Mods Please Do Not Move This To The Chainsaw Forum

[newforest]

The old Christmas trees really are Douglas Fir. They held a significant portion of the market into the 1990s. If you prune them they can make for a nice thick tree. They did generally have to be painted usually though, and they need good cold air drainage or frost can really whack them here in Michigan, though original source provenance would play a key role there most likely.

And they weren’t quite as good-looking as a Fraser Fir, which now dominates the market. But that species can also have it's problems and those are on the upswing lately. So some growers are trying the Noble & Grand, but also the Turkish & Korean Firs too.

We have a nice really hard hardwood - Ironwood. Ostrya virginiana in the Latin. Easy enough to cut green. The ‘iron’ is when it’s dry, when it dulls chain and throws sparks. No problem out in the woods, then? The fun begins when you cut into a large one that has a now dead core beginning to hollow out - that heartwood is already dead - & dry - & your sharp saw might not make it all the way through the cut you started.

 

[newforest]

double post, soar-eee

 

[SamT1]

Real trees huh? Yeah the rest of us are cutting grass. Raker depth is dependent on how hard the wood is. End of story. I file exactly opposite of the OP. Clean wood at 30 degrees , dirty at 25. The shorter angle supports the corner better at the cost of a little speed.

Yup, cutting dirty mesquite I run 20* I get atleast 1/4 cord more on a chain vs 25*, I have not run at 30 in too long to remember.
I set rakers at about .040, but I’m running a 500i with just an 18” bar. I hog the gullet way out too. Stihl RS when I’m at .050 groove width, I buy archer for .058 and .063 as I wear the bar out.

 

[slowp]

Bill, dunno if this is what you are looking for, but in the real world of landings and yarders and stuff, I questioned some chasers. (the guys who unhook the logs at the landing). They make it simple, except you have to have a memory. About every third filing of the chain, they "hit the rakers" with a flat file, a couple of times. No fancy gauges, just eyeballing. That seems to work. Plus, they are usually using a 32 inch bar and round file and probably full skip. I didn't use a saw every day by any means, so have had trouble remembering how many times between raker "hitting". However, Old Sparkless still won the 032 races, 'cept for when raced against fresh from Madsen's square file chain clad saw.

A chaser also stated this memorable line. "I send the saw down sharp, and it always comes back dull." One could philosophize a bit about that line and how it could relate to other things in life.

 

[esshup]

As for the OP’s question that is just not in my league. I am not doing production harvest work; I do pre-commercial Timber Stand Improvement. Normally the diameters I work with don’t seem large enough to overly worry about changing angles and depths; and I use a brush saw a lot anyway. I stick to what I know, full chisel 3/8” using the manufacturer line on the tooth for the angle - which would be 25 I think - and the depth on my Oregon gauge which I think is .025.

But lately I have been thinking I should up my game on this question as I am cutting a lot of Beech and at diameters at ground level where cuts are big enough that a little increased speed would certainly make for a more cheerful day.

I do cut very flush to try to create the best sprout stem possible that won’t rot out decades later. Beech is not the desired crop tree, just cutting residual stems after harvest, so all the other Northern Hardwoods can come up with it equally. Otherwise the existing Beech would simply dominate the new stand. But cutting low in sand country wears chain quickly from rain splattering soil particles on the bark, and occasionally I miss the perfect clean line above the duff a little.

So could use some ideas on best chain set up for cutting lots and lots of Beech. A weird angle to the job is the second most cut species there is White Pine.

I can't comment on angles or depths, because I'd be guessing. BUT since we have a ton of sandy soil here I can comment on what helps to keep chains sharper for a longer period of time. I use semi-chisel vs. any other, AND I had all my chains cryogenecially treated. That seems to make the intervals between sharpening a bit longer and if I do hit sand, it doesn't seem to dull as fast or as bad. I've seen the chain throwing sparks in the evening when cutting the tops of trees, so I think the squirrels have carried sand up in the trees on their paws. It seems to be worse in the crotches of the trees than any other place on the tree besides the stump in the root flare area.

 

[2dogs]

Bill, dunno if this is what you are looking for, but in the real world of landings and yarders and stuff, I questioned some chasers. (the guys who unhook the logs at the landing). They make it simple, except you have to have a memory. About every third filing of the chain, they "hit the rakers" with a flat file, a couple of times. No fancy gauges, just eyeballing. That seems to work. Plus, they are usually using a 32 inch bar and round file and probably full skip. I didn't use a saw every day by any means, so have had trouble remembering how many times between raker "hitting". However, Old Sparkless still won the 032 races, 'cept for when raced against fresh from Madsen's square file chain clad saw.

A chaser also stated this memorable line. "I send the saw down sharp, and it always comes back dull." One could philosophize a bit about that line and how it could relate to other things in life.

Thanks Patty. The best saw filer I know, his chains are incredible, uses the same technique. He files without any guide and files rakers by feel, a swipe or two every three filings.

 

[2dogs]

I can't comment on angles or depths, because I'd be guessing. BUT since we have a ton of sandy soil here I can comment on what helps to keep chains sharper for a longer period of time. I use semi-chisel vs. any other, AND I had all my chains cryogenecially treated. That seems to make the intervals between sharpening a bit longer and if I do hit sand, it doesn't seem to dull as fast or as bad. I've seen the chain throwing sparks in the evening when cutting the tops of trees, so I think the squirrels have carried sand up in the trees on their paws. It seems to be worse in the crotches of the trees than any other place on the tree besides the stump in the root flare area.

For several years I worked on summer job in a river channel where sand was a major issue. The trees were submerged every winter so the fine sand was all the way to the tree tops. Each of us cut hundreds of trees each day and semi-chisel was the way to go. The chains lasted a week and became too stretched to function. The sprocket nose bars lasted from three hours to a week. I switched to hard nose bars and that problem was solved. Semi-chisel filed at 35 degrees and 30 thousands worked the best.

 

[slowp]

The guys working in the blast area after St. Helens blew just carried a zillion chains. Some of the FS folks who went in after for site prep and planting would find some of the stashes of chains that were left, or forgotten.

It wasn't fun to cut in and my former neighbor said he lucked out and had a contract cutting on the Olympic Peninsula so didn't have to deal with volcanic ash.

 

[Joseph W Santora]

I wonder what angles this guy runs? Looks to be a skip tooth.



Ron

Defiantly full comp self sharpening super chissel.