5 Reasons Your Chainsaw Cuts Crooked & How To Fix It!
Here’s Why You’re Saw Is Cutting Crooked!
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I’ve never had deflection in knots
. Just with bar rail or chain issues.
Maybe I’m giving people more credit than is due LOL.A drunk operator was not an option.
Had a bent dawgs issue before
In America, when a dull, improperly sharpened, or loose chain runs along a worn out guide bar, and cuts to one side.? The set-up goes straight to the scrap barrel. There is only 1 answer to that what if. BUY a new bar, and 2 chains.A drunk operator was not an option.
Speak for yourself, lol
I refurbish bars till the chain rides on the bottom of the groove
They may look like crap but they cut straight
The sad reality of the throwaway culture we live in nowadays. When you have more money then sense, I suppose that’s what happens. A dumbed down and ever less competent society.
GenXer
Addicted to ArboristSite
You should learn to fix things, they will last you longer.
I'd trust my tractor that was built in 1967 over a newer one.
The Chinese want you to toss the good stuff and buy more cheap junk.
Bar and chain maintenance are part of a tune up in my shop. What good is a great running saw with a dull chain and worn bar?
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
Well, let me preface this comment by saying, that on a scale of 1 to 10, compared what others on this site know, I'm maybe a 4.. on a good day!
That being said, I've found that when a saw starts to "banana", through a long cut, it's caused by my muscle memory while sharpening.
True story.. I picked up a really nice Stihl ( Facebook Marketplace), saw off a guy that was pissed off with it. He'd had it into the Dealership for cutting in a circle.. New bar.. tune up. new chain,, It cut amazing, straight and true. Then he sharpened it, by hand, and said it slowly started to drift to the left. After the next time he sharpened it, it'd cut small stuff ( 4 to 5 inches), but would bind up in a full cut, once again, trying to curve to the left. I hemmed and hawed, and severely low balled him on the price. I expected him to tell me to hoof it, but he smiled and said "Sold!!". He was glad to have a personal embarrassment gone.
He seemed interested in how, or what I was planning on doing with it, as, as far as he was concerned, it was a useless P.O.S. He was done dumping money into it..
I looked at him and said .. "You're left handed .. aren't you?" His face turned white, and he looked at me like I was the Devil incarnate. " How the crap could you know that?" , he asked.. Easy! when you are sharpening the saw.. do you count the licks? "Yeah" . . "Of course I do". So I told him.. "When you pull the file inward, there's more force, naturally, from your dominant muscles in your arm, ( forearm), than when you sharpen the other side of the chain, with the non dominate muscles.". Basically, if it curves one way, add a couple of extra strokes to the other side on the next sharpening. I knew he was left handed, not right handed, because of how the blade wanted to banana.
On the spot, he offered me work, to maintain a lot of his equipment. I turned it down, because I was too busy.
I've sharpened, in the last 10 years, probably well over 1,000 chains by hand. That's not including grinding some, ( to correct damage), making my own from loops, etc. But seriously, I've found that the Stihl 2 in 1 sharpener is the best thing since sliced bread.. Never had a chain sharpened with a 2 in 1 want to "banana", and it sets the rakers ( depth gauges, if you will ), all at the same time. Never had a chain sharpened with the 2 in 1 cut anything but dead straight.. Ever.
I'd like to think, in the grand scheme of things, that I could put a better sharpening on a chain than the Stihl 2 in 1. But, for it's simplicity and repeatable results.. Sigh.. I'm not dragging out the files and grinder unless there's cutter damage. Hitting a bullet in a tree sucks.
That being said, I've found that when a saw starts to "banana", through a long cut, it's caused by my muscle memory while sharpening.
True story.. I picked up a really nice Stihl ( Facebook Marketplace), saw off a guy that was pissed off with it. He'd had it into the Dealership for cutting in a circle.. New bar.. tune up. new chain,, It cut amazing, straight and true. Then he sharpened it, by hand, and said it slowly started to drift to the left. After the next time he sharpened it, it'd cut small stuff ( 4 to 5 inches), but would bind up in a full cut, once again, trying to curve to the left. I hemmed and hawed, and severely low balled him on the price. I expected him to tell me to hoof it, but he smiled and said "Sold!!". He was glad to have a personal embarrassment gone.
He seemed interested in how, or what I was planning on doing with it, as, as far as he was concerned, it was a useless P.O.S. He was done dumping money into it..
I looked at him and said .. "You're left handed .. aren't you?" His face turned white, and he looked at me like I was the Devil incarnate. " How the crap could you know that?" , he asked.. Easy! when you are sharpening the saw.. do you count the licks? "Yeah" . . "Of course I do". So I told him.. "When you pull the file inward, there's more force, naturally, from your dominant muscles in your arm, ( forearm), than when you sharpen the other side of the chain, with the non dominate muscles.". Basically, if it curves one way, add a couple of extra strokes to the other side on the next sharpening. I knew he was left handed, not right handed, because of how the blade wanted to banana.
