It cut like a champ for about 1.5 tanks of fuel, then all of a sudden the bar/chain began to smoke. While it smoked the engine was lugged down heavily. So I stopped and let the bar cooled for about 5 minutes. I tried to cut again and it worked for about 10 - 15 seconds - cutting well then it began to begin smoking and the motor was lugging again. I backed off the "cutting pressure" the motor began to rev fine. I verified oil flung off the chain. I never cut into the dirt or ever hit rocks with the chain spinning on the bar. I will admit when I picked up the saw the tip touched the dirt, but that was it....
Can a dull chain lug a motor? I would assume it would not???:
I know there are chains that are much more "forgiving" than the full skip cutters. Hows the RM or RMC? And are these chains a lot better to sharpen than the full skips?
Thanks Chainsaw world!!! :chainsawguy:
I am not a seasoned chainsaw pro, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night....
Anyway, to answer some of your questions about smoke and skip: You dulled your chain. No question. With a 460 in big oak (I presume Mesquite is another name for really really hard oak, as it is for live oak in California) the saw should do OK. I could get my 460 to lug too when I put a lot of pressure on the bar in Madrone here. But it should typically cut fast and furious. One thing about hardwood cutting, especially if it is seasoned, is that they will dull a chain a lot faster than cutting green and softwood. When you dull your chain, the saw will lug becasue the teeth are not cutting. The teeth are skipping and that causes a lot more friction and heat. Hence the smoke appears, and it is harder to get through a cut. Then the problem is not really with lugging the saw motor. The 460 can deal with that. The problem is that you will cook your chain and it will stretch fast, as well as put more stress and wear on your bar and sprocket. Read: avoid!
The remedy is to keep your chins nice and sharp. And carry a spare chain that is also nice and sharp. Or get a stump bar clamp and sharpen it in the field. I no longer do this though; takes up way too much time and usually in bad or cold weather, or low light conditions. And things get lost out there in the woods. Also, skip chains are nice in softer wood with longer bars. They allow the saw to keep its revs up. However, they have 1/3 less cutters on them for any particular loop. That means they dull faster. They also 'bounce' the bar around more. I have a full skip loops, and I do not use them that much. It helps keep the revs up on the 290 and spins the loop faster on the bar, but... it gets dull a lot faster. I would not use them on a 460 unless I had a 30 inch or longer bar (I suffer from west coast long bar disease). The flip side to using skip is that there are less teeth to sharpen, so it if faster and easier to keep sharp. I would rather have more teeth though, and usually run standard RM chains which stay sharper longer.
Another 'trick' is the sharpening angle. I use a 30 degree, 0 degree drop on my files. Meaning I sharpen them level with the bench, perpendicular to the bar, at a 30 degree angle. Many types of chain will take a 5 degree drop and/or a 35 degree angle. This will create a sharper cutter (the 460 will cut through wood like it is butter), but they will usually dull faster. I have found that a 30 degree cutting angle, while not as sharp, will stay sharp longer than a 35 degree angle in the woods, especially in variable and cruddy conditions.
Now back to my nap here at the Holiday Inn...
LOL
