Just saw your response of "Wow!". Has that been done improperly? Care to explain to educate me?
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)
- Thread starter mainewoods
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WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
It does look like the wrong wheel was used. Cleaning up the gullet should get it back. I think the way it is now is causing extra drag in the kerf. I try to do most of my own sharpening. Sometimes if the teeth get uneven I have it sharpened at a saw shop. You may want to find a different place to take urs.
Love my 044 with any type of chain on it.
Its a great saw
Speaking of winches, this is the one I have:
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/winches/2000-lb-marine-electric-winch-61237.html
As said it cuts out loading logs like this:
ca. 430# Pecan
I'm thinking this would be a suitable upgrade for my use. i.e. big enough to load log without cutting out. In my price range.
https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...owersport-12v-winch-with-wire-rope-56259.htmlThoughts?
Edit: Insert Photo
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/winches/2000-lb-marine-electric-winch-61237.html
As said it cuts out loading logs like this:
ca. 430# Pecan
I'm thinking this would be a suitable upgrade for my use. i.e. big enough to load log without cutting out. In my price range.
https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...owersport-12v-winch-with-wire-rope-56259.htmlThoughts?
Edit: Insert Photo
What would you do without the machine eh?4th.
View attachment 991386
5th. Almost forgot the picture of this one, had to make it count.
View attachment 991387
And the last one.
View attachment 991388
I don't have one, but then I only have 2 acre lot.
This was a new guy to me. He's been doing it on the side for 5 years. He's my age so I was more inclined to trust him. It's hard to find someone locally to do a proper job. At the local farm store, the kids do the sharpening and I'm pretty sure they don't know, or care, what they are doing.
And I too do all my own sharpening, by hand. I'm not the greatest at it and I thought the rakers needed to be touched up.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
Looks like he used a wheel meant for picco chain. The more we sharpen the better we get. It's a big learning curve. I picked up a couple of the combo style that does the depth gauges at the same time as the teeth.
Don't mean to drag this on, but I'll say this. It's nice to have someone close that has a repeatable setup to correct chains I've mangled. And he only charged $5 any length of loop. Now if I only could figure out how to take 5 of my chains and make one continuous loop (lol). He did suggest I bring the chains back when the need sharpening again and not to hand file them myself. That would get expensive.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
If I take mine to a saw shop close to home it's $15 per loop. If i take them to a place down the road from the cabin it's $2 a loop. Both make them sharper than new but the $2 place doesn't always get the depth gauges lowered enough. That's why i only take them in when I hit something or have gotten the cutters to the point they don't match on both sides.
is it not always that way for a new chain? the file has to fit when he chain is old too....bigger would be filing away the link plates when the cutter is short.
I do tend to put downward pressure sometimes when filing and start filing into the link plate.
That's funny, well sort of.I agree, 100%. Im not a pro by any means and not afraid or ashamed to tell someone no I wont or can't do this job safely. I watched my neighbor trying to take a tree down in the woods with a little battery saw, he must not have had it charged all the way or something. He got a "face" cut in it. And the saw went dead right after he started the diagonal back cut. He just left the fricken tree stand half cut!took the battery and went in the house, strong guy of wind came up and arse over tin cup the tree went. Right on top of his camper. I had even offered to take it down for him if he moved the camper (tree was leaning towards the camper to begin with. ) he basically told me to mind my business he's been cutting trees down longer then I'm alive. (May be true, just because he has 30-40 years on me) it's still laying on top his camper
When I was hauling steel I'd do multi stop loads starting the day with 90-104k on the deck, it was interesting going to many of the smaller shops that would only get 10-20k in skidded coils. Many times I would watch them struggle lifting the skid with forks that were a little to short, then backing up only to leave the skid sitting exactly where it was when they started. After that they would approach it at a bit of an angle, which would give less reach on one side and the same or a little less on the other, then they would do the same thing, lift it and back up only to have the skid stay in the exact same place. I'd watch for a bit until I figured out they would take forever and they weren't just having a bad day, but sucked at their job, then I'd ask the question and prepare for the backlash
. Would you like a little help 
. I'd say at least half the time the answer was, no, I do this all day long . My thoughts were okay, struggle on as I'm getting paid by the hour , and, if you'd take a little advice it wouldn't take all day to do your job 
. All I needed to do was to lay a rubber pad on their forks and the skid would have been easily pulled to the edge, but their pride stopped them from making it easy on themselves. Some of the forks even had a hole drilled in them from a previous receiver, you could just drop a bolt in there and it would grab the skid 
. It's funny that they wouldn't take advice from a kid (me) because they were older, I started hauling steel when I was 25, I've even been kicked out of plants where I was picking up "because I wasn't allowed in there"
.When working with others I try to be open to hearing what they have to say, as you should continue learning in life, it's a never ending thing. Although there are times where you flat out don't want the advice because you want to work thru things yourself and just need everyone to be quiet so that can happen
.That little SUV looks good.
