# How to sharpen a chain when one or two teeth are really injured?



## SciGuy (Aug 8, 2022)

I've been cutting wood for more than 50 year and always sharped back to the length of the most worn tooth. Generally there's very little variation between teeth so it's not be a method I questioned. Recently I've had the chain strike a hard object within the tree that pealed back a tooth or two substantially but shut things down quick enough to not harm the rest of the chain. If I used my usual method of filing all the teeth back as far the the most damaged one I'd be removing a heck of a lot of metal and perhaps life of the chain in general. So what do you folks do? File the one really tweaked cutter and then just bring the other cutters back a more appropriate amount for their wear? I know if all the cutters on one side are damaged I need to bring all cutters back the same distance or the saw won't cut straight. 

Thanks for any educated replies! 

Hugh


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## JustPlainJeff (Aug 8, 2022)

I'm not a pro by any means, but I do just as you mentioned above. Yes, sometimes that means that the life of the chain is shortened dramatically, but that's just how things turn out. And at about 50.00 per chain nowadays, it really sucks to have to sacrifice a chain due to a couple of damaged teeth on an otherwise good chain.


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## northmanlogging (Aug 8, 2022)

just pretend those few teeth are "special" sharpen them separately 

treat the rest of the chain normally, it will run noticeably rougher in the cut, especially while limbing etc, but it will be good enough

Chains are spensive, I regularly damage a few teeth (because throwing my saws... ) so I do my best to work around them, occasionally I'll break a tooth completely off, just keep chooching until the chain is worn too far to use. 

In a real pinch you could go so far as to having that section replaced with new, or similar worn chunk, but its probably not worth it unless the chain is nearly new.


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## Ted Jenkins (Aug 8, 2022)

I buy chain by the reel so one or two chains is not as important as when bought bs a single loop. If one or two teeth are really toast down to twenty percent then replace those teeth just takes a few minutes per tooth. If the chain is down to fifty percent then file all teeth sharp and the chain will cut just as smooth as before. To file all teeth down to fifty percent if just two or three teeth are pretty damaged is ridiculous. Other wise take the chain off and sharpen it with a grinder. Thanks


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## Bill G (Aug 9, 2022)

You have received some solid advice. I will add that this basic situation just occurred to me on Sunday. I spun up a chain last week for my son to run . He texted me Sunday night and said he gout about 4 cuts done and hit steel this which destroyed several teeth. That would be bad on any chain but this was a 116 drive link brand new chain on a 36 inch bar. I will assure you I will not be grinding teeth to match. I will punch out the bad section and replace it. Now obviously not everyone can do that and of course in my case it is an easy decision since it is new. A used 20 inch chain is different


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## angelo c (Aug 9, 2022)

Watch closely as a chain severs through material...the critical relationship is cutter to raker, not cutter to cutter...the chain is bouncing about in its cuts pretty wildly. It's much easier to make all the same- cutter to cutter, but the raker must match the cutter. If one is so bad as to be of no use...grind it out- and call it a "skip" sequence...


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## Squareground3691 (Aug 9, 2022)

Having ur cutters all the same is a myth , if you bang a couple cutters just sharpen them . and us a raker gauge to each tooth accordingly. The gauge is as important as a razor sharp chain .


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## Woody912 (Aug 9, 2022)

SciGuy said:


> I've been cutting wood for more than 50 year and always sharped back to the length of the most worn tooth. Generally there's very little variation between teeth so it's not be a method I questioned. Recently I've had the chain strike a hard object within the tree that pealed back a tooth or two substantially but shut things down quick enough to not harm the rest of the chain. If I used my usual method of filing all the teeth back as far the the most damaged one I'd be removing a heck of a lot of metal and perhaps life of the chain in general. So what do you folks do? File the one really tweaked cutter and then just bring the other cutters back a more appropriate amount for their wear? I know if all the cutters on one side are damaged I need to bring all cutters back the same distance or the saw won't cut straight.
> 
> Thanks for any educated replies!
> 
> Hugh


Worse case situation just grind them off, one per side but mostly I just file down the damaged ones and call it good


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## Mad Professor (Aug 9, 2022)

Just take off the damage on the bad cutters. Sharpen the rest normally.

Next sharpening just hit the short cutters enough for an edge, take a few more extra strokes off the rest of the cutters.

Eventually the cutters will start to even up.

Other option is if you have chain tools replace the damaged teeth.


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## blades (Aug 10, 2022)

I routinely get customer chains in with teeth bent out of line, i just grind them out. With all the different makes of chains out there it isn't viable for me to stock 20 differant kinds of tie straps and cutters and presets. Stilh chain rivets are a different size than Oregon and there likely others along the same vein. Then there is the time factor of breaking and spinning in new parts plus matching them to the rest of the chain. Was a time when it was worth while but not now days on a commercial basis. for your own personal use maybe.


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## ElevatorGuy (Aug 10, 2022)

Where’s @Philbert


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## Fatherwheels (Aug 10, 2022)

If they are very bad, cut them off, and cut their counterparts off
or the chain will cut to one side.
If you can sharpen them, then do so, ring back their counterparts
too, bbut definitely do not take back all the other teeth because of them.


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## Philbert (Aug 10, 2022)

Having all the cutters the same length is preferred, to provide the smoothest cutting chain. It means that each cutter will also be the same height, and stick out to the side the same, creating the width of the kerf. These processes of ‘jointing’ and ‘setting’ the teeth, are common to any type of saw. 

That said, sometimes as noted, a few teeth will get heavily damaged, and a lot of metal on on the remaining teeth would have to be wasted to ‘even things up’. 

