used ex-Railways Carlton .404 loops. They were cutting railway sleepers (made of Australian Hardwood) and I suppose they got too hot. Ruined a few files on them.
 
I have one in my garage just like it. I couldn't touch it with a file. The saw it came off had a bad oiler on it and it overheated the chain and made it harder than heck. I have a new chain coming for it. To me it's not worth it to spend 1-2 hours sharpening it.
 

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