On the spot, he offered me work, to maintain a lot of his equipment. I turned it down, because I was too busy.
I've sharpened, in the last 10 years, probably well over 1,000 chains by hand. That's not including grinding some, ( to correct damage), making my own from loops, etc. But seriously, I've found that the Stihl 2 in 1 sharpener is the best thing since sliced bread.. Never had a chain sharpened with a 2 in 1 want to "banana", and it sets the rakers ( depth gauges, if you will ), all at the same time. Never had a chain sharpened with the 2 in 1 cut anything but dead straight.. Ever.
I'd like to think, in the grand scheme of things, that I could put a better sharpening on a chain than the Stihl 2 in 1. But, for it's simplicity and repeatable results.. Sigh.. I'm not dragging out the files and grinder unless there's cutter damage. Hitting a bullet in a tree sucks.
Cool! Sounds like you go off by yourself, so no-one sees your junk........the safety parameters of guide bars and chains get left on the Bench. If you are making a living with your saws, that makes sense. Encouraging a weekend warrior with a toy saw to avoid safety is not the point, that you, are promoting. Your advice is destined for the eyes of the novice wanna-be woodsman.Speak for yourself, lol
I refurbish bars till the chain rides on the bottom of the groove
They may look like crap but they cut straight
Used to cut full time but that was a very long time ago. I work on saws now for fun ..and something to do
I’ve refurbished a bunch of bars put back into service for private cutters and tree services …never a complaint.
don’t have a fancy bar fixin’ machine so can’t repair them all. Most, if not all of the modern small bars are just not repairable…16” and smaller…if they have a bend I can sometimes get them straight but that’s rare.
For those that have not learned to file freehand correctly the 2 in 1 system works very well for them, for those that can free hand file proficiently the jigs and contraptions are not really needed. I am a free hand filer but after over 50 years of trying to show others how to file freehand I see much better maintained chains on saws that have been filed by those using guides and especially those that use the 2 in 1 setups.
drumbum
ArboristSite Operative
What the heck are you on about?
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
Main reason that I started using the Stihl 2 in 1 system? I just simply couldn't teach newby employees to hand file. Just wasn't happening. Just wasn't worth my time and effort. I wouldn't have minded spending the time and effort to teach the skills, but, doing so was an exercise in frustration, for both myself, and the employee. It took less than 5 minutes to teach one of my crew to use the 2 in 1.
Black magic marker.. mark the first cutter you do.. keep going till you see the black cutter.. flip the bar, repeat.. just follow the arrow on the 2 in 1. Instantly repeatable decent results, from less than a five minute tutorial.
(Sigh).. Of all the people that worked for me, there was only a couple who took sharpening a saw blade by hand, as a personal challenge to improving their skill set. I've used Arborists, straight out of school, who only used the 2 in 1, or jigged files. Sharpening by hand wasn't necessarily taught.
That about sums it up for my experiences as well. I have tried to teach /mentor many chainsaw users on how to file a chain, I had 15 clamp on bar type of file guides for the beginners, very few could even master the setup and even fewer could actually file a chain satisfactoraly, for the most part they expected the guide/machine to do the task of getting it right for them. It comes down to attention span and a real earnest effort they just cannot commit to. Some of them just buy a cheap chain every time one dulls, some take them in to be ground. Out of around 24 guys just one can make a decent cutting chain, he was a machinist turned heavy equipment mechanic and does quite well free handing, very few others even bother trying to hand file as they can`t expect the file to automatically get it right.
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
A long, long time ago.. In a Galaxy far, far away.. When I wore a much, much younger man's clothes, I was taught to sail a 32 ft C&C sloop, by my friends Dad. The second year we went sailing, his Dad didn't mount the "tell tales" on the main sail's trailing edge, or mount the "windex", on the top of the mast. I asked him why, and his answer was.. " I was tired of looking at the back of your head, as you tried to read that stuff.. You need to learn how to just feel the boat."
My ability so sail increased exponentially, as I learned to "feel" the boat.. Hand sharpening a saw chain isn't that much different. To a certain point, the chain will tell your hand what it needs to know, to make it optimally sharp. The key ( to me) was getting into the "zone" where i was able to let the chain talk to me.. and listen.
I used to sharpen chains at night, by hand after the crew was long gone for the day, and fresh loops were needed for the next day ( quicker, and more productive, to just toss on a fresh loop, and keep cutting). I often found that those late night sharpening sessions had a very Zen like aspect to them. Just the raspy lick of the file as you could feel the cutter talk to you. Just like letting the boat and the sail plan talk to you.. If you're willing to listen.
