I've been messing around with sharpening the chain by hand and made an interesting observation today. I'd love to hear what the pro's have to say.
If the saw is cutting 'good' and the chips are thick the saw is sharp but depth gauges are set too low. You also notice a lot of torn wood where the chain comes out of the cut.
If the saw is cutting 'great' and the chips are coming out thin and stringy you have a sharp saw and the depth gauges set correctly. Where the chain comes out of the wood does not look torn.
I think I took my depth guages down to far and after a couple sharpening performance is getting better, as the depth gauges get shallower.
I made this observation using a stihl 020 with Picco yellow chain. I have been using an oregon file guide, the best $8 I ever spent.
If the saw is cutting 'good' and the chips are thick the saw is sharp but depth gauges are set too low. You also notice a lot of torn wood where the chain comes out of the cut.
If the saw is cutting 'great' and the chips are coming out thin and stringy you have a sharp saw and the depth gauges set correctly. Where the chain comes out of the wood does not look torn.
I think I took my depth guages down to far and after a couple sharpening performance is getting better, as the depth gauges get shallower.
I made this observation using a stihl 020 with Picco yellow chain. I have been using an oregon file guide, the best $8 I ever spent.