Dull chain or just end grain?

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crammit442

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I've watched lots of videos on Swedish candles and thought I'd cut one for my nephews to play with at the lake last night. My saw is an MS-261 c-m. I'm using Stihl RS chain and sharpen with the 2 in 1 file. Saw always cuts really well. I started with a fresh sharp chain on a piece of really dry 20 ish" pine. I'm used to seeing nothing but big chips. The chain felt dull and made almost nothing but sawdust. Do I have a dull chain or is it likely just because I'm cutting nothing but end grain. I did some searching and it seems the consensus is that cutting end grain is a tough cut and sawdust is common. Thoughts?
Charles
BTW, the log burned beautifully. IMG_0546 (1).JPG
 
When you mill all you get is fine dust, that's exactly what you're doing, it's slow cutting too. If you angle the saw more lengthwise you start ripping long noodles of wood, and cut much faster.
After doing a little reading I suspected that's what I was seeing, but wasn't sure. Noodling is definitely fun cutting. It makes some awesome tinder for starting fires. All my saw has is a muffler mod, but it still runs well for a 50cc saw. I was a little baffled at how slow and dusty it was. I looked closely at the chain after cutting and it was still quite sharp so I feel a little better now. Since the 2 in 1 file gets the depth gauges as well it usually leaves a fairly aggressive chain. I guess the next time I cut one I'll do as much as possible longitudinally before squaring up to get the bottom of the cut flat. Thanks for the input .
Charles
 
Any doubts, you can try cross cutting again and see if you go back to seeing chips.
I actually thought about trying that, but I had a 12 year old nephew with ants in his pants to head out night fishing. I did just go out and look closely at the chain and it looks like it was just sharpened. I should be back up there tomorrow so I'll try noodling the majority of the cut and see if things work better. I appreciate the help.
Charles
 
Hey we’re just guessing; go try it out and let us know!

Philbert
I went back up to the lake yesterday and my chain was definitely not dull. I bucked a couple of pieces of the same wood and it made nice big chips. Instead of basically milling the cuts for the Swedish candles like I did the other day, I laid them on their side and noodled the entire cuts. Swedish candles and miles of noodles for kindling. I've never made one before the other day and the way they burn is really cool. All my little nephews thought it was the greatest thing ever. Thanks again for the feedback.
Charles
 

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