Advice on cutting straight on trunks of hardish wood

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With a lot of work/grinding/filing and experience!
True, there are lots of tricks to make a chain faster.
A quick gain is to stone the side plate at the working corner, since stock cutters aren't aimed to the left and right equally.
This trick is generally reserved for racing chain, but I have stoned working chain just to see the gain.
 
View attachment 507604
True, there are lots of tricks to make a chain faster.
A quick gain is to stone the side plate at the working corner, since stock cutters aren't aimed to the left and right equally.
This trick is generally reserved for racing chain, but I have stoned working chain just to see the gain.

John, that looks like one of Walt`s chains.....LOL
 
Yeah, I saved this thread. I can always use more pointers.
Glad it's helping you too!

Whilst I can basically use my file-in-the-guide and adjust rakers, I gonna have to spend some serious time looking at the stuff some of these others having been linking up in earlier posts here. I'm just kinda annoyed that I didn't study my brand new 25" chain in more detail before I finished the cherry trunk off with it. Still only did ~6 decent cuts with it - so perhaps it will still inform.
 
View attachment 507604
True, there are lots of tricks to make a chain faster.
A quick gain is to stone the side plate at the working corner, since stock cutters aren't aimed to the left and right equally.
This trick is generally reserved for racing chain, but I have stoned working chain just to see the gain.
Howdy TT,

Can you elaborate a lil bit for us novices? :) So have you actually ground off the rivet heads of the sides of the link right there?

(I'm also seeing that the side profile of the cutter seems sort of wavy, is that how there normally look really close up? or is it a special effect that you applied?).

Interesting stuff.
 
We grind off the heads of the rivets on race chain to lower friction and increase chain speed, stoning off the sides of the chain helps to make all cutters more even in assembled width but also helps narrow the width of the kerf the chain will be pulling out of the wood thus it allows more chain speed as it causes less resistance, this kind of stuff is done mainly on race chain and seldom done on regular cutting chain except by a few of us culls.....LOL
I will leave the uneven wavy looking side cutter for John to explain, looks like he was using his horse shoeing rasps again....;)
 
We grind off the heads of the rivets on race chain to lower friction and increase chain speed, stoning off the sides of the chain helps to make all cutters more even in assembled width but also helps narrow the width of the kerf the chain will be pulling out of the wood thus it allows more chain speed as it causes less resistance, this kind of stuff is done mainly on race chain and seldom done on regular cutting chain except by a few of us culls.....LOL
I will leave the uneven wavy looking side cutter for John to explain, looks like he was using his horse shoeing rasps again....;)
Cool! sounds fun....
 
Don't listen to PG or HT, I didn't file the cutter with a hoof rasp. Lol
The waviness that you speak of is a result of the picture being enlarged 20x.
Sometimes I would strop the cutter with a leather shoe lace.
 
I bought today Husqvarna depth gauge tool, all I can say is WOW.

Cost was around 4 bucks and it makes lot of difference, now it does not matter if one cutter is bit shorter than others, I just file those rakers while holding that depth gauge tool on chain and chain will cut smoothly straight.

There are separate slots for soft wood and for hard wood so you can have more bite (soft wood) or less bite (hard wood).

I had done rakers with other type of tool, but Husqvarna tool did show that I had to take more off from quite many of them.

Also I did round leading edges of rakers for two chains, one was very low cost chain that did not have any kind of rounding on those rakers from factory, that chain I use in my electric saw and after setting rakers with Husqvarna tool and then rounding leading edges (to look more like they are on Oregon chain when it's new), all the juddering went away.

MattG, when you look picture of raker from Oregon catalog or even picture of new chain link, you can see how raker's leading edge is rounded like fin on dolphin's back, that is shape I believe that is needed to be maintained to keep chain running smooth.

Another thing I noticed today is that Oregon's file guide and cheap Chinese grinder don't agree on 30 degrees, there is 2 to 3 degrees difference. Did some freehand filing as that seem to make chain feel sharper again my thumb and made about 20 cuts of Birch (12 to 8 inch diameter), chain did feel still as sharp when feeling cutters with my thumb, so I guess it is not getting dull too fast.

For some reason here 13" bar is standard even on 50cc saws, some have 15" when sold new, but loggers swap 13" bars on those quite often, maybe saw handling methods are different, or our trees smaller, but it is really rare to see 20" bars or bigger here. I'm just thinking that with 6 cuts that 25" might not have much wear at all so I guess you could use that as a template for 20" if you want to practice filing.

Carlton's 0.050 gauge chain that I have tried to sharpen best I can seems to cut about the same speed when free feeding as new Oregon's 0.058 gauge chain (21BPX). If saw is pushed into wood, Oregon seems to maintain more rpm when pushed down.

Out of package, Carlton had poor bite, rakers were too tall, imo.

Pruning with Carlton chain was fun, just small touch to branch and it was gone.
 

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I bought today Husqvarna depth gauge tool, all I can say is WOW.

Cost was around 4 bucks and it makes lot of difference, now it does not matter if one cutter is bit shorter than others, I just file those rakers while holding that depth gauge tool on chain and chain will cut smoothly straight.