As a practical mater, if it is 1, 2, or 3 teeth, you can just grind or file those back, past the damage, and run that chain until the other teeth ‘catch up’ through wear. It is not uncommon for even a new loop to have an extra space or two, and you will likely not notice a significant difference. ‘Skip tooth’ chain is designed with extra spaces. 

In many cases, however, I see about six teeth damaged from hitting a nail, etc. That is significant. In these cases, I might: 
- spin in replacement teeth from an identical ‘donor chain’;
- turn the damaged loop into a donor chain (salvage the good cutters);
- shorten the loop for a smaller bar. 

When I get in loops where the cutters, depth gauges, and angles are all over the place, I try to even out the chain and start fresh. One or two errant cutters won’t be noticeable in normal use. 

Try it on this chain and see how it cuts. 

Philbert


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## malquid (Aug 13, 2022)

What I have done all my life is take those few special teeth and sharpen them and file the rake down to match. It doesn’t make much of a difference that I can tell. The chain life ends when those reach the limit. I do that on my rock saw, my dirt saw and my aspiring wood saw.


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## HumBurner (Aug 13, 2022)

I usually file the top plate back to a firm, even line. If needed, undermine the metal at the gullet (I dig into my rivets a little.) Then drop back into the tooth with the file and do as many licks as needed.

Depending on where the tooth length is at, a different sized file may be the best option.


Hit the depth gauge on the tooth to get it into spec.


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## newforest (Aug 14, 2022)

Hitting something will result in the only time I take a chain to a shop for a sharpening on a grinder. I don’t try to take each tooth ‘all the way back’ to match the damage, but do have the grinder run twice to take off a significant amount to get closer to equal. After two runs the chain will be too warm to do it again without waiting, so I just go with that. 

After that, as mentioned, the key is to just simply use a depth gauge for the correct clearance on each tooth, individually, which one should be doing anyway. I like making noodles, not sawdust. 

And if things get just too out of wack, wavy, etc., that chain goes in the bottom of the toolbox for dirty firewood day, Ironwood day, etc. and just hand filed down to the line, one dulling saw cut at a time. But I don’t have to work with big wood, so none of this needs much thought on small chains.


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## ballisticdoughnut (Aug 14, 2022)

As long as your rakers are the same you’ll be fine. In other words, set the rakers on the damaged cutters the same as the rest of the chain. Not exactly ideal but it’s better than scrapping the chain.


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## Husky77 (Sep 4, 2022)

Each tooth is an individual cutter, as it moved along the bar the cutting edge is angled so it is pulling that edge into the wood, only thing what regulates the depth that cutter goes is the raker. So if you sharpen a tooth back more than the others as long as the raker is set right the chain will cut perfect. 
I myself have fallen for you have to have teeth all the same length, they sell more chains that way. File it by hand or if you grind set it for the damaged tooth and just do them, take it slow and keep it cool.
Let us know how it cuts after


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## stepp of faith (Sep 4, 2022)

northmanlogging said:


> just pretend those few teeth are "special" sharpen them separately
> 
> treat the rest of the chain normally, it will run noticeably rougher in the cut, especially while limbing etc, but it will be good enough
> 
> ...


Deff won't notice in limbing lol!!


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## stepp of faith (Sep 4, 2022)

Husky77 said:


> Each tooth is an individual cutter, as it moved along the bar the cutting edge is angled so it is pulling that edge into the wood, only thing what regulates the depth that cutter goes is the raker. So if you sharpen a tooth back more than the others as long as the raker is set right the chain will cut perfect.
> I myself have fallen for you have to have teeth all the same length, they sell more chains that way. File it by hand or if you grind set it for the damaged tooth and just do them, take it slow and keep it cool.
> Let us know how it cuts after


If you cut little wood you won't notice drasticly different length cutters. But in big hardwood guarantee your working the saw up and down back and forth. Unless you already cut by rocking over and then back to help with saw sharpening shortcomings!!


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## Xmaniac (Sep 4, 2022)

Ted Jenkins said:


> I buy chain by the reel so one or two chains is not as important as when bought bs a single loop. If one or two teeth are really toast down to twenty percent then replace those teeth just takes a few minutes per tooth. If the chain is down to fifty percent then file all teeth sharp and the chain will cut just as smooth as before. To file all teeth down to fifty percent if just two or three teeth are pretty damaged is ridiculous. Other wise take the chain off and sharpen it with a grinder. Thanks


Totally, buying chain by the reel, breaking and spinning your own saves hundreds of dollars per roll compared to purchasing them from the saw shop precut , wasted downtime, ability to fix broken or damaged cutter's/links in a matter of minutes.... I've had brand new chains from the local saw shop break at a rivet or link... they don't guarantee against premature breakage, a new one isn't cheap...


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## brock1994 (Sep 26, 2022)

angelo c said:


> Watch closely as a chain severs through material...the critical relationship is cutter to raker, not cutter to cutter...the chain is bouncing about in its cuts pretty wildly. It's much easier to make all the same- cutter to cutter, but the raker must match the cutter. If one is so bad as to be of no use...grind it out- and call it a "skip" sequence...


Exactly what my first thought is. 

I always just sharpen my chains till they are sharp. I don’t count strokes to try to maintain the same cutter size, because that is irrelevant to the situation. It’s the relationship between cutter size and depth gauge size. I also have takes cutters out of chains and have no problem.

Always best to sharpen the chain till sharp and then use a appropriate depth gauge to adjust the “rakers”. This will keep your chain cutting straight and not “J” cutting but not a guarantee if not done properly. WCS makes a badass depth gauge that works good. Or husqvarna does as well. Thumbs up.


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