Critique my chain please...

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Critique my chain please...
It's ugly and it's mother dresses it funny . . . .

But seriously . . .

It's always hard to go by a photo, especially one that is not sharp (no pun intended). Sometimes, holding a white index card behind the cutter will help the camera focus on the chain, instead of stuff that is behind it.

What I am looking for are sharp top, and side plate, cutting edges. I should not see any light reflected off the edges. I also like to see a smooth transition into the gullet. Again, hard to see from your photos, but that looks a little rough on the left hand cutter in your first photo, but OK on the right hand cutter in your third photo: are you getting your R and L cutters the same? A lot of guys are stronger on one side than the other.

This looks like semi-chisel chain? But the corner or point (where the 2 cutting edges meet) looks dinged in a couple of the photos (again, it could be the quality of the photos, and not your sharpening job). Some guys will keep several links of a new, un-used chain with the factory edge near their bench to compare to when sharpening. Not saying that factory out-of-the-box is perfect, but it provides a handy reference.

Bottom line: how does it cut?

Philbert
 
Critique my chain please...
It's ugly and it's mother dresses it funny . . . .

But seriously . . .

It's always hard to go by a photo, especially one that is not sharp (no pun intended). Sometimes, holding a white index card behind the cutter will help the camera focus on the chain, instead of stuff that is behind it.

What I am looking for are sharp top, and side plate, cutting edges. I should not see any light reflected off the edges. I also like to see a smooth transition into the gullet. Again, hard to see from your photos, but that looks a little rough on the left hand cutter in your first photo, but OK on the right hand cutter in your third photo: are you getting your R and L cutters the same? A lot of guys are stronger on one side than the other.

This looks like semi-chisel chain? But the corner or point (where the 2 cutting edges meet) looks dinged in a couple of the photos (again, it could be the quality of the photos, and not your sharpening job). Some guys will keep several links of a new, un-used chain with the factory edge near their bench to compare to when sharpening. Not saying that factory out-of-the-box is perfect, but it provides a handy reference.

Bottom line: how does it cut?

Philbert
Thanks Philbert!
It's a full chisel from Baileys. It was poorly sharpened in my opinion. It had a very rough finish in the area where I have the arrow pointing in my previous post. I believe you might be seeing some burrs from filing. Is there a good way to knock the burrs off? Also what the best way to set the depth gauges? I was thinking a straightedge and feeler gauge. I was thinking .025". I'll try to get some better pictures. I haven't cut with it yet and that's the true test.

Thanks again,
Lee
 
Thanks for the response. Do you mean in the area where the arrow is pointed? I'm trying to learn the best way. Not for cookie cutting but for a work chain. I'd like to have a good balance between sharpness and durability.
View attachment 841360
Thanks again,
Lee

Just looking at the first photo it looks like the corner of the top plate rounded a little but it could just some shmoo from filing. The others look good to me.
 
couple things. number 1. need to see it from the top since that's what does the cutting. B. who cares how it looks? how does it cut?
 
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