There are separate slots for soft wood and for hard wood so you can have more bite (soft wood) or less bite (hard wood).

I had done rakers with other type of tool, but Husqvarna tool did show that I had to take more off from quite many of them.
That's interesting. It may well be that my depth tool does not inform me to remove enough metal. I've heard that if you remove too much it feel quite aggressive in the cut (presumably it pulls in more). But I've never got even close to that sensation after I've dressed my rakers. Sure the whole thing seems to be cutting better, but probably not quite a new chain feeling. Yup I might purchase that Husq tool. (Can you post a part reference or an amazon link, sometime?).

Out of interest, when you use the depth measuring tool do you press it down more on the current tooth, or along the whole of the tool? I'm guessing it is former - otherwise the end of the tool nearest the tooth will tilt upwards, making you think the raker is still low? Perhaps one of my faults is not holding the depth gauge tool quite right.

MattG, when you look picture of raker from Oregon catalog or even picture of new chain link, you can see how raker's leading edge is rounded like fin on dolphin's back, that is shape I believe that is needed to be maintained to keep chain running smooth.
So what you are saying for raker is:
  1. Check their height, if high go to step 2.
  2. File the top most point of the raker to get the height correct.
  3. Then gently round it to retain a "fin" profile.

Another thing I noticed today is that Oregon's file guide and cheap Chinese grinder don't agree on 30 degrees, there is 2 to 3 degrees difference. Did some freehand filing as that seem to make chain feel sharper again my thumb and made about 20 cuts of Birch (12 to 8 inch diameter), chain did feel still as sharp when feeling cutters with my thumb, so I guess it is not getting dull too fast.

(Interestingly, even when using my sick looking 20" chain on the cherry, after a sharpen it would cut ok-ish, but it just dulled very quick - after 2-3 cuts.)
 

That price is nothing short of a theft!

Mine is like this, I would of got similar to one on your link, but my local shop did not have such, only these:
https://www.worldofpower.co.uk/husqvarna-5056981-09-combination-gauge-325-1-5mm-h25.html

I don't like that roller guide, not sure if it is my technique or what, but don't like it.

Do you have local shop that sells Husky stuff? I found these two, not sure about postage trough them though, but I think 2-3 pounds from local shop on such tool, tenner from it is quite steep, imo. even with the postage added.
https://www.worldofpower.co.uk/husqvarna-chainsaw-filing-equipment.html
http://www.buyamower.co.uk/product/husqvarna-depth-gauge.aspx


My old depth gauge is similar to this Stihl version, (Price of 1.75 FIM is written on the tool, that is 0.29€, inflation from 70's to these days :) );
https://www.worldofpower.co.uk/stihl-00008934008-325-depth-gauge.html

Problem with this kind of depth gauge is that it averages out cutters, I believe long part should be kept against the cutters, which leaves raker height high, holding it down so that tool will be on angle, might not be so easy to do consistently enough as 0.1mm is a lot of difference there I believe.

Husky tool clicks on place, slot at the edge of tool goes over chain, near rivet, while shaped slot goes over raker, it also results top of raker being filed to angle, that other type of tool, or then me too have not understood how to use that Stihl kind of dept tool properly, but that is how videos show it being used, so I guess I'm using it right.

Now with Husky tool I indeed filed the top of raker with the tool, then rounded it gently to fin profile, it takes only two or three light passes to get it reasonably fin like.

If your chain gets dull really fast, then it could be that you file it too deeply, or just the sand and dirt on wood you did cut. I doubt that with file guide one could do hawk's peak kind of cutter shape, which can happen if filing without the guide, but it is something to be aware of.

When you put pressure towards ground when filing, file eats itself into chain links and starts to make really sharp feeling beak of the hawk shape cutter, which will dull fast as cutters edge will fail when it touches wood, so when filing without guide one needs to kind of lift the file but at the same time push it gently towards the cutter, or that is what I have undestood.

So if chain runs 3 to 9 when horizontal, force you push file against the cutter might be something in 1 to 2 direction. That is very hard to do when trying to keep file on that 30 degree angle and handle 10 degrees down, while file is biting into cutter so that it stops moving!

With Oregon's filing guide I don't need to think about that aspect, I just keep file horizontal and 30 degrees angle with very mild pressure towards the power unit.

I'm not sure about this, but if chain feels really really sharp on thumb, like a really sharp knife, it might be that it has hawk's beak shape on cutters, I know when I use my cheap grinder, I don't get that sharp feeling chain, but it might be better now that I think about it.

I know that when sharpening axe, it is possible to get really sharp feeling edge, but it will not hold edge as there is so little material supporting the edge.

There is lot to learn for me too, but I guess slowly some understanding of how chain actually works is getting into my teflon coated thick head, until some pro tells that I have got it all wrong once again :D
 
A very good friend and I harvest firewood together, he has this type of filing tool and swears by it as being the best all around sharpening system out there. I feel it does an adequate job keeping his chains sharp, maybe not as good as a very experienced free hand filer but much better than any other filing guide I have used or seen used to date. Watch the videos in this add and then think about how this tool works,

http://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/accessories/filing-tools/2in1file/
 

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