What are the major issues with those, I see them all the time for great prices.
Saw these recently at a county park office:
Made by a local community action organization for adults with disabilities.
Philbert
There are a few things I see see that I don't like about that grind job.
One, the wheel used was a 1/8" wheel, which is what should be used on lp/picco chain(as was mentioned) or .325 chain. Two, even if you were using that wheel it should not have been run into the cutter as far as he did because now the gullet will not support a file because it's too deep for that size wheel/file. The gullet should not be a problem at that point in the chains life as the working corner of the cutter still sticks out further than the gullet at its highest/longest point. But if I was using that size wheel, I would personally still file the gullet back enough to where there was enough of a shelf to hold a small file up to help get the top plate filed well if I didn't have a roller guide or a way to sharpen with both hands(makes it easier to pull the file up to the top plate if there is no shelf to rest the file on).
Three it looks as though he's slightly bluing the cutters, which hardens the steel and makes them more difficult to file.
Do not hit the burr with a grinder as that will damage the sideplate, the burrs should come off as soon as you put the chain in the wood; if they do not, then I would either request the guy take it slower when he's grinding or take them somewhere else.
While learning to sharpen can have a steep learning curve, if you make it a goal you can get past the curve much quicker. I decided one yr I was going to learn all I could about sharpening, while the classes weren't cheap(I bought many grinders, files, filing jigs, roller guides, raker guides, and even an unobtainable raker grinder), I learned how a sharpened cutter should look(basically like a new chain
), and how to make them look that way.So, looking at your chain, does it look like a new chain?
Helpful tools for this are the stihl 2 in 1, or the husky roller guide. Also many of the filing jigs are great for those learning, but can be somewhat difficult to set up, while the other two suggested above are very simple to use, but have room for error if you have a hard time keeping the angles correct.
I do not use that type of raker gauge, as it sets the rakers based on a fixed number (.025 is the front one you have it on, and it goes up by .005 as you go towards the back. The problem with those is one, they are not progressive(they don't remove more of the raker as the chain is worn), and they use an average of multiple cutters heights to set the height of a raker, rather than only the height of the cutter and raker that corresponds to it.
That is somewhat true.
When you use the file called for by the manufacturer at the beginning of the chains life, you will have a little extra material left in the gullet. That material can be removed as another process, or you can use a larger file(one size up) to remove the material while filling the cutter. Using a larger file will change the side plate angle/hook, so you will need to remove a little more from the depth gauges in order to compensate. When cutting harder or frozen wood I will also use a larger file to reduce the hook, this leaves more material in the corner making the cutter stronger so it dulls slower.
I can promise you one thing for sure, a lot less would get done, and what did get done would take longer. I thank God often for my equipment
.
That's awesome!
Shaping the cutter is different than shaping / clearing the gullet. Separate steps. What did it look like before?
When I sharpen:
- cutters;
- gullets;
- depth gauges.
(Plus a lot of other, fussy steps!).
There may be some bluing of the side plate cutting edge, which is undesirable. And the top plate cutting edge looks like it was not ground to the far edge? Sometimes hard to tell from photos.
But you said that it cut well, right?
$15 sounds like a lot for sharpening: close to the cost of a new chain. Last I checked it was going for around $7 a loop around here. Figgier could never make good money at it, since I take my time and do a ‘chain spa’. Plus, liability concerns.
As for the burrs on your guide bar, use a file, working away from the nose sprocket to keep filings out of the bearings.
Philbert
You may not be able to file it... It looks like it was blued pretty good which often means it's now very hard.
I only grind chains for friends and family $6 per chain for friends and family member I don't like.
I hate that. That may be a little strong, I despise that to the core of my being
.
