When is it time for a new chain? Sharpening techniques?

[Newfie]

So when do you break down and buy a new chain?

Right after the second tank of straight gas.

 

[lostone]

Right after the second tank of straight gas.

LMAO, but serious I've never made it past the first tank.

 

[Blowdown1]

teeth?!

The "Chip" is one of the best indicators...but... never hurt anyone either....and really take your time if it's new to you. Start at the leading tooth, i.e. the shortest and most knocked around tooth and the follow suite for the other teeth. ...do you know what rakers do ? If not find out...this very important as well.

From here we can talk about angle of stroke, but you boys in the Northern Hemisphere will have your own chosen angles anyway. ....

Damo, the heck with stroke. All this talk of chips, banged up teeth, RAKERS? And you say it never hurt anyone?

Are rakers what you call those down under?

 

[Damo]

Rakers, as in the steel piece in between the teeth. It rakes the chip out after the tooth has done its job I must admitwe do have different terminology for things downunder and that's not including the slang that loggers come up with. Sorry for any confusion, I just wasn't sure exactly how much this bloke knew. This is generally a dam good site to get info. but sometimes a spade is called a shovel down our way !

 

[Damo]

Rakers also give depth of tooth cut, of course. Its alright, Blowdown, I'm not gonna take up writing saw chain manuals for a living !!! (What does LMAO mean) ?? Dare I ask.

 

[Lobo]

(What does LMAO mean) ?? Dare I ask.

LMAO = Laughing My Ars Off

 

[Damo]

Chain should be a 3/8" pitch and a .050 depth gauge. 5/32" file would equate to 4mm.

 

[MacDaddy]

Gypo did you give her the 30 second tickle

 

[Lobo]

Nice!

I almost spit coke all over my computer when I read that!

Gary

I guess that is better however than peeing yourself !

 

[a_lopa]

my logger mates say to throw chains when they reach half way due to the chrome etc,but im not making 80k in 8 months and im buying my own chains.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Lopa, some of these guys that toss chain premately are doing so because they don't cut. This is mainly because they don't clean the gullets and dont take down the rakers.
With this combination and a dull chain, sawing is pretty futile.
Once they learn how simple it is to maintain and keep the "sweet spot", it brings a whole new dimension to your cutting day and there is a lot less "summerwood " around.
Summer this long, summer that long. Get it? lol
It's the 90 second tickle that we are striving for when we file, which is what McDaddy is talking about.
John

 

[Blowdown1]

Damo, up here in the northern hemisphere we also refer to them as rakers. I was just giving you grief and following along the lines of the sexual overtones that derailed this thread. Think about the teeth and rakers in that context. You might see where I was going. Ouch!

 

[Damo]

No worrys. I was lost in a cloud of 2 stroke fumes...I can see clearly now...mmm

 

[kodiakfisher]

I remember my first time. It was in the bush on a piece of White Ash.
The Ash was split right up the middle to the crotch, but I got her up the stump after pulling out the root.
All in all it was a pretty nice piece of ash so I have nothing to birch about.
John

Thanks,

I needed a good laugh if I had been drinking coke I would have shorted out my laptop after reading that. I have never laughed so hard after reading a thread. Excellent set-up and response Gypo!

Kodiakfisher

 

[TimberPig]

Anotehr tree joke that I heard a while ago is:

Two trees, a beech and a birch were growing beside each other. They both looked down and saw a small sapling growing and the beech said look at that wonderful little beech sapling. To which the birch replied, thats not a beech it's a birch sapling. They argued for a while and they could not agree if it was a beech or a birch sapling, so they decided they needed some help. They were trying to decide on who could help them determine which it was when a woodpecker flew up. They decided that since the woodpecker lived off of insects on trees it had to know a fair bit about trees. So the beech tree asked, "Woodpecker, is that sapling a son of a beech or a son of a birch?" The woodpecker replied, " Give me a minute and I can tell you after a closer look." So the wood pecker flew down and looked it over and gave it a few pecks. The beech and the birch were both anxious and asked the woodpecker which it was. The woodpecker replied " It is neither a son of a beech or a son of a birch, but it is the best piece of ash I have ever put my pecker in!"

 

[TrogL]

Right after the second tank of straight gas.

I'm running oil:gas mixture! Really! Two people who actually know what they're doing looked at my gas and declared it acceptable. I downloaded the Makita manual and checked through their explanation of how to mix gas and once I got through messing around with metric-imperial conversions it worked out the same to how I prepared my cute little gas-can of oil:gas mixture. I shake it well before pouring. It comes out blue.

I also did the chain-oil test (revving it with the chain turning and watching for a line of chain-oil sprayed off the chain) and that's fine too.

 

[TrogL]

...but it is the best piece of ash I have ever put my pecker in!"

That tied me up in knots.

 

[ross_scott]

Hi TrogL good to see you finally got a decent saw the makita will serve you well I use the dolmar PS34 which is also exactly the same as your makita (as you probably know makita is a dolmar in disguise) I gave the PS34 hell the other day I cut up a log that was 33" in diameter using a 16" bar (one cut each side then ripped down the middle to separate the pieces) then procceded to cut up the other logs I originally wanted to get at even though I hate Low Profile chains I was happy with the way it cut I did jam up the sprocket tip twice while ripping(bar sprockets are buggers to unjam) but the saw did its job. I had no choice to use the dolmar on this log as I had killed my pioneer the week before (electrical issue)

 

[TrogL]

I had a look at the chain last night. One of the cutting teeth is missing completely. Many of the others are bent beyond my ability to straighten. I gonna phone around and find somebody who stocks the right chain. Buying a generic chain (or anything else for that matter) from Canadian tire is starting to scare me. I'll get the right sharpening tools at the same time and get somebody from work here to show me correct sharpening techniques.

 

[scottr]

scared

TrogL , there are three different chains that I use on my small saws that use 3/8" low profile chain , none of them are wrong , some are just more aggressive .